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“Yes, I read it as a pissing contest between two executives.”

“I’m not the only one who read it that way. Earlier today, I was talking to someone”

Wow, since two people have the same tin-foil-hat-wearing opinion, that must mean it’s true. And people wonder why comic readers are relentlessly mocked.

I read I and thought it was terrible. There’s way too much exposition and the assumption the reader cares about any of these characters..It’s just a big mess with a terrible shock-for-shock’s sake twist at the end.,

DC has just given up on attracting new readers. This book could never be recommended to a new reader wanting to check out the DC universe. Only the most die hard DC fans could begin to grasp what is going on in this issue. I guess DC is just content with trying to get back the old readers who are aging quickly. Other publishers will have to pick up the slack in order to keep our industry vibrant and growing……

I have to say, it may not be new reader friendly, but with the mess that the New 52 had become, I don’t think short of a complete reboot that there was anyway to fix this without acknowledging how messed up this had become. The one thing I like about Geoff Johns’s writing is that he is one of us, a comic reader. He writes the types of stories that he would want to read. I’ve very rarely been disappointed with a book from him.

I thought Rebirth was an excellent step in the right direction. I’m not sure that there is much open warfare amongst Didio and Johns as this article let on. Didio and Jim Lee for that matter, can’t argue with the fact that they messed up. Sales are at or below Pre-New 52 levels. Clearly they had done something horrifically wrong. Johns stepped up to right the ship.

Rebirth itself was very much an honest self critique of the state of DC Comics. We had a Superman that has no joy. An Oliver Queen with no Dinah. No Wally West, one of the best legacy heroes of all time. I feel like Johns is bringing back a lot of what fans were complaining about and what does he get? More complaining. It’s clear that Johns is going to be taking a more active role in cinema, but he said he spent a lot of time going over the concepts of all of the Rebirth books. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think Bob Harras is going to be at DC much longer at this rate. The way Johns described what he was doing is what an EiC does. I couldn’t think of anyone better to do that job than Geoff Johns. Hopefully DC sticks the landing this time.

Watching all the People Who Talk Loudly About Comics On The Internet pissing and moaning about DC publishing a comic saying exactly the same things that they’ve been saying for the last 25 fucking years has been *hilarious*.

Geoff Johns writes comics for people who are heavily invested in DC’s comics. It’s impenetrable for anyone else. I’m a comic nerd as much as the next person and was totally lost during most of the comic. All I knew were the bits he stole from Alan Moore, which kinda proves everything Moore ever said about DC correct.

I think there’s too much analysis in the “WHATS IT ALL MEAN?” rather than an actual examination of writing and art. I thought the writing was solid and the art was STELLAR. More comics in this vein would be a pro.

I also feel like its difficult to understand if you are trying to understand all of the past continuity. If you read the words its pretty clearly laid out that an evil force has been infecting the dc universe. Its when you try to apply a larger narrative of dc publishiñ that things get wonky. (also should who edited the comic be weighed in light of the review?)

The idea that Rebirth is an extended dig at Dan Didio never even occurred to me. Considering how bad a reading of Watchmen it puts forth, I saw it more as a dig at Alan Moore. I mean, if the New 52 was the “new life” Dr. Manhattan went off to create, but all he really did was grab the DC characters and twist their lives around… Isn’t that just a meta-fictional version of the fanboy argument that all Moore does is warp other people’s characters?

That Didio argument’s pretty entertaining, though. So thanks for that.

Amen to that, R.D. It certainly is a funny time to be alive.

[…] The Beat – Cyborg #1 […]

Sorta weird that ‘premise/story’ is other – the idea that someone buys a book because concept sounds interesting

For the most important factor, for me, it’s the writer. But I still have to like the art. I won’t buy a comic just for the art, but I won’t buy a comic if I don’t like the art. Unless it’s about one of my favorite characters, of which there are but a few where I’ll put up with art I don’t like.

“Only 25 shops participated, so this is just a small cross section of the industry in total. ”

Doesn’t seem like a growing mindset when such a small handful of people were asked., if they had the reach of Diamond tapping stores for a survey, there would be different results.

i personally fall under ‘creative team’ as others have said

writer is important, but i’m past the period where i would buy anything blind from anyone: the art is a big deal.

It depends on the publisher, honestly. From the Big Two, the main draw is generally going to be the starring character; with a few exceptions, the creative team is either icing or a reason to stay away depending on what of theirs I’ve read before. For books coming from other publishers, it’ll usually be concept. I have a few writers/artists who have a dependable enough track record that I’ll check out anything that they do, but I’ll typically put down my $3 for a new idea (or at least a fresh twist on an old one) over proven comfort food.

For me, it’s the story. In a universe, it’s got to have a good hook (like “Bizarro”!)
But there are a few creators who get a free pass on anything they create, so “creators” helps.
Universe? I don’t care.
Price? I don’t buy much, thanks to review copies, and I rarely spend more than $20 on comics or graphic novels. So that’s not a concern. It might be a criteria for deciding whether to buy a book I’m hesitant about.

“And aside from the VERY rare Tamaki/Tamaki, Morrison/Quitely, Lee/Kirby teams, collaborative comics rarely offer that.”

I may be misreading it, but I find this statement odd in a world where we have tremendous, prolific collaborative creative teams producing consistently great work together. Gillen/McKelvie, Vaughan/Staples, Brubaker/Phillips, Bendis/Oeming, Rucka/Lark, Fraction/Moon/Ba, Layman/Guillory … just to name a few.

I wish there was a “Creative Team” option, so I voted Other.

For me, a good writer with the right artist is the best thing, I don’t care that much for characters as much as talent, so I’m always following certain writers and artists. Add a seasoned colourist, maybe even a letterer with personality, and you have the perfect comic book.

Story, the complete package is the only reason. i have to read a good portion of the comic until i decide if i’m going to buy it or not.

Considering that Marvel and DC treat artists as an interchangeable element of comics, it’s no great surprise that retailers don’t rate artists highly when it comes to their ordering process. How often is the solicited artist actually the final artist when the book comes out? If I was a retailer, I don’t know if I’d be factoring in who the artist is either on most of my orders.

Story.

Headlines serve the same purpose as covers. Its how you sell your stuff. None should feel obligated to put anything on their advertising material. See you wont get Alex Ross doing whatever in your book and not credit him. That’s cause the name sells. Most artists names do not sell so theres no point on putting it on the cover or headline. Look at a movie poster. None think that photography is unimportant for a movie, its vital. Photographers names don’t sell though so their names don’t go in the cover. If its that important to some people to be credited constantly I suggest trying to make yourself a selling point. I say that as a comic book artist.

I say artist, but what I really mean is that I will stay with a story if the writer changes, but not if the artist changes. That happened with me on Jonah Hex, when Jordi Bernet mysteriously disappeared. It ain’t a simple question, because sometimes I just want a well told, well drawn story.

Comic artists are not the equivalent of movie poster art. Comic artists are the partly Director, Dir of Photography, Set Designer, Fight / Stunt Coordinator and on camera Actor. All of which collectively sell films. Unless one is a Sorkin level screenwriter I say the role of comic artist as equal to film poster is severely shortchanged in the above comparison.

I know I’m probably in the minority here but I’ve always followed either writers or the characters. As a kid I couldn’t even tell artist styles apart. When I was 7 and started reading comics I couldn’t tell if John Romita was drawing Spider-Man or Gil Kane was, I simply couldn’t recognize artist styles till I was older, but very early on I realized that Stan’s Spider-Man was different then Gerry Conway’s Spider-Man. As I got older I did start to recognize artist styles but I still mostly followed the characters, I didn’t stop reading the X-Men because John Byrne stopped drawing, I stopped when I got bored with the stories. In college I did buy some books for the art because that was the “thing” to do, but I quickly found I was wasting money. I loved the artist but if I had no invested in the story it felt like a waste. Nowadays I follow mostly writers. I’ll buy anything written by Mark Waid or Peter David or Kurt Busiek or James Robinson and I may be late to the game but I really find I like Dan Slot’s stuff. Some of Slott’s Spider-Man stories have god-awful artwork in them but the stories are a hell of a lot of fun. For the first time since I was in high school I want to know what happens to Peter Parker next. Off and on over the years Spider-Man had some truly great artist but since the late 80’s I never read the book regularly because it didn’t seem to be the Spider-man I know (or in some cases even wanted to know), now the artwork seems hit and miss but darn if I ain’t enjoying it.

Ideally a comic should have a great story and great art, but if I have to choose how to spend my entertainment dollars I go for the story every time. If I don’t like the story I just end up looking at the pics and going, “oh isn’t that pretty” and frankly I could do that browsing the book in the store without paying any money for it.

yeah, comparing a comic artist to a movie poster artist is not… a particularly effective argument. unless the comic artist is doing their job completely wrong.