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Shit I'm reading from DC currently ordered by how much I like it:

Batman/Superman, Batman Reptilian, Nightwing, Batman Detective, Wonder Girl, Green Lantern, Swamp Thing, Robin, Strange Adventures.

Gap between Robin and Strange Adventures is big and I wouldn't recommend Strange Adventures at all, I just want to finish it since only two issues left.
Shame about Batman/Superman getting cancelled. I was digging it, Ivan Reis' art was such a step up from before Future State. Reincorporating villains from old serials as well as the multiple story tracks in #16 was dope, just wish they had more interplay between tracks or flesh that gimmick out more with a extra issue.
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Also Robin is by far the stand out character this arc in my opinion.
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I also dug Batman: Reptilian, Liam Sharps art is pretty wild in this, I thought he was going to use a similar style that he had by the end of The Green Lantern toning it down for Batman but that seems to not be the case and I am here for the ride. Also I just want to say the Streets of Gotham look so good in this issue the melding of run down and dark gothic buildings and the new bright future of Shiny neo-future sky scrapers built on those same corpses in the distance is such a cool look.
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Nightwing feels like the premiere book at DC right now, feels Taylor is treating it like it too, tried and true street level crime fighting while focusing on Dicks relationships with rest of the Batfamily with solid character writing, it would sound really vanilla if it did not seem unprecedented with how they have roughly they handled Dick in the last decade. Also Bruno Redondo's art is a great fit for the character, I 'm glad they got the colourist from Suicide Squad back, the colours have a great tonal contrast from other Bat books which again works for Dick as a character. This is in contrast to the main Batman book right now while it has glorious art, is the exact opposite to everything I mentioned here. Batman spends more time with Tiny Onion's super Generic Anime OCs like Ghostmaker than his family, when he spends more time hanging out with Clown Hunter than his own son it starts to become weird. With Tyion's character work on Tec I thought the Batfamily was going to be in good hands in his Batman run but he went the opposite direction with a deluge of new characters that look like second rate anime OCs that are infinitely less interesting than every other numerous member of the Batfamily or his regular rogues gallery.

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give me good non-super hero comics.

read saga.

reading transmetropoliton

will read preacher next.
If you like Preacher, Ennis' work on Hellblazer is really good. Some other good Vertigo Comics -

Sandman
Fables
Unwritten
Shade the Changing Man
100 Bullets
Sweet Tooth
Y the Last Man
Scalped


Other recommendations

Grendel
Criminal
Berlin
Hate
Eightball
Tales Designed to Thrizzle
Beasts of Burden
We3
God Hates Astronauts
Shirtless Bear Fighter
Sin City
Dept. H
Lone Wolf and Cub
 
Jodorowsky is a one of a kind, possibly even on par with people like Dali. Out of currently living ones, Lynch is probably the one that comes the closest but only when films are concerned. In the comic book realm there is no one else like Jodo, but Moebius and Druillet are similar in some ways. Moore and Morrison are probably closest in the anglosphere, but they come across like a pathetic shadows of Jodorowsky. Moore's ventures to gain relevance outside of comics were all failures, and now he lives in an overpriced Northhampton home larping as a sole worshiper of a serpent God he cribbed from pagan European cults. Morrison tries to cast spells, preach about magic, and branch out to other things, but people only pay attention to his comics. Meanwhile Jodorowsky has a full blown cult, earned recognition in art disciplines ranging from puppetry to literature, and that's on top of being a polygot, training as a mime, and constantly learning musical instruments. Films and comics are just two things he is best know for.
Not everything Jodorowsky produces is gold, but it is humbling how many things he attempts, becomes reliably good at, and usually offers experiences unlike anyone else. He is 92 years old, but still sharp, learning, and creating new things. Not sure if it's drugs, his religious followers memeing him into a demigod, or pure luck.
I am not a fan of his films and other output, but most of his comics are good and even the few disappointing ones are still interesting.

I'm not sure what is the connection between Jodorowsky and Moore or Morrison? That they do "weird" stuff? That their work is often mentioned as top tier comics stuff?

It's nepotism. King and other people that have been around for a while have enough connections to always get work. Bendis is the best example of that. In spite of poor sales of his books, he is still getting work.

Nepotism might be why King is employed, but it does not explain why some higher up decided that Adam Strange should be turned into traitorous war criminal. From what I know King doesn't chose characters, editors pick them for him.

You nailed Grant Morrison's deal, by the way. Poor guy is gonna die mad that the most successful thing he ever wrote was a Batman story, and the most successful thing he could ever write again would be another Batman story.

Considering that Morrison loves superheroes I'm not sure why he'd be mad that Batman is most successful thing he ever did?

Shame about Batman/Superman getting cancelled. I was digging it, Ivan Reis' art was such a step up from before Future State. Reincorporating villains from old serials as well as the multiple story tracks in #16 was dope, just wish they had more interplay between tracks or flesh that gimmick out more with a extra issue.
I think that #16 might be my favourite single issue in 2021 so far or is at least in the running. Reis absolutely killed it.
I also dug Batman: Reptilian, Liam Sharps art is pretty wild in this, I thought he was going to use a similar style that he had by the end of The Green Lantern toning it down for Batman but that seems to not be the case and I am here for the ride.
I'm somewhat surprised that only few years ago he did Wonder Woman and now he is doing this. Most people probably couldn't tell that it is same artist. He recently also had some success on Kickstarter so I wonder if he isn't going to transition to self-publishing once this wraps.
Nightwing feels like the premiere book at DC right now, feels Taylor is treating it like it too, tried and true street level crime fighting while focusing on Dicks relationships with rest of the Batfamily with solid character writing, it would sound really vanilla if it did not seem unprecedented with how they have roughly they handled Dick in the last decade. Also Bruno Redondo's art is a great fit for the character, I 'm glad they got the colourist from Suicide Squad back, the colours have a great tonal contrast from other Bat books which again works for Dick as a character. This is in contrast to the main Batman book right now while it has glorious art, is the exact opposite to everything I mentioned here. Batman spends more time with Tiny Onion's super Generic Anime OCs like Ghostmaker than his family, when he spends more time hanging out with Clown Hunter than his own son it starts to become weird. With Tyion's character work on Tec I thought the Batfamily was going to be in good hands in his Batman run but he went the opposite direction with a deluge of new characters that look like second rate anime OCs that are infinitely less interesting than every other numerous member of the Batfamily or his regular rogues gallery.
Tynion's run looks very cynical - create as many new characters as possible in hopes that some of them might be later adapted for TV or video game or something else. And collectors are eating it up so DC is probably happy with it as well. I doubt that we'll see much of his creations once his run ends.

Going back to Nightwing, I think Taylor said that he wants to turn Nightwing into an A-lister and you can kinda see that Taylor has put lots of thought into this. My main complaint would be that it is moving a bit too slow and whole lost sister plot point is a bit lame.
 
I'm not sure what is the connection between Jodorowsky and Moore or Morrison? That they do "weird" stuff? That their work is often mentioned as top tier comics stuff?



Nepotism might be why King is employed, but it does not explain why some higher up decided that Adam Strange should be turned into traitorous war criminal. From what I know King doesn't chose characters, editors pick them for him.



Considering that Morrison loves superheroes I'm not sure why he'd be mad that Batman is most successful thing he ever did?


I think that #16 might be my favourite single issue in 2021 so far or is at least in the running. Reis absolutely killed it.

I'm somewhat surprised that only few years ago he did Wonder Woman and now he is doing this. Most people probably couldn't tell that it is same artist. He recently also had some success on Kickstarter so I wonder if he isn't going to transition to self-publishing once this wraps.

Tynion's run looks very cynical - create as many new characters as possible in hopes that some of them might be later adapted for TV or video game or something else. And collectors are eating it up so DC is probably happy with it as well. I doubt that we'll see much of his creations once his run ends.

Going back to Nightwing, I think Taylor said that he wants to turn Nightwing into an A-lister and you can kinda see that Taylor has put lots of thought into this. My main complaint would be that it is moving a bit too slow and whole lost sister plot point is a bit lame.

He wrote a touching exit piece at the end of his batman incorporated run. It was something like, Batman was here before, and will be here long after.

I just got done watching Long Halloween Part 1. What the Fuck?

* Numerous bastardizations. Catwoman doesn't fight Batman in the original scene. For some reason they felt it necessary for a prolonged sequence where she at best shows him up. It's an awful retcon that undermines the sequence. The worst though is the pivotal scene with Joker and Harvey. The original scene has Gilda right upstairs with a terrified Harvey powerless and humiliated ending beaten on the floor as Gilda comes in to see him in this state. Instead they have Gilda out of the house and Batman discover him. This would be bad enough except...

* Whole cloth new scenes. Why even fucking make this? Your not even bothering to adapt the Long Halloween. They create new scenes and though none are as awful as the new scenes Brian Azzerallo wrote for TKJ standouts include Harvey being in the house as it blew up, an unnecessary scene between him and Jim Gordon, and well....I'm just going to stop myself because there are a dozen more instances of changes so big they go beyond bastardization to being entirely different material.

* What's left is bizarre thing. I'd say this is the definitive thing wrong with DC animated studio, but that's the TKJ and Red Son. It's clear the people in charge don't respect source material and have an inflated sense of themselves. I'd say they should make their own shit, but we've seen what they come up with when left to their own devices. Realistically, you could make four DC animated movies a year faithfully adapting material and spend half a century without running out of content. I just don't think they'll get the results they want or need by letting their own egos run wild.
 
He wrote a touching exit piece at the end of his batman incorporated run. It was something like, Batman was here before, and will be here long after.

I just got done watching Long Halloween Part 1. What the Fuck?

* Numerous bastardizations. Catwoman doesn't fight Batman in the original scene. For some reason they felt it necessary for a prolonged sequence where she at best shows him up. It's an awful retcon that undermines the sequence. The worst though is the pivotal scene with Joker and Harvey. The original scene has Gilda right upstairs with a terrified Harvey powerless and humiliated ending beaten on the floor as Gilda comes in to see him in this state. Instead they have Gilda out of the house and Batman discover him. This would be bad enough except...

* Whole cloth new scenes. Why even fucking make this? Your not even bothering to adapt the Long Halloween. They create new scenes and though none are as awful as the new scenes Brian Azzerallo wrote for TKJ standouts include Harvey being in the house as it blew up, an unnecessary scene between him and Jim Gordon, and well....I'm just going to stop myself because there are a dozen more instances of changes so big they go beyond bastardization to being entirely different material.

* What's left is bizarre thing. I'd say this is the definitive thing wrong with DC animated studio, but that's the TKJ and Red Son. It's clear the people in charge don't respect source material and have an inflated sense of themselves. I'd say they should make their own shit, but we've seen what they come up with when left to their own devices. Realistically, you could make four DC animated movies a year faithfully adapting material and spend half a century without running out of content. I just don't think they'll get the results they want or need by letting their own egos run wild.
Not surprised. The Red Son and Judas Contract adaptations also screwed the pooch by changing a fuckton of stuff.
 
He wrote a touching exit piece at the end of his batman incorporated run. It was something like, Batman was here before, and will be here long after.

I just got done watching Long Halloween Part 1. What the Fuck?

* Numerous bastardizations. Catwoman doesn't fight Batman in the original scene. For some reason they felt it necessary for a prolonged sequence where she at best shows him up. It's an awful retcon that undermines the sequence. The worst though is the pivotal scene with Joker and Harvey. The original scene has Gilda right upstairs with a terrified Harvey powerless and humiliated ending beaten on the floor as Gilda comes in to see him in this state. Instead they have Gilda out of the house and Batman discover him. This would be bad enough except...

* Whole cloth new scenes. Why even fucking make this? Your not even bothering to adapt the Long Halloween. They create new scenes and though none are as awful as the new scenes Brian Azzerallo wrote for TKJ standouts include Harvey being in the house as it blew up, an unnecessary scene between him and Jim Gordon, and well....I'm just going to stop myself because there are a dozen more instances of changes so big they go beyond bastardization to being entirely different material.

* What's left is bizarre thing. I'd say this is the definitive thing wrong with DC animated studio, but that's the TKJ and Red Son. It's clear the people in charge don't respect source material and have an inflated sense of themselves. I'd say they should make their own shit, but we've seen what they come up with when left to their own devices. Realistically, you could make four DC animated movies a year faithfully adapting material and spend half a century without running out of content. I just don't think they'll get the results they want or need by letting their own egos run wild.
idk why comic/animation people in the west have insane egos these days.

it's hilarious watching them go FUCK THE PAST, BUY OUR BOOKS NOW BIGOTS

and then they watch their captain marvel feminist book sell jack shit and whine about how demon slayer or sth sells amazingly well.
 
Not surprised. The Red Son and Judas Contract adaptations also screwed the pooch by changing a fuckton of stuff.

Yeah. I get it's hard to adapt something like Marv Wolfman and Perez's Judas Contract. It's merit came in that no one knew what was coming and it had a ton of buildup. Once you know the twist, it loses allot of its appeal. You have to be made to care about Terra. Which Judas Contract didn't do.

Red Son was just inexcusable. I think that was the big break for me. I lost any respect I had for everyone involved.

idk why comic/animation people in the west have insane egos these days.

Neither do I. I mean. I get Bruce Timm. But the screenplay is by Tim Sheridan.

I watch this shit and then I go back and watch the comparatively perfect DKR/Year One Adaptations. What the fuck happened?
 
Yeah. I get it's hard to adapt something like Marv Wolfman and Perez's Judas Contract. It's merit came in that no one knew what was coming and it had a ton of buildup. Once you know the twist, it loses allot of its appeal. You have to be made to care about Terra. Which Judas Contract didn't do.

Red Son was just inexcusable. I think that was the big break for me. I lost any respect I had for everyone involved.



Neither do I. I mean. I get Bruce Timm. But the screenplay is by Tim Sheridan.

I watch this shit and then I go back and watch the comparatively perfect DKR/Year One Adaptations. What the fuck happened?
whatever happened to hiring people who had a love for their medium, genre, and also had talent?

the judas contract would only work in an animated series or sth. it really needs time.

shit like "death of superman" works as a film for the dc animated stuff because the buildup's easy enough to do with any iteration of the JLA and basic attention to detail. hell, i liked the weird DC Animated movie universe edition of that story, as cheesy as it was, because it did it decently

right down to Bibbo praying on the docks in the end. jesus fucking christ.
 
idk why comic/animation people in the west have insane egos these days.
I always think about Robert Rodriguez as a comparison, who was a legit big shot blockbuster director, and he came at Sin City saying, "Nope, I am not gonna change a fucking thing."

(okay, he had Nancy keep her top on, but I can understand there are extenuating circumstances)
 
I always think about Robert Rodriguez as a comparison, who was a legit big shot blockbuster director, and he came at Sin City saying, "Nope, I am not gonna change a fucking thing."

(okay, he had Nancy keep her top on, but I can understand there are extenuating circumstances)
i want robert rodriguez to do any comic book movie.

he knows how to keep it loyal to the source material, but also knows how to keep the tone just right.
 
i want robert rodriguez to do any comic book movie.

he knows how to keep it loyal to the source material, but also knows how to keep the tone just right.
Even Battle Angel, once you got past the basic idiot choice to do the 3D anime eyes, I thought that was a first-rate B-plus action picture. Woulda loved to see that at a drive in round about 1988.
 
I'm not sure what is the connection between Jodorowsky and Moore or Morrison? That they do "weird" stuff? That their work is often mentioned as top tier comics stuff?
Being influential and held in high esteem is a part of it. Another is that all three explore themes of religion, mysticism, metaphysics. Their work often comes close to being metafiction too.
By saying "do weird stuff" you are overgeneralizing. People like Pat Mills, Gaiman, Miura, and Ito are held in high regard and "do weird stuff" too. At the same time, their subject matter and style are not very similar to Jodo, Moore, and Morrison's.
Then there is the fact that all three creators consider themselves mystics, and talk about magic as if it were real. Morrison is trying to cast spells or sigils or whatever with his literary work. Moore also tries to cast spells, but he does so through rituals and worship of snake god Glycon. Jodorwsky dabbles in shamanism and magic too, but his psychomagic seems more like a life philosophy focused on self improvement rather than spectacle of Moore's and grandiose aims of Morrison's. Magical aspects are trash, but at least Jodorowsky's preaching encourages valid techniques like meditation and art to improve your mental health. At least that's my perspective based on limited exposure to each writer's brands of magic.
Lastly, I said in my previous post that Moore and Morrison are not ideal equivalents to Jodorowsky.

Nepotism might be why King is employed, but it does not explain why some higher up decided that Adam Strange should be turned into traitorous war criminal. From what I know King doesn't chose characters, editors pick them for him.
Nepotism not only allows you to get a job, but affects the way your superiors treat you. Someone with more connections can get away with more, management is more likely to listen, and has more protection from getting sacked. That's how some writers avoid consequences of tanking sales numbers and upsetting readers. Some of them even end up in important creative roles.

Generally, big two are protective of popular characters but much less so of smaller ones. Batman makes a lot of money, so DC is hands on with the character. That's why bat dick and bat cunnilingus get censored. Niche characters do not make much money so the possible loss is low, and risky ideas might pay off. For example, Gaiman's Sandman happened because DC let Gaiman run wild with The Sandman revamp. In case any of them are fail, people will forget quickly.
Sometimes DC picks characters, and sometimes writers pitch their own ideas to DC. Someone well connected will be more likely to get his idea approved. Same goes for situations when a writer wants to use a specific character in their story. King likes Keiff Giffen and De Matteis' work, and coincidentally he gets to use quite a few characters they worked on. In addition, he gets to write major heroes too and DC even sanctions his non-superhero work. Not only that, but King seems to get to do what he wants with them too. That mostly ends up in a repetitive, mopey stories about PTSD.

My point is actually different. Dixon is commenting on creatives. Writers and artists. I'm talking about editors.

Brief rant, Dixon and Cooke are exhibits A and B of the writer ends problem.

Dixon kept trying to make DC superhero titles into pirates, Westerns, and shit. Batman isn't a fucking pirate book anymore than its a place for you to exorcise your years of murdering muslims. Dixon doesn't really prefer capes and cowls.

I don't think it's 'fanboys.' The fanboys put out good comics. Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, and Jeph Loeb were all actual fans and put out good work.

It was the next generation, the current one that's the problem.

Scott Snyder, Gail Simone, Greg Rucka, and Tom King. Fake Geek Girls. They don't give a fuck about heroes. Many of them actively despise superhero. They write them because you can make more off one issue of Batman than thirty of your indie horror comic at Image.

My point is that beginning around the 90s, the editorial mindset changed. Archie Goodwin may have loved Challengers. But he wasn't going to keep it alive rebooting it and putting talent on it. He took Loeb and Sale and put them on Batman; leading to some really hot selling batman books. Today, editors like Archie don't exist.
Maybe we saw different interviews and articles Dixon wrote. In this one he mentions fanboys' ascent into both creative and managerial positions as a factor that harmed the industry.
He said as much in his interview with Ethan Van Scriver too.
Besides that, big problem with fanboys is that they sometimes like characters or certain versions of them to the point it becomes detrimental. That can extend to both writing and company's management. These sentiments led to Marvel and DC ditching most of their non-superhero titles, writers playing favorites with characters, writing stories inaccessible to someone who is not as obsessed with characters, or writing bad self-inserts so they can live vicariously through them and hang out with their favorite superheroes.
Of course, people obsessed with ideology are even worse. They see art as little more than means to spread their propaganda.
 
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if you people were expecting good animated adaptions from DC you kids clearly did not watch the Hush animated movie. holy fuck. they obliterated that story.
 
if you people were expecting good animated adaptions from DC you kids clearly did not watch the Hush animated movie. holy fuck. they obliterated that story.
Flashpoint Paradox is better than the Flashpoint comic event, at least (which should never have been an event and was just meant to be a fun little Flash story editorial latched onto for retcons). The Red Hood movie might be as well since that comic was meh but I hear the movie is decent. Others I've watched are either about the same quality as the comic event (eg New Frontier) or a step down (eg Red Son).
 
Flashpoint Paradox is better than the Flashpoint comic event, at least (which should never have been an event and was just meant to be a fun little Flash story editorial latched onto for retcons). The Red Hood movie might be as well since that comic was meh but I hear the movie is decent. Others I've watched are either about the same quality as the comic event (eg New Frontier) or a step down (eg Red Son).

those first two you listed are almost ten years old tho. DC's recent track record from like, the last 3 years has not been good.
 
Red Son made Superman a murdering dick, killing joke made Batman a terrible ally to Barbara and Dick and Jim. It's like the tits in charge don't understand the relationships they're depicting or characters. Red Hood was alright.

I miss JLU.
 
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