And Speaking of Wonder Woman
And isn't that a round about way to change the subject? I may deplore JMS's work ethic, but I can't really honestly say that I'm sorry that he decided to take his marbles and go home, because now perhaps...perhaps we'll actually get Wonder Woman back. Along with Themiscyra, and Hippolyta, and the Amazons and her clothes and such. Yes, I'm a traditionalist. I like Wonder Woman, especially when she's well written, and I'm really not quite sure exactly WHY it is, that nobody seems to be able to get a handle on her. Except for Gail Simone of course.
Because I really really want to see this happen.
Oh yeah.
posted by SallyP @ 1:06 PM
16 Comments:
I wouldn't except Gail Simone, either. Post-Crisis and off the top of my head, I've only liked Perez, Messner-Loebs and Chris Moeller.
Wouldn't it be great if JMS' Irritable Woman turned out to be an entirely different character, ala Artemis. That would win Phil Hester some fast fans...
Well, that's certainly one solution.
I keep expecting her to wake up, and have it all be a dream or something.
Rucka's run on Wonder Woman was pretty darned good too, in my opinion.
I thought that Rucka had a good handle on her during his run on the book.
"I keep expecting her to wake up, and have it all be a dream or something."
I had "telepathically-induced coma-dream" in the betting pool.
With Bruce Wayne in the shower!
Damn, that picture's awesome!
Isn't it just fabulous?
I'm not sure its fair to accuse JMS of a lack of "work ethic". This is the man who wrote every single episode of the 3rd and 4th seasons of Babylon 5, as well as all but one episode of the 5th season, and over half of the 1st and 2nd seasons as well, while also working as executive producer, etc. He clearly has one heck of a work ethic.
That same level of dedication may not have translated itself into his comics work, unfortunately...
It's true that is IS a lot easier to write stuff if you're genuinely interested in the topic in question -- and it's a royal pain to write when you aren't interested in the topic. Comic book writers get paid fairly well, and it's a nice, steady paycheck for as long as you're on a title -- and steady paychecks are actually pretty rare in the world of fiction writing. Problem is, you have to stick to a much more regular deadlines than most fiction writers -- and if you hate staying on a schedule and meeting those deadlines, yer pretty much screwed. TV is similar, but in the case of TV, there's usually a TEAM of writers per episode (even in cases when only one writer is credited), in addition to input/changes from the directors, producers, actors, etc.
Uh yeah. What Sea said!
I know in TV there usually is a team of writers (and there was in the first 2 seasons of Babylon 5) but from 3rd season onward, it was JMS solo due to the nature of the series and its ongoing storyarc.
Don't get me wrong--I am also frustrated and annoyed with the delays that TV writers often cause with comic book schedules (including JMS' Marvel miniseries "The Twelve", although I think that one was partly the artist's schedule too). I just feel that the comment about him not having a "work ethic" is unfair, given the work ethic he already has proven to have on other projects. JMS has put out monthly comic book work before (such as Amazing Spider-Man), so its not that he *can't* do it. In this particular case he's changed his mind and decided he no longer *wants* to do it. If you don't like the decision, that's fine...but saying he doesn't have a work ethic seems like an unfair personal insult rather than an objection to his choice. Just my two cents.
Well, that's THREE books that he's bailed on now, Superman, Wonder Woman and The Brave & the Bold. All within a year at DC.
I am not impressed.
I dunno. The Party Line from DC is that Superman: Earth One was so successful, that the Powers That Be pulled JMS from the monthlies to crank out more Earth One hardbacks for them on a faster schedule.
I'm willing to buy that, in part because I think TPTB are trying to feel their way around the changing shape of comics distribution, and have accepted that the TPB/HB marklet is much, much more lucrative than the floppies.
While I've been disappointed with JMS's run on Wonder Woman, it was pretty obvious to me that the whole "reboot" is a Something Is Wrong With The Timeline story that would resolve with things getting "fixed", and Diana resuming the mantle of the "real" Wonder Woman, renewed and restored in her True Purpose and Calling.
Recent ads for upcoming titles which show Pants-Suit Wonder Woman interacting with the rest of the DCU cast my assumptions into some doubt, but that's an aside. The big issue, really, is that nobody at DC really has any idea what Wonder Woman's True Purpose and Calling really is. Not JMS, not Simone, not Rucka, not Perez. Is she Ambassador of Peace and Love? Is she the Pragmatic Warrior? Is she the Goddess of Truth?
The only writer who really managed to balance these contradictory facets got them all tangled up with his psychological theories about "submission to loving authority" and the moral and intellectual superiority of women. None of his successors in the comics were comfortable with these ideas ... but every successive attempt to divest the character of the associated tropes and trappings have left her a generic strongwoman with no distinctive features save an overplayed "hook" to Greek mythology.
I need to think on this more. I think I know how I'd handle Wonder Woman, but I don't write comics. I don't even write fanfic, unless you count RPG campaign settings.
Let me restate my position on Marston:
He spent far too much time, both as a psychologist and a comic book writer, trying to assert that his own domestic arrangements could be used as a model for society as a whole.
Sorry Anonymous and Serpent, but I'm with Sally. It IS a matter of work ethic.
You sign to do 2 major characters for 12 issues, and basically put them out of action as far as the rest of the DCU goes (WW in a parallel timeline and Superman walking America), DC promotes the hell out of it, and you "change your mind" about doing it?
That's a flawed work ethic. That's not respecting your engagements.
It may be that DC pulled him off the books, but given how much they oversold his contributions beforehand, it's disengenuine of them to claim it's so he can work on a sequel to a well-selling graphic novel. Especially since it just came out (so sales figures are fresh) and it came out AFTER JMS' last issue of WW and while an inventory story was running in Superman.
There IS lateness here, he wasn't pulled off for the reasons stated (or not SOLELY for those reasons). That's also a question of work ethic. If I were DC, I'd have pulled him off because his issues have been TERRIBLE, and I would have spun something to the effect of "he's doing graphic novels now". I don't believe for a second that it's about the changing nature of the industry. Because the monthlies are still going on without him!!
Be apologists if you like, but don't try to sell me the Brooklyn Bridge. What I REALLY want to know is: Where's that image from, Sally?
The picture is by Al Rio, and I think I swiped it from the DC Woman Kicking Ass site.
I think.
But I surely do like it.
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