A Year of Writers 2017 Part 1

I've been doing my yearly best and worst list for awhile but I always cringe at the idea of putting best and worst writers/artists. I don't think it's really fair to do that when I read one writer/artist doing more issues than another. I've decided to do an examination of each writer's style to see what worked and didn't.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Writer: Robert Venditti
Title: Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps

I do have a slight bias since I love the guest starring Rip Hunter. Objectively speaking though it's not a strong arc. The Corps, partially Hal, don't act logically. The villain doesn't really shine and while his plot does link to Kyle and Soranik the meat of their combined story never gets a chance to be used well in the arc its self. This feels like a build up story line for an upcoming arc that fails to keep the urgency. Mainly because its stars keep reducing that tension by not trusting Rip or Hal refusing to speak up about his actions until it's almost too late. They spend so much time getting on Rip's case and Hal not owning up to what he did it drained my attention from the main plot. It wasted time for build ups that weren't surprising or suspenseful.

The plot about the ring Rip has stretches believably with John Stewart insisting to have it even though he knows it doesn't belong in the past. He knows the danger of keeping it. I might be able to buy Rip having faith John would return it but it's clear the only reason John has it is the set up for Kyle to use it. There's no reason to keep it from Rip who probably has more knowledge than what's on the ring. Plus you'd think future John would ensure past GLs couldn't access it...but he only thinks to limit Rip`s access despite Rip trying to save the timeline? What kind of sense does that make?

Even when Kyle looks up the information it makes no sense as the information should have been restricted for him and it was useless outside of creating drama for future plots. Soranik herself is barely a factor in this drama so far compared to Kyle and how he's mentioned by our villain. I think the drama with the villain was kind of obvious but I don't think that is a bad thing per se. The flirting Kyle does when their existence is in danger however did start to annoy me. I suppose it can be done well in theory I just didn't like how Kyle acted. John not trusting Rip despite the ring working for him shouldn't have been a thing and I don't get why Hal assumed Rip stole it. There's literally no reason for him to jump to that conclusion especially when Earth keeps getting more GLs.

Rip mostly acts like himself, I think he's the most sensible one in the story. I don't mind the fact he flew and had a forcefield (it's a nice nod to his dad) I just didn't know that was happening until the last issue. I assumed Hal was protecting him as it's never mentioned before then. I'd rank this arc as avenge but probably because of Rip, Guy, and some other cool sections. The plot doesn't quite work in certain places and what's being set up (whether it's Kyle using the ring or Sarko's parentage) is fairly obvious. Which makes it somewhat frustrating since we don't see much fallout in the arc its self. If it was two issues longer it might have benefited the Kyle plot more but probably at the expense of the arc.

As a result I'm in no hurry to get any issues but I still would if another favorite character showed up. Purely a set up arc or not I felt like it wasted a lot of time, which is ironic given what it was about.



Writer: Christopher Priest
Title: Deathstroke, Teen Titans Annual

I don't think a crossover is a good place to get a real indicator of how a writer or series works. Priest also stated that his editors and fellow writers wanted certain directions. With that in mind the crossover was still a mess it just wasn't all his doing. I think Priest excelled when he used his own characters (Slade, Wintergreen, Joseph and Grant) creating some good moments. I cared for Grant more than I ever did and felt bad for him (not Slade) when he died. I didn't understand the time travel logic that was used or how stopping OG Wally's heart affected Nu Wally's powers enough to return them since Slade stole them. Their two different people right? I don't understand why the Lazarus Contract was important or if it's still in affect. Why did Slade have someone tell Nightwing it was off, then tell OG Wally it was still on then threaten to kill him anyway?

Why did he ask for the Wallys help if he could just steal the power? OG Wally was scared of Slade because he tortured him but I wasn't even sure it was torture when I read it. I thought he was being distracted enough for the truth serum to work. Why torture someone under truth serum? Shouldn't his skill in the Speed Force mean he could have beaten Slade?

Why did anyone let Damian lead if he's this much of an asshole and no one agrees with what he does? Damian had zero redeeming moments to show us he isn't a sociopath. Aqualad had to repeatedly demand Damian, the supposed leader, help calm Raven down even though the lives of both teams including Dick Grayson were on the line. Damian also ditches Nu Wally just because he felt sympathy for the bad guy (no one else wanted to leave Nu Wally) then forgot about Aqualad to the point he got left behind too. He also pointlessly wasted time that they could have been looking for their kidnapped teammate to yell at Dick. The deal had nothing to do with their missing teammate and bringing it up almost started a fight between the teams.

The lines blur a little with what others wanted and wrote with what Priest did. The two issues he did were still pretty bad with only the Wilson family drama and the Wintergreen/Nu Wally scenes being the highlights. I have no real interest in Deathstroke who is not a character I want to follow although I admit his scenes were written well. I don't know if I'd want to read other works Priest might do for DC given some of the things he said about continuity and character development. Growth is very important to characters otherwise their boring. Continuity informs how far characters have come and why they act a certain way. You can cut out bad continuity but without the good canon how can a character develop?



Writer: Dan Abnett
Title: Titans, Aquaman

Much like Priest the levels of badness kind of blends in this crossover. If OG Wally was supposed to be tortured he didn't get that across in the Titans issue. Why was a man scared of Donna when there was no scene showing her being rough? Why were people annoyed with Garth for trying to guess what happened to OG Wally when no one knew? Why didn't Dick tell everyone what the deal was when the deal was off? We later find out there was literally nothing about it that made it a bad thing and if Slade broke it then Dick has no reason to lie.

I wasn't a big fan of Titans Hunt so I didn't expect the writing to wow me. Much like last time the characters feel very bland. In other issues of the crossover done by Priest and Percy the characterizations Abnett set up in TH continue. Donna and Garth have moments where their overly aggressive. Roy comes off like a humorless plank of wood. OG Wally is probably the best written although I'm surprised Abnett wrote Dick the same as Priest since Priest admitted to finding Dick to be extremely dull. None of  writers make Dick or any of his Titans seem particularly interesting.

My opinions from Titans Hunt and this are pretty much the same. This is a series that can't hold my interest, I don't like how the characters are portrayed and there's very little to actually talk about. I know he's written other series well and I gave Aquaman a try after seeing a preview. If I didn't know who wrote them I would never suspect it was the same person. Aquaman, in just two issues in, is far superior to all the Abnett penned Titans issues I've read. The personalities are defined better, there's a stronger sense of plot and world building. The two series are polar opposites.



Writer: Benjamin Percy
Titles: Titans, Green Arrow

I stated a bulk of the Lazarus Contact problems in the previous two summaries. Much like Priest he doesn't write a flattering Damian Wayne as we learn Damian literally tracks his teammates and spies on Dick's team. The only redeeming thing about this is the possible hints that Kori is reaching her breaking point with him. Something that quickly gets pushed aside for the mission. I know that Percy previously showed Damian being more sympathetic but he's a horrible leader. I can't understand why anyone lets him lead in the first place, it's such a forced idea that it doesn't even work in the book it's self. The issue I read this year highlights the fact TT is Percy's weakest title.

Green Arrow on the other hand is a much stronger read. I like the intrigue although I don't think he has good continuity on characters as his Roy and Ollie relationship is never clear. Roy said he'd help if Ollie needed him then complains when someone asks him to help sounding madder than he previously was. Percy's origin for Roy Harper was pretty weak although his later arc was much better. Percy either chose to ignore RHATO entirely or never bothered to read it. This comes off pretty bizarre since Roy just refers to his ex-girlfriend Kori as a friend and Kori never mentions her time as an Outlaws.

At this point I'd say read Green Arrow and not TT although GA has some problems too it's better crafted. The characters are written better, there's a sense of tension and the story makes more sense. It makes me wonder if there's strict editorial mandates in place for Titan books that end up ruining the stories the writers want to tell.



Writer: Dan Jurgens
Title: Action Comics

I only read one issue to see what Superman canon was currently like. Old and new were blended together some. I really have no complaints. I know what Jurgens comics are like so there's surprise in that area. Most of the issue was explaining how much of Superman canon works which doesn't really make it a good source for judging a writer's work. Much isn't answered like if Conner Kent is even in Superman lore any more since he's not mentioned even in the Death of Superman stuff.

Nothing was groundbreaking but it's a pretty decent read if you don't mind exposition. I was intrigued and in general Jurgens writes better than a lot of the books I read in this entry.