A Year of Writers 2017 Part 2

Some more writers to discuss my thoughts on. I'll add more to the list if the writers do other titles I'll be getting before the year ends.



Writer: Kevin Grevioux
Title: Odyssey of the Amazons

I wanted to love this series but it just couldn't hold my interest. I'd forget what previously happened every time I picked up a new issue. It didn't help that the series starts in the middle of a mission to find more Amazons and goes into a recuse mission. It felt like I missed out on big selections of the story, rushed past ideas and that led to a lot unanswered questions. Does any of it matter at the end? I honestly don't know if any of it will be mentioned again nor if it fits in current Wonder Woman lore.

I love having a sense of history in stories, building up backgrounds and having it take place in ancient times could have been awesome like Demon Knights. Grevioux does try to have the proper narrator boxes to talk of ye olden times but that doesn't always work. What truly made this the most forgettable read of the year was the lack of strong character work. Outside the lead no one stands out, no one really has a distinct personality beyond the vaguest hints which makes the many deaths meaningless. Does anyone stay dead at end? I honestly don't know since the final death is brushed over and we weren't told if she could come back. Sadly not something I'd recommend.



Writer: Mark Russell
Title: Booster Gold/Flintstones

Months later and I'm still not sure what this story was trying to be. It didn't feel like Booster Gold and it didn't feel like the Flintstones. So who was this story written for? I know that the Flintstones got a reboot of sorts but they were such a non-factor to the overall story they might as well have been absent. Booster doesn't act like himself, his history is different and it's pretty apparent that it's not our Booster. I didn't find it funny just confusing as a final product. It's one of those things that if you're a fan of something you probably won't understand why the direction went so crazy. I'm not even sure if someone would like it if they had no idea who these characters were. Just...why?



Writer: Peter Tomasi
Title: Super Sons

I've liked Tomasi in the past, I enjoyed his work on Green Lantern Corps. I liked the trade of Superman I read. I honestly have a lot of fun reading his work with the Kents. But I've always hated how he writes the Waynes. I don't find it amusing, his Damian is an ass that mostly gets away with everything. I truly preferred Gleason's writing as he actually developed the character in a meaningful way. Jon and Damian aren't friends. Damian is a bully that stalks Jon and peer pressures him into breaking rules. Their parents cave and let them hang out. Even then Damian is an ass to Jon. I don't feel sorry for Damian and I used to like his character a hell of a lot more.

I dropped the book hopefully these problems will be fixed but I have my doubts.



Writer: Chip "Zdark Knight" Zdarsky
Title: Harley Quinn 25th Anniversary Special

I still have to go through my list of comics I read this year for the next part. I did read my sister's 25th anniversary issue of Harley Quinn but I didn't see the point of adding all of the writers since there are multiple writers and the stories are short. Most were honestly forgettable and I had trouble staying interested. The only one that stuck out was: "Bird Pysychology." This dealt with Harley dissecting the Batman/Robin dynamics and getting under Robin's skin. But it wasn't long enough to really make it as good as it could be.

Given the bomb it could have been pretty deep if this Robin was Jason especially concerning the need to prove himself to his father figure. But we don't know. The costume wasn't quite like Dick's from the Animated series, or Tim's or Jason's reboot look. Harley doesn't quite have her animated look although Batman and Gordon do.

Given Harley's own dependence on Joker it could have gone deeper but the hints are there. Still I like her using her skills and seeing her empathize with Robin. Which is nice given her behavior in the Batman Betond movie.