posted
First in an all new series brought to you by the Legendary Cobalt Kid! Each week give us your insight and opinions on various writers throughout comic book history. We'll get to past generations of comic book writers, although often focusing on current comic book writers making comics today.
Double-sized week #1 gets two writers: Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti.
Now, they are definately 'this generation' writers in the sense that their careers seem to flourishing right now. I'm not entirely familiar with all they've written, but I'll tell you my thoughts on some things:
(1) Hawkman - I agree with what Lash said in the Hawkman thread, that their run on Hawkman was the best in the history of the character. It really was phenominal: action, adventure, mystery, sexual tension, kick-ass villains revived from years past (and I mean many years), and so much more. Golden Eagle turned out to be a dynamic addition to the Hawkman mythos rather than a 'killed-off Titan' that only eight people remembered. For me, the last two years Hawkman has been in DC's top 5 best comic books, so I wish they hadn't left. I can't wait to reread their run.
(2) Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters (and Battle for Bludhaven) - I'm excited about this, despite the Ray not being Ray Terrill (which angers me). And knowing these guys are writing it makes me more exicted, as I can't wait to see their take on the old Quality characters. Hawkman readers know they went waaaaay back into the Golden Age Hawkman issues to find villains, so I suspect they'll really get into Quality's past and give us some obscure characters (the Voice? Lady Luck?)
(3) Heroes for Hire - this actually looks really cool. Here is an article on the upcoming comic, which will have the following line-up of cool characters: Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Black Cat, Shang-Chi, Tarantula, Humbug, Paladin and Orka the killer whale--master of the death punch (Gray's exact words!). Reading the interview I can tell they are immersed in Marvel history and have a sense of fun for the characters which is two qualities in a writer that I need these days, as I'm still shell-shocked from the products DC and Marvel offered me since 1989.
All in all, this is a very exciting and good writing team that produces comics I enjoy. Give your thoughts!
(I figured I'd start with writers not as prolific as Brian Bendis or as well-renowned in regards to comics history, as say, Marv Wolfman.)
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Don't forget G & P's genre work on Jonah Hex. Too bad the sales have been kinda poor, its a nice change of pace from the men in tights.
From: Canada | Registered: Apr 2005
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Jonah Hex is probably their best work to date. Its been excellent so far, and people not buying it, are, well, horrible humans beings you deserve great suffering. That's a must-read each month! (I hope sales aren't *too* poor!).
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Hawkman- GrayPal took over after Johns resurrected the title character. No one was expecting them to follow his work with similar success. It avoided IC tie-ins, rejuventated old school villains, and made Hawkman a DC must read.
Monolith- here's some fine work that got no attention. They had a great idea, followed it through with some good stories, more naive and innocent than the hawk-stuff. DC gave it a shot, the fans didn't.
Jonah Hex- this is old school western. We get shoot outs each issue. We get Hex's determined morality. We get the remote wild west.
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: (I hope sales aren't *too* poor!).
Marc-Oliver Frisch does analyses of overall sales trends for DC and Marvel's top 300 books using monthly and historical data from ICV2's Top 300 list. Here's his look at JONAH HEX as of issue 4:
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Yes, indeedy! Cobie mentioned the new HEROES FOR HIRE book in his first post, which will be spinning directly out of the DotD mini. The only thing keeping me from being 100% enthusastic about it is Billy (Shi) Tushy is doing the art... But it -is- GrayPal writing...
-------------------- "Anytime a good book like this is cancelled, I hope another Teen Titan is murdered." --Cobalt
"Anytime an awesome book like S6 is cancelled, I hope EVERY Titan is murdered." --Me
From: Up a Gumtree | Registered: Jul 2003
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I'm a big fan of their HAWKMAN work, and I enjoyed the first issue of BATTLE FOR BLUDHAVEN. One thing both of these titles have in common is the pulling forward of long-unseen characters from the Golden Age without a bunch of hoopla and hype. If you hadn't heard of the characters, or read about them on a website, you would'nt have had any idea that they'd been around since the 1940's. Or more accurately, hadn't seen print since then.
I think that that's cool as heck-- utilizing comics history without making it be *about* utilizing comics history.
I haven't read any of their Marvel work, but if they utilize Marvel's Golden Age or early Silver Age the way they have DC's, I'll definitely check it out.
So far, the Marvel stuff looks like more 70's martial arts focus-- not my favorite.
I like the idea behind this thread, Cobie. Run with it.
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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Thanks Todd! And you summed up perfectly what I like about what Graypal do.
BTW, is 'Graypal' something made up here on LW, or is the internet in general calling them that? 'Cuz its pretty cool! (Little known fact: 'DnA' was created by us, the DCMBs of 1999 before it was popularized by newsarama--I distinctly remember a thread for suggestions with Andy Lanning interacting with us). Did CJ create this moniker? If so, he must assuredly be nominated for LWer of the week!
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
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But it -is- GrayPal writing... ![[Yes]](graemlins/nod.gif)
