Geoff Johns tries to apologize for Flash changes, but it's too late
8 Comments Published by Avi Green on Monday, January 04, 2010 at 1:53 PM.
On Comic Bloc (via Titans Tower Monitor), Geoff Johns has been trying to apologize to the audience for the insulting trick DC played upon them by dropping Wally West as the main star of the Flash. He may not be as bad as some of the writers who've worked for Marvel, like Marc Guggenheim, but it's still not excusable. After all, isn't he himself accountable for bringing back Barry Allen at Wally's expense?
That's something those readers DC still has left have to consider: if Johns wanted to bring back Barry, that's one thing. But it shouldn't have been at Wally's expense by removing him as the main star and focus of the book. Johns still has to be held responsible for lending himself to a most awkwardly handled move that's unlikely to be any different from his earlier run, what with the nasty undercurrent of violent content that grew increasingly noticeable, and he may have even made a serious mistake by giving both him and wife Linda children so soon, since it's gotten almost nowhere, and only ran them into a corner. Why should we have to forgive him so easily any more than Dan Slott after what he did with Spider-Man?
So again, Johns may have better manners than some of Marvel's writers of recent, but that still doesn't mean he should be let off the hook. And if the upcoming series loses audience, as is quite likely, he'll have done much to ask for it.
That's something those readers DC still has left have to consider: if Johns wanted to bring back Barry, that's one thing. But it shouldn't have been at Wally's expense by removing him as the main star and focus of the book. Johns still has to be held responsible for lending himself to a most awkwardly handled move that's unlikely to be any different from his earlier run, what with the nasty undercurrent of violent content that grew increasingly noticeable, and he may have even made a serious mistake by giving both him and wife Linda children so soon, since it's gotten almost nowhere, and only ran them into a corner. Why should we have to forgive him so easily any more than Dan Slott after what he did with Spider-Man?
So again, Johns may have better manners than some of Marvel's writers of recent, but that still doesn't mean he should be let off the hook. And if the upcoming series loses audience, as is quite likely, he'll have done much to ask for it.
Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, Flash, violence
Um. Excuse me, but what did I do to Spider-Man? :)
Well assuming you're really Dan Slott, you took part in the Brand New Day nonsense, and made me feel disillusioned with your work! I think I recall seeing you acting arrogant on the Spider-Man Crawl Space boards almost 2 years ago, and again, if you really are Dan Slott, you're not going to earn accolades around here with that kind of attitude! Stop acting in denial, son, and take responsibility for your own stupidity, because that was pretty disrespectful of you to antagonize the Spider-Fans that way.
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Avi, please bear with me. You're going to have to be specific. What exactly do you mean by taking part in "Brand New Day nonsense"? I came on as part of the writing team for Amazing Spider-Man at issue #546. I'm very proud of the work myself and the other writers have done.
And, c'mon, shouldn't you be a little more certain than "thinking you recall" behavior from 2 years ago, before calling someone disrespectful to fans? People can read whatever behavior they want into others if they bring their assumptions with them.
For example, if I were someone who was worked up and LOOKING for disrespectful behavior, for something that needed to be apologized for, I could see YOUR comment "Stop acting in denial, son." as being very disrespectful and dismissive. That's fair, right? But you're not, right? See how that works. :)
Avi is right, Mr Slott.
Well, that settles it. Kori says you're right. :)
You have to remember that your among folk who are less than thrilled with the whole "One More Day" event, either because we favored the marriage and/or (even if you were against the Spider-Marriage) because of HOW it was done away with.
Admittedly, I haven't seen your comments on the subject, but I have seen those made by Guggenheim (might have spelled that wrong), Roger Stern, Kurt Busiek, and Joey Q. himself. Thus far, only Busiek's comments weren't insulting to MJ/pro-Spider-Marriage fans or to Mary Jane herself. (I still disagree with his OMD defense points, mind you, as others in the forum thread I read countered his arguments rather well.) Stern on the other hand was rather insulting of MJ's character, as if she was supposed to be a party girl airhead all her life, character development be slagged. Joe and Mark have been rather dismissive of MJ (and have told fans to "get over it", albeit not always in those words) and all three seem to act like being married wouldn't affect events in Spider-Man's life. That would take an entire post to counter, and someone who has read more issues than I have to provide a full argument.
Back to the main topic, I have to give Johns credit (and did so) for at least providing a better statement of events than Didio did. Granted, he only has so much time to zip through the "20 questions", due to video length and (I assume) the busy schedule of being EIC of DC. But he should have realized when he was practicing his lines for the video (assuming he doesn't just grab the questions and answer them "raw") that "Barry Allen is your Flash fix for the future" might annoy Wally/Bart fans (already concerned about Barry's Messiah status in Rebirth and the handling of Kyle) would see this as a slap in the face.
Dear Mr. Slott,
"I was only following orders" went out in 1947. Also, the Spider-Man reboot is embarassing crap, and the whole Marvel line is borked.
Failcopters, lulz.