« Home | Why is AV Club recommending Bendis and Millar-writ... » | The best of the Avengers movie prequels » | Rivalry between DC/Marvel fans doesn't help wider ... » | Alonso has no more respect for the disillusioned t... » | The new Earth 2 really is just more gore » | Mark Millar gushes » | Iron Man's movie performer honors 9-11 heroes at A... » | Chuck Dixon talks about GI Joe comics work » | Brevoort says Jean Grey won't be coming back in AvX » | Star-Ledger interviews Stan Lee » 

Wednesday, May 09, 2012 

James Robinson's hypocrisy with He-Man and DCU

James Robinson, once a well regarded writer but now basically slumming, as his hack job on Cry for Justice and Earth 2 can attest, is going to be writing a new miniseries based on Mattel's Masters of the Universe toy franchise, and some of what he tells in the Newsarama interview is really laughable when viewed in light of his increasingly awful work on the DCU in contrast:
Newsarama: James, since this is a licensed property, is your approach a little different? And are you working with Mattel at all?

James Robinson: Yes, and I've been trying to come up with a story that suits my writing style and has a kind of new, creative approach to the story, but at the same time, is something Mattel can get behind, something that's not so crazy and off-the-wall that it changes the franchise in any way. So I do work with DC in Burbank, and also with people at Mattel. [...]

Nrama: Were you familiar with He-Man before, or was this something where you heard about the project and started researching?

Robinson: I was not familiar with He-Man, but that was part of why I was attracted to it as a challenge, to familiarize myself with these characters. The one thing I'm very keen on doing is to not insult or offend people who have enjoyed that series in the past. You know, there are children's shows that I remember that, to me, are a vivid and cherished part of my upbringing. And I hate it when people make fun of them and say how corny they are or how dumb they are. And I know for certain people of a certain age, He-Man is a huge part of their past. People who have communicated with me via Twitter or in other ways have basically been very supportive and are very excited that I'm doing this for them. And I don't want to let them down and disrespect the core of these characters.

But at the same time, I feel like this project is also a challenge to write a story that will entertain them as adults, and I think we've done that.
For someone who's telling everybody he doesn't want to turn off fans of the toy line, cartoons and comics that first began in the early 1980s (and there was even one guest appearance made in DC Comics Presents #47 with Superman), how odd he sees the MOTU franchise this way, but not the DCU that he took to destroying along with Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns and other overrated writers and editors. He slays Lian Harper in Cry for Justice, shows no remorse to fans of her young hero father Roy Harper over this, and then says he's going to respect He-Man and company in his new story?

No, the reason why he says he wants to avoid offending fans of these famous childhood pastimes is because Mattel must have more of a head on their shoulders than Time Warner does if they're going to let the staff in charge of DC Comics get away with only so much alienating material that can even harm the success of their own toy and cartoon productions if sensible parents catch on to their dirty tricks. That's one of the reasons why the Saturday morning matinees don't build themselves on gorefests; it wouldn't be profitable when your main audience is children. That's why Skeletor may not be depicted as a true savage in Robinson's take, unlike some of the villains Robinson, Johns and other writers there have sullied in the DCU proper by turning them into vile, alienating horrors (Dr. Light, Prometheus, Inertia, to name but some).

In the end, all Robinson's done is suggest he's got more respect for one company's line of toys than he does for another company's whole universe of comic book heroes.

Labels: , , ,

To think at one time he was a good writer, and then he descended into hackery with the Cry for Justice story arc.

His current Shade ongoing is pretty good, by the way. If you're going to judge every writer by their worst ever work then I believe there are no good writers working for either Marvel or DC, at this very moment.

Just my opinion though, too each their own.

he was a very good writer till he was in a messy divorce. Where he once was able to bring new life to such heroes as Starman.
He now writes like he hates the world.

One only needs to compare the death of the original Starman, to what he did to Roy Harper in the Cry for Justice mini series.

Bobb

Post a Comment

About me

  • I'm Avi Green
  • From Jerusalem, Israel
  • I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.
My profile

Archives

Links

  • avigreen2002@yahoo.com
  • Fansites I Created

  • Hawkfan
  • The Greatest Thing on Earth!
  • The Outer Observatory
  • Earth's Mightiest Heroines
  • The Co-Stars Primer
  • Realtime Website Traffic

    Comic book websites (open menu)

    Comic book weblogs (open menu)

    Writers and Artists (open menu)

    Video commentators (open menu)

    Miscellanous links (open menu)

  • W3 Counter stats
  • Bio Link page
  • blog directory Bloggeries Blog Directory View My Stats Blog Directory & Search engine eXTReMe Tracker Locations of visitors to this page  
    Flag Counter Free Hit Counters
    Free Web Counter

    This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

    make money online blogger templates

Older Posts Newer Posts

The Four Color Media Monitor is powered by Blogspot and Gecko & Fly.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.
Join the Google Adsense program and learn how to make money online.