The Four Color Media Monitor

I don't know who Mark Waid is other than he writes comics so I can't and will hardly ever comment on his presumed politics. If Mark Ward's a bad writer, that could be done to him either not knowing any better despite being in a position that enables to write stories and that he might not be skilled enough to get away with whatever he's doing.



If Mark Waid's a bad writer because he can't commit to his point, that's more likely because he didn't know any better. I don't get why would you accuse bad writers due to their political leanings when in reality it's just due to incompetence and inepitude. I don't think Mark Waid's a liberal because I don't know him personally (he could be different if I met him in the flesh), simple as that. I get that some of us enjoy optimistic stories but the reason why some bad writers keep piling up the angst because they can't think of a better way to make the characters more realistic and grounded or more fleshed out (this is coming from my experience at writing some scripts as well as some webcomics).

Bad writing is not always related to one's leanings, it could either be a matter of execution (Manapul and Waid intended to do optimistic stories but they can't execute properly) or that they don't learn and know any better (that's the likelier one when brought up with past storytelling incidences). That's why bad writers may sometimes end up repeating the same mistakes that other writers did because they didn't learn any better. Hence that's why some stories end up badly written because the writers are either incompetent or talented but don't know or learn from the mistakes of others.

Part 2:

Additionally, the storyline where Reverse Flash kills the friend/lover/relative of the Flash prompting the Flash to try to undo it or seek revenge is a familiar one that can be dated back to the 1980s where Reverse Flash kills Iris West (the wife of Barry Allen), thus riling Barry Allen up and having him try to undo it. The storyline has seen several permutations done with different characters. If it’s being repeated with a different set of characters (Chillblaine as Reverse Flash, Golden Glider as Iris West, Captain Cold as Barry Allen) that’s because Mark Waid didn’t learn and know any better other than to reiterate a familiar storyline.

And again this storyline gets repeated with Linda in place of Iris West and Wally in place of Barry. And yet again with Barry’s mother in Iris’s place as explained in the retcon introduced by Geoff Johns (who like Mark Waid before him, didn’t learn any better from the past to undo or lessen the impact of that storyline in subsequent stories). And in the New 52, it’s Reverse Flash who went back in time to kill his father and with Iris West being in the position of Barry by the virtue of becoming a speedster. (As if this 1980s reiteration isn’t enough, it’s not like the first time Barry Allen got a new girlfriend in place of Iris West and that in some of the older stories, it was Patty who became a female Flash and Iris who’s meant to be Barry’s lover so the New 52 version is a kind of role reversal.)

Part 3:

I don’t really read that many comics but I parse the data from blog entries, character biographies and excerpts with me realising that the storyline is not so much of a careless change done to the characters but rather a case where the new writer fails to learn any better from the old writer’s mistakes and problems presented in the stories.That reasoning can be applied to what became of Bart Allen following the New 52 reboot where his relation to both Iris and Barry was omitted. This isn’t new when I bring up the character of Supergirl. Unless if her predecessors count, Supergirl was formally and intentionally written to be Superman’s long lost relative from another world who was sent to live with an acquaintance, grew up but got killed off and then returned in a different form. Try replacing her with Bart and you’d see a similar trajectory of sorts.The only difference would be that when Supergirl was subsequently reintroduced in the late 1980s (that is following her ”death”), there was a storyline surrounding her origin and it turned out that she has no genetic relation to Superman. In some of those stories, she was presented as sycophantic to Lex Luthor and later on was given a different path by becoming an angel. It’s not perfect nor is it easy but it’s not impossible to do something similar with Bart.

There’s hardly ever a storyline in the New 52 that would help the reader learn about Bart whether or not he’s really related to Barry or not. If there was one, it’s most likely badly handled because people like Scott Lobdell and Francis Manapul didn’t learn any better from what has happened to Supergirl throughout the 1990s. If Mark Waid’s a bad writer because he can’t commit to his point, that’s more likely because he didn’t know any better. I don’t get why would you accuse bad writers due to their political leanings when in reality it’s just due to incompetence and inepitude. I don’t think Mark Waid’s a liberal because I don’t know him personally (he could be different if I met him in the flesh), simple as that. I get that some of us enjoy optimistic stories but the reason why some bad writers keep piling up the angst because they can’t think of a better way to make the characters more realistic and grounded or more fleshed out (this is

I don’t think Mark Waid’s a liberal because I don’t know him personally

If you followed his Twitter feed you wouldn't be saying that.

But following somebody's blog or twitter account don't always give you an accurate understanding of that person. I'm not defending Waid, it's not levelheaded to conclude that he's a bad writer because of his presumed politics.

I'm not concluding he's a bad writer because of his politics. I am stating he is indeed a liberal because of his Twitter posts. This has nothing to do with "the person" per se. It does indeed have to do with his politics. Else, why would he post such stuff?

Let's see his latest Twitter feed for a few highlights:

- Implied violence against anyone who believes in creationism instead of macroevolution

- Notes that he has championed Obamacare for a long time balanced with blaming Anthem CA for the problems he's having getting coverage under it

- A retweet of a statement that capitalism is destroying democracy

- Advocates for Phil Robertson being fired from Duck Dynasty, and retweets slams of Sarah Palin related to same

- Some sort-of defense of someone for alleged sexual harassment (tough to follow on Twitter exactly who and what. Plus, life is too short.) Ends with him basically begging forgiveness.

- Several slams of the GOP over apartheid. Funny he never brings up that the Dems were the party of Jim Crow, segregation, slavery, etc.

That's just what I can pull out quickly. Ari has documented Waid's repulsive views in a number of posts.

WTF is it with progressives and threatening violence against those with whom they disagree? I don't get it. To me, that's a sign of mental instability and projection on their part. A progressive from Hube's home state once threatened to shoot Republicans because they favored deregulation. Remember how the Speedway Bomber (I won't use his real name since he seems to have a huge presence on the internet; Google it if you want to learn more) SWATTED Patterico and other conservative bloggers in 2012?

I wouldn't expect Waid or any hardcore progressive to acknowledge that the KKK was founded as a paramilitary wing of the Democrats, and many prominent Democrats (such as Robert Byrd) were KKK members. It wouldn't fit his nonsensical "GOP apartheid" narrative.

To be fair, that DE "progressive" himself didn't threaten to shoot anyone; he said the GOP "should all be rounded up and shot" for, among other things, deregulation. He followed it up I believe years later (might have been less -- months, perhaps) with an "apology."

Thanks for the clarification, Hube. I bet the "apology" from said progressive was half-assed.

And for those who don't know what I'm talking about in regards to the SWATTING:

http://patterico.com/2012/05/25/convicted-bomber-brett-kimberlin-neal-rauhauser-ron-brynaert-and-their-campaign-of-political-terrorism/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/05/25/readymeet-soros-funded-domestic-terrorist-brett-kimberlin-whose-job-is-terrorizing-bloggers-into-silence/