« Home | Superficial coverage of women in the medium by Van... » | James Robinson has been rejected by a community he... » | Waid and white privilege » | Brevoort clutches at straws again » | Letter page from The Secret Defenders #7 » | MSM screwball sides with SJWs against WW's traditi... » | Sales for pamphlets decreased in 2014 » | Action Comics villifies police in a Ferguson metaphor » | Arkham Knight computer game attacks GamerGate » | Continuity might be a devil, but what about consis... » 

Friday, July 10, 2015 

J.M. DeMatteis says Roy Thomas and Roger Stern deserve more credit

Veteran DeMatteis has made some pretty accurate statements about two other veterans:



While he's right that Stern did good jobs during the Bronze Age, it's very sad that years later, he spoke against the Peter Parker-Mary Jane Watson marriage, even as he had no problem with the Clark Kent-Lois Lane marriage. And that's a shame, because he basically let Joe Quesada get away with causing severe damage, and making the Marvel universe into a most unrealistic disaster. Believe me, I do respect a lot of Stern's work from the 70s and 80s, and I certainly do think he deserves a lot of credit for that. But I can't overlook how he compounded a lot of the damage Marvel's been suffering from since the turn of the century by putting down the Peter-MJ marriage without criticism or concern for the harm Quesada's caused. I can say that, if Stern were to turn around and express regret at how today's superherodom's being destroyed by PC-mania, then I could feel a lot better and thank him a lot more for the good he'd done a few decades ago.

As for Thomas, I've always thought he was a very talented writer too, and while not without his own flaws, his takes on comicdom have been even better than Stern's, and that's why I'm certainly able to give him credit for all the good he did in his time, something I'm sure many of today's writers don't appreciate, and don't thank him for. He told the Hollywood Reporter last May that when he was at work, he didn't try to create that many characters because he knew he wouldn't own them, and probably wouldn't get any money out of merchandise. The case is surely even worse over at DC, where they wiped out several characters he created in the early 90s, or misused them so badly it was pure embarrassment. They also don't seem intent on releasing the older material in trades, seeing how little of Roy's work at DC in the 80s has been marketed in reprints.

In all, DeMatteis's quite right that both Thomas and Stern did talented work in past decades. But how many modern writers and artists really appreciate that?

Labels: , ,

Yeah, but is it positive or negative credit?

Or it's typical presentism, "everything before me was wrong, but I'm way more awesome and no one will do that to me." It's a weird narcissism, at times. At least, that's one theory why the current comic-literati ignore the veterans.

I loved Stern's 80's work, so, yes, I was most disappointed with his recent comments on the Spider-Marriage. Roy Thomas, I don't dislike him and he's good, but he never excited me. Of course, that's more me being very picky, too.

Good for DeMatteis, as we tend to go for the Johns or Bendis, anymore, and, again, we deserve better than that.

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

    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.