McDaniel read all of Static's appearances and watched the episodes of the cartoon. I'm sure he knew the character pretty well. Also, Harvey Richards came from Milestone.
I don't understand all the hate for artist's writing these days. Did nobody read any of Marvel's best comics from the 80s?
Richards came from Milestone? I don't remember seeing his name on any Milestone masthead ever. ComicBookDB doesn't have him listed as editing anything there either.Originally Posted by Joe Kalicki
It doesn't seem to matter that the two had read / watched a lot of Static. They clearly didn't understand the appeal of the character just from McDaniel's plot for the first 3 issues. It wasn't bad, but it didn't really try to capture any of the traits that made Static interesting. Of course, taking Static out of Dakota basically neutered the character to begin with.
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I got his from Wikipedia: "Milestone provided the opportunity for many emerging talents who had been passed over by larger established companies, beginning the careers of many comic industry professionals. Among them are John Paul Leon, Christopher Sotomayor, Christopher Williams (aka ChrisCross), Shawn Martinborough, Tommy Lee Edwards, Jason Scott Jones (aka J.Scott.J), Prentis Rollins, J.H. Williams III, Humberto Ramos, John Rozum, Eric Battle, Joseph Illidge, Madeleine Blaustein, Jamal Igle, Chris Batista and Harvey Richards."
And he edited Milestone Forever.
But there's no guarantee Rozum's would have been better. Richards edits some good comics so it's not like he's an incompetent in over his head as some are trying to portray. For whatever reason it didn't work, but there's no way Rozum is blameless.It doesn't seem to matter that the two had read / watched a lot of Static. They clearly didn't understand the appeal of the character just from McDaniel's plot for the first 3 issues. It wasn't bad, but it didn't really try to capture any of the traits that made Static interesting. Of course, taking Static out of Dakota basically neutered the character to begin with.
"I don't understand all the hate for artist's writing these days. Did nobody read any of Marvel's best comics from the 80s? "
Yes, there were great Writer/Artists like Byrne, Miller, Simonson and Starlin. But even they had to prove themselves for years with co-plotting and doing smaller pieces to show they could write. But then the 90s came and we got Todd McFarlane's Adjectiveless Spider-man. That's the drek we got from a superstar artist who at the time couldn't write himself out of a paper bag. Yet he was so popular as an artist that his ego convinced him he could write, and no editor was going to be the guy who lost McFarlane, so ...
I have read very few comics in my life that were as thoroughly rotten as that first arc. Even the early Spawn issues, bad as they were, seemed competent by comparison.
The problem isn't artists writing. A lot of people are really good at both. The problem is when you get artists who really can't write (or can't write yet) trying to take over the writing.
As for this comment above: "But a British housewife can create a set of fictional novels that grows into a financial empire." that's the kind of thing I'm talking about: undervaluing the training it takes to be a writer. Rowling wrote stories since she was a child, got a BA in "French and the classics" (according to Wikipedia) i.e. she studied language and literature at University. She then worked as researcher (vital skill for an author) and a teacher and was studying for a teacher's certificate when she broke in as a writer.
Most people can write, in the sense of being functional literates and being able to write sensibly about things they know. Most people can't draw beyond stick figures. So it's easier for, again, most people to recognize that being an artist requires talent and a lot of training. With writing, however, it's easier for people to think that if they only had the time, they could write a great novel, get it published and become a bestseller.
The level of skill and dedication it takes to become a writer is often undervalued. Especially by some artists who see the difference in the time it usually take to write as opposed to draw a comic as evidence that it's easier. Plus, they only see the script. They don't see the process that lead to the script. McDaniel, for instance, seemed baffled at what he describes as a non-linear writing process in Rozum. And Rozum not knowing where to end the story. That is not unusual, and for that matter maybe Rozum did know where to end the story, he just didn't want to put it into words before it was ready. I know with my own writing process, I often don't "know" where the story ends up, but I know what kind of story I'm telling, so I know what kind of ending I'm looking for, I just need to let the characters shape the specifics on their own. That's the difference between character-driven and plot-driven writing.
As an artist, McDaniel does need to know where he's going before he puts pencil to paper, because he doesn't have the luxury of going back and adding a one-panel reference to a sub-plot or a set-up that is needed for the ending. As a writer, going back to tweak the script is part of the process, and writing piecemeal is quite usual.
Also, as a writer, having to write around plot elements added by others can be excruciating if they don't make sense (to the writer). Plot elements are supposed to resonate emotionally, play off eachother and create a seamless whole. Putting somebody elses heavy-metal band right next to the string section playing your meticulously crafted symphony (to use some hyperbolic imagery) is not necessarily a recipe for success. There can be fruitful collaborations, yes, but the writer and artist should ideally trust eachothers judgements in their discrete fields (writing and art).
Okay, fine, you don't think McDaniel is a good writer, but that doesn't explain the prevailing attitude whenever an artist is made a writer these days, like with Liefeld, Finch and others. Whenever there's an announcement people question it.
I guess I just don't get all the love for Rozum. Xombi was okay, but nobody bought it. Before that I thought his Hangman stuff was pretty bad. He's not some guaranteed pure gold writer.
I think some people just like to jump at any opportunity to make editors look like bad guys.
"Okay, fine, you don't think McDaniel is a good writer, but that doesn't explain the prevailing attitude whenever an artist is made a writer these days, like with Liefeld, Finch and others. Whenever there's an announcement people question it. "
I have not yet read Static, so I have no opinion as to whether either Rozum or McDaniel are good writers. But in response to your reference to good writer/artists of the 80's, I gave you a counter-example of a bad one from the 90's. I should perhaps provide more context. When the artists who made up the core of Image went out on their own in the early 90's, some of them did so with an expressed desire to write. McFarlane was the most derided example as his writing really sucked (which he himself admitted). A lot of writers at the time pointed out that writing in comics really mattered, but many artists, accustomed to working Marvel Style, already considered themselves "writers" because of it.
Erik Larsen even wrote the infamous "Name Withheld" letter where he defended artists as writers. Even to the point of suggesting writers who didn't draw were superfluous. At least that's how some took it. And the Image era (and part of the work of some of the Image artists at Marvel before they went out on their own) is often seen as an example of flashy art and no story.
That doesn't mean that things didn't improve. McFarlane got better as a writer, Erik Larsen certainly proved to be very good and gradually the writing improved across the board. But the effect of that whole thing was that a lot of readers and a lot of writers became highly sceptical of high-profile artists who suddenly wanted to write. Because there was a sense that some artists neither understood nor appreciated that writing required training beyond suggesting plot-ideas or working Marvel Style.
There is scepticism whenever an artist, particularly a high-profile artist, decides to write as well. Especially when they have no writing credentials. And it's a healthy scepticism which for some is based on experience. Because as readers, when the new "writer" is a high-profile artist, we can't know whether he got the writing gig because he submitted a knock-out script or whether he got it because the editor didn't want to lose him as an artist. If a new, no-name writer appears, we know at least that the editor would have to have been very impressed by his actual comics writing (submitted script) to let him in the door. This is also in part why there is scepticism towards even writers from other fields. Because as readers we don't know whether they go the job based on actually being good at comics writing.
Again, it doesn't mean McDaniel is necessarily a bad writer because he's an artist. But as readers we are entitled to be sceptical of artists who think they're much better at writing than the actual writer, and who manage to displace them. I suppose I'll have to read those first issues of Static now, to find out for myself what McDaniels writing really is like.
Thanks for the response, but there's no reason to read Static Shock if you weren't planning on it. The last couple issues without Rozum's involvement were better than the first few with it, so that really leads me to believe it's a matter of too many cooks in the kitchen.
I know an even more experienced artist, one of the biggest names in the industry, with more than 40 years of great artwork on his resume. And I know that he really shouldn't be writing comics because he is not good at it at all. If you want to know what I am talking about, go pick up Batman Odyssey.
Some artists can write, others simply can't.
Do you know what a chazzer is, Frank? That's a pig that don't fly straight.
Being a good artist takes different muscles, creatively, than being a good writer. I know a lot of great artists who aren't good writers. John is a writer with a lot of experience, not just comics, I think had they actually given more credence to him Static Shock would have been a better reading experience.
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