Comments on: David Brothers on “Metaphorically Speaking”

By: isaac

isaac — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 23:49:27 +0000

I had never read anything by Azzarello but had heard what a great writer he was.

So I was greatly supportive of him when I read that he was going to take over Hellblazer.

What a thorough load of crap that was. Made me wonder if he’d ever bothered to actually read Hellblazer before he turned in any scripts. The only good thing I can see that Azzo did on Hellblazer was to keep Paul Jenkins from being the worst Hellblazer writer, ever.

I bought every issue of his run, though, purely to keep the streak going–I’ve bought every issue of Hellblazer since it’s debut 20 years ago–and the taps were flowing quite copiously when Azzo’s run finally ended (died, actually).

Started off interestingly enough, but by the end had degenerated into a completely incomprehensible mess. The hard boiled thing just didn’t work for me, and the scarcity of dialog or narrative made it next to impossible to know what was supposed to be going on.

I got the impression I couldn’t follow it because he wasn’t actually writing anything.

Good riddance.

Maybe 100 Bullets is as good as many have said but I’ll never find out because Azzo’s run on Hellblazer has just absolutely killed any desire I might have ever had to ever read anything that has his name on it.

The rest of you don’t need my permission to keep reading him–you have my blessing–but count me out.

By: Greg Manuel

Greg Manuel — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:06:38 +0000

I guess that would explain why Claremont came right back and said that Magneto never left Genosha, hm?

By: BizarroBeachHead

BizarroBeachHead — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:05:08 +0000

Morrison’s X-Men wasn’t deep or intellectual because he ruined all the work Claremont had done to Magneto. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

…just wanted to get that in before somebody tried to say it seriously.

By: Greg Manuel

Greg Manuel — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:36:53 +0000

This is a very interesting take on things…because I had originally dismissed Grant Morrison’s “New X-Men” as a bit of a retread of a lot of the stuff the X-Men had been through: The secondary mutations, the appearance of an evil Xavier counterpart, the return of the Phoenix, the subsequent DEATH of the Phoenix, the dystopic future…and so on, and so forth. Now I can’t help wondering if all of that was on purpose, in fitting with the larger thesis put forth in this column.

Most curious indeed…

By: Tom Fitzpatrick

Tom Fitzpatrick — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 03:31:13 +0000

I don’t know. 100 Bullets is supposedly slated to end at (or around) # 100.

Either Azzarello is starting to tie up loose ends or long running sub-plots that’s been around forever and a day or is setting thing up for the final run.

Assuming that the series ends at # 100, there’s what? 16 more issues to go and 84 issues worth of plot to tie up.

Got to forgive the guys for a unusually “off” issue.

Hey, it could be worse, it could’ve been “torture porn” that movies like SAW and HOSTEL have been showing, eh?

By: MarkAndrew

MarkAndrew — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:25:22 +0000

So, um… You don’t think 100 Bullets (Which was, once, my absolute favorite color comic) got kind of bad lately?

I can admire works that take some thought to decode – Big ‘ol Tom Pynchon fan here – But I’m having trouble seeing what in 100 Bullets is worth the trouble anymore.
Just seemed to have dumped the (very, VERY strong) thematic core for … I’m not sure yet. Something that feels very close to “continuity porn.” Big and sprawling and confusing – But this big ol’ structure doesn’t seem to be SUPPORTING much of anything anymore.

By: Prankster

Prankster — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:38:43 +0000

I’d like to hear more about this “Mack” guy. I’m not familiar with him.

Also, you repeat the Xavier pange twice, which I assume is an accident.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:27:42 +0000

Oh God, not this argument again, Nitz.

I miss the days when you were a fanatical Morrison apologist.

By: Nitz the Bloody

Nitz the Bloody — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:58:57 +0000

I agree that comics can be literature, but if you’re going to make that argument, then Grant Morrison’s X-Men is probably not the best case. Morrison’s X-Men meta-commentary is not only irrelevant to anyone except for a jaded segment of superhero fandom, but it’s not even well done ( note how many times Magneto is told how out-of-touch and inept he is over the course of Planet X; about as subtle as a sledgehammer ).

If you had picked Kabuki or 100 Bullets as the main focus of the article, I would be cheering you on, but I can’t get behind New X-Men as the face of intellectual comics, when it does little more than ramble on about how bad comics have been without offering any suggestions as to how they can be good.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:16:29 +0000

Fantastic piece. I can’t believe so many readers are obsessed with the tights and the continuity that “story” doesn’t even factor into the equation for them.

I agree, New X-Men is a brilliant run for your above-mentioned reasons.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:37:37 +0000

I love what you have to say, David. Disposable entertainment has its joys, but I can’t imagine I would ever trade layered work for the opposite.

By: stealthwise

stealthwise — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:21:29 +0000

Batman #666? Are you serious? I picked that one up (admittedly, without reading the issues before it, as it sounded like a decent enough one-shot) and I get the feeling that if it weren’t Morrison’s name in the credits that people wouldn’t think twice about it. It’s a fun enough issue, but I think that it seemed a bit rushed, and that a moratorium should be placed on quoting “The Second Coming.” Yeats did write OTHER POEMS.

Sorry, that rant’s besides the point. I think you’ll find quite a few scholarly types on CBR discussing comics as literature fairly often.

By: Tom Fitzpatrick

Tom Fitzpatrick — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:18:29 +0000

Huh?!?
Could speak a little more plainer than that?
(Just kidding )

Interesting essay there.
What would you have to say about the WATCHMEN and BIG NUMBERS after dissecting them a bit more?