Comments on: 365 Reasons to Love Comics #219

By: Chris Heide

Chris Heide — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:56:23 +0000

I think my favorite work of his is his "Scarlet Redemption" storyline from Moon Knight...

By: Graeme Burk

Graeme Burk — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:44:05 +0000

DeMatteis work with Giffen is unparalleled. Even series that don't interest me because of the characters like the Defenders gets my attention. And Hero Squared and Planetary Brigade still give me that fix of Bwa-ha-ha quite well.

But if I had to say my favourite thinkg DeMatteis did then I'd have to say Captain America. It's probably my favourite run on the character (though I'm loving the Brubaker/Epting run happening now), probably because part and parcel of his time on the chracter he addressed the theme implicit in a character dressing as the symbol of a country, and not just a guy in red, white and blue tights. Great stuff.

By: Graham Vingoe

Graham Vingoe — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:28:14 +0000

Moonshadow , all the way. A fantastic series, and I also have great affection for Blood:a Tale which I hated on origianl release but absolutely adored on rereads

By: Jeff Albertson

Jeff Albertson — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:40:10 +0000

I liked his Spider-Man work, except for the Kraven stuff, which I hated. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would consider that a good Spider-Man story, much less one of the greatest. Different strokes, I guess. To my mind, the Spectacular stuff was much more successful, especially the treatment of Harry Osborn.

The JLI stuff was entertaining, but the run varied too wildly from single issue fluff to things like the Despero story. Combine that with his concurrent Martian Manhunter mini and Dr. Fate stuff, and I never knew what to expect when I saw Mr. D's byline -- deadly serious and painfully sincere meditations on life, or crazy fluff.

Still don't, actually. But I love that he writes about stuff he cares about, and that he's willing to take risks, even if they don't always pay off.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:37:41 +0000

I was with you up until that last point. Breakdowns really didn't work - except for the final issue or two that Kevin Maguire came back for.

By: James

James — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:19:44 +0000

One of my favorite stories from DeMatteis' run on Spectacular was the thre-part story where the Vulture learns that he has contracted cancer due to years of using those electric wings (predictably, this has since been retconned by other writers). Feeling regret for possibly the first time in his life, Toombs tries to make amends for his past deeds (in a fashion), including his part-reponsibility for the death of Nathan (Aunt May's fiance). It's a moving story with terrific Sal Buscema pencils. You can argue that DeMatteis was retreading ground he'd already covered with Kraven's Last Hunt (and you'd probably be right). But, God knows, compared to the endless Venom/Carnage/blah-blah stories running in the other Spider books near-constantly at the time, this story was gold. Buscema's penciling of a distraught Vulture unable to get the forgiveness he wanted at the end of the third issue was an unforgettable image.

By: SanctumSanctorumComix

SanctumSanctorumComix — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:47:59 +0000

First a brief comment for TOMER:
Bageys first Marvel work was NIGHTMASK for the New Universe line.

Moonshadow was a fully painted original graphic novel, which while beautiful, and wondrous, was a convoluted story that even I (a HUGE fan of DeMatteis) felt best to give away to a friend instead of keeping in my collection.

She was very appreciative and loved it.
For myself, it was one of the VERY FEW works by JMD that I just didn't dig.

--------

DeMatteis "KRAVEN's LAST HUNT" and the subsequent one-shot; "Soul Of The Hunter" were friggin' AWESOME works that completely grip my shit every time I read them.

---------

Also of note is the DOCTOR STRANGE ; INTO SHAMBALLA original graphic novel (with beautifully painted artwork by DAN "not just an inker" GREEN).

THAT is one of the BEST DOCTOR STRANGE stories ever.

J.M. DeMatteis is one of my all-time TOP reasons to love comics!

~P~
P-TOR

By: Anthony Strand

Anthony Strand — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:13:24 +0000

As I said in the comments yesterday, JLI is one of my favorite things ever.

He also wrote some terrific episodes of Justice League Unlimited, particularly "Ultimatum" and "The Return".

By: John Seavey

John Seavey — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:11:34 +0000

I think that I'd probably have to say that his run on 'Doctor Fate' was my favorite work of his--a perfect twenty-four issue story about faith, love, and eternal life, with one of the best Darkseid moments ever.

By: Tomer

Tomer — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 08:49:32 +0000

Wasn't Moon Shadow Mark Bagley's first work for Marvel?

By: Rebis

Rebis — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 04:40:51 +0000

OK, I'll go against the grain here. I agree that DeMatteis & Giffen's Justice League is a fine comic. It's just ... not the Justice League. The JL A/E/I/O/U (good one, Scavenger) starts with the Big Seven (or at least a quorum thereof), as Morrison knew so well. That lack was the thing that was wrong with the comic all those years. Fire and Ice and Blue and Gold might make a fun team, along with J'Onn and his Oreos and Ralph and Sue and all (even â€” ugh â€” Guy), but it's just not the Justice League. It should've been a different comic with a different team name. Why radically reinvent a perfectly fine concept and still pretend it's its predecessor? It bothered me so much, I stopped reading it and eventually stopped buying it too. Morrison brought me back to the fold â€” and now it's the creators, along with the cast, that determine whether or not I'm on board with any given Justice League iteration.

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 04:17:19 +0000

"killed off Aunt May (which never shouldâ€™ve been retconned)"

You're half right. It never should have happened at all.

By: Matt Bird

Matt Bird — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 03:23:34 +0000

These columns make me feel old. You say "JLI", I say "Captain America" and "Defenders"! Wow, those are great runs. He is, as far as I'm concerned THE definitive Cap writer. And the six-fingered hand in Defenders warped my little mind. I always forget that he scripted the Giffen stuff. For me, DeMatteis is all about cathartic journeys to the dark depths of the human soul. When I was a kid, his stuff scared me, but I also knew he would never condescend to me. Also, I'm currently enjoying his recent teleplays for "Justice League" on Cartoon Network.

By: DanLarkin

DanLarkin — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 01:32:11 +0000

DeMatteis is great when paired with Giffen. When he plots his own stuff, it can get pretty terrible (though I liked his Dr. Fate and Spider-Man). Have you ever tried to read Moonshadow? Ack.

By: stephen cade

stephen cade — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 01:26:23 +0000

"Breakdowns worked because you cared about these peopleâ€¦until Jurgens came on and made you not."

Exactly.

I cared about characters I never cared for after those two were through with them.

Their JLAetc run was fun.

And DeMAtteis could write intense too.

I enjoy writers that do both well--(as opposed to ones who think they can, but can't.)

By: Scavenger

Scavenger — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:03:31 +0000

I hope when you get to JLAEIOU in this, you'll remember to play up the drama aspects....Yes, it had the Bwhahahah, but that was the flavoring to the drama of caring about the characters (which is what I felt was missing in the supperbuddies minis).
Breakdowns worked because you cared about these people...until Jurgens came on and made you not.

By: Tom Fitzpatrick

Tom Fitzpatrick — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 23:56:25 +0000

AaaaAaaaH! Ah! Ah! AH!!!!

You forgot BLOOD: A Tale, beautifully drawn by Kent Williams.

And YOU call yourself a comic FAN!!!!

Hmmphf!