CBR Live! Archive
Bigger Mismatch of Creator and Title Than...
- by Brian Cronin
- in General
(NOTE: This is not to say mismatched creators are a BAD thing, heck, this is not to say that Tucci won't do a good job, it's just to say that when you hear Billy Tucci is doing a new project, you certainly don't say, "Wow, I bet it is going to be Sgt. Rock!")
- Posted on March 8, 2008 @ 10:07 AM






36 Comments
The Mutt
March 8, 2008 at 10:21 am
Frank Robbins on Captain America tops my list.
T.
March 8, 2008 at 11:08 am
I would have agreed with you until I read the piece, saw Billy Tucci's sentiments and looked at the art. I must now say this is a match made in heaven. Especially when he bashed CNN and how they cover the troops for self-serving political reasons. That's the kind of person you need writing Sgt. Rock.
Richard
March 8, 2008 at 12:09 pm
With regards to mismatchs that weren't, you'd think that there never could be a bigger mismatch than Jack Kirby and Romance comics, but he and Joe Simon invented the genre.
As for a real mismatch, what comes to mind is Doug Moench & Bill Sienkiewicz on the Fantastic Four (they were the creative team before John Byrne took it over). That didn't work at all.
Greg Burgas
March 8, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Not to disagree with T (even though I LOVE disagreeing with T), but I'm going to say that's it fairly easy to write a war story set during the "good war" that portrays soldiers in a non-political light. Hell, even Hollywood does that. If Tucci were writing a story about the Iraq War, where the only reason we know anyone has died is because of CNN (according to the Administration, no soldiers have died in Iraq), and he was writing about the individual soldiers without making any political statements, I'd be more impressed. Sgt. Rock fighting Nazis is easy compared to that.
That said, of course, this will probably be pretty good, especially due to Milius's involvement.
Omar Karindu
March 8, 2008 at 1:46 pm
There's no such thing as apolitical news coverage of anything. Never was, never will be. Perspective is inherently human, and a perspective is a politics.
Tom Fitzpatrick
March 8, 2008 at 1:56 pm
"As for a real mismatch, what comes to mind is Doug Moench & Bill Sienkiewicz on the Fantastic Four (they were the creative team before John Byrne took it over). That didn’t work at all."
But they were perfect on MOON KNIGHT.
You got to admit.
Dan Bailey
March 8, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Tucci's politics are utterly odious. I'll have to make a point of buying this one used so he & DC don't actually get a penny from me off this.
McK
March 8, 2008 at 3:36 pm
"Tucci’s politics are utterly odious. I’ll have to make a point of buying this one used so he & DC don’t actually get a penny from me off this."
Any sort of other examples you could provide about his political background? I know he's former U.S. Army, and as a brother to a solider currently in Iraq I think his CNN comment in the interview is absolutely dead on. I generally don't know anything else about his political views.
John Milius is also a filmmaker I have a lot of respect for and I've always kind of felt that his personal political views prevented him from being as successful as he could've in Hollywood. I've always liked Conan, although a more Howard-esque Conan movie is long overdue...
Dan Bailey
March 8, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I can't quote chapter & verse, but if memory serves he used to have a sporadic column over on Newsarama & could be counted on for all sorts of kneejerk anti-left stuff. Which is his (& anyone else's) perfect right, of course, & is hardly tantamount to advocating mass murder or anything ... but it happens to contrast sharply with my own views. (For instance, I would fault CNN for providing aid & comfort to the illegal thug regime in the White House.)
Evan Waters
March 8, 2008 at 5:00 pm
For a minute I read the name as Stanley Tucci. Which is a weird match in and of itself.
McK
March 8, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Looks like we're just on different sides of the spectrum, Dan. To each his own.
And trust me, if you're not a fan of such views that Billy Tucci expressed in the past, I'd assume you wouldn't find much to agree with John Milius either. He's on the NRA Board of Directors and a known pro-military right-winger. Hence while I feel the guy was never able to make his due in Hollywood which is notoriously left (of course, he happens to be buddies with Spielberg, which proves it's not all about politics!) Personally I think these two, both with obvious backgrounds in military history, could do an excellent job on this series (Tucci's blog, if nothing else, suggests that he's serious about the research.) Then again, I thought David Morrell's Captain America series would be great based on his work, but I can't say I found it that... well, good.
Apodaca
March 8, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Sometimes I wish Mel Gibson would just shut up about his lefty political crap.
The Mutt
March 8, 2008 at 6:21 pm
If peace, love and brotherhood is left, I don't want to be right.
Annoyed Grunt
March 8, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Not a comic, but Frank Miller writing and directing the Spirit movie seems pretty mismatched.
T.
March 8, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Good to know. I'll buy 4 to offset that.
And Greg, you'd be surprised, Azzarrello did Sgt. Rock and somehow managed to introduce a level of moral equivalency into the work (not a ton, but some), so you'd be surprised...some writers can do it even with WWII.
Dan Bailey
March 8, 2008 at 9:43 pm
T: And then you can sell one of your duplicates to me.
McK: Yeah, I remember reading about Milius' views way back when ... I guess in the '80s. If I've seen any of his movies, I'm not aware of it, but it's not like I've knowingly avoided them or anything. I mean, the fact that Elia Kazan cravenly crawled on his belly to the HUAC & named names nearly 60 years ago doesn't mean he didn't make some remarkable movies -- he *did*.
Politics aside, Cap is my second favorite comics character ever (behind only ... surprise! ... Sgt. Fury), & yeah, I found the first ish of Morrell's mini extremely unfocused, to say the least -- so much so that I didn't bother with any ishes after that.
I truly hope Tucci does a good job on Sgt. Rock. I'm a big fan of war comics in general, & it's not like I expect creators to pass my own personal political litmus test or anything (hell, my all-time favorite artist is John Severion, a longtime virulent anticommunist). I've just found the tone of many of Tucci's remarks (at least as I recall them) personally offputting. He's an extremely talented guy.
Dan Bailey
March 8, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I like John SEVERIN's art a lot, too.
plok
March 8, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I liked Moench and Sienkiewicz on FF.
Not as much as Moon Knight, of course.
And LOVED Robbins drawing Captain America.
My vote would be something more like Garth Ennis on Power Pack (actually I bet he'd be good), or Warren Ellis on Spider-Girl, or somethi...
Actually, I'd probably read that, too.
Jay the 1 letter wonder
March 9, 2008 at 1:27 am
If it didn't fit so well.I would have thought Hillary having the Joker appear in one of her campiagn ads as bit more of a comic related mismatch
Tom Fitzpatrick
March 9, 2008 at 6:58 am
If it didn’t fit so well.I would have thought Hillary having the Joker appear in one of her campiagn ads as bit more of a comic related mismatch
She might if it would help her win in her campiagning race.
Mike McGee
March 9, 2008 at 8:57 am
Well, John Milius wrote and directed Conan the Barbarian, so damn -- the man can't be THAT bad! That said, if a ridiculous pile of bullshit like Red Dawn is more or less indicative of his political views, then yeah, kind of a wingnut. Or perhaps just kind of a nut in general. But what of it? As a fairly left-leaning type who loves him some Steve Ditko, for instance, I can't really say that ideological disagreement is enough to put me off someone's work, if it's good.
What does put me off this somewhat is I think it's the first Kubert-less Sgt. Rock in approximately forever, which gives me some pause. What's up with that?
McK
March 9, 2008 at 12:29 pm
"What does put me off this somewhat is I think it’s the first Kubert-less Sgt. Rock in approximately forever, which gives me some pause. What’s up with that?"
At 81 years old and after doing approximately sixty billion Sgt. Rock projects, I'm sure Joe would probably like to do something else. If he wanted to do something like covers it's not like DC would turn him down.
Love Kubert on Rock of course, but I think this Tucci/Milius partnership could turn out excellent.
Apodaca: Of course when I say "Hollywood Left" it does not include everyone who has ever made a movie. Mel Gibson, Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and John Milius would certainly NOT fit in that category. Steven Spielberg and about a million other people would. Thanks for the snark.
Krod
March 9, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I can't buy Grant Morrison comics because I don't believe that taking crystal meth will help me get abducted by aliens.
.MarkAndrew
March 9, 2008 at 1:23 pm
That's really not a bad sketch. I never paid much attention to Tucci's art before, but I remember being supremely unimpressed. Wish we had some more samples.
Robert
March 9, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Plok said... I liked Moench and Sienkiewicz on FF.
Oooh, that sounds verrrry niiiice.
Punch
March 9, 2008 at 4:09 pm
How about Sienkiewicz on New Mutants?
Dan Bailey
March 9, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Well, I only buy Alan Moore's stuff used because I refuse to worship a snake god.
Hmmm ... that sounds sort of obscene in a phallic sense, doesn't it? *sigh*
Jay the 1 letter wonder
March 9, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Yeah,Sienkiewicz was a bad match for the book.But,maybe that's beacause I was really young at when his art turned me off of the book.Well,then again Liefield on the New Mutants was probably a bigger mismatch
MarkAndrew
March 9, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I like Sienkiewicz far more than is healthy. Or rational. He's one of three or four mainstream artists who's books I will always buy regardless of writer, character, or concept.
But, yeah, New Mutants was a weird, WEIRD title to stick him on.
Mike Loughlin
March 10, 2008 at 6:03 am
Sienkiewicz on New Mutants was a HUGE mismatch. It was also spectacular.
The biggest possible mismatch I can think of is Rob Liefeld on Love and Rockets.
If I didn't buy anything made by people whose views I disagreed with, I'd never have read Lone Wolf & Cub, Steve Ditko, or Frank Miller. Tucci is capable of drawing good comics, just as, say, Chuck Dixon is capable of writing good comics. I'm not that interested in the upcoming Sgt. Rock book, but that has nothing to do with its creative team's political views.
superactiongo
March 10, 2008 at 6:45 am
Krod: "I can’t buy Grant Morrison comics because I don’t believe that taking crystal meth will help me get abducted by aliens."
It's not crystal meth, it's DMT. Crystal meth just helps you see trailer parks.
Gonger
March 10, 2008 at 11:54 am
"Sienkiewicz on New Mutants was a HUGE mismatch. It was also spectacular."
Yes, it was … my favorite era of that book.
Scavenger
March 10, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Yep! It sure hurt Heston's and Wayne's careers.
Oh wait..it didn't. Hollywood is all about making money. Period.
T.
March 10, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Yes, because they are both such prominent, respected stars in modern Hollywood...oh wait, they were popular in a whole different century, weren't they? Guess your point failed.
yo go re
March 10, 2008 at 10:13 pm
It's a damn lefty conspiracy that's keeping Heston and Wayne both from working today. Pinko bastards...
Krod
March 10, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I was going to make the same point as T, there. That's reference to a different age.
Yo, I don't think you got it; I don't think what he was saying...