Comments on: Comic Book Alphabet of Cool - O

By: Matt D

Matt D — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:48:23 +0000

Wow. We have VERY different tastes. We'll have to agree to disagree there and relish in the sheer novelty of our differences.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:33:44 +0000

"Ostrander might be the best superhero comics writer ever. The only person I might put ahead of him is Stern."

We obviously have very different tastes. Roger Stern is just behind John Ostrander on my list of writers I avoid

By: DBish

DBish — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:59:16 +0000

Excellent article

By: Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:39:19 +0000

Anonymous, I believe John O.'s first comic work was actually in First Comic's Warp series. After that, he took over writing Starslayer with issue #9 (after Grell's departure to do Jon Sable) and Grimjack came along as a backup character in issue #10, eventually proving to be more popular than the main story in the book. All of that occurred after Starslayer jumped over to First.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:32:31 +0000

I thought Ostrander started at Pacific Comics with StarSlayer and GrimJack as the backup feature of that comic. @ other factoids. Ostrander is just wrapping up a Suicide Squad mini series and he is a columnist at Comicmix, where he also writes new Grimjack and Munden's Bar online comics.

By: Anthony Strand

Anthony Strand — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:48:19 +0000

Ostrander is, for me, one of the all-time greatest writers at expanding the DC Universe. Every significant run he's had for DC - Suicide Squad, Spectre, Firestorm, Martian Manhunter - has subtly added to the DC canon. He's never flashy, he doesn't call attention to the additions, but he's full of 'em. Love that guy.

By: Matt D

Matt D — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:48:28 +0000

Ostrander might be the best superhero comics writer ever. The only person I might put ahead of him is Stern.

Regardless, he's probably my favorite.

I just wish he had more Marvel work over the years.

By: vegheadjones

vegheadjones — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:21:06 +0000

What about Hawkworld? Granted it had problems fitting in with DCU continuity, but it was another excellent series overall, with a sophisticated look at many societal issues and great artwork from Duuresama, Truman and others.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:28:45 +0000

I agree with DanCJ. I'm just not that into Ostrander. I notice that this post entirely skipped over Ostrander's time at Valiant, when he turned Rai and Magnus into incredibly boring comics.

By: Carlos Futino

Carlos Futino — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:58:52 +0000

Great choice... His work is fantastic.

By the way... I miss his Manhunter. Mark Shaw was a great character and Ostrander made him into a personal favorite for me.

By: Jeff Ryan

Jeff Ryan — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:45:58 +0000

Wednesday, April 9: two days and counting until (please please please) Brian adds Quasar to the list of cool! Who else was the star of his own cake?

By: Martha Thomases

Martha Thomases — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:40:32 +0000

John is doing brilliant work with brand-new GrimJack stories (with art by the inimitable Timothy Truman) on ComicMix.com every week. And it's free!

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:29:46 +0000

John Ostrander is right near the top of my list of writers I actively avoid - just behind Doug Moench

- oh and just for the record, I'm not posting comments too quickly - this is my first comment of the day! At least it's not calling me cowboy any more

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:27:57 +0000

That cover with Oracle is great.

By: Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:48:19 +0000

Excellent choice! Ostrander is hands down one of the best writers in comics and one who doesn't get nearly enough recognition for it. I'm glad to see DC is finally starting to rediscover that and giving him some more work with their characters. Now if only they would do his and Mandrake's Spectre series some proper justice by providing us with more than 1 trade paperback for it. Like Ostrander, that series deserves more acclaim and a wider audience. It was, along with Starman, the best thing to come out of DC's mainstream lineup in the mid-to-late 90's, and one of the best comics of that era, period. Plus, there's that elephant in the room of the Suicide Squad Showcase trade that is still sitting in limbo somewhere... On a more positive note, how great is it to see Ostrander back working with two of his best series, Grimjack and Suicide Squad?