Comments on: 10/12 – Curious Cat Asks…

By: daniel

daniel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:59:57 +0000

i still have to say i think superman is a terrible character and the only person that has ever written him well (that i’ve read) was alan moore.

“for the man who has everything” is one of the greatest single issue stories ever and the first time it ever looked like superman had a weakness and an emotional core.

“whatever happened to the man of tomorrow” is the greatest summation of the superman mythos

and then moore’s supreme run probably also counts as the best extended run of superman stories.

sure, byrne and morrison’s takes have both been good and readable, but moore is the only person that’s ever written a superman story that can compete in quality with the better batman stories out there.

By: ninjawookie

ninjawookie — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:11:43 +0000

Brubaker + Cooke on – Catwoman – then by extension Daredevil and Captain America
Slott – She Hulk
Rucka – Wonder Woman

By: Mark Poa

Mark Poa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:59:43 +0000

Greg Pak’s Planet Hulk (I used to detest Hulk. This was the only run I bought the books for. Too bad Jeph Loeb has his hands on him now)

By: Eliot Johnson

Eliot Johnson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:18:50 +0000

Brubaker on Catwoman definitely stands out

By: Max Bialy

Max Bialy — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:21:49 +0000

Simonson’s Thor. Had zero interest in the character before.
But also Morrison’s Animal Man and Doom Patrol, Moore’s Swamp Thing, Lansdale’s Jonah Hex and Alan Davis’ Excalibur (writing and drawing). And DeMatteis’ Kraven, brief as it was.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:25:49 +0000

Actually kinda surprised no one’s said Marz’ version of Witchblade. Although that comes with the caveat that I occasionally thought the TV series was pretty good.

By: Mr. Chris

Mr. Chris — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:22:12 +0000

Darwyn Cooke’s Martian Manhunter in The New Frontier. It’s the only time I’ve really thought the character was cool for some reason.

By: Scott MacIver

Scott MacIver — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:03:13 +0000

Grant Morrison with Plastic Man in JLA.

Grant Morrison again, with Emma Frost in New X-Men.

Geoff Johns with Black Adam in JSA. Very slick. Also characters like Nuklon and even Jay Garrick, but Black Adam above them.

By: Stefan

Stefan — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:43:02 +0000

I hated the Punisher myself until PWJ. Even Ennis couldn’t make me read about him, but Fraction does the trick.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:12:46 +0000

It looks like several people already said the first two I thought of, Morrison’s Cyclops and Ennis’ Punisher. I actually hated Punisher so much that I didn’t even give the book a chance until earlier this year.

By: Hangmanjury

Hangmanjury — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:19:46 +0000

Busiek and Perez on Avengers.

Keep in mind the two eras of Avengers comics before this (Harass and Liefeld) and you’ll understand.

By: Dalarsco

Dalarsco — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:40:51 +0000

I remember another one. Mark Waid on Superman. Birthright was the first Superman story I actually loved.

By: Sprout

Sprout — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:11:09 +0000

Steel in 52 by Morrison, Rucka, Waid & Johns

Good-bye 3rd string character, Hello forward-looking and inspirational hero !

By: JohnBritton

JohnBritton — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:07:47 +0000

I feel like the question is not “which revamped characters did you like the best” but “which revamp was so good that you even liked the old versions better because of the new take”. If I understand correctly, then the easy answer is James Robinson’s Starman. Prior to reading that series, Starman was a costume and not much else, the blue Starman and Ditko Starman were silly experiments from the 70s, and Will Payton was insufferable. After re-meeting them in the Robinson run, I went back and collected as many of those old characters’ appearances as possible. It sounds crazy, but reading that horrible blue Starman issue from Famous First is actually a lot better with the 20/20 hindsight provided by the Robinson run. There’s a goofy Brave and Bold appearance by Starman and Black Canary that gets a whole new meaning because of the way Robinson recast the encounter in his 90s run. A tremendous series that was so good, it made the old, hoary issues it incorporated read better.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:33:15 +0000

Morrison’s Doom Patrol… I loved Robotman in the All-Star Squadron, but before Morrison took on DP, I just didn’t give a fig…
Ellis made me love every member of Nextwave
Garth Ennis showed me a John Constantine that I cared about
Slott brought me back to She-hulk
Brubaker on Captain America
Morrison’s Cyclops and Emma Frost and Beast
Gaiman’s Eternals
JMS on the Fantastic Four
Giffen and de Matteis on Justice League (all permutations)
John Ostrander’s Spectre
Mike Grell’s Green Arrow
Grant Morrison made me actually appreciate the concept of “Seven Soldiers”
Apologies to any duplications of other people’s comments.

While I would love to add Geoff Johns for JSA, Mark Waid for Flash and JMS for Amazing Spider-man, I already liked the characters/team… … but they did make me go “wow! this is briliant!”

By: Glen Newman

Glen Newman — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:20:37 +0000

Forgot my name. D’oh!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:19:31 +0000

Darwyn Cooke’s The Spirit
Ellis’ Thunderbolts & NextWave
Frubaker’s Iron Fist
Morrison’s All Star Superman
Kevin Smith’s Green Arrow
Busiek’s Wasp
Johns’ Vision

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:39:29 +0000

Warren Ellis on Thunderbolts.

And pretty much anyone that Gage/Slott has written in Avengers: The Initiative.

By: Stefan

Stefan — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:28:05 +0000

I’ve got loads of them, but my favorite example of a once mediocre character becoming great is Cable; although it happened gradually. When he was created he was an emblem of everything wrong with comics in the sensationalized early 90s: a two-dimensional, badly drawn, uber-violent, underdeveloped non-hero that barreled his way into stories that didn’t belong.

Then James Robinson came along and he became interesting. Then Joe Casey came along and his story took new dimensions. Then a couple years later David Tischmann gave us what’s still in my mind the definitive Cable; not just a super-powerful mutant and a time-traveling messiah, but also a world-traveling revolutionary that actually made the book genuinely radical, for an all too short time. And then there’s Nicieza’s run on Cable/Deadpool which was pretty decent too, and Carey used him quite well during his first year on X-Men. At one point I couldn’t stand Cable, and now he’s one of my favorite characters.

Peter David’s Hulk was another big one for me, like 17 years ago or so. I was bored to tears by the old Hulk TV show, which was my first exposure to the character. I thought the Hulk was all brute strength and anger, no depth to him, and then when I started getting PAD’s Hulk I couldn’t get enough. PAD doesn’t do it for me much these days but when I was a teenager it was golden.

Grant Morrison’s Kyle Rayner (Cyclops and Emma too), and Joe Kelly’s Deadpool would be major examples here as well.

Matt Fraction’s Iron Man is the only one that’s gotten me excited enough to read the series. I think his Angel is gonna be a contender too, by the end of his Uncanny run. And Paul Cornell’s take on the Black Knight in Captain Britain/MI13 is genius. I always loved the character in theory but he’s been kinda lame for the last 20 years or so, until now.

By: The Fortress Keeper

The Fortress Keeper — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:57:29 +0000

Joe Casey on Cable