So no, when I took the GL assignment, I read the bare minimum required to understand what I was being asked to draw. The less burdened you are by what came before, the more risks you can feel free to take, the more creatively inclined you may be. Alan Moore’s GL work was never among the few Green Lantern books I read. Not to deny their importance, and certainly not to “brag”, it’s just a fact.

Ethan

A liar or a dunce.

I hadn’t even considered the former. Now, I wonder.

A liar or a dunce.

Which do you think Ethan Van Sciver is?

Same here., but even more so, since I pretty much actively avoid other comics sites, simply because I spend too damned much time here & at loads of other *choke* comics-unrelated places at is is.

I don’t know what Quitely meant by “not having read dick”, or whatever he said. I’m not saying that an artist needs to read everything with that character, but it does not seem to be too much to ask that they read the few most famous stories that character has been in. I’m sure that Quitely had read Superman comics, and quite probably some of the most famous as well.

Kevin O’Neill’s art on Tygers is particularly famous for being banned by the CCA. It doesn’t seem to be too much to ask that Van Sciver spare the time to read all 12 pages of it, especially considering he could probably read it for free. If I were an artist drawing Sodam Yat or Qull of the Five Inversions, I’d want to look that the first time they appeared, especially considering (if I’m not mistaken) Van Sciver is only the second person to draw them. Van Sciver could probably even learn something.

I would say not reading a story as famous as Tygers is somewhat “damning” for anyone who calls themselves a comics fan, and especially if that person is a professional working on that very character. Perhaps it is not that damning, but I wouldn’t be crowing about it like Van Sciver seems to be.

Furthermore, Van Sciver said “I think the idea came first, and Geoff kind of retrofitted it into some classic Green Lantern continuity using some pieces and parts of old stories.” If Van Sciver seriously has not read Tygers, then he can’t know how much Blackest Night has taken from Tygers. He can hardly go out and talk about how original Blackest Night is when he hasn’t even read what Blackest Night is accused to being derivative from.

Is there any good reason, whatsoever, to rehash the same flamewar here at CSBG at this point?

Yes – because as fas as I can tell there has already been more insightful commentary into it in these comments than in hundreds of posts over at Bleeding Cool. (OK, that’s an exaggeration but still)

Stealthwise is right, Robinson (and seemingly almost everyone who commented on it) has missed the point. Moore did NOT just criticise using previous ideas. If we actually read what Moore said:

Pick up those ideas and do something new with them.

Not only does he not say not to use old ideas, he in fact says that you SHOULD pick up old ideas, so long as you do something new with them. I can’t believe that Robinson, and so many others, completely missed this point.

Moore’s point is a good one. If you take an old idea and add something to it, then someone else can take you’re idea as an old idea. If you add NOTHING, then you give nothing to future stories. Ironically, one of the worse offenders with this was Moore’s Supreme. The problem is that, as Supreme is a Superman pastiche and nothing more that a Superman pastiche, it leaves nothing for the future. You can’t have a pastiche of a pastiche.

Finally, there’s this from Ethan Van Sciver:

Ridiculous. At no point during the conversation Geoff and I had in creating Blackest Night did any of us bring up anything Alan Moore ever did. It’d be difficult. I’ve never read any of it.

Isn’t somewhat amazing that the GL artist has not read what is probably the most famous GL story ever? And that he would admit it out loud?

My net casino gain was two whole American dollars. Which is far, far better than I usually do.

Uh… let’s just say the Cancer joke doesn’t work and leave it there.

How does the joke not work?

It’s a lung smoking. Ergo: cancer.

It might be better if there was a tumor or something involved, but it works perfectly fine on its own.

Is there any good reason, whatsoever, to rehash the same flamewar here at CSBG at this point?

No, no I thought not.

It’s just the start of fall (or the beginning of spring, if you’re in the southern hemisphere). Go outside. Or turn on the NFL. Read a book. For heaven’s sake, Alan and James are big boys; they don’t need any of us wading in to get either of their backs.

And good luck with the roulette, Bill. Here’s hoping.

Hey, I’m glad to hear people – even Moore himself!- talking about how his stuff wasn’t THAT great, for a change. And Robinson is right. How long has writing for the masses been going on now? Centuries? It’s absurd to believe that ANY idea is going to be 100% original or uninfluenced by another one. The point is that reusing old ideas is not wrong, just do it in your own style.

Wow, I knew Blackest Night was bad, but if even MightyGodKing can’t parody it…! O_O