Teen Titans Swingin' Elseworlds Special

[samurainoir]

I think Winnick originally came to prominence on his Pedro and Me GN (about his friend and Real World housemate's battle with AIDS) and a humor comic that escapes me. I don't personally care for his super hero writing, but then I don't really care for Greg Rucka's either. I think they are both fine writers, but both seem to like to change characters to their liking, rather than write about the characters they are assigned to.

Chris

Pedro and Me was a very good first effort, despite it's extreme earnestness, which would have been problematic if it had not been autobiographical. Not sure it was Pulitzer material in the same way Maus was, but you can appreciate the spirit in which it was nominated.

I found Barry Ween hit or miss, but he did have a short in Oni Double Feature called Roadtrip which I enjoyed.

I'm indifferent to Winick's work and tend not to pay much attention to it, although it crossed my path in the Teen Titans/Outsiders crossover, and I felt his contribution wasn't as strong as Geoff Johns' chapters.

Rucka's stuff on the other hand I quite enjoy. His Marvel/DCU work isn't nearly as good as Queen and Country, but I think it's some very strong character driven stuff. Where I think Rucka's weakness lies is the wham/bam Superhero stuff. Gotham Central was brilliant, his contribution to the "street level" material in 52 was quite good, the Black Widow minis were excellent, and I thought Elektra was pretty strong as well. His Superman, Wonder Woman, and OMAC certainly are "good reads" and he's captured some awesome moments, but at the end of the day, I'd rather see him putting out Queen and Country every month.


I'm probably among the minority looking forward to Crime Bible, although I think I would have liked to have seen him write the proposed Streets of Gotham series instead, given how awesome Gotham Central was.

[samurainoir]

Definitely...the inclusion of Miss Martian, Kid Devil, etc. just doesn't excite me. Couple that with the fact that the "original" New Teen Titans are being relaunched in a book by...wait for it..........Judd Winnick, and you can see why my enthusiasm for this retro book is pretty high, even if it is a one-shot.

I actually think the book started to turn around after a bit of a lull with the new OYL status quo, and I really like how Ravager and Kid Devil have developed. I think Miss Martian was a mistake and we didn't really get to see her evolve into anything more substantial. His revamped Doom Patrol made me want to see more of them.

I think for me the quality of the book dropped once Geoff Johns left the title, which was probably a good time to leave. Part of me kind of wished that Gail Simone had taken on the Teen Titans rather than Gen 13. She seems to have an affinity for this kind of title given the strength of Birds of Prey.

I do like the inclusion of the new Blue Beetle into the line-up.

[Earth 2 Chris]

In Wolfman's defense, toward the end of New Titans, he was being told what to write by an editor who apparently didn't deserve that title. He stuck with the title to try and "protect" his characters. He was ready to leave when they asked him to stay and wrap it up, since it was being cancelled.

His Nightwing has been okay. Certainly an improvement over anyone since Chuck Dixon left all those years ago. I was hoping for a bit more, but I think the rotating artists hurt him as well. The first arc with Jurgens was the best, IMHO.

I'd like to see "Games" finished, but I seriously doubt it ever will be.

Chris

[samurainoir]

In Wolfman's defense, toward the end of New Titans, he was being told what to write by an editor who apparently didn't deserve that title. He stuck with the title to try and "protect" his characters. He was ready to leave when they asked him to stay and wrap it up, since it was being cancelled.

His Nightwing has been okay. Certainly an improvement over anyone since Chuck Dixon left all those years ago. I was hoping for a bit more, but I think the rotating artists hurt him as well. The first arc with Jurgens was the best, IMHO.

I'd like to see "Games" finished, but I seriously doubt it ever will be.

Chris

Was that the Arsenal/Supergirl/Impulse era, or even before that with the Team Titans stuff?

[Bizarro Amy]

His Superman, Wonder Woman, and OMAC certainly are "good reads" and he's captured some awesome moments, but at the end of the day, I'd rather see him putting out Queen and Country every month.

I haven't read Queen and Country, but I keep meaning to. Greg Rucka's run on Wonder Woman was one of my favorites in recent history. He wrote one of the most bad-%^^ things she's ever done - during that fight with Medusa, when she squeezed the venom from one of the snakes into her eyes, blinding herself. I would have liked to see him stay on the book for a longer run. Maybe he'll come back, someday when there isn't a huge mega-crossover event going on to affect the story.