Grumpy Old Fan | Chris Roberson, marketing and the Silver Age
Anything you can do...
There are three things rattling around in my head today: Chris Roberson's public departure from DC/Vertigo, John Seavey's empirical evaluation of the Silver Age, and the notion of a Justice League movie.
Not surprisingly, the last is a product of the inescapable, wearying Avengers hype. My 3-year-old daughter, who knows superheroes mostly from her dad's toy collection (or if they're on 'WordGirl'), happened to see a commercial the other day and exclaimed 'Hey, it's Captain America!' (She has since started playing with Mary Marvel and Katma Tui.)
As it happens, I'm perfectly happy to hold off seeing Avengers ' and doing my part to deny it a big opening, in protest of Marvel's treatment of Jack Kirby ' until after its first weekend. (For this Bluegrass State native, the Kentucky Derby will always be a bigger deal.) Although I am obviously more of a DC guy, I should be at least moderately excited for this movie. I grew up on the Avengers of the 1970s and early '80s, when it was written by the likes of Steve Englehart, Jim Shooter, and Steven Grant, and pencilled by George Pérez and John Byrne. A couple of decades later, I eagerly followed the Busiek/Pérez run. For the most part I have enjoyed the Marvel movies, especially Captain America; and I didn't mind The Ultimates, which surely informs much of the new movie. I trust Joss Whedon to present Earth's Mightiest in the best light possible.
So along with the bad taste of creator exploitation, perhaps it's a bit of pre-movie burnout which has got me down, or perhaps it's just the constant drumbeat of publicity. Either way, it got me thinking about a Justice League movie'.
' until that line of thought ran into Chris Roberson's Wittenberg-gate declaration. I am sad to see Roberson leave DC, both because it's hard to argue with his stance and because I enjoyed his work on Superman, Superman/Batman, and the Star Trek/Legion crossover. I say it's hard to argue with Roberson's position because his actions speak for themselves and arise from his own perceptions. Personally, I'm sympathetic. No one wants to work for a company, or a group within it, which behaves unacceptably. That behavior need not be ingrained, either ' I'm reminded of an NPR story on Wal-Mart's practices in Mexico which asserted that bribery was at odds with its particular brand of cutthroat ethics.
Thus, Before Watchmen and DC's treatment of the Siegel heirs were so transgressive that they caused Roberson to disassociate himself from the publisher. That's fine, and I understand where he's coming from. It's a shame, though, because Roberson strikes me as someone who was poised for great work within the context of DC's pre-relaunch superhero line. He has a distinct talent for blending beloved minutiae into straightforward, entertaining storytelling which doesn't go overboard on nostalgia. Most of Star Trek/Legion was Easter eggs from both universes, his S/B arc combined DC One Million with an early-'80s status quo, and he tried to wrangle J. Michael Straczynski's characterization of Superman into something a little more recognizable. The New-52 relaunch made DC trivia somewhat less essential, so in a way he and the company were becoming estranged already. If you don't want a fun Superman story which picks up from a relatively-obscure 1970s element (let's say the Elliott S! Maggin creation Towbee), you don't especially need someone of his ability. This is not to say that I value Chris Roberson only for his grasp of obscure continuity ' far from it ' but obscure continuity is not something in which DC currently seems particularly interested.
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By contrast, I suspect TimeWarner is at least nominally interested in doing with the Justice League what Marvel appears poised to do with the Avengers: build a billion-dollar multi-movie crossover franchise out of the idea that these folks all know each other.
This is at best a pipe dream. Most likely I won't have to worry about protesting a Justice League movie, because there is next to no chance that one will be made in my lifetime. Warner Bros. would need at least four successful non-Batman superhero movies to be reasonable hits in rapid succession, and that isn't happening. Other than Batman, Warners just doesn't have a successful superhero franchise. Heck, it hasn't had a non-Batman superhero sequel since Superman Returns (or Superman IV, if you measure a franchise by a sequel which appears fairly soon after its predecessor). That non-Batman list includes the four Superman movies and Supergirl (1978-87), the two Swamp Thing movies (1982, 1989), then Steel (1997), Catwoman (2004), Superman Returns (2006) Watchmen (2009), Jonah Hex (2010), and last summer's Green Lantern trying their darnedest to find audiences.
Warners could easily copy the Avengers marketing plan, for example by using J'Onn J'Onzz in every lead-in movie. As a shape-shifter, he could lurk in the margins of the lead-in movies, posing as a random detective, government official, or ambassador. Still, Warners and DC have been trying to get Flash and Wonder Woman to the big screen for a long time now, with nothing so far to show for it. As much as I would like to see both characters adapted properly (not to mention Aquaman and another crack at Green Lantern), I am hardly confident of any future efforts.
That doesn't mean they won't keep trying. Marvel released Thor and Captain America last summer, so why not do two at a time? You could have Flash and Green Lantern 2 in 2015, Wonder Woman and the next Batman in 2016, Aquaman and the next Superman in 2017, and Justice League in 2018. By that time all the newness will be off the New-52, but so what? The movie will likely feature some alien invasion ' yes, like Avengers, but JLA did it first, both with Starro and the Appellaxians ' and why not make it Darkseid, like the inaugural New-52 arc? It's not going to be anything deep. It's going to be convincing audiences that they want to see these characters together, when there's no compelling reason why they should care who half of them are.
Of course, that's eminently appropriate for the origin of the Justice League, which (like the Justice Society before it) was grounded in marketing. Fannish wish-fulfillment was a part of it too, whether you're talking about the JLA or the JSA, but that's just the flip side of selling books ' and it's a sentiment the general public doesn't automatically share. I've argued previously that the Justice League has no thematic reason to exist. It's not a school, a family, or a demographic. In fact, in the context of the larger DC Universe, it exists specifically in relation to ' and 'above' ' everyone else. The JLA is the World's Greatest Super-Heroes, but to moviegoers they're just some more super-heroes ' and hey, if they're all teaming up, where are the Avengers anyway'?
That's getting a little farther down the road than is probably necessary, though. I have the sense ' perhaps unwarranted, but there nonetheless ' that the New-52 Justice League is the precursor for a still-hypothetical movie in the same way that The Ultimates seems to inform the big-screen Avengers. Both marry a certain lack of grounding in comic-book history with an aggressively modern sensibility, and both can get away with it to some degree because each team's all-star nature belies that kind of grounding. You can't really do a straight-up New Teen Titans adaptation ' assuming you'd want to, which is another question entirely ' without getting into the histories of Batman and Robin and the Doom Patrol, because Robin and Changeling (nee Beast Boy) come into those series with particular emotional issues formed by their previous associations. However, because the Justice League is basically just this clash of archetypes, for practical purposes it doesn't matter whether Green Lantern or Aquaman bring anything especially Silver Age-y to the table.
Naturally I say 'for practical purposes' because the Justice League carries with it a certain Silver Age-y sensibility. This comes both from its prominence in DC's shared universe of the 1960s and '70s, and from being defined negatively by what it was not. It wasn't meant to be close-knit and dedicated, like the Detroit League; overly reliant on relationships, like the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League International; or unsure of its status, like the Leagues of the early '90s. Instead, over twenty-four years the original Justice League of America became an institution, and when Aquaman disbanded it in 1984's JLA Annual #2, an era went with it. That kind of attitude can't be established simply by fiat at the end of six issues, and it remains to be seen whether a multi-year Avengers-style plan will do the trick.
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Finally, John Seavey's post on the Silver Age's empirical merits helped remind me that DC will always have a love/hate relationship with its most influential period. Few phrases in comics history are more evocative (or, perhaps, more prejudicial) than 'Silver Age DC,' which brings to mind everything from parallel Earths and various Jimmy Olsen humiliations to Space Cabbie and the lettering of Ira Schnapp. After citing better pacing, less solemnity, more creativity, and more diversity (in terms of story and characters), Seavey concludes that Silver Age creative teams 'weren't imitating the Silver Age all the damn time:'
Once you scratch off the veneer of humorlessness, decompression and self-consciously 'adult' storytelling that covers modern comics, what you basically get is a bunch of people trying very hard to recreate the comics that were popular when they were kids. [...] Now all we get is an extended 'house mix' of [Silver Age] stories.
I'm not necessarily disagreeing, but I'd say that for most of the past forty years, DC has been trying to update the Silver Age; and now, with the New-52, it's trying to re-establish most of the books without relying on specific Silver Age foundations. As a practical matter this is not unreasonable, especially if DC sees Silver Age trappings as unfriendly to new readers. However, as we've seen with the ostensibly-untouched Batman and Green Lantern families, an established history doesn't have to be a turnoff. It's all in the execution, which is why it's frustrating to see the publisher run away from its history as a general rule. Right now a clean break might have been the best thing for The Flash, but perhaps not for Superman or even (dare I say it) Hawkman. Hey, Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza wrote a credible Hawkman as part of Trinity's supporting cast, and they had to deal with all that continuity'.
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The ultimate irony in all of this dot-connecting remains the notion that I, as a fairly-typical Longtime DC Fan, would like nothing better than an endless stream of extrapolation from the comics universe with which I am most familiar. That necessarily involves building on (or, if you're so inclined, ripping off) any number of comics professionals who likely remain undercompensated for their work. That's the bittersweetness of Chris Roberson's situation: he refuses to participate in such a system despite his tremendous potential for creative success within it. More power to him, and hopes for continued success, but I'd love Roberson on Superman, New-52 or not, because I loved reading his Superman stories. Instead, I'm catching up on Memorial, and I'll be looking out for his creator-owned work.
Meanwhile, who knows how many other professionals are turning away from DC and Marvel based on those companies' actions? Corporately-produced superhero comics aren't the purest form of creative expression, but they're far from the worst. However, as long as DC and Marvel remain tone-deaf on these matters, their talent pool will dwindle and the overall quality of their superhero lines will suffer.
To be sure, I am complicit in DC's and Marvel's behavior as long as I continue to buy what they're selling. However, although very little I do is entirely guilt-free, I am long past being satisfied merely by base fanservice and/or continuity porn. To keep this longterm fan coming back, DC has to do right, demonstrably and consistently, by the professionals on whose work it depends.
I recognize that DC will never be fully transparent, and I do not expect that. Nevertheless, everyone has his breaking point. Chris Roberson has apparently reached his, and mine may not be far off.
20 Comments
'Nevertheless, everyone has his breaking point.' Yep. Mine was the nu52.
Still buying The Shade, though.
You know, if they announced a Justice League movie starring Batman, Superman, the Halle Berry Catwoman, Swamp Thing, Jonah Hex, Steel, Green Lantern, Rorshach and Supergirl, that would really be something to see.
Only if Steel is played by Shaq, and Batman by George Clooney
I love the points you bring up in this piece.
I feel that (building off the analogy of bad company/creator relations being in DC's DNA since Jack Liebowitz) maybe it's time that the Big Two were given a DNA transplant'and started acting like the kid they gave birth to that is Image.
I don't really agree with Roberson. He seems to be picking a fight with DC where none existed for him, based purely on his personal ideal standards of corporate responsibility. He really has no 'dog' in the 'race' so to speak, but instead is making a 'principled stand'. Or to put it less charitably, he is grandstanding by slamming his employer out of the blue. Either way, it's basically unprofessional and self-defeating. I have sympathy for his situation but the reality is that there are scads of talented writers who could easily take his place.
Don't know what else to say about it.
'I'm perfectly happy to hold off seeing Avengers ' and doing my part to deny it a big opening, in protest of Marvel's treatment of Jack Kirby ' until after its first weekend'
Or, buy a ticket to any other movie but watch THE AVENGERS instead. Win!
'He really has no 'dog' in the 'race' so to speak, but instead is making a 'principled stand'. Or to put it less charitably, he is grandstanding by slamming his employer out of the blue.'
What I don't understand is, why do people value sucking up to your employer over sticking to your own personal ethics? How come when they even give the praise of 'well, good for him for having principals,' it seems to always be followed with some sort of caveat along the lines of ''buuut, he should just shut up and fall in line, because it's not gonna change anything anyway?'
It honestly blows my mind.
@Joe H
You're equation of 'shutting up,' 'falling in line,' and 'sucking up to your employer' isn't valid. Falling in line and sucking up would require Roberson, or whichever writer, to literally issue a public statement saying 'screw Alan Moore, DC is totally in the right, hurray for Before Watchmen!'
I think Paul's point is more that Roberson's actions, to many, don't seem to be entirely rational, which I'm betting is why Paul said Roberson didn't really 'have a dog in the fight.' He's not really standing up for himself and he himself was never wronged by DC, instead he's made a decision out of the blue to burn a bridge on behalf of people he most likely doesn't personally know and, at least in the case of Moore, certainly has no idea who he is and likely doesn't give a damn about him. So basically, he gave up future work and burned a major bridge in a very public way over abstract ideals.
It's his life, so I'm not going to come outright and say that he was wrong in making that decision, as he runs his life by his own ideals, as well he should. But I don't think it's a path many others would have taken, myself included.
I will say, however, that I have found the sudden lionization of Chris Roberson's work as a creator to be interesting. Are all the persons coming out of the blue praising his work just silent up until now, or have his actions really caused people to look back on his work more favourably?
People, as in this article, have all started coming out praising his run on Superman, despite it being almost unanimously roasted critically when it was coming out. I personally also thought it was weak.
And then there's iZombie, which, again critically speaking, was a pretty middling series. Again, it wasn't a series I enjoyed, despite giving it a good six issues due to Allred. Part of that was due to the glacial storytelling, but the bigger part of it, admittedly, was due to my own personal tastes (I'm not a hipster and despise anything remotely 'indie' in the indie rock scene sense of the word).
But hey'his Cinderella was ok and that series he did for BOOM was forgettable, but decent enough.
But yeah, when I look back on his body of work, I just see Roberson as a decent/ok writer, but suddenly, it seems like the internet is spinning Roberson's departure as being a MAJOR loss and creative blow to DC, as though they'd just lost Scott Snyder or something. Alright, maybe not that bad'.maybe more like Jeff Lemire or Brian Azzarello.
I haven't enjoyed most of Marvel's movies. Still haven't seen Thor or Captain America, and probably won't see Avengers for a couple of years. While the recent Batman movies have been good, I wouldn't bet on Justice League being a success.
This talk of 'dog in the fight' misses the point. If your current boss (spouse, teammate, etc.) is mistreating, in your opinion, a former employee (spouse, teammate, etc.) that changes how you perceive your current boss (spouse, teammate, etc.).
On the topic of lionizing Roberson's work' I am a fan but I know that the titles he has been on aren't going to earn lots of water cooler talk. Was Roberson's Starborn better than Waid's Traveler? Yup. But most people are never going to read them, so it doesn't matter. Were Matt Sturges' filler issues of Zatanna, Power Girl and the Spirit better than more than half of the nuDC? Yup. Should comicsalliance and bleedingcool have articles about that? Newsarama won't because no one will release that as a press release. The smaller news sites like comicscontinuum, majorspoilers, io9, brokenfrontier, etc. don't do that. CBR's reviews are mercurial so they're worthless.
When someone is in the news, that's the time to say 'hey, I remember liking her/his comics.' It's less lionize and more applaud.
Given that Roberson's Monkeybrain Press has published Jess Nevins' annotations to Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, it's a safe bet that Moore knows who he is.
@Frank
And yet are DC's actions with respect to the matters that seem to have spurred Roberson on particularly revelatory? There's a lot he'd probably have known prior to starting to work for DC. Of course, at that point, he was a relatively unknown creator given an in by his buddy Bill Willingham so'..perhaps he decided to bite his tongue, make a name, and then let his moral indignation kick in?
Or were all these matters only suddenly revealed to him when Before Watchmen came out? I'm struggling to see how, realistically, his perceptions of his employer could change so dramatically based upon issues that had been churning for years.
Also, changing your perception is one thing'.that change being strong enough to burn your bridge in a public, inflammatory matter is another level entirely.
@Steve
That would actually explain quite a lot. If there's this personal and/or professional connection between Moore and Roberson, it makes his actions very easy to understand.
Of course, as I said, that also would only further beg the question of why he ever worked for DC to begin with'.
Perhaps Roberson decided to compromise his personal feelings about DC to make a name for himself, and then only once this was accomplished to some degree, spurning DC and letting his personal ethics kick in. After all, having been given no book to write in the new 52, perhaps Roberson felt that he'd gotten as much mileage as he could out of DC and that now was the time to stop biting his tongue.
Honestly, all the more power to him if that's at all the case.
If anyone actually bothered to actually read Roberson's Comics Journal interview, they'd know that Roberson and Moore do know each other, and that Roberson discussed the Watchmen situation with Moore. As the above poster said, Roberson has also published books on Moore's work. Roberson is also very close friends with Michael Moorcock, who is a good friend of Alan Moore's. Enough of this 'taking a bullet for someone who doesn't care he exists' crap. I assume that someone who actually has contact with Moore and his circle knows a little more about what's going on behind closed doors thanJoe Fanboy.
Many of us who are lauding Roberson's talent know his work from other media. He's a novelist and publisher who was very well-known in the literary SF world before coming to comics.
Oh, and on a lighter note, if a JLA movie ever happens, forget an alien invasion or Darkseid. This is one area where they could one-up Marvel and the Avengers. The villain has to be: THE LEGION OF DOOM. Luthor, Zod, The Joker, Ra's al Ghul, Black Manta, etc. sitting in the same room together is a hell of a better movie trailer than Loki and a bunch of aliens and explosions. It even builds the origin in: what greater threat could there be than the heroes' greatest villains banding together to destroy them? You just know that Luthor would think of the team angle first, anyway (of course, Batman would have his contingancy plan')
I've been awake too long'
If they want a JL movie maybe Marvel Studios should be contracted to do the lead in movies. They do have a track record'
Roberson had Monkeybrain up and successfully running long before he did any work for DC. He had already published several novels and short stories. He didn't need DC to make a name for himself.
I never said and don't think that Roberson should 'suck up' to his employer. Paladin King made the point very well, which is that Roberson burned a major bridge publicly for an abstract ideal. Not getting on a high horse and slamming your employer is not the same thing as sucking up. Roberson even says he was happy for the Siegel heirs when he started working for DC. Really? Happy that they would get tens of millions of dollars from DC just because it was 'right'? Rooting for your company to shell out that much money in essentially punitive damages is misguided and again begs the question of why work for them in the first place.
It's like saying, I know DC is number two in the market and I want to work for them because I like losers. But Roberson wasn't even that straightforward.
'Oh, and on a lighter note, if a JLA movie ever happens, forget an alien invasion or Darkseid. This is one area where they could one-up Marvel and the Avengers. The villain has to be: THE LEGION OF DOOM. Luthor, Zod, The Joker, Ra's al Ghul, Black Manta, etc. sitting in the same room together is a hell of a better movie trailer than Loki and a bunch of aliens and explosions. It even builds the origin in: what greater threat could there be than the heroes' greatest villains banding together to destroy them? You just know that Luthor would think of the team angle first, anyway (of course, Batman would have his contingency plan')'
That is a great idea. I can see DC's villains teaming up easier than Marvel's.
I never quite understand the hostility on message boards towards a creator slamming a company publicly. In this case, Chris Roberson has said that he can't in good conscience work for DC Comics again for a number of issues which he has cited. That was his decision, and it is likely that he will not work for DC again under the current management. It doesn't really effect anyone else. Just him and DC.
Does he raise some pointed questions about the ethics of the comic books industry? Most certainly. Have some creators been unfairly treated through the years? I don't know. Maybe/Maybe not. However as consumers it is our decision to make on whether we want to allow that to influence our decision to continue buying their products.
Personally, I hadn't really given too much thought to the creators rights issues around Watchmen and Before Watchmen. As a writer (not in the comics medium), I'm sure that I probably should have, but I didn't even consider it. I won't be buying Before Watchmen, because I think that it is a creatively bankrupt idea, and is basically cashing in on Watchmen as intellectual property (which is DC's legal right) when I would prefer that they produce the next comic to breakout into the mainstream (like Scott Pilgrim, like Kick-Ass, like Walking Dead).
I haven't read a lot of Chris Roberson's work. I liked I Zombie, and some of the Superman issues he did, although overall I thought the story was pretty weak. I loved his Superman/Batman two-parter. I will be interested to see what he does next. From what I can see, there is a culture of Editorial/Corporate control creeping into DC which is limiting the options for creativitiy (e.g. Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen's first issues of Superman being turned into a launch of an old Wildstorm villain, picking up threads from the Stormwatch book), and he would be better off away from DC and doing his own thing.
By the way, I saw Avengers last night. I loved every moment of it. Ever frame of the film is a loving tribute to the comics, produced by people who love them. Every character get's his/her moment. The cinematic Hulk is now truly incredible (and pretty damn funny), and Scarlett Johansson gets something to do other than pout. It was one of the most enjoyable nights at the movies that I have spent in my entire life. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Fascinating piece, as ever, Tom.
Were you thinking of someone else when you cited Steven Grant as a notable Avengers creator? I can think of the odd credit, but nothing much.
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Sam Costello's Split Lip horror comic has been popular with reviewers and readers alike for a couple of years, so it was a surprise when Costello announced earlier this week that he is ending the comic, which is written by him and illustrated by different artists. We checked in to see what happened'and what will happen next. 
Robot 6: Why have you decided to end it now?
Well, let's start with the classic Nick Fury: starting as a hard bitten army sergeant, he was the title character of his own war comics and the leader of a band of Howling Commandos. Times changed and Fury changed with them, upgrading to colonel. He became an agent of a secret spy agency called the Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division, who fought against HYDRA (Wikipedia tells me that there's no official acronym explanation, but to keep it capitalized anyway). Like the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and other classic spy serials, Fury kept up with the times and, thanks to the Infinity Formula, barely aged a day. As spy stories waned, so did Agent Fury, bumming around for a few decades in mini-series and special one-shots, rather like the James Bond films. He guest-starred in plenty of other titles, so Nick Fury never really went away. He never got a full overhaul or snazzy new costume or a younger, thinner Life Model Decoy. He's endured time itself and popular culture to play Marvel's archetype of the secret agent, no matter what popular culture's perception of a 'secret agent' is. Classic Fury has risen in rank, in title and now exists as something undefined. In a way, Classic Nick Fury is a benchmark for super-heroes to come and go by; if a hero's worth his salt, he'll have shaken hands with Nick Fury.
Whereas Classic Fury is like the rings in the trunk of a tree, showing us how far the Marvel Universe has aged, Ultimate Nick Fury is more like the tree itself. He has been there at the beginning of the Age of Marvels, as a test subject in the Super Soldier program and at the end of it, surviving Ultimatum and all that's come after. In the Ultimate universe, Nick Fury shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. Sorry, I couldn't help myself, but it's true! He watched over Peter Parker, is the guy who goes out and finds what is to become the Ultimates, or Ultimate Avengers, or whathaveyou. He even goes to another dimension and, according to Hyperion, grows to greater power there than he did in his own dimension. He adds to a different kind of story, another benchmark for the Ultimate heroes, but less as a standard of hero, but as a selector. Ultimate Nick Fury is the hand of God, selecting you to join this group or goal for a greater purpose than your own. On the small screen, this is the Nick Fury that shows up in Ultimate Spider-Man to guide Spider-Man and his new Amazing Friends because a shepherd is needed. In the Avengers movie next week, this is where the masses will see Nick Fury, the man with the plan behind the scenes, gathering troops for the conflicts to come.
This week's announcement that all Tor books will be DRM-free by July made me wonder about what that meant for graphic novels. Tor publishes the Seven Seas line of manga, some of which have been available in digital formats for quite a while, so I checked in with managing editor Adam Arnold to see what the deal is. His answer surprised me: 'I'm happy to say that all of Seven Seas' ebooks have been DRM free from the very beginning.'
