They Said It Better: "Static Shock: What went wrong"

By -
As an original Milestone Comics fan, I really wanted DC's New 52 version of "Static Shock" to succeed. I mused a little bit about why it failed in a comment here last week, and I was planning to expand that into something longer after talking about it in The Comic Book Shop over the weekend, but DC Women Kicking Ass beat me to it. I highly recommend her analysis, including an obvious point about Ultimate Spider-Man that I had entirely overlooked.

Also check out John Rozum's blog, where today he gave a more detailed account of why he quit the book than is quoted in the DCWKA article.

Comments

  1. pghheadJanuary 26, 2012 at 4:59 PM

    I'm not so sure that the first blog you mention really hits on the real reason for the cancellation. Seems to me that Rozum's comments really get to the root of the problem: an "assigned" creative team rather than two creators who decided to partner. As you read on you realize that the creators were going in two different directions and couldn't agree. That results in a poor story which readers then give up on and lead us to the end result: low sales. It's sad. I couldn't even read to the end of Rozum's blog - - it was too depresssing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeff MetznerJanuary 26, 2012 at 5:49 PM

    It's both, I think. DC made a sub-optimal comic book via editorial mandate, but also failed to market it to the wider world in which "Static Shock" has more name recognition than "The Flash". To be fair, pretty much everyone publishing comics at the moment sucks at that kind of marketing. (Which is one thing digital distribution is theoretically good for, since it can be used to get people to sample the product without making the effort to find a comic store.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jeff MetznerFebruary 8, 2012 at 11:37 AM

    Scott McDaniel has given his side of this story at great length -- seriously, set aside some time -- on scottmcdaniel.net. I don't want to bias anyone too much before they read what McDaniel has to say, but I will say: (a) you can definitely tell who the professional writer is, (b) While I certainly can't blame McDaniel for taking Rozum's statements as a personal attack, I actually thought they were aimed more at editorial, and (c) I thought it was a little unfair for McDaniel to quote bits of Rozum's scripts out of context and paraphrase his plots.

    Although they appear wildly different on the surface, I think McDaniel's and Rozum's accounts actually validate each other quite a bit. I see both sides of it. There are definitely days at my office where I feel like everybody thinks they know how to do my job better than me. It's easy to suggest "why don't you write the program this way", and sometimes not so easy to explain why it wouldn't work. And sometimes I think, "Really? I've been doing this for 20+ years and you think you know how to do it better because you can operate your iPhone?" BUT they mean well and -- here's the key thing -- SOMETIMES THEY'RE RIGHT. The trick is to be open to those intuitive ideas without getting micromanaged by someone who doesn't understand your craft.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Kirkman: Invincible, Walking Dead, Wolf-Man

By -
Image
I wasn't actually a huge fan of Robert Kirkman when I first started reading his books.  He was competent, sure, but I didn't see the appeal-- The Irredeemable Ant-Man was a boring side story in the middle of  Civil War and  The Initiative (although I've since changed my mind about this), and his  Ultimate X-Men run was, in many places, a mixed bag (although I did very much enjoy his "Phoenix?" storyline).  And  Marvel Zombies  just seemed like a ridiculous idea--not that I bothered to try it at the time. Now, though?  I've completely reevaluated my opinion on his work, and when his name is attached to a project, I'm far more likely to give it a look.  I don't know if I'd classify him as a master storyteller or a comics icon--but he's very skilled, he has an incredible knack for dialog, and he writes stories that, no matter how ridiculous, seem real .  In a medium where characters frequently violate the rules of physics, that's not alway
Read more

more random readings from May 2009

By pghhead -
Image
What else did I finish reading last month?  Here’s a cross-section of various titles . . . . . . . . . WITCHBLADE #126 “War Of The Witchblade Part 2” by Ron Marz and Stejepan Sejic  (Top Cow/Image) Preface:  Now here’s an interesting concept! = In order to attract new readers to its’ titles Top Cow is giving out free books each month as part of it’s Let Us Win You Over project.  ( www.topcow.com/freecomics )  Every month it’s a different title. And they work through different comics shops each month as well.  In April the title was Witchblade #126 and one of the participating dealers was Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark, DE (my preferred supplier) so voila! - - - I find a copy in my hands. Since the last time I explored the Witchblade series the mythology has expanded to a battle between the forces of light and dark with each side choosing its agents on Earth, hence the Darkness vs. the Witchblade.  I’m still not overly interested in this type of fare on a regular basis, but
Read more

INDIE COMICS: Huffin’ & puffin’ B.B. Wolf’s got the blues

By pghhead -
Image
BB WOLF AND THE THREE LPs  (Top Shelf, May 2010 hardcover, black & white, 86 pages,   $12.95)  As told by JD Arnold with illustrations by Richard Koslowski What got my attention immediately was the pairing up of a classic fairy tale with musical motifs.  That’s a combination that pushes two of my “hot buttons” - -  so I made it a must-read.  I was not disappointed.  This is a very entertaining and cleverly designed work that rivals Bill Willingham’s  creativity on the long-running FABLES series from Vertigo. As if taking the classic tale of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs and turning it upside down wasn’t enough to interest, BB WOLF AND THE THREE LPS  serves as an allegory for the oppression of  the black population in the deep South (Mississippi) in the 1920’s.  While they may be free (wolves),  the governing bodies (pigs) have the power to deny them their land, homes and possessions and even own the businesses and clubs they patronize as well as the shops they d
Read more