It makes sense now

[trinityvixen]

I just finished Preacher--liked it less towards the end. Not to be punny or nothing, but it felt like it was slouching towards Gomorrah rather than running at the end, teeth bared and bloody, like it had been up until, oh, say the middle-to-late issues. I still liked it on the whole, mind you. I was amazed that, for a series about a guy with the ability to command anyone to do anything, very little of that sort of thing happened. Similarly, Cassidy is the least bloody-and-gutty vampire I ever met in fiction. I liked him immensely up until the story went soft around him. It was a nice change of pace from all the goddamned modern vampires. I love me some six feet of Eric Northman, mind you, but give it a bloody rest. (Ew, pun again.) I even liked Tulip, though she was a tad pathetic at times. Wish more could have been done with her, like what was done.

Anyway, I went to look up Garth Ennis to see what all else he's written. Apparently, some Hellblazer, which figures--his sense of humor and John Constantine's are nearly a perfect match. He also wrote the first six issues of The Darkness, as well as another corker of a miniseries, "Heart of Darkness," which !!!! I have the trades and I re-read 'em not infrequently. Say what you will about other Top Cow series--hell, say what you want about The Darkness--but they at least had style. And Garth Ennis literally wrote the best stories of that entire franchise, far as I'm concerned. Jackie worked best as the literal and figurative bastard he was before he was re-written to be more, I dunno, gritty or sympathetic. Ennis' Jackie was never a hero. He wasn't even saintly enough to be an antihero. He was an absolute asshole, with a streak of violence a mile wide with only his scant-few but bone-deep loyalties to redeem him as a character. He was also whip-smart and creative, which you should be, if you can help it, when you control a power that allows anything you dream to be. If they ever do get a Darkness movie off the ground, I'd love to see them go with Ennis' take on it.

But hot damn! He writes really well. I've got to check out more of his stuff!

Comments

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any of the WildStorm stuff (that's where Midnighter comes from, right?), so I dunno if that would make any sense to me. But I'd totally read more Hellblazer, any time, any story, especially a good story.

I have the sense that the longer you stay in comic writing, if you're really talented, the more warped you seem to get by it. Someone who starts off pretty twisted must hit that warp point pretty hard. Obviously, this is only true for some people, but it's true for a lot of the writers I would have heard of. I'm sure there are many a work-a-day writer on comics who've managed to stay sane.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

It's more like, you really need a good editor to be a good writer. Comics tends to have the "protection from editors" problem in spades, where writers who are big names just don't get edited. I liked Grant Morrison before he was cool, because there was somebody reining him in. Same with Ennis, Frank Miller, or John Byrne.

The workaday writers are the ones who didn't start with the ego or the insanity necessary to be superstars. Gail Simone writes tight, character-focused stories that aren't world-shattering--she doesn't have the insanity. Giffen and DeMattis are the same way, for the most part. Mike Carey really hasn't been pushed as a big-name writer despite the success of Lucifer; apparently he doesn't have the ego to go properly power-mad. Chuck Dixon has never had either, but I'll take him as a fill-in writer on any superhero title you can name.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the old "I don't need an editor, I'm JK Rowling" issue. I'm betting that's accounts for 99% of why some of those blockbuster authors tend to go to pot. Very good point.

You know, I haven't read any of Gail Simone's work. I feel like a bad feminist. What titles has she written on besides Wonder Woman? I don't even know those other two you mention. Durn it.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Gail Simone has done very nice work on Birds of Prey, Secret Six, the most recent reboot of Gen13 and the Wildstorm side-book Welcome to Tranquility.

Keith Giffen and JM DeMattis are currently writing Justice League: Generation Lost and Doom Patrol, and are mostly know for their teamwork on the "Justice League International" era of JLA books.

Mike Carey wrote Lucifer and Crossing Midnight, and is currently writing Unwritten.

All of these things are generally worth the time.