Comics as a medium...

 Posted on 8/15/1996 by J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com> to CIS


Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com> asks:
> I thought that while I was passing that along to you, I'd ask
> what you think of comics as a medium to tell *your* stories? Do
> comics give you the same range that a novel or a TV script does,
> or do you find them too limiting?

In general terms, a comic allows you to do things that you could
never afford to do in a TV series or movie. There's the constraint of
the artist you choose...a great artist can elevate a book, a bad one
can sink it no matter how good the storytelling...and having grown up
on comics all my life, and enjoyed the work of Miller and Moore and
Gaiman and David and others, I think they're a terrific form of
expression and storytelling.

In regards the Legion...setting aside the reality that after the
situation with the B5 comic, which I felt wasn't being done correctly,
and said so vociferously...if there's any book I'd love to do (after
any of the Superman titles), it'd be the Legion of Superheroes. It's
gone through some tough times, mainly in the Giffin days which were as
much a screwup of the concept as Byrne's Superman, but I have a lot of
loyalty to the characters, having come into the title back at its
formation out of the pages of Adventure Comics. I'd do it in a hot
second, but I'd want to take it a bit back to its roots, and I'm not
sure they'd go for that.

jms



Comics as a medium...

 Posted on 8/16/1996 by J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com> to CIS


Michael Beemer <71551.1670@compuserve.com> asks:
> I trust you won't object if I pass your comments back to the
> mailing list?

Yeah, I've read the books during the rebuilding period, though
I haven't had time to indulge my comics habit for about six months or
so. For some reason, though, it still feels wonky to me. I confess
that as far as names go I still prefer Sun Boy to Inferno, and some of
the other renamings have been kinda dopey. If you're going to change
it (and objectively I know Sun Boy is a bit goofy), you should go for
something a little better than, for instance, Lightning Lad to
Livewire. Livewire is just an awful name.

jms



Comics as a medium...

 Posted on 8/18/1996 by J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com> to CIS


Richard M. Perry <76461.2737@compuserve.com> asks:
> So I guess this means you haven't read the Kingdom Come series
> yet?

Kingdom Come is about the only comic I've made it a point to get
lately; great stuff.

jms



Comics as a medium...

 Posted on 8/20/1996 by J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com> to CIS


{original post unavailable}

Though I've fallen out of my comics habit over the last 6-8
months, I followed Cerebus since very early in its run, and enjoyed it.
It's great.

jms