Main Menu

Do you follow characters or creators?

Started by Frank, 04 November, 2018, 02:15:00 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Frank


In terms of 2000ad or other titles.

The nineties (and subsequent) reboots made me aware that it was the work of specific creators I had been enjoying during the original runs, as opposed to Stogie, Durham Red, or even Judge Dredd just being inherently great in themselves.

In terms of other publishers, the only reasons the spare room contains a few W.I.L.D.C.A.T.S* and X-Men comics are the brief tenures of tetchy British magi on both. Dropped them right after.

But you might think different. Are you up for Simon Furman and Leonardo Manco's Return To Armageddon or do you think only Michael Cook and Simon Jacob can be trusted to continue the legacy of Dead Meat?


* Which I actually thought contained some fun ideas

Leigh S

I'm pretty much creators all the way - is there any other fiction where that isnt the standard? 

I love 2000AD, but mostly because I love the minds behind Nemesis, Stront and Skizz - take those minds way and put the worlds into others hands, and it is prone to puppetry.  I have no interest in reading a Pat Mills character by another writer, for all his flaws - the story might be technically "better", or less obsessed with whatever Pat happens to be obsessed with at the time.  But if someone could do that (like Moore could), I'd rather read their own ideas, as they should be more than up to the job and are wasting their talent playing in other peoples paddling pools

broodblik

I follow both. If I like a creator then I will definitely try get his/her work. I will buy American stuff because the person worked for 2000AD.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

TordelBack

#3
Creators for me too. I buy everything by Moore, Wagner, Talbot, Kev O'Neill, Eddie Campbell, Eric Shanower, Rick Veitch, Jason Lutes, Claire Bretecher, Neil Gaiman, Paul Chadwick, Los Bros Hernandez and a few others, irrespective of subject, and I'll sometimes pick up books I otherwise have no interest in if they boast Dan Abnett, Jeff Lemire, Paul Pope, Gene Ha, John McCrea, Matt Brooker, Jeff Smith, Grant Morrison, Steve Bissette, Garth Ennis, Gail Simone, Carlos Ezquerra, Kieron Gillen, Cam Kennedy,  PJ Holden, Mick McMahon, Jamie McKelvie, Posey Simmonds, Jill Thompson, Yanick Paquette and a couple of others.

Characterwise, I happily walk by racks of non-Wagner Dredd stuff I've never read, and I love Dredd. I can't force myself to read non-Gaiman Dreaming books, despite being a long-term Sandfan. There are plenty of comics characters I enjoy (Batman,  Superman,  Cap,  Hulk,  Constantine etc) but I seldom indulge unless they marry up with one of 'my' creators.

Conversely I prefer non-Grant Anderson and Durham Red to the 'real' thing, and I retain a nostalgic interest in the original New Mutants lineup that leads me to at least experiment with whatever new creative team is doing the relaunch this week. And despite venerating Uncle Pat,  I never buy his non-2000AD stuff.  So it's not entirely consistent. But creators>>characters almost every time.

Leigh S

I think the only time I followed a creator onto an existing franchise was "The Killing Joke", because it was the done thing.  I like to think that depsite enjoying that, I made a conscious effort not to encourage any more of that kind of thing as a waste of the creators time in someone elses paddling pool.  I have bought Brats Bizarre and The Terrarists, but no Punisher 2099 - not read Moore/O'Neills Green Lantern and was even put off reading Swamp Thing by the knowledge Batman turned up, so I couldnt read it as a stand alone thing!

Though I did buy Mills/O'Neill's Death Race 2000 comics...!

Colin YNWA

Its not really an either or for me, its a curious mix.

So recent comments elsewhere about Matt Wagner's Tower Chronicles reminded me that even a creator I love I will pass if the concept and / or collabrative partner doesn't grab me. There are a few creators like that who I'll think about anything they put out but will pass if something or other means it doesn't catch my imagination.

On other occasions I'll pick something up regardless of not knowing the creators if the concept or reviews etc catch my eye - see Rock Candy Mountain and recent Flintstones as examples of that. Both comics turned me onto their respective writers being massively impressed with both.

In the case of Rock Candy Mountain it led me to the work of Kyle Starks and I waited around for a comic he was doing that caught my imagination and until the recently purchased and loved Mar Attacks nothing did just that. Were as with Mark Russell who I discovered via the just as good (as Rock Candy Mountain) Flintstones I've picked up pretty much every thing he's done since, as he happens to have rattled out comics that have had ideas that have gelled with me.

There are some characters I seem to try regardless of the creators, The Spirit, Rocketeer and Dredd spring to mind as they both seems to entertain whomever get hold of them. Might be that they just bring out the best in creators but if I'm not liking something I will drop, but I'll give it a whirl.

So yeah its all a bit hit and miss and does mean I have a lot of issues 1,2 and 3 or series that haven't worked for me. At the same time it means I seem to drop on series and creators a more rigid way of choosing my comics might have missed.

Mind for years I did slavishly follow a variety of superhero characters but I'm pleased that's now in the past.

AlexF

QuoteI'm pretty much creators all the way - is there any other fiction where that isn't the standard?

Film franchises are a good example of this, no? e.g. the Alien / Predator universes, James Bond, Jason Bourne, and, as a horror film lover, the slasher 'heroes' stick out as examples of fiction where fans clearly follow the characters even as lesser / other creators take the reins. (Well, for 7-10 sequels-worth, anyway)

As for comics, I learned to love creators at around the same time as Frank, in my case primarily Mike Allred and Jeff Smith (and I also learned to avoid Grant Morrison comics, although I've softened on his work lately). But there's still a part of me that fell in love with certain characters that means I will occasionally dip my toes in across the years. A recent case in point being the Incredible Hulk, a fave character now combined with a top writer (A. Ewing), to great results! I also only discovered Tom King as a result of being a fan of both the Vision and Nightwing, and that turned out pretty well.

2000AD forms a weird counter to all of this. To answer the question, I guess I am more enthused at the prospect of reading new stories by beloved creators than I am by revivals of beloved characters, but the fact is I'll read them all just the same - because at this point, I am a fan of 2000AD the institution perhaps even more than any of its creators or characters. I've been reading new issues every week for 3/4 of my life, have never thought of quitting, and I trust the name to the extent that I've bought things like the two Scream/Misty specials even though they feature characters I've barely heard by creators I've mostly never heard of either.

Although I drew the line at Sniper Elite. No offence to Richardson or Goddard, I've just got limited interest in war and video-game based comics.

I don't suppose that many 10-12 year-olds read 2000AD at the moment, but for certain at that age I was all about the characters, and aside from recognising the work of a handful of artists, even if I didn't know their names (Ezquerra, Belardinelli, Gibson and Ewins, I later discovered!) I couldn't give a toss about creators and just wanted more stories with my favourite characters in. Even if that meant 1990s RoboHunter. Bad call, young me!

Magnetica

Quote from: Leigh S on 04 November, 2018, 02:40:53 PM
I'm pretty much creators all the way - is there any other fiction where that isnt the standard? 

What about TV? Take things like Star Trek TNG or DS9. Pretty sure they had a load of different writers. And when you would settle down to watch this week's episode you wouldn't have a clue who wrote it.

Frank

Quote from: Magnetica on 04 November, 2018, 07:47:48 PM
What about TV? Take things like Star Trek TNG or DS9. Pretty sure they had a load of different writers. And when you would settle down to watch this week's episode you wouldn't have a clue who wrote it.

That was true until fairly recently - see this forum's benighted Dr Who thread for evidence that's no longer the case.

Even back in the days of linear telly, when most people tuned into their favourite US shows for all 20 episodes per annum, you still knew some episodes were way better than others, even if the credits deliberately flashed by too quickly for names to register.

Despite that, there's not a serious Simpsons fan reading this who didn't get a wee thrill when they saw the word Swartzwelder flash briefly during the intros Sky played at double-speed.

And that was US telly*. Even besides auteurs like Dennis Potter and marquee names like Clement and La Frenais, none of us would have been happy watching episodes of Blackadder or Red Dwarf that didn't have their creators' names attached.

Jed Mercurio, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Sally Wainwright are star names, at least to folk who pay attention to telly the way we pay attention to comics.


* Which has changed, today. Sopranos was the first time I remember noticing individual writers, Mad Men continued that, and Breaking Bad made the writers star names. No premium HBO or Netflix show launches without a star writer, although I accept it's probably different for the shows that are still pumping out 24 episodes of landfill every six months.

The Adventurer

Creators almost entirely. Writers far more so then artists.


Only exception, The Legion of Super-Heroes. Though luckily, 80% of the time they're writen by creators I like.

THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

CalHab

Creators, obviously. As an example, this weekend I picked up a DC Halloween special, despite having minimal interest in the characters featured, because it had a Bechko and Hardman story in it. In the past I did follow specific characters (Hellblazer, Swamp Thing etc), but I soon dropped them once creators I had no interest in got involved.

I'm not sure the above applies to an anthology such as 2000AD, though.

Frank

Quote from: CalHab on 05 November, 2018, 08:05:15 AM
Creators, obviously. As an example, this weekend I picked up a DC Halloween special, despite having minimal interest in the characters featured, because it had a Bechko and Hardman story in it. In the past I did follow specific characters (Hellblazer, Swamp Thing etc), but I soon dropped them once creators I had no interest in got involved.

I'm not sure the above applies to an anthology such as 2000AD, though.

It applies in that we can ask whether we just want to see the return of a favourite 2000ad character or strip, or are we more interested in seeing, for example, whatever Dan Abnett is doing next?

I would have assumed the latter, but some of the best among us have made heartfelt pleas to the contrary.






Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Frank on 05 November, 2018, 02:00:16 PM
Quote from: CalHab on 05 November, 2018, 08:05:15 AM
Creators, obviously. As an example, this weekend I picked up a DC Halloween special, despite having minimal interest in the characters featured, because it had a Bechko and Hardman story in it. In the past I did follow specific characters (Hellblazer, Swamp Thing etc), but I soon dropped them once creators I had no interest in got involved.

I'm not sure the above applies to an anthology such as 2000AD, though.

It applies in that we can ask whether we just want to see the return of a favourite 2000ad character or strip, or are we more interested in seeing, for example, whatever Dan Abnett is doing next?

I would have assumed the latter, but some of the best among us have made heartfelt pleas to the contrary.

Wow. What a snarky little post I make on that page! Must have been having a bad day.
@jamesfeistdraws

sheridan

Quote from: Leigh S on 04 November, 2018, 02:40:53 PM
I'm pretty much creators all the way - is there any other fiction where that isnt the standard? 


Anything Cthulhu-related.  Practically any long-running TV series from Doctor Who (1963-) through to The Simpsons (not wishing to start any debates about how good and bad patches of either show, but they are still continuing).

sheridan

Quote from: TordelBack on 04 November, 2018, 03:18:11 PM
And despite venerating Uncle Pat,  I never buy his non-2000AD stuff.  So it's not entirely consistent. But creators>>characters almost every time.


So you missed out on Marshal Law?  Shame...