Mark Waid's DC Work

[Flash's Lightning]

Mark Waid is among my favorite writers - and he's been consistently enjoyable. I also enjoy such writers as Peter David and Kurt Busiek, but the former isn't as consistent and the latter I haven't read quite as much work by. (Astro City rocks though!)

Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone else considers him one of the best writers in comics today or if I'm alone. :)

Some highlights.

Kingdom Come

Flash (though his later Flash work I admit wasn't as great, but hey, Terminal Velocity and Dead Heat kinda made up for it)

The Legion of Superheroes (I am up to issue 13 now. What an awesome book, I can't wait to read the parts when Supergirl joins up. The letters columns crack me up. *Where did the goats from Brainy's lab go?* lol)

And I can't remember the issues, but there was a four part story where Superman was placed in the body of a child. It was a cute story.

Here's hoping Mark stays around a long time, and remains consistently my favorite writer.

[handOFfate]

Funny thing is that Waid's most famous work will always be Kingdom Come even though it's Ross' artwork that makes it stand out.
Anyway, I love Mark Waid's work. His Flash run was hit and miss to me, but I would say I enjoyed it. He really made Wally West into his own character. His most underrated stuff is Fantastic Four, which was easily the best run since Byrne.

[Ilash]

I'm a big Mark Waid fan and he certainly ranks as one of my favourite writers.

His run on the Flash is the thing that really got me into comics and I still consider his run up until Brian Augustyn started co-writing with him (Born to Run to the end of Race through Time) to be one of THE must read superhero runs. There was some good stuff that he did with Augustyn (Dark Flash in particular) but The Flash was definitely a better read when he was writing it solo. I don't really think it was Augustyn's fault by the way, I think that when he took on a co-writer, Waid started to become less focused on the book and the end result reflected that.

His JLA stuff was good too. The fill-in issues that he had during Morrison's run were all really good and his Tower of Babel storyline was excellent. His White Martians arc was pretty fantastic too. The rest of his run was good too but these were the highpoints. I would have liked to have seen him on the book for longer.

Brave and the Bold is to me, the best straight out monthly superhero book out there right now.

Kingdom Come was great but I don't think it's the career highlight that so many do. It was missing the personal touch that made the Flash his definite superhero work.

Legion of Superheroes had a fantastic first year but lost it's way for a while afterwards, returning to form somewhat for the Dominion arc. It was always a solid read though.

Superman: Birthright is something that I'm somewhat ambivilent about. It was really well written and was ultimately a very good Superman story but it started off a trend to mess with Superman's origin every second week, which remains a pretty irritating practice. I would still love to see him write one of the Superman monthlies someday.

Empire was a creator owned work but DC published it so I suppose it's worth mentioning because it was one thoroughly awesome mature-readers superhero (well, supervillain) title with a great premise, an unpredictable engrossing story and well defined, if not entirely sympathetic characters.

[Tom-El]

I'll never forgive Waid for the dreck that is Superman: Birthright.

That story was awful from start to finish. I didn't think it was possible for someone to write that bad consistently for 12 issues.

It is without a doubt a low point.

Tom

[Ilash]

I'll never forgive Waid for the dreck that is Superman: Birthright.

That story was awful from start to finish. I didn't think it was possible for someone to write that bad consistently for 12 issues.

It is without a doubt a low point.

Tom

I've heard this from quite a few people but I've never really understood why some people hate it so much. What about it doesn't work for you?

[the Hornet]

Although I never read it, Waid was the guy who made Captain America popular again, before Ed Brubaker ever came into the picture.

[david r]

Little known fact, Mark Waid wrote Avengers #400 and did a nice job. I believe he was going to have an extended Avengers run, but Heroes Reborn ended that.

Waid's Captain America was exceptional, and got people buying the book again. It's a shame he couldn't have lasted longer.

Ka-Zar was a fun read as well. People forget he wrote Ka-Zar at Marvel for a year.

His Fantastic Four run, especially the Doctor Doom epic, was the best FF in twenty years!

[Babylon23]

I have to agree with everybody regarding Waid's FF run. Excellent stuff, the best since the Byrne era.

Tower of Babel was one of the best JLA stores from that previous series, easily the equal of most of Morrison's work.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Kingdom Come, I don't think its quite the masterpiece that others suggest. It's a very good story with fantastic art, but it leaves me a little cold at times.

His Flash work is amazing and really established Wally in my mind.

His Captain America run was very good, especially the pre-Heroes Reborn stories.

[Raker616]

JLA Year One put him in my top five and since then he's only gone up, his "Tower Of Babel" story was the best from the last JLA run and B&B has been a delight in everyway.

[paulski]

Pretty hit or miss with me. Can't say I've enjoyed anything of his since, it seems, JLA Year One. Actually dropped FF after #500 (though most of the blame goes to Weiringo's cartoony style) and certainly haven't been impressed by LSH since the re-re-re-re-reboot. Brave and Bold's been okay but it's a bit soon to pass judgment there yet.

[Ilash]

JLA Year One put him in my top five and since then he's only gone up, his "Tower Of Babel" story was the best from the last JLA run and B&B has been a delight in everyway.

Ah! I can't believe I forgot JLA: Year One, one of my favourite Justice League stories ever!

[CBikle]

Nah, sorry, I've never been impressed by anything he's done, but I don't recall reading anything by Waid that was out-and-out horrible either.

[Flash's Lightning]

Nah, sorry, I've never been impressed by anything he's done, but I don't recall reading anything by Waid that was out-and-out horrible either.

Have you read Terminal Velocity? Dead Heat? Impulse? KINGDOM COME?

My god man, there has to be something of his you like! :)

[jesse_custer]

He's one of the best. Kingdom Come was great because he managed to tie in the book of Revelation to classic superheroes in a way that didn't seem preachy or retarded. JLA Year One is also top-notch work. I even like Waid's run on X-Men.

If you need more Busiek, look no further than Marvels, Untold Tales of Spiderman, and his run on Avengers.

[Flash's Lightning]

He's one of the best. Kingdom Come was great because he managed to tie in the book of Revelation to classic superheroes in a way that didn't seem preachy or retarded. JLA Year One is also top-notch work. I even like Waid's run on X-Men.

If you need more Busiek, look no further than Marvels, Untold Tales of Spiderman, and his run on Avengers.

He did Avengers? Cool. How was it?

[jesse_custer]

The best part of the run was the first few issues, I thought. But all of it's worth reading, with maybe a couple of exceptions. Plus, he was working with George Perez, so there's one hell of a creative team.

[Flash's Lightning]

The best part of the run was the first few issues, I thought. But all of it's worth reading, with maybe a couple of exceptions. Plus, he was working with George Perez, so there's one hell of a creative team.

What issues was it?

[jesse_custer]

#1-56, with maybe a few missing his name in the second year.

[Flash's Lightning]

#1-56, with maybe a few missing his name in the second year.

Wow. That's a lot.

[rerun]

I've always looked at him as "the professional". He just seems to know so much and seems to know what fans really want.

Besides the older stuff (KC, Flash, etc), I think Brave and the Bold is one of the best things on the stands right now.

[Rattlehead]

I've heard this from quite a few people but I've never really understood why some people hate it so much. What about it doesn't work for you?

Personally, I didn't like how it was desperately trying to tie elements of Smallville, a decidely hit or miss how, into the Superman mythos. I din't care for the art style that was used eithier.

I need to read more of Waid's work, but the Brave and the Bold is everything you could want form a superhero book. It's high-concept, exciting, and most of all, it's fun.

[brundlefly]

Personally, I didn't like how it was desperately trying to tie elements of Smallville, a decidely hit or miss how, into the Superman mythos. I din't care for the art style that was used eithier.


I echo your sentiments on BIRTHRIGHT; a completely unnecessary origin revamp that added nothing to the SUPERMAN books and just tried shamelessly to tie the SMALLVILLE show into the actual comics. It's pretty much the only thing Waid's produced that I've outright disliked. His other works, like KINGDOM COME, JLA: YEAR ONE, FLASH, and EMPIRE, are some of my all-time DC favorites, so I just see BIRTHRIGHT as a rare "miss" from a great writer.

[Magneto Rocks]

Waid's just awesome. His FF stuff is some of the best ever, but since we're talking about the Distinguished Competition, his plotline on "52" was the best- which was tight competition- "Kingdom Come" speaks for itself and he's the best Flash writer there has EVER been.

[Flash's Lightning]

Waid's just awesome. His FF stuff is some of the best ever, but since we're talking about the Distinguished Competition, his plotline on "52" was the best- which was tight competition- "Kingdom Come" speaks for itself and he's the best Flash writer there has EVER been.

I never did figure out who wrote what in 52. Which parts did he do? I know they divided it up in parts, each person writing a certain character plot or what have you.

[jesse_custer]

Well, I'm really glad I didn't buy Birthright, because I came pretty close a couple of times.

[Kelson]

I echo your sentiments on BIRTHRIGHT; a completely unnecessary origin revamp that added nothing to the SUPERMAN books and just tried shamelessly to tie the SMALLVILLE show into the actual comics.

How much of Smallville did they try to tie into continuity? 'Cause all I've heard was making Lex Luthor and young Clark Kent know each other, and that was a staple of the Silver Age Superboy stories.

Also: Yay for Empire! I'm one of the three people who actually picked up its first incarnation from Gorilla Comics.

[brundlefly]

How much of Smallville did they try to tie into continuity? 'Cause all I've heard was making Lex Luthor and young Clark Kent know each other, and that was a staple of the Silver Age Superboy stories.


That was enough for me. Completely illogical and unnecessary, and wasn't even recognized in the followup SUPERMAN comics, since Lex refused to admit that he ever spent time in Smallville or knew Clark. So then, what exactly was the point? Besides obviously trying to set up some kind of "untold tales of young Clark, Lex, Lana, Pete, etc. in Smallville" DC title somewhere down the road. Ugh; no thanks.

BIRTHRIGHT certainly didn't do Lex any favors. He came off like a Krypton-obsessed lunatic through the whole thing, notably the bit with pitching Lois out a high-rise window (which post-Crisis Lex would never have done, having always carried a torch for her even though he knew she hated him). I remember reading about Waid thinking Lex was too strong a villain and that it somehow made Superman look "weak," so his solution was apparently to try to revert Lex to being more one-dimensional and Silver Age-y. Screw that, revamp Superman to your heart's content, but leave my favorite DC bad guy out of it, thank you very much. Besides, a hero is measured by the quality of his enemies. Making a hero's nemesis weaker doesn't make the hero stronger. It's one of the rare instances where I totally dislike/disagree with what Waid was trying to do.


Also: Yay for Empire! I'm one of the three people who actually picked up its first incarnation from Gorilla Comics.

I was one of the other three. Man, I loved that book; I'm such a fanboy for villain-centered comics. Did you like any of the other Gorilla books, like Crimson Plague or Section Zero?

[jv2k]

That was enough for me. Completely illogical and unnecessary, and wasn't even recognized in the followup SUPERMAN comics, since Lex refused to admit that he ever spent time in Smallville or knew Clark. So then, what exactly was the point? Besides obviously trying to set up some kind of "untold tales of young Clark, Lex, Lana, Pete, etc. in Smallville" DC title somewhere down the road. Ugh; no thanks.

He actually did reference Smallville in a few comics post crisis. Oh and it's less a smallville tie than it is a Silver age one.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Mark Waid is like a Kurt Busiek. 99% of the time he writes just awesome reads and even with that 1% failure rate it doesn't change the fact that you can name all the good work they have done.

[Raker616]

He did Avengers? Cool. How was it?

IMO Kurt's run on Avengers was second to none, and ever since he left reading Avengers is like reading Justice and then following it up by reading Brad's JLA useless and a waste.

[Kelson]

I was one of the other three. Man, I loved that book; I'm such a fanboy for villain-centered comics. Did you like any of the other Gorilla books, like Crimson Plague or Section Zero?

You know, I can't remember picking any of the others up except the issues of Tellos that were printed though Gorilla.

[Magneto Rocks]

I never did figure out who wrote what in 52. Which parts did he do? I know they divided it up in parts, each person writing a certain character plot or what have you.

Waid wrote the Elongated Man poarts, Johns wrote the Black Adam parts, I don't know about the rest.

[Reynard]

Waid wrote the Elongated Man poarts, Johns wrote the Black Adam parts, I don't know about the rest.

I'd hazard a guess that Morrison wrote the Animal Man/Starfire/Adam Strange bits.

[niall mc cann]

I love Waid's stuff. His Flash was a great read, Kingdom Come is about much more than just some gorgeous artwork, his Captain America and Fantastic Four were both phenomonal, and though i'm reading 52 in trade, and am therefore still only 1/4 of the way in, i'm surprised by how much i'm enjoying it. I don't generally like big event crossovers.

Also, I loved Superman: Birthright, and can't say i noticed very much Smallville influence...:confused:

To me, it was much more about trying to reintroduce some of the silver age's sense of wonder back into a character who'd been flattened and unimaginatively marvelised. He made Superman Superman again!

[Billage]

JLA Year One is one of the best League stories that alot of ppl don't know about.

Superman Birthright was a Year One done right for the man of steel.

Kingdom Come is a superhero classic.

Yea,I'd say he's not bad. :D

[dupersuper]

As useless, annoying retcons go, Birthright was at least a well-written 1. Pretty much all his other stuff is great.