Is James Robinson considered one of the best writers?

[Winghead]

Is he up there with Grant Morrison? Aside from 8 issues of Batman/Detective, Starman and Golden Age, what else has he done?

[Sir Tim Drake]

He wrote one of the best adventure comics of the '90s:

http://home.comcast.net/~brons/Comics/LeaveItToChance.jpeg

(In case the image stops working, the comic in question was called Leave It to Chance.)

[jackdaw53]

Is he up there with Grant Morrison? Not an easy one for me to answer.... I really don't enjoy large majority of Grant's stuff. (Last stuff he did that I really enjoyed was Zenith... that's a long time ago.)

Apart from the stuff by James already mentioned I also really like a couple of his early stories: London's Dark and Illegal Alien. (Starman fans would probably be interested in London's Dark... the central couple remind me strongly of Mason O'Dare and Charity.)

[Retrodork]

I don't think Robinson has to be the most prolific in order to be the best. Grant Morrison is all over the friggin' place and some of his stuff I don't necessarily like. Same thing with Garth Ennis, and I usually love his work. But I've never read anything by Robinson that I was disappointed with, so I guess I'd say he's my choice for best. Whenever friends want to be introduced to comics, Starman is always one of the first trades I give them.

[RonnieThunderbolts]

He also started the JSA relaunch from 1999/2000 with David Goyer and Geoff Johns, and the best run in the entirety of WildCATs publication history. He started the Hawkman relaunch that spun out of JSA, and wrote Marvel's Cable, and finished the Heroes Reborn Captain America series when Loeb and Liefield left during its year run. He also wrote EctoKid for Marvel's Razorline imprint, and Firearm for Malibu comics. He did a mini series about the wild west cowboy version of the Vigilante for DC as well.

For my money, he is one of the greatest superhero comics writers of all time, up there with all the greats, including Morrison. He may not be the most prolific writer, but from start to finish his Starman is one of the greatest reads I've ever had the pleasure in partaking in.

[Jamescush]

Is he up there with Grant Morrison? Aside from 8 issues of Batman/Detective, Starman and Golden Age, what else has he done?

Go and check out his Firearm series that came out from Malibu. It's a real underrated series.

He also did some cool Terminator comics for Dark Horse. Big action, if you like that stuff. :biggrin:

[Dr. Mid-Nite III]

Is he up there with Grant Morrison? Aside from 8 issues of Batman/Detective, Starman and Golden Age, what else has he done?

I'd say Starman and Golden Age are more than enough to put him in the "olympus" of comic book writers. :wink:

[Rich L]

He started the Hawkman relaunch that spun out of JSA.

To be fair he shared that with Geoff Johns.

I love Starman, but really haven't felt much one way or the other on a lot of his other work - except hugely disappointed on his Batman/Detective Face the Face arc. Good build up, lousy pay off.

[Shellhead]

I'm only familiar with Robinson from his DC work: the Golden Age, Starman, JSA and Hawkman. Golden Age was great, a serious re-evaluation of the great golden age heroes in decline, and also the very beginning of the silver age. Starman was good, but rarely great, a personal but highly self-conscious take on the lead character, but with a few serious mis-steps, like the horrendous mass murder of several heroes based in Europe. Both JSA and Hawkman were collaborations with Geoff Johns that started strong, but got even better after Robinson left. So I consider Robinson an above average comic writer, but not one who will ever take the genre to a new level the way Alan Moore and Grant Morrison have.

[FanboyStranger]

I consider Robinson up there with Morrison, Moore, etc, but in some ways, he's not quite as acknowledged as his greatest strength is in character development rather than "Holy Sh!t!" plot development. Compared to Morrison, his work superficially may seem almost quaint in how the story unfolds (with certain exceptions like the Mist raping Jack Knight and using the subsequent child as emotional blackmail), but the characters ring so true to life so quickly (Bobo Bennetti, for example, became one of favorites in the first issue he appeared in) with a depth that most comic writers can't achieve in their entire careers.

A few other notable Robinson works that haven't been mentioned:

Witchcraft from DC/Vertigo. (I haven't read the Witchcraft: La Terreur sequel)

Bluebeard from SLG.

Grendel Tales: Four Devils, One Hell with Teddy Kristiansen from Dark Horse.

[Hokeyboy]

Go and check out his Firearm series that came out from Malibu. It's a real underrated series.
I *loved* FIREARM. It was not only criminally underrated, and barely connected to the shared-universe mess of the "Ultraverse", it was one of THE best series of the 90s. I'd love to see a collection. I'd also like to see more groin.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

He also started the JSA relaunch from 1999/2000 with David Goyer and Geoff Johns, and the best run in the entirety of WildCATs publication history. He started the Hawkman relaunch that spun out of JSA, and wrote Marvel's Cable, and finished the Heroes Reborn Captain America series when Loeb and Liefield left during its year run. He also wrote EctoKid for Marvel's Razorline imprint, and Firearm for Malibu comics. He did a mini series about the wild west cowboy version of the Vigilante for DC as well.

For my money, he is one of the greatest superhero comics writers of all time, up there with all the greats, including Morrison. He may not be the most prolific writer, but from start to finish his Starman is one of the greatest reads I've ever had the pleasure in partaking in.

He also did a mini for Ash from Event Comics (whatever happened to those guys? ha.)

One of the best?
I don't know - Starman is a fave of mine, and his work is always enjoyable... so yeah, probably.
I just wish he did more.

[victor_lanza]

Go and check out his Firearm series that came out from Malibu. It's a real underrated series.

He also did some cool Terminator comics for Dark Horse. Big action, if you like that stuff. :biggrin:

I first discovered him on Firearm, and have been reading all his stuff since.:biggrin:

[Jamescush]

He also did a mini for Ash from Event Comics (whatever happened to those guys? ha.)


The unfinished Ash mini. :wink:

Anyone know if the script to the 'unmade' Firearm Annual is online somewhere? I never read that nor the Codename: Firearm backups James did later. :frown: