Anyone else not entirely enthusiastic about Johns coming to Action?

[Guts/Batman]

I might not have gotten the right title but anyways...

I'm not exactly enthusiastic to Johns now on one of the Superman books. Something is not clicking for me.

Maybe I'm just bitter than Gail got screwed over on the length of her time on Action and don't want it to end. Maybe all of this comic book reading is taking it's toll on me.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

Or perhaps it's just getting to your nerves the fact that they are rotating the creative teams so frequently.

I'm kinda enthusiastic about Johns in Superman (and Busiek in Action - or is it the other way?). Although I haven't read much of his work, I've heard nothing but praises of it.

But then again, I'd like to see the Superman 2000 project in print (you know, that revamp Morrison, Waid, Millar and Peyer wanted to do a while ago).

[Yoda]

It's Johns and Busiek co-writing an 8 part run on both Superman and Action. They are co-writing each issue.

I'm not apprehensive about this at all, in fact I'm excited. These are two of the best writers out there today. Both write fun stories. Busiek is responsbible for argueably one of the best Superman stories ever - Secret Identity, and Johns on Flash was a great run and Teen Titans has been consistenly a great book.

I like the idea of new creative teams on the Superman books every year or so. Keeps the books fresh. Gails run on Action was pretty good, but she's onto a lot of other cool stuff.

[Yoda]

I Maybe all of this comic book reading is taking it's toll on me.

You said yourself on many occasions that you love reading books you consider "train wrecks." Why not try and find stuff you actually enjoy because you think it's good and stop reading books you think are terrible. Especially if, in the long run, you would rather read books you enjoy. Vote with your wallet.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Johns & Busiek have both had their misfires--every creator has--but they can both be very, very good. I'm looking forward to what they can do with Superman. There's plenty of potential there, as always.

[Kevinroc]

Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek are only on for four issues of Action and four issues of Superman (they are co-writing an 8 part crossover).

After that? We don't know what the creative teams will look like.

Although I will miss Gail's Action. I was very much enjoying what she was doing.

[PatrickG]

I have a feeling that Johns and Busiek are doing the setup for a couple of high profile teams that will launch over the summer.

I mean, one or both may stay as writers but I have a feeling that the end of this arc will debut a major new art team or something along those lines.

DC's been trying to pump the right energy into Superman for awhile.

I'd kindof like to see fresher talent on ACTION. Maybe Will Pfiefer? Allan Heinberg? Pair them with guys like Ed Benes and Talent Caldwell.

Then, make an effort to really amp up SUPERMAN with classic teams. Waid. Morrison. Maggin. Joe Kelly. Get a string of writers associated with the character to collaborate on episodic, done-in-one chapters of larger story-arcs. Pull in the higher profile artists on this one. Perez. McGuiness. Jim Lee. Maybe Ordway or Byrne. Make this the book for writers and artists who have defined and worked with the character to really show off and jam in one-to-two issue stories that tie into larger running themes.

[Guts/Batman]

You said yourself on many occasions that you love reading books you consider "train wrecks." Why not try and find stuff you actually enjoy because you think it's good and stop reading books you think are terrible. Especially if, in the long run, you would rather read books you enjoy. Vote with your wallet.

That's because I follow characters and not authors. A book would reallly have to piss me off to make me stop buying it.

I buy most of the books I buy because of the character, not the author.

[stealthwise]

I'm more nervous about whether or not their 8 issue arc will be a full arc in and of itself. I don't care to buy comics and find that they only function as a small piece to a bigger whole, that's what put me off of most of the IC tie-in stuff.

[megladon8]

I'm more nervous about whether or not their 8 issue arc will be a full arc in and of itself. I don't care to buy comics and find that they only function as a small piece to a bigger whole, that's what put me off of most of the IC tie-in stuff.

Indeed.

Nothing pisses me off more than when the comic companies decide to put out story arcs where you have to be buying like 7 different series' to read the story. Good examples: Identity Crisis, War Games (Batman), The Other (Spider-Man).

Especially considering the fact that often these stories have NOTHING to do with what was going on previously in the book.

It'd be nice if these stories were just released in their own mini-series, or straight to TPB.

[Ian J.N.]

The sense I get is that Superman is in for a radical, but temporary, change to the status quo, the story of which will be encapsulated in Johns and Busiek's four month run. That has my interest piqued.

It's a good match of writers too. Johns does flashier scenes, while Busiek is better with story construction, and both have a keen understanding about what makes a character work.

I like also that it's a limited run being told in both titles. I'm more inclined to collect a title when I know there's a fixed ending point. Superman is not a character I can read month in and month out. Too much dilutes his iconic appeal (for me, anyways). For that reason, I usually confine myself to limited story arcs.

[LibrarianThorne]

I just... I just don't like most of Geoff Johns' work. His Green Lantern is the most boring book I'm reading, and I'm dropping it after the Hard Travelling Heroes issue. Infinite Crisis is great stuff, though. Then I read some trades of his Flash run, and they just weren't that good. Maybe because I was comparing them to Mark Waid's, but regardless, his Flash just didn't feel very much like the Flash to me. I liked Wally having a public identity as a superhero, dammit.

[Lurker]

I liked Wally having a public identity as a superhero, dammit.

Me too. Dammit.

[Babylon23]

Johns and Busiek are two of my favourite writers. I couldn't be happier with this announcement.

I must admit, though, that I've really enjoyed Gail Simone's Action issues. I hadn't picked up an issue of Superman in over 10 years before she came on board. I'm sad to see her leaving the book.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

It's Johns and Busiek co-writing an 8 part run on both Superman and Action. They are co-writing each issue.

My bad then. And it's a lot better this way, actually: both of them writing the whole thing together. I'm very excited about this.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek are only on for four issues of Action and four issues of Superman (they are co-writing an 8 part crossover).

After that? We don't know what the creative teams will look like.

Although I will miss Gail's Action. I was very much enjoying what she was doing.

And I'll miss Gail's work, but not Byrne's. It's his worst in years.

[The Mirrorball Man]

Coming to a comics forum and wondering if some members are "not entirely enthusiastic" about something is like asking Secret Service agents if some of them "don't trust implicitly" someone. Both are naturally suspicious.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

I have a feeling that Johns and Busiek are doing the setup for a couple of high profile teams that will launch over the summer.

I mean, one or both may stay as writers but I have a feeling that the end of this arc will debut a major new art team or something along those lines.

DC's been trying to pump the right energy into Superman for awhile.

I'd kindof like to see fresher talent on ACTION. Maybe Will Pfiefer? Allan Heinberg? Pair them with guys like Ed Benes and Talent Caldwell.

Then, make an effort to really amp up SUPERMAN with classic teams. Waid. Morrison. Maggin. Joe Kelly. Get a string of writers associated with the character to collaborate on episodic, done-in-one chapters of larger story-arcs. Pull in the higher profile artists on this one. Perez. McGuiness. Jim Lee. Maybe Ordway or Byrne. Make this the book for writers and artists who have defined and worked with the character to really show off and jam in one-to-two issue stories that tie into larger running themes.

Well, a long time ago Mark Waid assured everyone that he'd work again on Superman. Will this be the time?

Personally, I'd love to see Morrison, Maggin (nice idea of yours), Stern, Jurgens, Azzarello, Waid, Millar, Busiek, Johns in the writing chores. And in the drawing part, I'd like to see Bogdanove, Jurgens, Lee, Ordway, McGuinness, Kubert, Reis, Ross, Pérez, García López, Guice, Turner, Caldwell, Mahnke, Benes.

There are a lot of writers and artists that love Big Blue, and in the last years, DC has been hitting (Azzarello) and missing (Seagle). DC has been promising us a "Year of Superman" for two years now. In some way, 2004 was a good year, because of the new creative teams, and some minis. And this has been a good year too. But I haven't seen the "storm" I expected.

Only the best of the best should be writing Superman, god dammit.

[Tadhg]

That's because I follow characters and not authors. A book would reallly have to piss me off to make me stop buying it.

I buy most of the books I buy because of the character, not the author.

Well if it's taking a toll, I'd suggest a change. I mean it can't be good if reading books is taking a toll on you, can it? They're entertainment not work.

[Guts/Batman]

Well if it's taking a toll, I'd suggest a change. I mean it can't be good if reading books is taking a toll on you, can it? They're entertainment not work.

I'm at my breaking point on some of them. I'm entertained by them...just not in the way that DC would want me to be by them is all.

And some of them I get more for the art.

Batman is definitely more for the art. Couldn't give a crap about Batman or Red Hood (and where the hell is Killer Croc, did Winick just leave a dangling plot there for some other writer to use or what?). Nevermind that it is boring as hell with pacing...that makes me want to gouge my eyes out.

What is the reason for me getting Batman Annual #25. A minor continuity interest but mostly for Shane Davis art. No seriously, that's about it.

Same goes for Green Arrow. I like the art but couldn't give a crap about the characters.

Ditto for Nightwing. Hester's work on the series is good stuff. But likewise, I don't give a crap about Nightwing. What's sad is that Gail's run on Action has been much shorter than Grayson's on Nightwing but been far more destructive to the character...

I just don't get it.

Superman I get more for Ed Benes. That man can just flat out do great things with pencils. Just awesome. I would say the only person who gets to draw Kara Zor-El is Ed Benes. No one else. Not even Jim Lee.

Comics to me are a two part system. When one aspect of comics is boring the other has to pick up the slack. If the art is visually boring or overcomplicated, the story has to pick up the slack.

And if the story is literatually boring or over complicated, the art has to pick it up the burden and sell the comic. It's a delicate balance that few creative teams are able to balance.

A comic to me is a "total Brain exercise". You use both sides of your brain to enjoy it. And if one part is not executing it's goals well...then it becomes taxing. And that is where I am right now with a number of books.

Nothing that Johns has written so far throughout this last 6 monthes of comics has been of the "dynamic" or "Wow...I just have to read that.", yet. I'm particularly annoyed at Johns for his inferior Ben Relliy copy in Teen Titans so that goes into my apprehension of this news.

[Cayman]

Yeah, I've never seen evidence that Johns has the imagination to write Superman stories. Superman demands imagination.

Cay

[Lurker]

Only the best of the best should be writing Superman, god dammit.

Didn't DC have a policy forbiding A-list talent of Superman books stemming from the famous Superman 2000 proposal?

[shyguy]

I'm not enthusiastic at all. I've been enjoying Simone's run on Action a lot (despite the Byrne artwork), and I'll be sad to see it go. That book and Verheiden's Superman had me reading Superman books for the first time since right before the wedding.

Busiek I'd be all for, but Johns, for me, has been in an all-around downward spiral ever since Teen Titans started.

[Ultraman Max]

I'm curious, but the write ups for the issues don't have me all that enthusiastic. But I guess that's the general state of most comic fans.

[Ian J.N.]

To be fair, we've only seen two write ups, and they've been kept purposely vague, so as not to spoil anything.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

Didn't DC have a policy forbiding A-list talent of Superman books stemming from the famous Superman 2000 proposal?

I didn't know about that. how do you know?

And that, my friend, would be one of the most stupid things that DC could do in its entire history, if not the most stupid.

[Agentum]

Have something good come out of changing the team so often?, i don't like a book that is somehow rebooted every 4-8 issues.

Is it the teams that don't want books for long runs or it is the employers decision?

[Guts/Batman]

Changing creative teams after 7-8 issues gives the appearance of "freshness" to the book, when in reality all it brings is the same stuff under a different writer.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

The thing with the rotating teams is that, in one hand, we have (or at least might have) a fresh view on the character every time, but OTOH, the continuous rotation might get tiresome.