Why do people complain about Matt Fraction?

[thirdfalcon]

I think that when he's on intimate book with more modern characters he's one of the best writers around. But at the time his Thor run was not very good, and that combined with event fatigue to generate a lot of hate for FI. I think that it would have been fine if FI had just been a Thor/Cap crossover, but people really didn't want to like it as a huge event. So there was enough negative stuff associated with him to get people to grab their pitch forks. What can you do? It's the internet.

It's died down a lot now that Hawkeye has reminded everyone how good he can be. We'll see how things go with his FF run.

[jackolover]

Heres another question; why do people hate fear itself so much?

I mean the story was a little too decompressed and didn't have enough of the general public involved (it was supposed to be an analogue for how the world seems to be in divisive chaos these days, so why do I only see that in the 1st and last issues?) But even despite that it wasn't horrible at all.

in fact I thought it was good. Not great, not the best event ever, but certainly not worth all the hate it gets.

Fractions main problem from where I can see is that his storytelling has pacing issues. He feels the need to get everything out that he wants to cover but needs to improve how that hurts the overall flow of a story arc. the Resilient arc for Iron Man was a great example of this, where the plot kind of dragged on with what could have been shortened material. Fractions great at character work, but we don't need to see everything, some things need to be on the cutting room floor.

Yeah. That's what I think I liked about Millar and Loeb. They both just shortened the action and hit character essentials in the shortest possible time. Fraction doesn't seem to get that. Fear Itself was an improvement though.

[thirdfalcon]

Heres another question; why do people hate fear itself so much?

I mean the story was a little too decompressed and didn't have enough of the general public involved (it was supposed to be an analogue for how the world seems to be in divisive chaos these days, so why do I only see that in the 1st and last issues?) But even despite that it wasn't horrible at all.

in fact I thought it was good. Not great, not the best event ever, but certainly not worth all the hate it gets.

Fractions main problem from where I can see is that his storytelling has pacing issues. He feels the need to get everything out that he wants to cover but needs to improve how that hurts the overall flow of a story arc. the Resilient arc for Iron Man was a great example of this, where the plot kind of dragged on with what could have been shortened material. Fractions great at character work, but we don't need to see everything, some things need to be on the cutting room floor.

It interrupted a lot of books, and didn't really change anything. All that really happened to the status quo was Steve Rogers becoming Captain America again, which people saw as something that would have happened soon anyway, and Thor dying, when he had just been resurrected pretty recently and it was only gonna last for 15 seconds and everyone knew it.

I really think that if it had been a big Cap/Thor crossover instead of the huge event that tied into so many books, it would have been much better received. People don't like it when their favorite books get taken over by something completely unrelated that they don't care about.

Notice how AVX only tied into the books that it effected directly, and AoU is apparently going to be the same way. It seems like they learned at least.

[Addams]

His work on Uncanny X-men was hilariously poor. And Thor ? Man, it was painful.

But to be fair his Iron Man wasn't all that bad.

[DeadXMan]

Magic hair that didn't work
Promoting underage drinking ( which kills more teenagers then smoking dose,
JOE!)
Magneto's power fluxuation ( he could stop an airplane or a Predator X, but could pull a giant bullet going faster then light around)

Mach 3 = 300mph.

Epic fights off screen (Sisterhood vs Wolverine and Bullseye vs a pissed off Archangel )

ass pull after ass pull bring the story to an end

cosplaying bdsm necrophilia

unwillingness to let others use non wolverine x-men ( Slott wanted to use Nightcrawler in his Avengers book, but Fraction said no because he"had big Plans" for him. And that plan? be a background charecter until his death in second coming....

and forced dioluge to sound hip.

[DebkoX]

Theres always two sides to the moon, the light, the dark, some people are on the light, others on the dark.

[ImmortalIronFist]

Immortal Iron Fist, The Order and Hawkeye are all really good. Thor had its moments, but bogged down after a while. Iron Man was pretty good but moved a little too slow, X-Men just didn't feel right for him and I didn't like F:I at all.

Overall, I would say I've liked him more than not.

[crimsonspider89]

UXM, FI, and Thor display that he struggles with multiple characters. His IF and Hawkeye are good but people just don't think he can do larger than life casts and characters.

[Mister Mets]

He's a prominent writer with a discernible style. There will always be someone to complain about that.

[sunofdarkchild]

People complain about specific runs. No one thinks ill of his Iron Man work, but his Uncanny X-Men read like bad fanfiction.

[vh4ever]

I've heard a lot of hate for Fraction lately and I'm not sure why. I think he writes clever, fun comics that often read like a more digestible Morrison. He writes long arcs too. His Iron Man and Thor runs have been awesome. Think his FF was one of the most fun Marvel Now books, and Hawkeye is my favorite book right now. I prefer him over Hickman who while I have no problem with seems to write more cerebral and lack the warmth that Fraction conveys in similar stories. I don't mind Bendis but I definitely see why some might not like him, and same with Loeb...but I don't get it with Fraction. I think he's one of the indystry's best and a very worthy successor to Morrison, Ellis et.al

Liked his Iron Fist and Iron Man. Loathed his Thor, Defenders, and Fear Itself, which was my last company wide crossover 'event'. His Uncanny run I did try on and found it just ok, but that franchise has been treading water for 15 years, so there's nowhere to go but up. Under Bendis people are sure to get riled up. Fraction has been hit or miss with me, I'm trying out his Fantastic Four, but also for Bagley's work. We'll see.

[Omega Alpha]

People don't complain when he writes fantastic things like Hawkeye, Immortal Iron Fist, the Order.

However, when he writes crap like Fear Itself, Uncanny X-men and his so-so (IMO) run in Iron Man, people complain. Why is it so hard to understand?

In general, he seemingly will do just fine with stuff he won't be pulled into events much or have a lot of editorial interference, and will have problems when is doing the "big books".

This basically.

Its happened to Bendis and Johns (at DC but only to a limited extent though), it's happening to Fraction, it's slowly happening to Remender (probably because he's on higher profile titles now) and Gillen. Even guys like Aaron aren't spared these days.

It hasn't started yet with Hickman but I expect all that to change when he takes over the Avengers.

In other words: high profile writers don't even write bad books. They are awesome at everything. Bitch, please!

Nobody is complaining about Hawkeye, or Ultimate Spider-Man, or any of Mark Waid's books, for example. Almost everyone like Thor: God of Thunder as well.

It interrupted a lot of books, and didn't really change anything. All that really happened to the status quo was Steve Rogers becoming Captain America again, which people saw as something that would have happened soon anyway, and Thor dying, when he had just been resurrected pretty recently and it was only gonna last for 15 seconds and everyone knew it.

I really think that if it had been a big Cap/Thor crossover instead of the huge event that tied into so many books, it would have been much better received. People don't like it when their favorite books get taken over by something completely unrelated that they don't care about.

Notice how AVX only tied into the books that it effected directly, and AoU is apparently going to be the same way. It seems like they learned at least.

That, and unless you were reading Thor (I wasn't), then the whole plot doesn't make much sense. And Gillen had to work around it in JiM to make the story meaningful and somewhat understandable.

To me, that was Marvel's worst event since Disassembled, and that's saying something.

Theres always two sides to the moon, the light, the dark, some people are on the light, others on the dark.

Cool story, bro. Like, deep.

[Runguy]

My problem isn't with Fraction, it's with Marvel for putting him on books that he's just not right for. Thor and Fear Itself were just too "big" for him. Give him smaller, more intimate books and things work out much better.

Actually , based on Fractions previous Thor work, people in general were pretty happy when he took Thor over. It was only after his modern day Thor was exactly like his olden days Thor did people start to complain.

[AnonymousMC]

Fanboys can be a whiny lot

[punisher97]

I hated Fear Itself, but I stuck through it for the sake of books I follow having tie-ins. That was a mistake that cost me lots of money. His Iron Man, which I've read most of, was pretty good. However, the Fear Itself tie-in issues barely advanced the plot and were practically unreadable. I think Fraction shouldn't be allowed to work on too many books at once. I read some of his Iron Fist, and it was great. He didn't seem to have to deal with any big constraints like an event.