JMS Takes Over For Superman and Wonder Woman in July!

[coolghoul]

I know JMS' run on Spidey was pretty long - was it about a 100 issues or so?

How long was his run on Thor? I think bringing Asgard to Oklahoma (which sounds weird when I read what I write) seemed to work in the only collection that I've read from that run.

JMS always sounds so reasonable in his interview. Especially how he always makes the point that these are not his character's. These are DC (or Marvel) characters so he needs to make sure that he is adding/building on to these characters and also taking them where they want to go.

[Donald Draper]

Hard to see how his approach to Superman in the GN won't inform his take in the regular books. Even if that origin is not "canon".

[TemporalFlux]

Donald Draper wrote:

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Hard to see how his approach to Superman in the GN won't inform his take in the regular books. Even if that origin is not "canon".

This is what I'm thinking, and it would pretty much make the Johns / Frank "Secret Origin" worthless right out of the gate. At least Mark Waid's "Birthright" had a couple years of ambiguity before it was thrown out the window.

Of course, Geoff Johns has pretty much taken over Didio's old job as creative guidance for the company, so that could help keep "Secret Origin" alive. The question is how do you reign in someone like JMS if you want to keep him working for the company?

JMS just hasn't seemed like much of a "play ball" kind of guy in my opinion. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; I'm just saying that I don't think he'll accept having the boundary of another writer's ideas. JMS certainly didn't accept it when Quesada started meddling with Spider-man; and JMS didn't accept it when Quesada wanted to do a Marvel U crossover with Thor. In both of those instances, JMS just quit.

coolghoul wrote:

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I know JMS' run on Spidey was pretty long - was it about a 100 issues or so?

Pretty much. JMS did 74 issues of Amazing Spider-man, but he also wrote some issues Sensational Spider-man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man during crossovers (such as "One More Day").

[hyzmarca]

I'm hoping that he'll have Superman come out of the closet and dump Lois for Lex. I don't think he will, but I can always hope.

[coolghoul]

TemporalFlux wrote:

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Pretty much. JMS did 74 issues of Amazing Spider-man, but he also wrote some issues Sensational Spider-man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man during crossovers (such as "One More Day").

Thanks.

I have been reading some of his run in the graphic novels format. Just read both One More Day (finally) and reread some of the earlier stuff with Peter and MJ finally meeting and resuming the marriage (The Life and Death of Spiders and Till the Stars turn cold). While there are several things that I don't quite agree with in JMS' run - the organic webshooters. I wasn't a big fan of the spider-totem storylines also tho' I liked both Ezekiel and Morlun which are both corner-stones of the spider-totem storylines. But his writing made it all fairly engrossing.

I would be quite interested in reading about how he treats WW's more mythological side (rather that Diana Prince, Ambassador of Themyscira - which was done enjoyably, I thought, by others before him). I have been a bit negative on the whole Superman thing for a while now. The idea of New Krypton doesn't really interest me. But hopefully he will be the only Superman around by the time we get to JMS.

[23skidoo]

One of the more annoying things about recent Wonder Woman is that in the aftermath of Infinite Crisis and 52 DC started out by doing a makeover that made the comic into a somewhat updated take on the WW TV series of the 1970s. I liked that approach, with WW becoming Diana Prince, secret agent for her day job. There was even a tantalizing plot thread that suggested that the SHIELD-like organization she was working with might have forced her to kill people during the course of missions which would have made an interesting counterpoint to the whole Maxwell Lord neck-breaking business.

All this lasted about, what, 3 issues and then she got tied up with lengthy mythology-related plotlines, and talking apes and all sorts of stuff ... talk about losing focus!

I'd love to see JMS reel things back to what I thought was a rather promising story arc. Heck, I'll even go one step further and add it might be the right time to try a new go at the non-powered "Diana Prince, Wonder Woman" concept that was so wildly ridiculed, despite being rather intriguing (in idea, if not in execution), back in the 70s.

hyzmarca wrote:

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I'm hoping that he'll have Superman come out of the closet and dump Lois for Lex. I don't think he will, but I can always hope.

Tsk. Everyone knows Jimmy Olsen is "Superman's Pal"!

Alex

[CaptainCanada]

God no. The sooner everything Heinberg forced on the series is behind us, the better, including the waste of time that is "Diana Prince". One of the best things Simone did was burn that whole setup to the ground, though as yet she's still keeping up the pretence of a false identity for whatever reason.

[Captain Craig]

So DC is going to use the faulty accounting method and pump Wonder Woman up to #600?

How much longer then till Flash and Green Lantern are given the combo-title recount treatment?

[Mike Farley]

With Wonder Woman, DC put the question to the fans. They had a postcard campaign. Didio said if they received 600 postcards supporting the change they would switch WW back to her original numbering and give her her 600th issue. I believe they got about 800 cards.

I kind of like what they've been doing with Adventure Comics with both the current volume's number and the uninterrupted "classic" number shown.

[hyzmarca]

CaptainCanada wrote:

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God no. The sooner everything Heinberg forced on the series is behind us, the better, including the waste of time that is "Diana Prince". One of the best things Simone did was burn that whole setup to the ground, though as yet she's still keeping up the pretence of a false identity for whatever reason.

Heinberg wasn't even born yet when Wonder Woman's Diana Prince was created, in 1942. It's always been an integral part of the character and it makes fighting Nazi spies a hell of a lot easier.

Next thing you'll want to get rid of all the lesbian BDSM.

[RobertScorpio]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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Wow...not only will JMS be writing the Superman Earth One graphic novels with artist Shane Davis but I just saw on Newsarama (surprised no one jumped on this already) that he'll be the new writer on both Superman and Wonder Woman starting with issues 701. Here is the link with the story...

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/jms-...an-100308.html

Gail Simone is leaving Wonder Woman for Birds of Prey which is returning.

This does not sound good. I will wait for some people's reviews on this before I even go near it. (ahem..Greg???)

Rob

[CaptainCanada]

hyzmarca wrote:

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Heinberg wasn't even born yet when Wonder Woman's Diana Prince was created, in 1942. It's always been an integral part of the character

No, it hasn't. It was ditched in the post-Crisis reboot in 1987, and she went without from then until 2006, quite fine, because it's completely unnecessary to the character and, in particular, totally at odds with the characterization that was developed from George Perez onward. It was brought back because of pointless nostalgia.

[3D Master]

CaptainCanada wrote:

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No, it hasn't. It was ditched in the post-Crisis reboot in 1987, and she went without from then until 2006, quite fine, because it's completely unnecessary to the character and, in particular, totally at odds with the characterization that was developed from George Perez onward. It was brought back because of pointless nostalgia.

Yep, and the reason? Wonder Woman, you are not human enough, you do not understand people. (Total bullshit but still.) So, you must take on a human secret identity to get in touch with your humanity, to understand average humans. And what was the job she was given "to get in touch with average normal humans"? ...secret agent... in a white formfitting jumpsuit...

Yeah, makes total sense there.

[RobertScorpio]

3D Master wrote:

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Yep, and the reason? Wonder Woman, you are not human enough, you do not understand people. (Total bullshit but still.) So, you must take on a human secret identity to get in touch with your humanity, to understand average humans. And what was the job she was given "to get in touch with average normal humans"? ...secret agent... in a white formfitting jumpsuit...

Yeah, makes total sense there.

Bring back Steve Engleheart!!!

[Nerys Myk]

CaptainCanada wrote:

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No, it hasn't. It was ditched in the post-Crisis reboot in 1987, and she went without from then until 2006, quite fine, because it's completely unnecessary to the character and, in particular, totally at odds with the characterization that was developed from George Perez onward. It was brought back because of pointless nostalgia.

"Pointless Nostalgia" Isn't that DCs motto?