Well I mean, in his defense, he was writing primarily for children.
Kids were all hopped up on nickel moon pies in those days, he had to constantly remind them about how the weirdo’s who he just invented a couple months ago powers worked.
Yeah, good point man. I’m sure the kids only worried about the fight scenes, I grow bored reading his huge monologues these days lol.
Yeah, Stan was pretty ham-fisted. He did come up on comics back when the printing was so bad that writers often described what their characters were doing just to keep things clear, but that doesn’t excuse his hilarious “teen” dialogue.
Even for the '60s, I’m sure that Stan Lee’s dialogue was dated. But I think that’s just how comics were written back then. They were filled with exposition and needless word and thought balloons explaining things that the reader could either plainly see or infer. The language of comics has evolved over the years and readers are (probably) more sophisticated now, so we really don’t need all of that excess verbiage.
To me, the reason why I can still read certain Silver Age-era (or even Golden Age) comics is if the ideas and plots are interesting. Look at a Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four or, because this is the DC thread, an old school Gardner Fox Justice League or something. Some of those plots can seem whacked out by today’s standards, but there’s just something about the naive fantasy and unabashed imagination in those old comics that appeals to me every so often. I can’t read huge chunks of them in one sitting, but it’s a little trip to see what yesterdecade’s Morrison-on-LSD equivalent was like.
I do, however, have a low tolerance for that ham-fisted shit when it comes to comics written after 1980.
I don’t know. Get Sano or Reggie in here to explain why they like Stan Lee’s writing.
zephy please tell us. why do you love loeb’s writing?
so whats been going on with batman recently?
I havent bought a new batman book since war games I think.
His dead parents are goign to be revealed to be alive and evil, then rash al ghul is going to laugh and batman will quit.
…:tdown::tdown:
what?
they were killed.
theyre dead.
they wont ever come back.
they shouldnt come back.
first Robin wont stay dead, now his parents wont stay dead either?! whats next, Barbara will become magically un-crippled? …please tell me that hasnt happened yet.
Hasn’t happened, but it probably will. Grant Morrison is crazy.
Stan’s gift was his imagination. Scratch that, it was his imagination and his utterly insane level of productivity. Anyone who worked as hard as Stan Lee did in the 1960s can probably be forgiven if some of the output is a little rickety.
I love his work because he is probably the most eloquent wordsmith in mainstream comics. His style is impetuous, his defense is impregnable, and he’s just ferocious. There’s no one can match him. He’s the best ever. Lennox is a conqueror? No! No, he’s no Alexander. Loeb is Alexander. He wants your heart, he wants to eat your children, all praise be to ALLAH
I love Jeph Loeb like I love the way my balls smell after not bathing for days and pushing weights. Which is to say that Jeph Loeb’s writing is like a stinky nut sack.
I was re-reading random issues of Superman/Batman. I like how Loeb persists in having Batman and Superman constantly monologuing about how great the other one is, we get it Loeb, SUPERMAN GETS A BONER FOR BATMAN AND VICE VERSA. no need to do it every other page, maybe even every page.
the more I think about it the more angry I get.
Batman got a son
Batman is being mindfucked by a new ultra mastermind called the Black Glove
Batman got 3 Batman imposters (a Batman with a gun, a Bat-Bane and another crazy Bat) running in the City
Batman got Ras back from the dead
Batman is going to die but not in the regular way of “Bang you’re dead” something alot more horrid (atleast thats what Morrison said)
Batman got Morrison writing one of the best runs in years
Just pick up the Morrison run its start in #655 till #675 is the “road to” than #676 is the first of Batman RIP (latest issue out is #677)
Truth.
He is also largely responsible for the whole comic book continuity ordeal by featuring different characters in their books, referencing past events, etc. Sure, back in those days it was only 20 books to keep track of and not 100s and I’m sure he wasn’t aware of the huge beast it would become but still. DC really didn’t have such a thing before Stan came along and when they tried to copy it this has caused them several problems that persist to this very day = Crisises.
Obviously it was written I don’t know how many years ago for a different audience. But a lot of the core stories that Stan Lee wrote are still being reused and recycled today from every Fantastic Four cartoon, every Spider-Man movie (3 to the side a tad due to Venom), the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, a hell of a lot of Marvel movies, an incredible amount of comics you have read where you think the idea is new but it isn’t, etc. Hell they’ve recycled Amazing Spider-Man issue 50 where he quits being Spidey like 4 times in Spidey comics and even made a movie out of it, Spidey 2. Characters he created aside, his stories will live on forever because they will always be retold in another way for a different medium and for a different audience. If you don’t like his writing? Hang around until someone retells the same exact story, like early Ultimate Spider-Man. Not for nothing but EVERY incarnation of X-Men still retells X-Men #1! A new girl arrives at the school for the first time! He did Jean Grey, everywhere else it’s Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, etc. There’s countless examples of this, I could be here all freaking day.
About his audience, of course he was writing for children which was largely the case at that time and even as comics start getting more adult, a lot of that still persists. However, if you read any of the letter pages in Stan’s comics you’ll see that most of the letters came from people in the military and colleges, the young adult crowd that most of us belong to or have surpassed by a couple of years. So he was striking a cord with the audience at that time and that’s all anyone can strive to do.
Backtracking a bit, talking about continuity in a DC thread, is funny… No offense, just saying… So Countdown didn’t happen? Hmm. I honestly don’t think that DC will ever keep continuity as tight as Marvel (not that Marvel doesn’t screw up and some writers don’t mind retconning stuff, but I digress). In some ways that’s a good thing actually. I don’t think anyone cares about Countdown not happening. 
Loeb only does good work when he’s with Sale. I didn’t mind Hush so much. I hate hate HATE Loeb on Marvel though. I think it’s because I’m more familiar with Marvel characters that I can see more of the flaws. When he’s with Sale aside of course.
Loeb’s of the Alex Ross and Quesada camp that wishes that everything was just like comics they’ve read 20 + years ago. It’s annoying sometimes but at least Ross and Quesada find refreshing ways to do this, most of the time. Not counting OMD/BND but there’s still a lot of explaining to do there right now…
I mean Loeb’s really doing the foggie bit at Marvel. What is up with 616 Ultimate Avengers? :looney: Loeb’s still crying about Gwen Stacy, dude get over it. The day he becomes EIC is the day she comes back to life… LOL at JQ retconning Spider-Man Blue because he doesn’t want Spidey having premarital sex with Gwen. Old foggies who want the past back fight! Get Alex Ross in there who refuses to draw Black Suit Spidey, Nightwing, John Stewart or Kyle Green Lantern to bop someone with a chair!
Oh! Okay. My friends and I call it “Campy Bam/Pow Batman” vs. “Super-Marine Batman.”
If you like old style Batman…then you need to watch Arnold as Mr. Freeze.
since Im so behind on batman would it be smarter to wait for the trades or hunt down all the individual issues?
Just heard a rumor about Blackest night: Seems like Abin Sur is going to take a big part in it, could be even as the leader of the black corps. but ofcourse its just a rumor.
Trinity #2 was tooooo short. and Mark Bagley is too good ! we need more robot smashing !
If that rumor is true then does that mean Hal & Sinestro have to form an alliance or will Sinestro side with Abin Sur.Also who is the leader of the Red Lanterns?