Ack. I just found out Bruce Jones is taking over Checkmate.
Bruce Jones
As in the guy who turned Jason Todd into a freaking tentacle monster on Nightwing. Among other travesties.
That's...
I hate completely knocking someone's creative effort, so I'll try to be fair, maybe Jones is just decidedly ill-suited to Bat-books. Maybe he actually can write a good espionage adventure.
But egads, the man's resume does NOT inspire confidence.
Oh. That's worrisome. Well, I guess I'll give him a chance since I'm already buying the series. But thanks for the heads up, if it goes bad I'll know why.
ReplyDeleteThe man's resume is FAR more than the one series you mention. He's been writing comics for something like 20 years.
ReplyDeleteI liked Bruce Jones' Ka-Zar from the late 70s but I have to admit that nothing I've read that he's written in the past five or six years makes me think that this is a good choice.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a few months of all of my favorite comics being either canceled or re-assigned (Checkmate, Blue Beetle, Birds of Prey, Shadowpact), and Checkmate I think has only recently given up its #1 ranking to Blue Beetle, so I was really upset.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I have no problem at all with tentacle monster Jason Todd.
Between this and learning that Checkmate is incredibly low on the sales list, I don't have really high hopes for it after Trautmann & Rucka leave.
ReplyDeleteI'm really depressed that they kicked those two of the book; it was the closest thing to Queen & Country coming out today.
I'll just echo Sims when I point how Ostrander is just finishing up his Suicide Squad mini and would have been the PERFECT choice to take over Checkmate...
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it is, Elayne. I was using a single example to illustrate the greater generality I've yet to see anything by the man however that makes me confident that he'd be a good choice for the series.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a particular series from his resume in mind that makes you think he would be good at this sort of espionage, do correct me. I'd like to give the man a fair shake.
I haven't read much by Jones, but what he did to Dick Grayson (male model?!) was horrible. The few other books he wrote that I read were largely unreadable, so I am not exactly enthused about his taking over Checkmate. I also read that Rucka had planned to leave at this point, and it seems rare these days that people stick with books for more than a couple of years, so when I read the news, I wasn't shocked, but I was disappointed.
ReplyDeleteYou mean Bruce "You're (Gasp!)METAHUMAN!!" Jones?
ReplyDeleteI admit, I also liked his Ka-Zar stories, as well as his work on I,VAMPIRE, back in the 80's, but I haven't really liked much of his recent stuff, outside of an OMAC issue I read.
As Jerry Seinfeld would say, "This can only end badly."
Well, at least it keeps him off
NIGHTWING. Tomasi, Rags, & Bair have made that book awesome again.
Bruce Jones' Conan the Barbarian, Kazar, and Warlord were all awesome.
ReplyDeleteBasically the man is fantastic in a "fantasy" (Warlord and Ka-Zar are real world kinda but not really) setting.
As far as actual superhero books? His Hulk should have been called "Bruce Banner: Whiner" and then Nightwing...
Yeah.
So make of that what ya will.
I thought he had a really good initial idea in Warlord, working in the Warlord's girlfriend and buddy looking for the lost main character. Then it went downhill, astonishingly quickly. Jones' report card would read, "Bruce has some very good ideas, but does not capitalize on them."
ReplyDeleteGod, I'm still bitter about Warlord. Sad.