It's been said many times before, but it always bears repeating: comics are a visual medium. Even the best writer is helpless without a talented artist to bring their script to life. And very often, it's those writers and artists who form close, lasting partnerships that produce the best stories. Names like Lee and Kirby or Brubaker and Phillips or Morrison and Quitely carry a lot of weight. That's why it's so unfortunate that consistent, lasting creative teams are becoming such a rarity in mainstream comics. Consistency doesn't seem to be a priority anymore.
Consider this. Marvel is wrapping up Star Wars: Darth Vader in a few weeks. The fact that all 25 issues of the main series featured the same creative team (writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca) is impressive. But Darth Vader is an anomaly in today's market. It's becoming increasingly rare to see an artist draw five issues in a row on a mainstream comic, much less 25. It was less than a decade ago that Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley broke Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's record by collaborating on 111 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man in a row. There might be a handful of creator-owned comics that achieve such Cal Ripken-worthy feats (The Walking Dead comes to mind), but certainly no book at Marvel or DC has come remotely close in the nine years since.
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Consider this. Marvel is wrapping up Star Wars: Darth Vader in a few weeks. The fact that all 25 issues of the main series featured the same creative team (writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca) is impressive. But Darth Vader is an anomaly in today's market. It's becoming increasingly rare to see an artist draw five issues in a row on a mainstream comic, much less 25. It was less than a decade ago that Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley broke Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's record by collaborating on 111 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man in a row. There might be a handful of creator-owned comics that achieve such Cal Ripken-worthy feats (The Walking Dead comes to mind), but certainly no book at Marvel or DC has come remotely close in the nine years since.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...