Bob Harras new DC Editor-in-Chief

[TheCorpulent1]

More importantly, why on Earth do multiple people actually care enough to speculate on it for days?

 

[SpideyInATree]

More importantly, why on Earth do multiple people actually care enough to speculate on it for days?

Because it's the Internet.

Same reason of why do people complain about something for years on end.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Eh, arguing about the content of stories is one thing. Obviously we all like that or we wouldn't actually come to a discussion board about said stories. But this purely speculative arguing over what a writer's intentions and feelings may or may not be? Just makes no sense to me. Who really cares that much why Johns is writing Batman for Earth One?

 

[Darthphere]

Who really cares about Batman Earth One anyway?

 

[yenaled]

Gary Frank does as Johns is writing it just for him.

 

[Saint]

Eh, arguing about the content of stories is one thing. Obviously we all like that or we wouldn't actually come to a discussion board about said stories. But this purely speculative arguing over what a writer's intentions and feelings may or may not be? Just makes no sense to me. Who really cares that much why Johns is writing Batman for Earth One?

I fail to see how discussing the creators of the work makes any less "sense," as you put it, than discussing the work itself. The creators are the reason there is work to discuss; they (and in this case, their motivations) affect the work.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, but none of you have any idea why Geoff Johns or Gary Frank do what they do. That's why I specified that I don't understand all of this circular speculation between two camps who seemingly just want to believe opposite things.

 

[fifthfiend]

What gets me is that this is supposedly based on some interview where Frank or Johns said this that someone could do everyone a big favor by like... linking to it (assuming it exists).

 

[fifthfiend]

What gets me is that this is supposedly based on some interview where Frank or Johns said this that someone could do everyone a big favor by like... linking to it (assuming it exists).

What gets me about this post is my own ghastly sentence structure.

Somewhere my 6th grade English teacher is furious and she doesn't even know why.

 

[Darthphere]

I fail to see how discussing the creators of the work makes any less "sense," as you put it, than discussing the work itself. The creators are the reason there is work to discuss; they (and in this case, their motivations) affect the work.

Lets discuss whether or not Geoff Johns is a homosexual. Because that makes sense right?

 

[Saint]

Yeah, but none of you have any idea why Geoff Johns or Gary Frank do what they do.

If you go back and read the discussion you'll see that's sort of the point. A couple of people have made claims about why Johns has taken on the title, and I've been asking for the information they're basing this claim on (presumably an interview or some other comments from the team), specifically because I don't know why Johns does what he does, and if there's information out there to that effect, I'd like to see it.

That's why I specified that I don't understand all of this circular speculation between two camps who seemingly just want to believe opposite things.

If this were the case, how would this be a problem? People discuss the speculative and unknown all the time, and if we didn't, there wouldn't be much conversation here at the Hype at all (in fact, you might as well obliterate discussion forums for any movie that is not yet released in that case). Maybe you've had a conversation about God in your lifetime? I guarantee it was entirely speculative. It remains a perfectly reasonable conversation to have.

 

[Darthphere]

If you go back and read the discussion you'll see that's sort of the point. A couple of people have made claims about why Johns has taken on the title, and I've been asking for the information they're basing this claim on (presumably an interview or some other comments from the team), specifically because I don't know why Johns does what he does, and if there's information out there to that effect, I'd like to see it.


If this were the case, how would this be a problem? People discuss the speculative and unknown all the time, and if we didn't, there wouldn't be much conversation here at the Hype at all (in fact, you might as well obliterate discussion forums for any movie that is not yet released in that case). Maybe you've had a conversation about God in your lifetime? I guarantee it was entirely speculative. It remains a perfectly reasonable conversation to have.

Wow. So this is the type of poster you are. Arguing for the sake of argument.

 

[Saint]

Wow. So this is the type of poster you are. Arguing for the sake of argument.

No, that doesn't seem to be what I wrote at all. Perhaps read more carefully.

 

[Darthphere]

No, that doesn't seem to be what I wrote at all. Perhaps read more carefully.

Maybe you should, because essentially what Corp is doing is agreeing with you. You're just coming off as silly now.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Oh, don't worry about me, I'm just over here shutting up. This argument's gotten far too meta for me.

 

[Drz]

Who really cares about Batman Earth One anyway?

When you see the sales, you'll know.

 

[Darthphere]

Oh, don't worry about me, I'm just over here shutting up. This argument's gotten far too meta for me.

I lost vision in my left eye when I rolled my eyes too hard from the Discussion of God part of the post.

 

[Saint]

Maybe you should, because essentially what Corp is doing is agreeing with you.

Corp wrote that he doesn't understand why we've been having the conversation about Johns' motives. I am explaining why we are having the conversation. Both my statements and Corps have been quite clear.

You're just coming off as silly now.

No, I'm quite comfortable in my assessment that you have misunderstood what I've written or why I've written it. It seems you were more concerned with posting for the sole purpose of presenting your snide, naive, and juvenile analysis of "the type of poster" I am. Perhaps think more carefully about your own conduct before commenting on mine.

 

[Saint]

Oh, don't worry about me, I'm just over here shutting up. This argument's gotten far too meta for me.

I wouldn't even characterize what we were having as an argument.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Geoff Johns on his artists:

if you look at the books I do, I tend to work with the same artists, like Scott Kolins, Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis and now Gary Frank, Doug Mahnke and Francis Manapul. When I find a creative collaborator that I really connect with on multiple levels, I really value that relationship. It's not easy to find those people that creatively, you just click with. Gary Frank is one of the best artists in the business, and I think everybody knows that. And to work with him on something like this, where again, we can re-create everything from the ground up and tell a Batman story that is just slightly different or very different than anything that's happened before – it's really a story about a guy who is trying to overcome loss at the center of it all – and build these fantastic villains, and create a troubled supporting cast, and see heroes rise and villains rise in this multi-part story, when you work on something this big and you commit to it for this long, you've got to do it with the right people. Because I tend to work on projects that tend to be long-term, I look for the best creative partners I can have. And Gary is definitely one of them.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24359

Gary Frank on how he feels about Batman and Superman:

It’s funny. I was always more of a Batman guy. I didn’t really like Superman, in terms of the comic book character. I don’t know, he just really never resonated with me. That said, there were a couple of things that I always liked about him and I always felt it would be nice to find a project one day where some of those things could be explored. And when I started talking with Geoff [Johns], it just became so clear that he and I felt exactly the same about the character. We felt exactly the same about the things that needed to be brought to the fore, which needed to be concentrated upon, and so it just became a very, very exciting project.

And now as I said during the DC Universe panel, I’ve moved onto “Batman: Earth One.” But in the last couple of years, I’ve become so involved in Superman, it was real hard to leave him as a character, so when I finished those last few pages it was quite an emotional thing. And I’m hoping in a couple of years time, I’ll be saying the same thing about Batman. At the moment, the Batman we’re doing is obviously not the regular Batman so as a character, it’s going to take some time to explore it and for it to grow. So yeah, hopefully I’ll feel the same way, but at the moment, I still really, really love Superman and I don’t know if that will change.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?id=28123&page=article

And here's the first interview Johns did where one of the main reasons why he wanted to work on Batman: Earth One was because of Gary Frank

Question: What was it about this project that finally attracted you to Gotham?

Answer: Three words: “Gary Frank” and “freedom.” Obviously, I love long form storytelling. I gravitate to projects I can dive into and reinvent and add to, like Green Lantern. I’ve wanted to work on Batman, but I wanted to wait until the project was right. BATMAN: EARTH ONE allows Gary and I to break the restraints of any continuity and focus on two things: character and story. Add to that the idea of working on a line of graphic novels instead of being limited to twenty-two pages, it’s a challenge and I love a challenge.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43302

And I remember another interview where Johns said that the roots of Johns and Frank working on Batman come from Frank constantly bringing up Batman when they would work on Superman and they would come up with ideas together the way that Johns comes up with ideas with his artists. That's why his artists love working with him and why he doesn't let go of them easily.

It's not that Johns does not want to work on this project. He clearly does want to work on it, but it's rather doubtful that Johns would be doing this if it weren't for Gary Frank being such a massive Batman fan and wanting to do Batman badly. Johns jumped at the opportunity to do this project because he really likes working with Frank a lot.

But that's not the reason why I'm wary of this. Gary Frank really wasn't a Superman fan when he started on Superman, but he's now the definitive Superman artist of this generation of comics IMO and did fantastic work. I don't expect Johns to just half ass this, he's going to give it his all. I'm wary on this based on Johns' previous interpretations of Batman, interviews going into how they're going to interpret Batman aren't that promising (he's a spoiled brat, extremely inexperienced, etc.) and it's being done in a format that neither Johns or Frank have done before.

 

[Drz]

Clearly Johns doesn't care about the freedom he receives from writing a new Batman as he clearly stated. Thanks for ignoring that part buddy.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Except I posted the part where Johns says that he loves the freedom, but to be fair, almost every comic book writer loves that

 

[Saint]

Three words: “Gary Frank” and “freedom.”

Well, this is what I've been saying: I'm perfectly willing to acknowledge that Frank is one of the reasons Johns is working on the title. My only disagreement is with the suggestion that Frank is the only reason--which, from his comments in all of your quotes, we can see is clearly not the case. It's obvious that Johns is onboard as much for the opportunity to reinvent Batman as he is for Gary Frank.

Since you don't seem to be suggesting that Frank is the only reason he's working on the title, though, our disagreement is marginal.

It's not that Johns does not want to work on this project. He clearly does want to work on it, but it's rather doubtful that Johns would be doing this if it weren't for Gary Frank being such a massive Batman fan and wanting to do Batman badly. Johns jumped at the opportunity to do this project because he really likes working with Frank a lot.

I don't know if there's sufficient information to make that case, but I'm willing to entertain the possibility. Based on your first quote, it sounds less like Johns decided to do it because Gary wanted to and more like he decided to do it because they were having good ideas about the project collaboratively--it's a small distinction, but I think it's an important one.

But that's not the reason why I'm wary of this. Gary Frank really wasn't a Superman fan when he started on Superman, but he's now the definitive Superman artist of this generation of comics IMO and did fantastic work. I don't expect Johns to just half ass this, he's going to give it his all. I'm wary on this based on Johns' previous interpretations of Batman,

Right, and you already have my thoughts on that so we probably don't need to go over it again.

interviews going into how they're going to interpret Batman aren't that promising (he's a spoiled brat, extremely inexperienced, etc.)

Fairly, I don't see this as a problem, as the mandate for this series is to be different from the core universe. If there was no difference, well, it would be a pretty pointless exercise. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the differences will be good ones or not.

 

[Drz]

Except I posted the part where Johns says that he loves the freedom, but to be fair, almost every comic book writer loves that

Yeah but he has on Comic con(s) talked about how he is liking how completely different his Batman is to Morrison. He's like "Morrison's Batman can do anything, so mine can't accomplish anything at first" along with the whole fresh new take on Alfred. To me it seems hes having fun and he's getting to write villains, Batgirl and Robin along with other characters.

Don't forget he was set out to write all-star Batgirl, so now he can do that in Earth One.

 

[Saint]

"Morrison's Batman can do anything, so mine can't accomplish anything at first"

Haha, I guess I never read that panel. That sounds pretty interesting to me, despite the fact that I'm a huge fan of Morrison's prep-time Batgod who has a plan for everything.