New Dan Didio and Ian Sattler Interview

[averagejoe]

Hey folks, we have a new interview with Dan Didio and Ian Sattler conducted at last weekends Emerald City ComiCon. Head on over to Pop Culture Zoo, it's our current top story.

Thanks!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Hmm, intrigued about that "resolution to the Multiverse." Getting rid of it again would seem a bit odd after it was only back for a year.

 

[Aristotle]

I think it would be a very responsible and sincere way of apologizing for Countdown. "Look guys, we really thought this was gonna be a good idea, it didn't work out, let's just pretend it never happened. Hey, do ya one better, let's just make it so it really didn't happen."

 

[TheCorpulent1]

But everyone at DC loves the Silver Age and its wacky Multiverse wackiness.

 

[averagejoe]

But maybe the multiverse is going away...again...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Aristotle]

But everyone at DC loves the Silver Age and its wacky Multiverse wackiness.

Apparently, Dan DiDio doesn't agree with you at all. But, as I'm sure we all knew, he doesn't like the Comedy League International.

And I didn't either, not as a continuity book. Should have been an Elseworlds series. That's not how those characters behave in any other situation.

 

[Darthphere]

Dan Didio is really becoming more and more *****ey.

 

[Sakuraba]

The multiverse isn't going away anytime soon. Morrison has practically said as much. He even contocted this Multiverse Machine/earth pumping station.

 

[Doc Destruction]

Apparently, Dan DiDio doesn't agree with you at all. But, as I'm sure we all knew, he doesn't like the Comedy League International.

And I didn't either, not as a continuity book. Should have been an Elseworlds series. That's not how those characters behave in any other situation.

Says you. That was my favorite JLA run, along with Morrison and Kelly's. Heaven forbid a book be fun for five seconds, before someone gets tossed into a refridgerator.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, the characters were pretty ridiculously goofy. There's a line after which things just become plain out of character. It's the difference between She-Hulk and Nextwave, basically: She-Hulk under Slott was a hilarious comic where She-Hulk was still She-Hulk, Nextwave is a comic that tries too hard to be funny and butchers established characters in the process.

I think the JLI still straddles the line between the two, though. It had out of character moments, but it was mostly just good fun.

Dan Didio is really becoming more and more *****ey.

He's been taking lessons from Joe Q.

 

[averagejoe]

Dan Didio is really becoming more and more *****ey.

I'm just curious as to why you make that statement? What in the interview makes you think that?

 

[The Batman]

But everyone at DC loves the Silver Age and its wacky Multiverse wackiness.

I wonder if Didio realizes that the closest he came to having DC as a top company again was before infinite crisis brought back the multiverse

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I think it's more OYL and Countdown than the Multiverse that are responsible for DC's current troubles. OYL especially. Way to come off the enthusiasm and interest Infinite Crisis and its build-up generated by... ****ing about half your comics up completely.

 

[Doc Destruction]

OYL was a fantastic idea that was fumbled horrendously. I was REALLY excited when I first heard about it...and then...bleh.

 

[Aristotle]

Yeah, OYL and Countdown...very bad decisions.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It wasn't a bad idea, but it was handled badly across a startling number of titles. Robin, Flash, Teen Titans, Catwoman, and a lot of others were all basically unreadable after OYL.

 

[Cosmic]

I'm getting sick of all the emphasis on the "universe," and "multiverse," and continuity between titles and even different runs. Just produce good stories with consistent, high-quality art. That's all I care about. That's what makes me buy the books.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, not everyone's like that. I care about continuity and things connecting between books and runs.

 

[Aristotle]

A shared universe depends on continuity for suspension of disbelief, as well as for moving characters forward. If there's no continuity, any writer can just ignore a previous story without even providing a reason.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Exactly. Then you don't have a shared universe, you have a bunch of unconnected vignettes of varying lengths.

 

[Cosmic]

I'm not saying there should be no continuity. Just that I'm a lot less interested in how all these characters are related to each other in the greater DC Universe than I am in just simply reading a good story, regardless of whether it has anything to do with other characters, or continuities.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I mostly agree, but there's a definitely a line that shouldn't be crossed, and all too often in today's comics the word "continuity" is treated as some dirty taboo because it somehow curtails the almighty creative juices of some writer with too big an ego. Part of being a good writer of serialized fiction, in my mind, must be the ability to balance continuity with creativity. Like it or not, these characters do exist in shared universes, and their actions should both be molded by what's come before and affect what comes after or is happening simultaneously.

 

[yenaled]

At best continuity produces things like Avengers Forever, at worse you get Countdown and current JLA.

 

[Cosmic]

...

Yes, I can accept that. But I don't buy books because of the tie-ins, events, or the constant guest appearances and references to other characters. I think they can afford to do without some of that stuff without messing up continuity, or completely isolating some characters from the rest.