How does this guy continue to get high profile gigs? He’s done nothing but ruin characters since he got to DC. His Batman run is an all time worst run for the character, he assassinated Wally, I can go on and on. It might not be as bad if he just didn’t get the characters, but his writing is also just terrible. What do people see in this guy?
Posted Apr 26, 2019, 5:41 AM UTC
All time worst seems a bit hyperbolic.
Ultimately it comes down to different strokes for different folks.
For what it's worth, his Batman is one of my favourite Batman runs of all time. I find it completely magnetic.
I disagree. The Vision, The Sheriff of Babylon, Mister Miracle, he's obviously a very capable writer. He gets high profile gigs because he delivers. Batman can be hit or miss with a lot of people in general because of their (understandably) emotional attachment to the character, and what they expect in a Batman comic.
Tom King is a writer of dramatic extremes, quality wise.
The version of Tom King that wrote Omega Men, The Vision, Sheriff of Babylon, Mister Miracle and the Swamp Thing Winter Special, and co-wrote Grayson with Tim Seeley, is one of the best writers currently working for any company.
The version of Tom King writing Heroes In Crisis and Batman is... Not.
I think it's becoming clear that his lane is small-scale, contained stories with a limited reliance on continuity. Give him something bigger scale like Batman or HiC and he falls apart a little - I think it says a lot that his most successful long-form comic by far, Grayson, is the one he co-wrote instead of handling solo duties.
You know, I think that makes sense.
That sounds weirdly similar to how Bendis is, at least these days.
Read his 12 issue runs on Omega Men, The Vision, and Mister Miracle.
Batman is the only bad thing he's written, while his Vision, Grayson, Omega Men, Mister Miracle, Sheriff of Babylon are some of the best comics to come out of the big two in recent years. He's also great at single issues. Grayson's future end, musical and Batfamily reunion issues, both his Swamp Thing issues, Darkseid war GL tie in, Kamandi challenge issue were all great single issues.
He's one of the best writers writing for the big two at the moment, and the best get alongside Russell.
Batman is the only bad thing he's written
Heroes In Crisis says hi.
Otherwise, agreed.
I've never read HiC, so I can't comment on that. But since it's an event, it being bad is understandable.
If only there was a way...to not read...his comics...somehow!
Yeah, but how else would people bitch and moan?
Seriously
But then I’m way behind on what is going on with my favorite character.
If only there was a way to get an update on a character.
I wouldn't say his writing is terrible from a technical standpoint, but it's the kind of stories he tells thats crap... they may work in relative isolation, but going by his Batman and HiC work, he isn't really a mainstream superhero writer.
Like you have your Geoff Johns' and Scott Snyders who understand that mainstream superheroics are basically big crazy blockbusters (ala Avengers) while King is more interested in psychology (putting him nearer Birdman and Logan).
He’s really hit or miss. But I think since he’s written Vision four times now we see his “good” comics are the same one over and over.
Agreed, he has a very repetitive style that even comes across in the art being used over and over. It seems like he's hyper focused on the damaged aspects of the characters to a point where it's glaring and distracting.
I never got this criticism of King. What kind of unique stories are other big two writers telling? At least 99% of King's output stands different than the average blockbusters written by your Snyders, Aarons, Cates and Johns.
Read...something...else? Instead of spending your time on forums?
...but then how is he going to draw attention to himself?
Good point.
So sorry that he’s on my favorite characters main book.
Read other Batman books until he's gone.
And completely miss out on the status quo
And completely miss out on the status quo
It'll come around.
Mister Miracle and The Vision are real, real good. He is... inconsistent though.
Have you even read Mister Miracle, The Vision, Omega Men and The Sheriff of Babylon? He's just not very good at doing mainstream superhero stories, but if you let him experiment he's freaking amazing.
I gave up on Mister Miracle after four or five issues, couldn’t get into it at all.
Then the problem isn't that he's a terrible writer, it's just that it's not your thing.
Eh, I think there are definitely some issues with his writing as well. His tendency to repeat himself, his inability to differentiate character voices, etc.
He isn't. He just is very hit and miss and when he misses wow does he miss.
There have been far worse Batman writers, but tastes vary.
A terrible writer is someone who doesn’t leave me with any sense of why I should care about the story, has no memorable lines or doesn’t have good planned or unplanned endings, or relies on cop outs.
I think I can attribute all of that to Kings Batman, except for memorable lines. The only memorable lines he has though are abysmal (Bat Cat).
What do you think of Detective now?
I’m behind on it, so I can’t say.
Excuse me, but um how many critically acclaimed series have you written? And how many times have you/your work won the Eisner award? What's that? None, you say? Hmm, ain't that interesting.
Oh boy, the old “why don’t you do better” argument. Haven’t gotten that one in quite a while actually.
I'm just saying. One of you is writing Batman, the other is sitting on the Internet talking to a guy from Canada.
One of us is writing Batman poorly, the other does not live in Canada.
Jeez man, don’t bring others down and force your opinion on people
I didn’t belittle others for not holding my opinion like you did, but way to stalk me, that isn’t creepy at all.
I mean... the fact this is even a topic is proof enough he isn’t.
That’s not how discussion works.
Mister Miracle and The Vision are great. Sure, Heroes in Crisis is turning into shit, and Batman can be mixed, but... read those two maxi-series and tell me that King has no redeeming qualities. The dude can write amazing stories.