Comics Alliance best writers of 2016. Thoughts /co/? Critics

>>88727709
>those picks
Christ.

The only person who should be up there is Tom, really. Willow is a good writer, but the current Ms. Marvel arc has been weak, and the other two writers are a fucking joke.

>>88727709

Just a bunch of tumblr mediocre artists and writters, wow go figure, I'm outraged and shit.

Its embarrasing how that site barely gets comments, the facebook page barely gets comments, twitter, etc.

This page has to be some advertsement scam paid by Marvel, people don't seem to give a shit anymore and yet the site gets awards out of nowhere at some point, with tons and tons of ZERO comments articles

>>88727709
>Chelsea Cain: Mockingbird

It's literally an affirmative action position. Mockingbird has barely a few redeeming qualities and It's hard for me to think of any reason for it to be on the list other than the controversy around it.

That said, I'm happy that my boy al Ewing made it. Sort of.

>>88727709
>Backstagers and detective comics
Did anyone even read backstagers? Like did it do well in sales and simply isn't talked here?

>>88727854
After all this time I still can't see the outrage over Mockingbird as anything other than Internet male butthurt.

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>>88727709
>>2nd Place:Ryan North

>>88727709
Only Way and King are good from that list.

>>88727709
>Comics Alliance gayest writers of 2016.
Fixed.

>>88727917
The outrage was mostly unwarranted, I bet that half the people who complained only saw that cover. However, If I was a mockingbird fan I'd be quite mad that a writer so shamelessly altered her story just to pander to her ideas and display her warped notion of a "strong female character"

>>88727709
Wait Ryan North didn't write Jughead

>>88728114
He did. The Sabrina arc.

>>88727709
(((critics)))

Surprised they aren't getting jobs to review movies. They have about the same legitimacy and taste.

>>88728579
well how bout that

> Kelly Thompson
> writes for bleedingcool and is friends or at least associated with other industry news sites.
> getting any kind of award for her actual comic writing

Conflict of Interest...

Comic Alliance.

I'm surprised they couldn't find some way to shove Kate Leth in there. They're always shilling for her.

>>88728886
Uh wow, are you from Gamergate or something?? You're not supposed to complain about ethics!

>>88728886
She has a column on Comic Book Resources.

You know who else had a column on Comic Book Resources? Warren Ellis.

(Or was that Garth Ennis? I know it's one or the other.)

>>88727974
Well as a person who never read another Mockingbird comic before I couldn't gice a rat's ass about her bullshit comic book "backstory" in comics from fucking decades ago.

>>88729591
It's not that it was changed, it's that it was changed into something dumber and that the psycho writers think it's empowering.

I'd hate for any self-respecting fairly critical reader to get intoduced to modern comics through this list.

Imagine someone who generally reads goods books, ones that are well-written, thought-provoking, brave, genuine, with truly interesting ideas and execution. Then said person picks up a comic: the new Cain Mockingbird trade. What a horrible, horrible introduction to comics. A mediocrely written story with no interesting ideas or execution, with no genuine heart, cleverness, or respect for the characters. A shame for the reader, a shame for comics, and a shame for anyone who considers this a worthwhile story.

Cain, on the off chance you're reading this: please never write comics again. I'm not saying this as a blind hater or a """troll""", I just offer honest feedback. You write nothing of true value, you contribute nothing interesting, meaningful or worthwhile to comics. In fact, I'd say you make everything worse. If you want to try something new or genuinely interesting, then fine. Do it. But otherwise, please do not create anything similar to Mockingbird ever again. I don't want to call you a disgrace, because that would imply you created something something other than pure and sad mediocrity.

>>88729561
Ellis.
Ennis doesn't even have an internet presence apart from an email.

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>>88727709
At least the best (white) man won.

>>88727709
I like North, I really do, but to suggest that he is one of the best writers of the year is a fucking joke.

King and Wilson are cool even if the recent Ms. Marvel issues have been a little lackluster. I feel like Bennett is a writer I could like if she'd just stop trying to do 4th wall humor because it is not her forte.

>>88729783
>Imagine someone who generally reads goods books, ones that are well-written, thought-provoking, brave, genuine, with truly interesting ideas and execution.
Then I wouldn't single out Mockingbird specifically as being unworthy.

In the first place, I wouldn't recommend modern Marvel or DC at all.

>>88729803
He has a Facebook. It was how people knew his words on Steve Dillon's passing.

>>88729931
The CA shortlist does a disproportionately high amount of Marvel and DC. The rest is IDW and Boom. Fucking NOTHING from Image! And don't get me started on other publishers!

I expected better from CA.

>>88727814
Umm, but ComicsAlliance is the only /co/ approved comic book news site???

>>88728886
By those standards every comic writer but obtuse shut ins like Moore would be barred.

And even he has a heavy presence with tcj and shit

>>88730019
Nah, That's Bleeding Cool

This is a really limited list. Do they only do Marvel/DC comics?

>>88730011
Even Image is out. I wouldn't recommend monthly serialized action-genre comics at all to someone looking for comics on the level of "good" books.

I mean, I enjoy those comics, and that person might enjoy them too. But they aren't what I'd use to justify the medium.

>>88730019
Despite this being ironic, there tastes line up really well.

Hypercrisis shit, gushing over DC Rebirth, King, Way,Johns, Ewing and Morrisob

>>88730019
>>88730045
I don't read either of those. I get all my news from TCJ.

But I don't claim to speak for any person on /co/ other than myself.

>>88727709
>Chelsea Cain: Mockingbird[Elle Collins]
>Al Ewing: New Avengers & Ultimates[Alex Spencer]
>Steve Orlando: Midnighter & Supergirl [Elle Collins]
>Kelly Thompson:Jem and The Holograms [Luke Brown]
>James Tynion IV: Backstagers & Detective Comics [ Tara Marie]
>Gerard Way: Young Animals: Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye & Doom Patrol [Tara Marie]
So all the Critics Picks is basically Tumblr: The Nomination. Good to know.

>>88730136
>>88730136
The most tumblr of that list is Orlando becasue he'd bi and Cain Becasue of Mockingshitstorm how are Way or Ewing tumblr?

>>88727709
>Bennet even in that list
Fucking how?

>>88729783
You know, most of what DC and Marvel publish on a weekly basis is far, faaaaaar below the quality of Mockingbird. But you don't see anybody on this board dismissing the writers of those comics with the level of sheer unfiltered hatred and bile like what's in your post.

Because, you see, when a MAN writes something you don't like, its just another day in capeshit. But when god forbid a WOMAN writes something you don't like, why, THAT is an affront to the medium and an abomination like no other!

You know, Brian Michael Bendis wrote a steaming pile of garbage with Civil War II. Dan Slott is frequently derided as a hack on /co/. But I've never, EVER seen anybody on this board post about either of those people in the tone and with the vitriol that you directed at Chelsea Cain for having the nerve to write a comic book about Mockingbird. Shit, I've never seen people using this kind of language against Zack fucking Snyder! On any board!

Sexism is real, man. And its posts like yours that are proof.

You suck.

>>88727709
>Bennett: Angela QoH, Insexts
Fuck off, Tumblr. Those books aren't good. You only like them because you think lesbians need to be everywhere.

>>88727854
Just the third issue, man. The rest of the book made some offhanded references to sjw nonsense but it didn't focus on it at all.

>>88730075
Except Image comics are from all kinds of genres.

>>88730263
Tumblr love MCR and Ewing is the designated diversiteam writer

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>>88730348
Probably this. This got the most claim an adoration out of the stuff that have happened in Bombshells

>>88730385
A dozen genres and they're all about fight scenes.

>>88727917
>outrage
There was none.

When the final issue came out, it retconned the title character into an adulterer, treating her now-former rapist (and murder victim) like a weird ex.

Cain, the book, and Marvel were starting to get heat for this, and went on the offensive.
Cain deletes her twitter due to almost nonexistent sexist comments and there's tons of "news" articles attributing it to the issue's cover.

Marvel's mastery of the spin is what allows them to be so terrible.

>>88730354
You must not have been on /co/ very long

>>88730414
The two most popular Image comics aren't even action-focused

>>88730354
Fandom gets irate when an outsider barges in and demands a bunch of changes to be made to make them feel more welcome, and that's exactly what she was trying to do. Has nothing to do with her being a woman, there have been bad books written by female writers who don't get it any worse than bad books written by male writers.

>>88730019
Ummmm, why am I like typing like a valley girl???

>>88730136
Look I get that opinions are mixed on Mockingbird (I liked it but apparently there are folks with an axe to grind) but Midnighter is legit good, why you gotta slam it just because Orlando fucks dudes?

Also Tynion is in no way Tumblr because he's a haaaack.

>>88730394
Well complain about diversity all you want but Ewing's fucking good, son. If you aren't reading New Avengers you're a chump.

>>88730516
The very CONCEPT of "outsiders" existing is a symptom reason why comicbook fandoms are cancerous shit heaps

>>88730493
They're filled to the brim with running, jumping, hiding, punching, shooting, all sorts of action.

Just about every comic they have is simplistic Good Guys versus Bad Guys action stories. Comics that break the mold like Island or Minimum Wage are very rare indeed at Image.

>>88730731
Just about every form of fiction has good guys vs bad guys dude

>>88730516
What changes were being "demanded"? I'm not trying to cause a shitstorm, I just read the book, thought it was okay but revolutionary, then read that apparently some people got up in arms about a cover gag of all things? The only thing I could see that was being "changed" is that they retconned an old issue of West Coast Avengers from being about Phantom Rider ghost-drugging Bobbi into loving him into being about Bobbi willfully cheating on Hawkeye, which seems fairly innocuous.

>>88730781
Who was the bad guy in Minimum Wage?

>>88730430
Oh there was outrage my friend, was your internet down for a few weeks or something?

>>88730799
It retconned a rape to being consensual . But it got big becasue a lot of the usual idiots harrased her online and it blew up

>>88730664
That's just human society at large, not something specific to comics fandoms

>>88727709
>Chelsea Cain: Mockingbird[Elle Collins]
>Marguerite Bennett
Really? Really?

>>88730731
Saga and Walking Dead are more focused around the characters, just because they HAVE action doesn't make the action the focus

>>88730664
If you're not already part of a group, you're an outsider to that group.
>>88730799
She made the claim that female heroes didn't exist until recently and turned a hero into a horrible person because she hates the idea of a fictional woman having been raped in a story that until now had become nothing more than wiki-trivia.

>>88730944
They're made for audiences that would refuse to read those comics if they didn't have that action.

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>>88730354

>>88731039
Ok? That doesn't make them action-focused

>>88730862
I guess I get it? But Jesus, taking a story from the fucking 80s that nobody's cared about since... well... the 80s, and recontextualizing it to give the female character more agency in her own book doesn't seem like something to get up in arms about. Besides, they still kept Bobbi killing Slade canon and the incident being grounds for her and Clint's divorce canon. It just seems like such a bullshit thing to get mad about, but then I guess I haven't been reading comics long enough to really throw a shitfit. Like, no one threw near as much of a hissyfit when Bendis retconned basically the entire Venom symbiote's history in GotG, and people actually CARE about Venom! (though for why I can't tell you)

>>88727709
Have they ever read a book that wasn't big two?

>not getting your comic news solely from /co/
I used to go on CBR and Outhousers once a week, but I think just checking this board a couple times a day will get me all I need to know

>>88731076
>recontextualizing it to give the female character more agency in her own book
That's a weird way of saying "she made Mockingbird the type of person who would lie about having been raped to save face."
>no one threw near as much of a hissyfit when Bendis retconned basically the entire Venom symbiote's history in GotG
I see you don't post in symbiote threads.
Also, while annoying, that isn't anywhere near the level of character-assassination.

>>88730970
A horrible person? Because of adultery? God man, I'm sorry about your parents' divorce, but if cheating on a lover is enough to strip someone of hero status, then Big Two comics may not be for you, since I think the list of heroes who haven't been caught sleeping around is pretty damn short.

>>88729783
>self-respecting fairly critical reader
Luckily, 99% of the big 2 audience isn't either of those things!

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>>88731198
No, the very serious lie.

>>88731074
Well, I suppose that's more of a subjective difference of opinion.

My original point is that if someone was a literature buff like >>88729783 described, I'd direct them moreso towards Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly than towards Image or the Big Two as their introduction to comics.

So singling out Mockingbird just feels disingenuous when pretty much ALL the mainstream content isn't what they're looking for.

>>88731198
Adultery by itself, no. But adultery then murdering the person you slept with to cover it up THEN lying about being raped to justify the murder, that makes you a bad person

>>88731198
dude she killed the guy to cover it up and basically tore up Bobbi's rape survivor status and pretty much said rape victims are weak.

>>88731178
Except she's not lying. That's what a retcon is. She WAS raped in the 80s... but now she wasn't because now the new story says she wasn't. ~THAT'S COMICS!~ I mean you don't have to like it, that's your prerogative, but that's just how the game is played. The same way Deadpool had like 3 different origins before the current story says "No he was always Wade Wilson and any contradictions were because of extremely powerful drugs"

>>88731379
That's not how retcon work at all

>>88727709
Well, Transformers MTMTE won "best sci-fi comic of 2016" and it's been dogshit for a year and a half, so I don't put any stock in these.

>>88731178
>I see you don't post in symbiote threads

Oh god why.

>>88731414
Reexplain it to me then because I always thought it was "New story paves over old one with similar but slight change" which is what this Mockingbird debacle sounds like

>>88730354
It has nothing to do with the fact she's a woman. She did a poor job writing a story with a decently established comic character. I'm not trying to discuss wider implications or what this means about sexism in comics or whatever. I'm talking about an individual writer who I personally and strongly believe didn't do a particularly meaningful or good job.

I've fallen for the bait, haven't I

>>88731379
She says something along the lines of "Our marriage ended because Clint knew deep-down that I wasn't really raped because I'm too strong for that" that is, she told him she was raped and he divorced her because he didn't believe her explanation.

Posting the Best Artists of 2016 cos OP was too much of a fag not to; http://comicsalliance.com/outstanding-artist-2016/

Critics' Picks;
>Ben Caldwell
>Veronica Fish
>Marguerite Sauvage
>Doc Shaner
>Ramon Villabos
>Brittney Williams
>Annie Wu

>Fifth Place: Babs Tarr (Motorgirl, Batgirl)
>Fourth Place: Nicola Scott (Wonder Woman, Earth 2)
>Joint Runner-Up: Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls)
>Joint Runner-Up: Erica Henderson (Squirrel Girl)
>Winner: Chris Samnee (Black Widow)

>putting Henderson anywhere fucking NEAR Samnee's level
When will this meme end? Are people really that blind to her inadequacies as an artist?
>With her work on Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Erica Henderson has basically ruined the character for every other artist. The costume, the jawline, the way her facial expressions exude the same good-heartedness and generosity as the book itself… When Doreen appears in any other book now, it just doesn’t feel like her, and that is the highest compliment. Henderson doesn’t just draw her characters; she defines them. [Alex Spencer]

L E L

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>>88731421
Alright motherfucker LET'S GO

>>88730263
He's the only Mahvel writer that gets my attention anymore but some of his LGBT stuff is pretty hamfisted senpai.
'Member Avengers #0?

>>88731506
It was a pretty good list until Erica Henderson holy shit

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>>88731506
A depiction of Alex Spencer.

>Ewing, Way, and King
Yeah

>Orlando, Tynion
Eh

>everyone else
fuck off

>>88731506
I am actively angry about this

>>88730354
>You know, most of what DC and Marvel publish on a weekly basis is far, faaaaaar below the quality of Mockingbird.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

>>88727709
>>88727709
>picks
Agreed about Thompson, Ewing, Tnion and Wa. Didin't read Mockingbird.

>places
Yes
No
Yes
Yes

>>88731265
I wrote >>88729783, and I think you brought up a good point. I'll admit my post was a bit of a mess, with no focus.

I suppose I'm saying that Mockingbird is not a good piece of writing, even for """mainstream""" comics. There are general objective markers of quality for any piece of writing, and I'd strongly argue that Mockingbird did not reach that. I'm wouldn't even say I described a literature buff, just someone who can acknowledge and appreciate objectively good writing. My point is that that kind of person would be very dissatisfied with Cain's Mockingbird.

>>88730394
Ewing and Orlando are probably the only writers on the big 2 today that can write diversity without it feeling like a bunch of bricks to the face.

>>88731738
It's alright, mate. I don't think Mockingbird is a travesty like you do, but I can appreciate where you're coming from.

>>88731506
Can someone explain to me why Erica Henderson is so widely """"""praised""""""? I don't get it and I'd like to understand. What about her art is so "good"?

Like, see, I get why Samnee is good. Not only does he draws figures well, he's excellent with pacing, movement, action, light, panelling, general page weight, balance and structure. Anyone can learn a something meaningful and valuable from Samnee's sequential art.

>>88731934
She's friends with the critics and she's """stylized"""

>>88731934
She's bad at realism, bad at detailing, bad at action, but good at conveying feelings and emotional content. Some people are looking for that in their comics. It's a matter of individual preference.

>>88732030
It's not that she's bad at realism (because that's not what she's aiming for), it's that she lacks a solid understanding of fundamentals. And when you cartoon as stylistically as she does without knowing the rules first, it shows

>>88731916
Thanks, man. I appreciate you for not berating me for having an opinion and hearing me out. Cheers.

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>>88727709
>Ryan North
>Higher than Wilson

>>88727709
>Comics Alliance
you lot deserve it

>>88730430
People were salty as fuck about the issue before, the one with the tampon line.

You could turn the Great Lakes brackish with the salt /co/ produced that wednesday.

>>88731774
Ewing comes across as a numale cuck to me, but his plots are entertaining enough to hold my interest.

>>88732484
>Ewing comes across as a numale cuck to me
Hey man, can you do me a solid and kill yourself?

>>88731934
he best trait is that she's fast as fuck and can pump out a lot of shit, but that really shouldn't be something that makes you like an artist atkeast not by itself

>>88732030
>good at conveying feelings and emotional content
Can you post some examples of her work excelling in these categories? I read a handful of issues of SG and the only feeling present was quirkyness

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>>88731506
>Joint Runner-Up: Erica Henderson (Squirrel Girl)

Is there any good comics award?

>>88732533
Retard alert.

>>88732775
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatz_Award

>>88732798
No need to announce your presence, anon

>>88732775
paste had good lists this year

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>>88729591
And you're the problem.
You don't care about the characters, you just want your trendy little comic with its delightfully quirky, empowered leads, and older fans be damned.

>>88731506
It's obviously backstage politics and shilling. They couldn't even be bothered to put in Black Magick for Nicola Scott and put Earth 2 even though she did not work on that in 2016.

Annie Wu barely did 4 issues the entire year but she gets a nod but not Rossmo or Del Mundo.

Brittany Williams is trash.

Fuck, if they wanted to include more women Joelle Jones would've been a better pick than most of the women they actually picked.

>>88732819
>>88732865
Thanks

>>88732937
the easiest female choice is clearly Takeda, how in the hell she didn't make the list is beyond me

>>88729826
im a kamalafag and i dont think the 2016 issues belong up here. 2015, sure

>>88733040
Considering the success of Monstress it is surprising. But Takeda's art inst suited for comics, pretty to look at sometimes though.

>>88732565
Being fast can only go so far for you though. Instead of whoring herself out on several projects she should be refining SG, god knows she's probably getting decently paid enough for it

I saw some of Tom Fowler's inks over her pencils for the SG GN and it's amazing how much better it looks. Not just because Fowler is already an artist leagues above her, but because that much extra effort and detail he puts into it bolsters the pencils

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>>88731934
Because SJW retardation.

>>88731506
Why don't see see the Japanese housewife duo on this list?