quote:
Originally posted by Animalman:
Denny O'Neil's run on Batman was better than Brubaker's, in my opinion.
I'll tell you why I think Denny O'Neil is great: if you're not old enough to have been reading his stuff in the early 70s when it came out, you can read it now, with no nostalgic attachment, and think it's absolutely brilliant.

quote:
Originally posted by Animalman:
Chuck Dixon(before he started writing every other book in the DC Universe and burned himself out) also did some pretty good stuff.
Dixon doesn't make the cut as far as I'm concerned. He's solid. I don't know if I've ever read a really bad Chuck Dixon story but I don't think I've ever read a great one either.

He also benefitted from a lack of competition. All he had to do was be better than Moench and Grant. And I think most people would say that Grant was the best of three.

He never wrote a story as good as Prey. And he never created a villain with the lasting appeal of the Ventriloquist.

His biggest contribution to the Batman mythos would likely be Bane. And don't get me wrong, I love Knightfall, but c'mon. ... Bane hasn't had one iota of cool attached to him since Jean Paul beat the crap out of him. Now he's just a pussy.

quote:
Originally posted by Animalman:
Rucka started out really well on 'Tec, but the last half of his term was absolutely terrible. The whole Sasha thing just left a bad taste in my mouth, and since that was my last memory of him on the book, it's hard for me to look back and think fondly of him. Bad art or not, it was his writing that drove that book into the ground.
I agree that Rucka's stuff was pretty bad at the end.

But you can't lay the blame entirely on him.

Schreck deserves a shitload of credit for tanking the Bat books, Tec included.

He should have found Rucka an artist he was happy with. He shouldn't have forced Rucka and Brubaker to write crossover after crossover.

Jeph Loeb doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath with those two. Why does he get an uniterrupted 12-issue run to tell his pointless story while Rucka and Brubaker have to work alien invasions into theirs?

quote:
Originally posted by Animalman:
Brubaker was more consistent. I knew what to expect with him, and he rarely dissapointed. He didn't provide quite as many memorable moments on the book as past writers, but it was still enjoyable. If he had an arc like Knightfall, something that could define his time on the book, I might put him on the same level you do.
But Brubaker was never given that opportunity. DC never hyped any of his stories. He was the No. 2 guy behind Rucka and the No. 2 guy behind Loeb.

I can't think of another writer that did more with less though.