quote:
Originally posted by ManofTheAtom:
I'm talking about ego in the sense that a writer who for example may think that certain characters who are related to each other may want to fuck each other and actually makes plans to writ that...
How is that ego?
You've mentioned this example several times. When did it happen? How do you know about it?

quote:
Originally posted by ManofTheAtom:
This kind of writer has to understand that he's working on a book that's going to be read by an audience made up of both new and old readers who know the characters in question better than the writer himself.
These are not real people. If someone's being written by a writer then, like it or not, the writer knows how the character is thinking better than anyone else. He has to, otherwise he wouldn't be a writer and the comic wouldn't really be a worthy story.

quote:
Originally posted by ManofTheAtom:
In fan fic the writer would be able to do whatever the hell he wanted to do because the fan fic is for him and him alone and if anyone else wants to read it then they can, and if they want to have an opinion on it they can too, but that opinion won't affect the writer in any way since it's fan fic, which is his story and no one elses.

In comics a writer has to pick his battles.

He can choose to write the above example/metaphor and maybe even get away with it thanks to popularity and being friends with the editor but, since this is something aimed at an audience, the audience's reaction may end up costing the writer his job.
I agree that you need some public in your side if you're getting published, but that doesn't mean it's all one big popularity contest where the only purpose is getting people to buy the comics. If that was the case, then every cover would be filled with tight spandex and big breasts. This isn't entirely about the reader like you say, just like it isn't entirely about the writer. It's about telling a good story that pleases both the writer and the reader (though not EVERY reader, that's impossible) without being stopped by unnecessary anal retentive imaginary decades old rules.

quote:
Originally posted by ManofTheAtom:
Using a less extreme example:

Say a writer wants to do a story that teams up two characters that are supposed to be dead and one writer that, for some reason or another, would never be seen alongside these characters.

The story may be awesome, the story may be great. It could be the best rendition of either of the three characters that has ever been put down on paper... if the audience doesn't like it and their reaction is extremely negative then that would end up costing the writer his job, regardless of how good he may be.

It happens all the time.
What you just said is that that specific sector of an audience doesn't want good stories. In fact, they don't even appreciate a good story. All they want is a monthly or weekly addition to an ongoing series, nothing else. In that case, you can have 32 pages of The Bat-Man sitting in a couch and that's gonna keep that sector of the audience happy, as long as it doesn't contradict the way The Bat-Man sits (established in Detective Comics #357,6 page three panel four caption box one line seven).

If a writer makes an awesome story like you said, but he gets fired becuase an audience doesn't like that he didn't respect some unnecessary anal retentive imaginary decades old rules, then that audience doesn't deserve the writer, what they deserve is exactly what they get: to be robbed by a company that "makes" them buy comics they don't even enjoy, but that they "have" to buy because of a logo.

quote:
Originally posted by ManofTheAtom:
It happened to Larry Hama on Batman, to J.M. DeMatties on Adventures of Superman, to Chris Claremont on both X-Men titles and it's probably happened to many others.

Some people think the above three writers suck but to others they are good writers... the problem is that, clearly, those that think they are good writers are in the minority which is why those three writers were taken off their books and replaced with more popular (but not necessarily) better writers.
I don't know anything about those cases, but if the majority of the audience thinks they can't write because they don't follow unnecessary anal retentive imaginary decades old rules, then that audience is wrong. If a writer makes sucky stories then he sucks. If a writer can't follow unnecessary anal retentive imaginary decades old rules then he's a writer who can't follow unnecessary anal retentive imaginary decades old rules, which isn't a bad thing, but (apparently) isn't gonna get him much money in the mainstream superhero business.