RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Joe Casey: But is he good?

My friend and I were talking about Joe Casey, and he made the comment that years from now, everyone will still be talking about how Joe Casey is revolutionizing the comic industry.

At this point, I asked if he was smoking crack.

The only good stories I've ever read by Casey was his run on Mr. Majestic, which a) had a co-writer and b) I was more interested in the art.

But seriously, is anyone even talking about Joe Casey in the here and now? The only things I seem to read about him are how he's helping fuck up the Superman books.

I understand that he's trying to experiment in WildCATS, and with Automatic Kafka, but seriously, they weren't good. In my opinion, the experiments have failed.

I basically compared him to Warren Ellis. A few years ago, Ellis was hyped (And hyping himself) as the next saviour of comics, trying bold experiments with the stories being told and how their being told. Since then, too much exposure, too much hype, too many late books, too many announced projects that never saw the light of day, Ellis is a joke, a shade of what he once was. Casey is not even to the point of where Ellis was, except maybe in his own mind (remember his interviews about Uncanny X-Men?), and has already started on the path of too many projects that may or may not see fruition.

Anyway, I'm off track. That's my opinion, retarded or not. Any other Caseybashers? Sympathizers? Synthisizers?

Your friend is on an extreme level of crack.

Wildcats 3.0 and Automatic Kafka have/had their moments, but while Casey has some interesting ideas, he has no grasp of storypacing or plot development, and his "clever"(i.e clever in his own mind) dialogue can get very annoying at times.

Basically, everything I've read of Casey in the last year or two(Adventures of Supes, AK, W-3.0, Unnatural Selection, Uncanny X-Men) has been a blatant attempt to emulate(or, as MotA might contend, rip off) Grant Morrison.

I sure as HELL wouldn't say that Joe Casey is (or will ever be) revolutionizing the comic book industry. Sure, he has his moments... but he's not THAT good. Of everything I've read by him, he seems to be really good with Derec Aucoin doing art for him (on Adventures of Superman). Think about it, that's when his AoS got semi-good, with last years #608 (Ending Battle Part 2). Then he went on and did this whole Hollow Men arc, with I thought was well-written. And now Aucoin has left for two issues (Charlie Adlard is filling... ugh), and the arc isn't very good!

I really haven't read enough Joe Casey to really despise the guy or anything, but I can with all honesty say that he was half the reason I finally stopped buying the Superman books (Joe Kelly being the other) and if he had stuck around Uncanny X-Men any longer than he did, I would have dropped that book from my list too. I haven't read enough of his work to say he's a bad writer, but I have read enough to know that I don't want to read anymore...

Heard of him, but never read his stuff. Never heard good things about it one way or the other. Doesn't sound like he's revolutionising anything.

Only things he's done that I've enjoyed are the occasional Superman books (and right now he's on a role, IMO) and his work on Cable. Damn, him and Ladronn made Cable a character I gave a damn about... and then Rob Liefield returned to finish what they started. Then Cable started sucking again.

I think the best word to describe Casey would be "mediocre." He has his moments, but they're few and far between, and most of the time it seems like he's just going thru the motions to collect a paycheck.

I haven't been impressed with him.

I liked him on Cable too FF. Liked Ladronn (took me a few issues to warm up to his style, but once I did I really enjoyed it).

I just think Supes is too mainstream for Casey. He needs some thing he can run with. Same with Steve Segal. I really liked the first 15 issues or so he did of Alpha Flight a few years back. I thought it was a really well-crafted & intriguing But then came, the dreaded Duncan R's distorted renderings, which somehow affected the writing too & I was driven away screaming.

Some writers just need to stick with the more subversive stuff. I mean, did Poe try to write romance novels or children's books? Lead with your strengths & all that.

Cheers!