Wednesday Comments – Bury The Hatchet

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I’m a peaceful guy. I yearn for balance and coexistence. I really want people to get along. I’m not a huge fan of conflict.

But we live in a world where people are different and have different opinions. Sometimes these opinions are expressed violently and occasionally parties leave with hurt feelings.

For instance Alan Moore famously and notoriously won’t work with DC Comics for among other things DC not sharing profits Watchmen buttons with him and Dave Gibbons. Alan Moore also severed ties with Dave Gibbons over Gibbons not saying “thank you” and not respecting Moore’s wishes to never discuss Watchmen again.

So, all this beef got me thinking about bad blood in the comic industry that should be cleared up for the sake of the fans. Again, I completely understand personal conflict and professional disagreements, but you’d think that by this point, some of these beefs would have been settled.

Mark Waid & Dan DiDio

Mark Waid didn’t like the way that Dan DiDio handled Bart Allen. Dan DiDio wasn’t the biggest fan of how 52 went down. Neither of these guys are known for biting their tongues and various comments were said in public. As a result, Mark Waid isn’t currently writing for DC at the moment.

But if these two could patch things up, DC’s biggest fanboy could come back to writing the characters that he loves more than anything. Imagine what it would be like if we could finally get to see what Mark Waid would do with Superman. It could happen if these two could find a way to forgive one another.

Peter David & Dan DiDio

Peter David wasn’t a fan of some of the things Dan DiDio said publicly about Young Justice while on the convention circuit. Dan DiDio apparently wasn’t a fan of Slobo. Again, you’ve got two guys not known for mincing words going at each other making for a volatile situation.

Again, if these two could find a way to mend the fence the world would certainly be better for it. First off, we might actually see some trades of PAD’s DC work. I’ve got every issue of his runs on Aquaman, Young Justice and Supergirl, and I’d still buy them in trades to give out as gifts, particularly Young Justice. Plus we might actually see Buzz again, if PAD wrote something for the DCnU. How awesome would that be?

Mark Millar & DC Comics

Mark Millar’s beef with DC was mainly with Paul Levitz, who was a bigwig at the time. It was Levitz who took issue with some of the things Millar was doing in The Authority, which drove Millar over to Marvel.

However, if Millar could forgive DC for those acts of censorship, imagine all of stories we as fans could get. Instead of using proxies via Wanted, we could see what he’d do with the actual Secret Society of Super-Villains. And honestly, I certainly think it’s be interesting to see what his take on the Legion was (and it would give him some revenge on Levitz.)

Mark Millar & Grant Morrison

Ok, so maybe I should have put this one first, given that Grant Morrison’s got quite a bit of pull around DC. Morrison and Millar used to be collaborators and now their rivals. It’s really quite sad that their friendship has been ravaged by the industry.

If these two could kiss and make up, can you imagine the comics they’d create? They could totally revolutionize the industry. If Morrison and Millar collaborated now, it’d be ten years before anyone in the industry could catch up to what they created.

So, in the spirit of reconciliation, I’m hoping that some of these reunions happen within my lifetime, but preferably within the next 12 months.

Well, that does it for another month. Thanks for reading. Now go and get some comics, for goodness sakes. It’s Wednesday, they’re fresh.