Off My Mind: Comic Book Characters Vs. Creators

this a great a question. I'm sure there are a lot of people that go for books due to characters like Spider-man and Batman. Actually I would think a lot of titles have survived because of this. As for older readers, or readers who spend a decent amount of money every month of just...........buying books to read, it's because of the creators. A lot of people, myself included, buy titles because of particular writers. Mark Millar and Grant Morrison are good examples. Millar himself last year had three title that were for new characters being written and they got a lot of press. Supercrooks, Nemesis, and Superior. Snyder (Batman) has a few titles out there that people are loving that we normally didn't read much news on. Swampthing, Animal Man, and American Vampire. It's a good debate tho. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who have been reading X-Men titles for decades, even with the ups and downs. I myself, have jumped off and on again due to crappy and good writing. Right now, because of how DAMN good Uncanny X-Force is, I'm reading anything and everything I can get my hands on that was written by Rick Remender. I'm also a huuuuge Bendis fan so anything he writes I naturally read.

as for the new52 batman title, i think a lot of people (myself included) initially bought it because it was batman and a new start. everyone loves batman, and such an ideal jumping on point helps lots of people want to start buying batman.

BUT, i only KEPT buying batman because it was good. if it would have been terrible i would have dropped, just like i did other n52 books with characters that i previously liked. i keep buying it because the writing and art is awesome

I will buy a new title based on a character I like- I gave ALL the Bat-books a chance in the beginning- but if it fails to hold my interest, will drop it. Then if there's a change in creative that sounds interesting, will go back to it.

I know a friend who picked up JL Dark just because of Lemire.

A lot of people are giving the Before Watchmen stuff a chance solely based on the creative names involved.

But the sum of all things: it ultimately boils down to if the book is any good. Period. A bad story is a bad story, no matter what character it is or who wrote it.

Also, based on what we've seen from DC lately, I'd have to advocate the end of artist/writers. Unless your name is Darwyn Cooke or something, its just not working out (I'm looking at you Tony Daniel, David Finch and Rob Liefeld). All the BEST books have a dedicated writer and a dedicated penciller.

I also agree w/ the main article... if a book is dragging, why not throw some 'top name' talent at it? (Assuming they are willing). I would love to see how titles like Grifter or Batwing would do with a little more thoughtful writing or some more subtle art styles.

I buy based on characters. Whether I enjoy or not is based on the writing.

Very interesting article G-money. I lean more on the side of writers and artists being more important and influential than creators. An example from my own experience would be the Silver Surfer stuff. Personally I think the Surfer is hands-down the worst Jack Kirby character design of all time. There's absolutely nothing interesting about the original art. I mean, when he was first sketching him how exactly could he convey a silver hue other than a couple of dumb shiny marks with a touch of actual shading? I also don't think the original John Buscema and Stan Lee run holds up very well mostly because the story anchored him to earth too much. I must admit it must have been harder to achieve space parody with the data available in the 60's.

It wasn't until the run that Steve Englehart did in the 80's that the Surfer really became a fantastic science fiction series that defined Norin Radd and made him one of my favorite characters of all time. It helped that they already began developing the Marvel cosmology. Englehart even managed to make an epic ending to his saga and his artists sure knew how to draw a dude with no underwear tastefully. The following runs were just not as good in my eyes and his involvement in events like the Infinity and Annihilation sagas leave something to be desired. I get that his power is too god-like to feature heavily in the Marvel universe but damn do I love the 80's Silver Surfer. Anyways I'm not really into celebrity worship but ever since getting back into comics I find that knowing about consistently good writers and artists help make informed buying decisions.

I think that a large portion of readers that aren't on forums go for characters; that is 60% of comic book readers. 

Creative teams all the way over here. Characters will always have up and down periods. Writers/artists tend to be far more consistent. If not for Hickman I'd have never have bought a single issue of Fantastic Four because I gave negative fraks about the characters. And even if I don't know the creators well I'll check an interview and if they can sell me on the elevator pitch I'll give it a go.

Just when I saw the same question on CBR... <_<
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Grant Morrison's work has gotten very lackluster recently to the point where its just depressing. Action Comics is dreadful and Batman Inc is all over the place and hard to follow...also "red bird"...seriously?!

As opposed to other creators I want to see Green Arrow's Ann Nocenti get thrown off a cliff and Geoff Johns needs to step off his high horse the only reason I pick up Justice League is for Jim Lee's beautiful pencilings.

Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo is my favorite right now.

For superheroes it should be 100% characters, but don't ever hesitate to drop a series if it sucks just to support the character. I was saddened by the amount of people who kept buying stuff like grifter and deathstroke when Liefeld was attached, simply because they didn't want the books to die, even though they admitted the book was terrible because of him. People like that are the reason Superman hasn't had a memorable, universally acclaimed run for quite awhile (all star superman not withstanding).

you should only look at creators when looking at indie stuff, or checking out a series you aren't familiar with and perhaps falling in love with the characters as a result.

I guess I am one of the ignorant then because I have no qualms admitting I pick up every single X-Men book. When it comes to creative teams, I just cross my fingers and hope for the best but as for dropping a series -- that won't happen. I am not exclusive to the X-Men, I did start dabbling in the new 52 and expanded my library to include Fables, and The Boys and others but as soon as I am hooked on a character/team, I will search out books that pertain to them. I buy single issue and TPB.

It's just the way I am. If that skews sales and how artists/writers are chosen for books, then c'est la vie.

Creators are more important than the characters. A bad creative team can make the best characters horrid, and the worst characters written by great creators can still be amazing.

Creative team is the reason I leave a book lol

However there are times if I've had a enough of a characters for the moment and wanna move on and find other stuff

Like the Teen Titans.

It's really a good mixture of both. I wouldn't read about a character that I like if the creative team behind it was horrible, and I wouldn't read about a character that I'm not interested in just because of the team (though I have been considering picking up Swamp Thing). I mainly just look for interesting characters, give the team a chance, and if they do a lousy job, I drop it. So one isn't necessarily more important that the other, it's all about finding the right formula.

great topic. I can say its difficult in todays comic world to read just one character or team; the companies are continually trying to move the stories through the other related books. This is actually why I stopped reading X-Men after collecting Uncanny for 25+ years. You could no longer read a coherent story from one issue to the next, they forced to read all the X books. It was infuriating.

Now I read many of the New 52 books and find this to be much less of an issue. As for creative teams, honestly I dont care much about this, I read for the characters always. Having lived through the whole Image thing in the 90's, I learned my lesson. Its the very rare writer who distinguishes himself to the degree that I'd follow whatever he writes (ie. Frank Miller)

Buy due to Character.Leave because of the creative team. To be honest we all choose books because of creators. If the writers and Artist of everyones favs sucked during conception then we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Personally I care more about the characters and the overall title than the creative team behind them. Sure, there are those writers and artists that I appreciate, but I don't go out of my way to read every title that they work on just because it's them. Some creative teams are better with certain characters and books, and while I may have enjoyed their run on Title A, it doesn't mean I'm going to necessarily care about their run on Title B, especially if it's a title with characters I just don't care about.

Character. It all comes down to character when picking up a book. Leaving it, however, is the result of the team working on it. I love Snyder's Batman. It was a solidly good story. I personally prefer Grant Morrison's run, but that's me. But that doesn't mean that I'll begin to pick up books solely because those specific people are working on them. I don't care about Swamp Thing or American Vampire. Likewise, I don't want WE3 or Vimanarama. Just my two cents.

It's a little bit of both really. I have my favorite characters, but I'm only going to read them if there is a good creative team behind those characters.

 I remember dropping amazing spiderman when Romita Jr. was on pencils ( lord was he awful at that time but hes imrpoved now ).

Depends, but I lean toward creators. I'm a big fan of Brubaker. I'll continue to read Cap and Winter Soldier after he leaves, but now I won't hesitate to drop them if it looks like they're getting bad. Although one can't know if a creator is good without trying it their work for yourself.

Creative teams is the way to go for me. It's much easier for me to choose the title based on the success of the creative team or the character the writer will do wonders with. I used to be all character back in 2008 but now give me a Snyder, Lemire, Azzarello, Remender, Hickman, Bru, etc etc any day.

For me its both. There are some characters I follow regardless of who's writing but there are some writers/artists that I follow regardless if there working on a particular character I like or their creator-owned stuff.

I'd have to say the creative team is slightly more important than the character because a good story with a decent character can be a lot more enjoyable than seeing your favorite character in a bad story.

I just answered this creator or character question elsewhere, so I’ll post it here too.

My answer: both, or neither. I follow both creators and characters to a degree, but I don’t literally follow either everywhere for the most part. Of course, what’s important is that the book is good. So, we give credit to the people making the book. But if, say, two good teams happen to be on one book back-to-back, I’m technically following the character. Some jump off the book when the creator they follow leaves, I like to take a look at what the next team will do with the characters. And the characters I like are why I’m sticking around to try the next run. So, bit of both.

Characters or creators is an old question you see brought up in regards to comics a lot. For me, the question is “Read good comics that you like?”, and the answer is “yes I do.”

Robert Kirkman is obviously the man, Invincible being one of my favorite books. But I’m not gonna pick up a book just because it says Robert Kirkman on it. I didn’t dig Astounding Wolfman, or various things, but I have loved much of his work. I guess by following him, you could say I’ll at least look at the 6-page preview for anything else he launches. But I’m not literally following him.

For a series with a rotating cast of writers, let’s take Witchblade. I follow the character of Witchblade’s wielder, Sara Pezzini, to a degree. For example Ron Marz recently had a long run, and when he left Tim Seeley came on. Since I like what both of them have done with it, the creator change didn’t stop me from sticking around. Plus I was already a fan of Tim’s. But if a writer I’m not into or have heard of is on Witchblade, I will still check out a preview just because it says Witchblade on the cover, much like how I’ll check out a preview just because it says Robert Kirkman on the cover.

Long story short, Kirkman should write some Witchblade sometime.

"Recently the question came up about what is more important to comic book sales, the characters in the comic or the creative team putting out the comic."

So politically correct G-Man :)

For me its kinda a combination. Theres some characters that I'll always check out regardless of the creator (The Young Avengers for example), that being said theres also a number of creators I follow without question, like Hickman.

Dare I say it, I base my readings on creative. Yes, that's wrong but i'm not willing to shell out cash on a poor story with a poor writer attached to it. i read justice league dark number one and didnt like it, then jeff lemire came in for number 9 and i started buying it regularly. Who writes the books make a huge difference to me. That's not saying I will drop batman when Snyder leaves it but if the writer who follows him don't maintain the quality he has then I'll drop the book after an issue or two.

@JoseDRiveraTCR7 said:

Sorry, Tony, but I have to disagree with you. If you put these top talent on books with lesser known character or even creator owner comics those books will hardly sell compared to books with known characters. The reason why publishers don't put top talent on lower selling books is because they pay these guys a lot of money and putting them on books that won't sell would be wasting that money. We on the internet may care about who is writing and drawing the books, but the mainstream audience cares a lot less about that and more about name brand characters and what books are important to the overall story/continuity of that company's universe.

I brought that up against the argument that 'popular' characters will sell regardless of who's writing. I'm just saying if that's the case, why put your top creative teams on those books? They'll sell themselves. Put the "good" writers on the struggling books to try to boost those sales. I'm not saying this would work.

@G-Man said:

@JoseDRiveraTCR7 said:

Sorry, Tony, but I have to disagree with you. If you put these top talent on books with lesser known character or even creator owner comics those books will hardly sell compared to books with known characters. The reason why publishers don't put top talent on lower selling books is because they pay these guys a lot of money and putting them on books that won't sell would be wasting that money. We on the internet may care about who is writing and drawing the books, but the mainstream audience cares a lot less about that and more about name brand characters and what books are important to the overall story/continuity of that company's universe.

I brought that up against the argument that 'popular' characters will sell regardless of who's writing. I'm just saying if that's the case, why put your top creative teams on those books? They'll sell themselves. Put the "good" writers on the struggling books to try to boost those sales. I'm not saying this would work.

But the top talent cost a lot of money. If a company put their top talent on books that don't sell then they'll be losing money. I wish it was the case that talent and quality was what sold, but when you look at books like Superman and Batman:The Dark Knight that sell 60-70 k it seems like mainstream audiences rather read books for characters than books written by their favorite creators.

In my situation, its the time factor that decide which book I pick to read each week, I don't want to take time to follow titles that are decent in therm of quality. I need fantastic stories that are worth to touch my hands and have a place in my bookshelf.

Very good article!

For me both can be vital. Characters and creative team.

If I really love a character like Aqualad for instance, I'm going to by the book no matter what. And maybe this way I find out about new artists who I didn't know before but follow after that because I start to like the art and all.

And the other way around... when I like an artist I most likely buy a book I never heard of before.

Comics are a business,they are here to make money.A person signed a contract and the characters belong to the company. The person is just being paid to write stories or draw for the publishers.Any character being made belongs to the company.

If the writers and artist strongly disagree with this, a new contract should be established.

Creators of course! I mean, when I buy a title from Image, of course I don't buy it for the characters. But for Vuaghan, Brubaker, Hickman, Kirkman etc.

Art, story, characters, and writers all play an equal role in my opinion and I believe Geoff Johns proves how just important a writer is to resurrecting characters or giving them a new fresh start.

The idea that putting your top talent on books that aren't selling as well because certain characters sell anyway seems like a logical one, but at a certain point, DC, for example, definitely can't afford to have the quality of a book like Batman slip.

@AltyAce: thats the same with me but im more of a batman fan

but it doesnt hurt to look at other titles

@HotSauceCommittee said:

A good writer can change my mind on a character, and get me to like someone I was never very keen on, but a character, cannot make a bad writer more talented. That being said, if I like the character enough I may persevere with book inspite of it's poor creative team.

Ultimately it's a combination of both, I'm not going to buy Morrison's new Pedo Santa Image series, but I probably won't carry on with Action Comics once Andy Diggle takes over either.

Definitely feel what you're saying about a writer to improve a character or make them relatable or appealing. That's how I ended up reading a good deal of the books I have since reading superhero comics again.

A few years ago, I went by characters, now I go by series if I like the character and know/have heard that the creative team is good.

Creative team, definitely. They're the ones writing it, drawing it, inking it, creating the everything about it, including the characters. They decide where the he/she goes, what he/she does, and how faithful the interpretation shoulder be to older versions of the character.

A good writer can make any character interesting... 

A good artist can make any character cool... 
 
But without the character...they'd both be out of a job.

Art is probably the biggest factor for me. No matter how good a story might be, I won't read it unless it has decent art. This is what turns me off most indie titles.

I don't care about writers. I just want a good story. But a good track record on the artist and writer doesn't hurt to begin with.

There are some titles I've been reading so long, buying them is a habit. Fo me these are: Batman, Detective, Superman, Action, Amazing Spider-man, and the Legion of Super-heroes. Lately, of those 6 only Batman and Action have consistently been good in my view. A character like Daredevil, depends on the team doing it. I didn't read it when Bendis wrote it. (Well, a few issue to give it a try) and wasn't interested in it at all. Then along came Mark Waid. Wonder Woman I read when Gail Simone was writing it, and when Brubaker took over for JMS..I came back. I like some of JMS's stuff, but not his WW. Simone is also the reason I'm reading Batgirl. Brubaker is why I'm picking up  back issues of Captain America. Snyder is why I get Swamp Thing. So..some books, I'll get no matter what. Books...not characters. I have no interest in picking up every Bat-book or Spider-title. I go with the titles I'm used to and comfortable with.

Both of them are important. If I have to choose one, then creative team matters to me more than characters.

If Geoff Johns didn't write the Aquaman, I wouldn't read it.

For me it would be a combination of both since for me, the main thing I enjoy about comics is a story, and a story is only so good as what creative team is involved coupled with the fact that without a good character there is no story. Its probably why thus far I have been inclined to stay within the realm of Superman Family titles and various other things with regard to the New 52, Kirkman's Walking Dead, Hama's GI Joe: ARAH series in IDW, Garth Ennis' Shadow in Dynamite and other titles. They represent GREAT stories to me and thus my decisions are centered around looking for what comic books possess a great narrative. So in conclusion I look for both when choosing my comics.

Its the wrighter for sure. Take Superman for example hes a damn epic character but its gonna take a complete genius to make a great story for him right?

Batman: sells because its Batman, sells well and is praised because of Scott and Greg. It really depends on both the character and the creative team

I've always been more interested in the character rather than the writer. I myself am a fan of Cap and I'm not going to stop reading the series when Brubaker leaves. I might be more inclined to buy a comic I'm not sure about if its written by someone I like but I won't just drop a series when a new writer takes over.

My first comment by the way.

I'm in the same budgeting boat as many others but I try to go with a combination of creators and characters I like. Like the punisher since before ennis I've mostly kept up with except for when finances called for a hiatus or cap before brubaker but I'm liking winter soldier more latle and runon sentences as well. It's hard to strike a balance between trying new books and keeping budget for your current buys. I had this problem when all the new valiant comics were announced. So much nostalgia from when I was 13 but $4 a book felt pricey. Same for avx.

Honestly, I need good art more than anything. I can't stand looking at something that isn't pleasing to the eye, even if the story is brilliant. I just can't read it if the art is off. Artists are the most important in my book.