why do people hate matt fraction?

Hawkeye is my fav series right now and one of the best runs I've ever read so far. But I was in my lcs bc I was looking for another copy of the dog issue (my nephew loved it so I got him one) and the guy working their said how can you read that? He said he would never read anything by matt fraction bc he's terrible and a few cistomers agreed with him. I was really shocked. My only complaint is his book got delayed but that's it. (Well that and he doesn't respond to my tweets even tho Dan Slott has). So why do people hate him? Fear itself wasn't terrible and I heard infinity was pretty good

For me, it's everything he's ever written regarding the X-Men. Fraction should never write the X-Men. Ever.

I also disliked his run on Thor (before the renumbering), Fear Itself... and let's not forget AvX.

... Yeah, I don't like Fraction.

He's inconsistent. One moment he's writing a horrible Thor and X-Men run, next he's writing an incredible Iron Fist and Hawkeye run. When he's good, he's good. When he's bad, he's bad.

Because they haven't read Immortal Iron Fist

Like others have said Fraction is very hit or miss. You also need to have a certain sense of humor to enjoy a lot of his stuff, I think. He's been on a roll lately though.

It really was. What's the point of an event if nothing significant happens?

Definitely.

For....fun? I don't know, I can understand the perspective of 'well nothing changed!". I get that. But at the same time, I'm glad that I can sit down and enjoy a fun, attractive comic-book that's just epic action. Everything like Buck's death and Cap's shield went back to the status quo, but after stuff like Civil War and Dark Reign, I could live with that.

Me personally, I don't need something significant to happen in every event. Sometimes I just want a fun story with good action and art - and I'm satisfied.

This more or less sums it up. The most of Invincible Iron Man? Great. Invincible Iron Man 'Unfixable' arc? Horrible.

I always get the feeling that there are books that Fraction spends a lot of effort on, and then those that he just craps out for the sake of doing it (X-Men springs to mind).

That can be said for some of Marvel's so called "architects". Mainly Bendis and Jason Aaron.

Also would like to point out that the employee at your LCS sounds like an idiot.

I read his Thor and it was pretty bad with the exception of one story arc i liked. I don't hate him though.

@theacidskull: I'm at least liking Bendis on X-Men so far and it's been a year. Much better than whatever Remender has done with some of then in the likes of Uncanny Avengers. And Aaron has given us some great Wolverine stuff, but as of late with how he's written Cyclops and Emma Frost when they have appeared under his pen has been gross.

It's just bad when it's hit or miss with characters you know they can write well.

Matt Fraction has a style of writing that works with some characters or on some titles, but not others. I'd personally rate his runs where he works on underdeveloped or new characters better than runs where he is working with established characters. Fraction's Casanova and Hawkeye and Sex Criminals for example, is amazing. His Iron Fist was pretty decent too and i know he has a lot of fans of his Iron Man run. At the same time I also know his Iron Man run had a lot of detractors, the distinction tends to generally occur with those that were long term fans of the character to those with only a casual understanding of the character. Iron Fist and Hawkeye on the other hand were in a position that could afford some retooling. Casanova and Sex Criminals are new characters he created.

Thor and X-Men on the other hand, Fractions most unpopular (relatively) and most criticized runs were plagued by inconsistent characterization, strange behavior by many characters and paled in comparison to creators who had just finished up on the book. Fraction for example followed up JMS and Gillen's Thor run (and Gillen was just meant to be a fill in writer) and it was followed by Aaron and JMS and Aaron's Thor runs are considered the characters best writing excluding Simonson. Maybe its unfair but it puts a spotlight on a writer whether that means their strengths or flaws, and for Fraction his run just looks flawed. Even more so when compared to Journey Into Mystery which was running parallel to it and for many was a better Thor book despite not actually having Thor in it. For me personally I like Fraction the person, and at the moment he is more hit for me than miss, but his Uncanny X-Men was really poor. Dire characterization. Thankfully he even seemed aware of this he has talked a bit about how he would have things a lot differently since his run ended.

So chances are the people you came across were X-Men and Thor fans. (oh, though I should note, Fractions One Shot Thor stories set ion the past were alright) - that being said you should recommend Hawkeye, Iron Fist, Casanova and Sex Criminals to them. I have heard good things about Satellite Same as well but haven't read it yet.

The only thing I read by him was FF and Fantastic Four and they were alright FF was to cutsie for me and I didn't like him inserting himself in the comic other then that meh

@theacidskull: I could be wrong, but I think x-23's characterization was supposed to be strange due to all the avengers arena nonsense.

I agree he's hit or miss. But so are a lot of writers. It doesn't make me hate them. Just makes me cautious.

@theacidskull: I haven't been to the shop in like 2-3 weeks. I'm going next week on a massive binge to catch up, though. I'll have to check it out, but I was a bit worried when I heard she was gonna be in ANXM. If what Peppyhare said about her being kinda screwy because of AA is true, I need to see it for myself to make that observation.

@theacidskull: I know and that's why I'm like eh. Still, it depends on the context. Just more blows to an already damaged teenage girl. Wolverine's had numerous blows over the years and even he kinda shows it sometimes. But like I said, I still want to see how she reacted.

He's good when he gets to do his own thing with a few characters (Hawkeye, FF and his indie work for example) but not with major characters and large casts (Fantastic Four, Thor, X-Men).

BB

What bad work has Aaron done besides Hulk and half of WatX?

BB

this.

People hate all the writers, not just Fraction

wow I cant believe so many people responded to this. i feel about fraction how i feel about geoff johns. when they write a good story its the best but the rest is either bad or nothing special.

I agree with this.

Then let's agree that he should only write street-level characters, and stay away from cosmic / teams.

Eh, come to think of it, his best runs don't feature cosmic/teams. It does look like his niche is the street level side of things. I guess Matt needs to figure this out himself :D

And that's fine. Everyone has their style. It's just that Fraction shouldn't be writing about teams and cosmic characters, because he always screws it up.

@wolverine08: reminds me geoff johns

@sc: As usual, when SC has spoken, there is nothing more to add :)

His Hawkeye, iron man, cassanova, an spiderman annual were amazing! Besides that meh

I actually enjoyed Fraction's Nation X storyline for Xmen

this

Fraction is like Bendis for me.He's either a great writer or the worst writer you have ever seen.He's just too inconsistent.

@feebadger: Heh heh thank you Feebadger. Side Note - its always great to see you posting around more! ^_^.