Comic book store owner Glenn O’Leary, who owns The Comic Book Palace in Massachusetts is drawing a line in the sand when it comes to modern comic book stories and writers.
A clip from the latest episode of The Comic Book Palace Reborn podcast is going viral, where Glenn discusses his belief that modern comic book writers don't love the characters as much as old-school writers. He asserts that modern writers don't care about the established personalities and character traits of classic superheroes and instead, want to place themselves under the mask.
Most of these new writers don't have the love of comics that these older writers had. And all they care about is, 'How can I put myself into the book?' But we don't care about what you would do if you were Iron Man. We don't care who you are, you're writing Tony Stark, you're not writing yourself in a book.
If that's the case, write your own comic, with you in it. No one would read it, because nobody cares. People grew up, loving Peter Parker, loving Miles Morales, loving Captain America- we don't need you to put your input in it, just write Steve Rogers. Don't write, 'What would Steve Rogers be, if I were Steve Rogers.' That's not how it works, but that's how most of these new people write nowadays. That's why most of the stuff is sh*#.
We don't care about what you would do, because we don't care about your life whatsoever. Just write a book, get paid for what you're suppoused to be doing, and make it a good story. "
You can check out the full episode of The Comic Book Palace Reborn below.
However, as you can imagine, with Glenn's comments going viral, many comic book creators are weighing in to share their opinions. Fan response has been polarizing, to say the least.
You can check out some of the responses from a few well-known comic creators below.
In a now deleted Tweet, Jimmy Palmiotti wrote, "It is something I tell newer writers all the time, read all the history of the character and understand their motivations and why the audience fell in love with them. It will help you understand who they are so if you change everything about them, it’s in line with who they are."
He then followed up with:
Where do you come in on the divide? Should comic book writers adhere to the stories and established personalities that have come before? Or does the artistic nature of the medium dictate that writers should be allowed creative freedom? Let us know in the comment section below.