I think being a comic writer in the industry today is one of the hardest jobs you can imagine. In terms of producing a comic they do have a lot of positives. Compared to the work the artist puts in, they have it relatively ‘easy’. However, if they create something for the big two, they don’t get anything out of from Marvel (I’m not sure what the situation is at DC currently) and its hard work to be an indie creators.
Oh sure, some creators are making a great living off indies, don’t get me wrong but I see comments from the likes of Cullen Bunn about how much he has to keep plugging away to just keep afloat. It all sounds very stressful and that’s not even taking into account how people online treat them. I’ve said many times before that we are very fortunate as comic fans today. We have more access to creators than ever. Social media gives us a direct line to some of the biggest names in wrestling and they will take time out of their day to interact with us.
Some creators get a lot of hostile treatment. Of course there’s the disgusting treatment some get because of their gender, race or whatever but then there’s other creators who get a lot of negativity thrown at them for the most baffling reasons. There are people online (and in person, I don’t know but I don’t think they’re that brave) who get angry at creators over how characters are written. They say the most horrible things to real people over how fictional ones are written.
Look, I’ve been reading comics since I learned to read. I’ve been reading Marvel comics since I has 8 or 9 or maybe younger. I’ve seen takes on Spider-Man and Batman that I don’t like. I famously don’t like Grant Morrison’s Batman. Do I say mean things about Morrison? Nope. I’m sure they’re lovely and I’d love to meet them and pick their brain. Might I lose my sanity in the process? Most likely yes but as someone who wants to be a writer and who has NEVER been successful at that endeavour, I would be an idiot not to take the opportunity to talk to Morrison who has is successful beyond most comic creators ever.
So giving hate to people online, to those who don’t seem to deserve it is a puzzle for me I can’t solve. One creator in particular that seems to have a lot of disproportionate hatred towards them is writer Tom Taylor.
With a background in writing for the stage and animation, Taylor’s comic career started when he wrote Star Wars comics for Dark Horse during the era that the publisher had the licence. His real breakout gig in comics came when he penned the comic prequel for the Injustice fighting games. Generally game tie-in comics aren’t worth much but Taylor added a lot of nuisance to the ‘Superman turns evil’ story that got a significant amount of acclaim.
This led to him getting a bunch of more work from both Marvel and DC with him seemingly making the latter his home for the time being. He’s written for some of the biggest franchises in comics like Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, X-Men and more. In recent years, it seems that a lot of venom has landed at his door. As I mentioned in the article I wrote about the corner DC has painted themselves in when it comes to Barbara Gordon and fans wanting her back as Oracle but the company keeping her firmly in the Batgirl identity. Some even accused Taylor and DC of being ableist.
After this, a lot of his work is picked apart like a pack of Hyena’s feating on an animal in the wild. In particular, the Superman mini series where Jon Kent went over to the Injustice universe. People who read the book criticised the story decision to have Jon hug that world’s Superman where people have have stated over and over ‘He hugged a fascist.’
Now I won’t say Taylor is a perfect writer, nor have I read the Superman mini referenced above. I recently read his Black Label Hellblazer mini he did with Derick Robertson which I thought was great but it was a bit heavy handed in having the characters state some of the topics (economic inequity and the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer, etc) but I enjoyed it a lot.
Being sometimes overt in what you’re trying to put across as a writer is hardly a hangable offence. Yet I see people all the time attach him on one public forum or another. One thing I don’t agree with is that he is in any way ableist. People put a lot of power in Taylor’s hand, stating he was the reason that Barbara was not returned to her Oracle role instead of being Batgirl.
This is a decision that is beyond Taylor. Barbara returning to the role of Batgirl happened 2011 during the new 52 when Taylor was still only doing video game tie-ins for the company. It is an editorial and company decision to keep Barbara as Batgirl and any glimpses of her working in an Oracle capacity has come I would presume with the cavat that she remains as Batgirl along with Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown.
I can’t speak for Taylor. I don’t know which version of Barbara he wanted to write. Its clear however he wanted to have Dick and Barbara as a couple in his Nightwing run. Having that element of the book was likely in his pitch and he likely didn’t ask about how to portray Barbara cause he knew what the answer would be or he asked and was told no. Or he didn’t think about it because in the case of say Spider-Man, writers on the book don’t ask Webshooters or Organic in their books because they know what the score is.
This is obviously a much more important matter in terms of representation and a much more important subject but this was the best example I could think of off the cuff,
So this is just the way it is and Taylor has to work with the tools he’s given. Its the same with every writer working at the big two. Some get more pull than others and more room to do whatever they want but generally if the company wants a certain thing to happen, its going to happen. If they want Swamp Thing to be a giant rose, its going to happen. If you want to write Swamp thing, you think of the best way to make that work or you don’t and they get someone else.
With big two companies, this is the reality. Long time comic writer who has been in the industry longer than some creators and fans have been alive I think said it best when talking about his run on Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man back in the 2000’s.
‘I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. Spider-Man is the flagship character and if you are going to be doing crossovers he is going to be affected, and if you are going to do crossovers, it is going to be exceedingly tricky. I would keep coming up with plans for what I want to do, but what is happening keeps knocking my plans off the rails.’
I had a whole storyarc planned with the school and then all of a sudden Peter Parker is unmasking himself during “Civil War.” I was faced with a situation where all the villains would know he is at the school, so I decided to do a story where the villains attacked the school, and then was told that was happening in “Spec Spidey.” And that was problematic.
You are always dancing as fast as you can, and it can be a real hassle.’
So Taylor gets some venomous stuff and I think its so unfair and ridiculous. Like his work or don’t but try to be respectful at least. I’m a fan, I’ve greatly enjoyed the work he’s done at both companies and even find works like All-New Wolverine, Suicide Squad and some of his Injustice work brilliant.
Taylor doesn’t need comics, he has a very successful cartoon show he can go do. He does comics because he loves them. He sometimes does bite back at his critics and no, he shouldn’t but good lord these people are human. You can’t expect to hurl stones at people and then cry foul when they call you a prick for it or whatever.
That’s my opinion though but hey, what do I know about comics? I’ve just been reading them longer than most people who love to rag on people like Tom Taylor have been alive.
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