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Discussion about Dan Slott's Avengers: the Initiative got me thinking about various writers who just Get What Makes Comics Fun, and why. So here's a partial list of those I can think of, and the characters/titles I think their takes work best for. This is NOT about slagging writers who don't get it, it's about praising the ones who do...and I'll delete comments that look to be going in the slagfest direction.
Priest: AKA Christopher Priest, AKA Jim Owsley. He gets it on a technical level. He knows how it all should fit together, and therefore can do experimental storytelling and still have it feel natural. He has trouble with what he calls "landing a flying saucer on the lawn" sorts of overt fantastic elements, but he's very good at extrapolative stuff, things that may not be pushing the envelope of the setting, but show off what the setting can do. Best at stuff like Power Man/Iron Fist, small group interactions with the cosmic weirdness kept to a minimum, but occasionally popping up. Weakest when the cosmic stuff has to be taken straight-facedly, also has trouble with large casts (over 6 main characters).
Dan Slott: Slott has a good intuitive grasp of the hoo-ha fun energy of Jack & Stan or Stan & Steve. Rather than just aping the conventions of the retro stuff, he really knows what makes them tick at the core. As a retro type, he may not be so good at the high tech thriller or the sci-fi posthuman stuff, but he pretty consistently turns out good stories. Best on Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, or really any book where he's allowed to bring back the feel of the early 60s Marvel superhero stuff. Weakest on things that have to be dark, or that depend too much on futurism.
Adam Warren: THE go-to guy for futurism, posthumanism and all those whacked out isms. He approaches them with a sense of fun even in the midst of apocalyptic meltdown. His characters do tend to end up sounding a lot alike, and he's not a good choice for stories when the status quo needs to be maintained, but he's really good at just grabbing the ideas and showing just how far they can be taken if you push the throttle all the way. Also a very good visual storyteller, who can compensate for a weak artist in collaborations by doing detailed thumbnailing. Best at high tech stuff like Iron Man, but probably needs to stick to altiverses where he doesn't have to worry about resetting to initial conditions at the end.
Rod Espinosa: Like Warren, he's a good visual storyteller and artist in addition to his writing. But his best writing is all about the fantastic and wide-eyed wonder on the part of a relatively unsophisticated main character. The object of the awe isn't as important...it can be high tech, or magic, or simply the natural world. The details can sometimes be weak, but his big picture is always fun. I've only seen him on books at Antarctic, mainly his own properties, but to continue the pattern of picking Marvel books, I'd put him on Fantastic Four. Exploration and adventure are his strengths, and he's pretty good at family stories as well. He does seem to have an anti-technological bent at times that comes with his manga/anime inspirations, though, which could be a problem in superhero stuff.
I could go on, although it'd mainly be delving into more and more obscure writers and titles. This is not to say I don't enjoy other mainstream writers (I generally like Busiek, Nicieza, David, Winick and others), but they often seem to be trying to step outside the medium rather than grasping the core and running with it. Or they simply drift off-point too often, churning out uninspired tales to make deadline where the writers who Get It manage to keep at least a small spark of inspiration in everything.
Priest: AKA Christopher Priest, AKA Jim Owsley. He gets it on a technical level. He knows how it all should fit together, and therefore can do experimental storytelling and still have it feel natural. He has trouble with what he calls "landing a flying saucer on the lawn" sorts of overt fantastic elements, but he's very good at extrapolative stuff, things that may not be pushing the envelope of the setting, but show off what the setting can do. Best at stuff like Power Man/Iron Fist, small group interactions with the cosmic weirdness kept to a minimum, but occasionally popping up. Weakest when the cosmic stuff has to be taken straight-facedly, also has trouble with large casts (over 6 main characters).
Dan Slott: Slott has a good intuitive grasp of the hoo-ha fun energy of Jack & Stan or Stan & Steve. Rather than just aping the conventions of the retro stuff, he really knows what makes them tick at the core. As a retro type, he may not be so good at the high tech thriller or the sci-fi posthuman stuff, but he pretty consistently turns out good stories. Best on Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, or really any book where he's allowed to bring back the feel of the early 60s Marvel superhero stuff. Weakest on things that have to be dark, or that depend too much on futurism.
Adam Warren: THE go-to guy for futurism, posthumanism and all those whacked out isms. He approaches them with a sense of fun even in the midst of apocalyptic meltdown. His characters do tend to end up sounding a lot alike, and he's not a good choice for stories when the status quo needs to be maintained, but he's really good at just grabbing the ideas and showing just how far they can be taken if you push the throttle all the way. Also a very good visual storyteller, who can compensate for a weak artist in collaborations by doing detailed thumbnailing. Best at high tech stuff like Iron Man, but probably needs to stick to altiverses where he doesn't have to worry about resetting to initial conditions at the end.
Rod Espinosa: Like Warren, he's a good visual storyteller and artist in addition to his writing. But his best writing is all about the fantastic and wide-eyed wonder on the part of a relatively unsophisticated main character. The object of the awe isn't as important...it can be high tech, or magic, or simply the natural world. The details can sometimes be weak, but his big picture is always fun. I've only seen him on books at Antarctic, mainly his own properties, but to continue the pattern of picking Marvel books, I'd put him on Fantastic Four. Exploration and adventure are his strengths, and he's pretty good at family stories as well. He does seem to have an anti-technological bent at times that comes with his manga/anime inspirations, though, which could be a problem in superhero stuff.
I could go on, although it'd mainly be delving into more and more obscure writers and titles. This is not to say I don't enjoy other mainstream writers (I generally like Busiek, Nicieza, David, Winick and others), but they often seem to be trying to step outside the medium rather than grasping the core and running with it. Or they simply drift off-point too often, churning out uninspired tales to make deadline where the writers who Get It manage to keep at least a small spark of inspiration in everything.
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He just seems to get Spiderman, Superman and the Avengers among others.
His Aquaman....well I knew about as much about Aquaman's "world" as the new Arthur Curry did. Didn't mind exploring that underwater world for the first time with an equally inexperienced hero.