From: ror1@ellis.uchicago.edu (BANZAI the MASTER)
Subject: Re: X-ODUS replacements part II
Reply-To: ror1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1992 09:13:33 GMT

A recent post responded to mine, saying:
>>He's not a wretched scripter, but I know from the above books
>>that he can't script his way out of a box.
This was referring to Scott the looser Lobdell, by the way.
>
>How's that different from being a wretched scripter?

Scripting is writing the dialogue for a comic, and ploting is the act of
creating the general story line without the dialogue of the characters yet 
in place.  When someone is refered to as the "writer" of a comic, he performs both tasks.  This is the norm.  On Marvel comics, however, a writer submits a 
plot to an artist, who then draws the comic itself, which is then scripted by
the scripter, sometimes the same person as who wrote the story in the first 
place.  One can be good at one and not the other.  Jim Lee, for instance,
IMHO, writes pretty good plots.  He probably couldn't sript a story very well,
and this is why he's ONLY plotting(a good move, which makes him avoid the 
errors of Todd McFarlane, who couldn't script (or plot) very well).  Scott 
Lobdell can write a decent script, I guess.  I think scripting requires less 
immagination than ploting.  Scott Lobdell's plots are just the lamest
things, take for instance the "dark ages" of Excalibur.  Or any Alpha Flight
issue he's done.  For instance... The "Northstar's Gay... loook we're PC" 
issue.  If you want to see a good handling of a gay character, look in 
Valiant's XO_MANOWAR_ book.  But anyway, the plot...

-Old man has gay son, reminices about the past as a superhero, major mapleleaf
(now there's a well crafter character)
-Sasquash and Northstar and Vindicator (or is she Guardian) pound Mr. Hyde into
the ground for no reason (Lobdell has minimum two fight scene policy)
-Northstar finds an Aids baby lying in a trash can, "adopts" it
-Mapleleaf gets mad that his son who died of aids was denied of his rightful
acknowledgement and instead the aids baby gets a lot of press converage.
-They fight and wax philosophical at the same time 
-Northstar beats him soundly
-Mapleleaf decides he was wrong for no reason at all
-Northstar proclaims he's gay soas to help gay people everywhere

This is also known as a lame plot.  The reasons for the change in the two 
characters are not explained at all.  The book is not badly SCRIPTED however
some of the jokes are funny, and all the characters speak in character.  
However the story was doomed from the start because of bad plotting.  Lobdell
tends to butcher old characters into what he wants them to be instead of what
they are, and Northstar is a prime example.  Wildchild is another.  

LUCKILY I think Lobdell has gotten "too good" to be on Alpha (which is Marvel's
policy to take "hot" talent off of their less liked books, sometimes they take off really BAD writers, mistaking them for good ones, but realizing they are
ones who can sell books, take Northstar's token homosexuality) and is being 
replaced by Simon Furman, who is really good but unappreciated.  

All clear?


-BANZAI
ror1@midway.uchicago.edu
"Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away."-Dave Mustaine/Megadeth