Christopher Priest: Difference between revisions

Christopher Priest, formerly Jim Owsley, is a (retired) comic book writer. He's famous mostly for things that have very little to do with his comics (namely, his race and various inter-office pissing contests), which is a shame, because as far as the people who actually read his work are concerned, he may have been one of the very best the industry ever saw.

He also worked on [[Deadpool]], [[Steel]], [[Justice League Task Force]], and other, less popular/successful characters and teams (including his [[Too Good to Last|doomed-from-the-starting-gate]] epic, [[The Crew]]. He never really got a crack at writing [[Batman]], [[Superman]], or any other A-list character. Reports of how bitter (or not) he was over this vary. While a lot of his fans like to claim racism is responsible, Priest himself has always taken the high road, focusing more on just exactly how difficult it is to truly break through in the industry, particularly if your first or second project isn't an enormous success, and the tendency of DC and Marvel to give their flagship books to flagship talent.

He was a notorious victim and/or perpetrator of [[Executive Meddling]].

The absolute king of the [[Beat Panel]].

* [[Death By Origin Story]]: Occasionally, most famously with Quantum and Woody's fathers. Memorably played with and eventually averted in [[The Ray]].

* [[Die for Our Ship]]: Malice attempts to enact this in-universe.

* [[The Dulcinea Effect]]: Quantum has this bad for Amy Fishbein. Ray has it for Black Canary. Kasper has it for Okoye. You get the idea.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: Oh my yes. On pretty much everything he worked on, but ESPECIALLY at DC. He's also been on the Executive side of this trope, and he'd be the first to admit he was occasionally as guilty of this as anyone.

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Malice. Tempest (the one from Ray, not the one from Quantum And Woody). Malice. Titania (spoiler: actually Copycat). Malice. Fang. Malice. Have we mentioned Malice yet?

* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: Henry Peter Gyrich is the Government, Mister!

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Death Masque to Ray, White Wolf to Black Panther, Killmonger to Black Panther, Man-Ape to Black Panther...

* [[Phlebotinum Overload]]: A constant concern in [[Quantum and Woody]]. Comes up occasionally in [[The Ray]] as well.

* [[Running Gag]]: Constantly.

** We're not a couple!

* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: Ray finds himself having to do this a lot.

* [[Stable Time Loop]]: Ray is responsible for his own father's becoming a superhero and passing his powers on to his son. There's another, more complicated one involving Gaelon as well.

** Quantum to Amy Fishbein.

* [[Status Quo Is God]]: Priest went out of his way to avert this whenever possible, whether he was changing the origin of the Justice League, or killing off his own main characters. Or making one of them look like Tom Cruise against his will.

* [[Stealth Parody]]: Did it to himself, scripting a [[Quantum and Woody]] story that spoofed [[Black Panther]].

* [[Take That Me]]: Woody at one point reads, and eviscerates, an issue of [[Black Panther]].

* Technobabble: Constantly, especially in books involving Triumph, Ray, or Black Panther.

* [[What Might Have Been]]: Christopher Priest was in the running to helm the JLA relaunch before it went to [[Grant Morrison]].

** This can be extended to Priest's whole career... had he burned one fewer bridge, or stayed in the industry one more year, or had one more artist that "got" him, he might be talked about in the same breath as Morrison, Moore, etc... instead, he's "that black guy who wrote Panther".

* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]: Happens occasionally in Priest works. This possibility is brought up repeatedly with regards to Triumph, though it never reaches fruition under Priest. [[Grant Morrison]] eventually picked up the plot thread, though.