JOHN OSTRANDER: My Karma Ran Over My Dogma

John Ostrander

John Ostrander started his career as a professional writer as a playwright. His best known effort, Bloody Bess, was directed by Stuart Gordon, and starred Dennis Franz, Joe Mantegna, William J. Norris, Meshach Taylor and Joe Mantegna. He has written some of the most important influential comic books of the past 25 years, including Batman, The Spectre, Manhunter, Firestorm, Hawkman, Suicide Squad, Wasteland, X-Men, and The Punisher, as well as Star Wars comics for Dark Horse. New episodes of his creator-owned series, GrimJack, which was first published by First Comics in the 1980s, appear every week on ComicMix.

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8 Responses

  1. Elayne Riggs says:

    Wow, great column, John! Looks like you got a head-start on this year’s Blog Against Theocracy project! Not to mention giving me inspiration for my own column next Wednesday…

  2. mike baron says:

    You’re going to hell, son.

    • Mike Gold says:

      Ha! Wait 'till you see the new Munden's Bar story John did with Joe Staton… There'll be some deep-Dante for this one.

    • John Ostrander says:

      You’re carrying the handbasket, man.

  3. Brian Taylor says:

    Great column,its all about having an open mind.

  4. Azor says:

    If I am interpreting you correctly, you are saying that dogmatism is problematic in part because it allows an individual to surrender critical thinking. OTOH, can you see how your suggested approach can lead to the same problem? Ghosts might be real, or they might not be. Nobody will ever know the truth. What's the use in thinking about it?

    • Elayne Riggs says:

      Not being John, I’ll take a guess — because it’s a fascinating imaginative exercise?

  5. John Ostrander says:

    With due respect, you’re missing the point. The critical thinking comes in deciding for yourself whether or not ghosts, God, WMDs or any of a number of other things that cannot be proven actually exist. There are people I know and respect who believe in these things (well, maybe not WMDs). I may not share those beliefs but I’m open to the possibility that they are right, that I am wrong, or that the truth may lie somewhere in-between. I am crushingly aware that I am not infallible. The point is you don’t allow someone else or some institution to decide for you. You ask the critical questions and make your own decisions.