JOHN OSTRANDER: Apres Harry

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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4 Responses

  1. Vinnie Bartilucci says:

    The Harry detractors are even complaining that the books are not "Original". And to be fair, there have been many books about apprentice wizards, children suffering their way through British public schools, and orphans with great secrets. But to borrow from/touch on those archetypes and still come out with something fresh and new is a great accomplishment, and J.K. deserves her praise and success

    She is also smart enough to know she’ll never come close to this level of good ever again, and that’s very smart of her. Anything she does after this will be compared to the impossibly yardstick of Harry, and come up short. If she does anything new, they’d be very wise to not do ANY massive campaign like this. Let the new book just come out as a new book by a fave author; don’t build it up to the heights of Harry.

    As for new books to try…

    ALL of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books are good, but the Agnes Nutter books are aimed at the young adult crowd, and do not talk down at all. Well recommended.

    I’m still liking the Artemis Fowl books, and am still waiting for the movie deal to be signed. That kid from Nancy Drew and License to Wed is my new favorite child actor, not that Spencer Breslin is a little too old. But Miko Hughes woulda been PERFECT. And the Rock as Butler.

    I’m planning to try Ahmet Zappa’s books next – anyone tried those out?

    For adult tastes, I was a big fan of the Wizard of 4th Street series by Simon Hawke. Merlin is found and resurrected, and bring Magic back to the world. Very entertaining.

    Also a hoot are the Chronicles of Ebenezum, by the far underrated Craig Shaw Gardner. Also see out his Cineverse Cycle and the adventures of The Other Sinbad

    • Vinnie Bartilucci says:

      Sorry, had a complete brain fart, and you can't edit comments here. Tiffany Aching is the young heroine of the Pratchett's YA novels – Agnus Nutter was the titular character from Good Omens. Apologies for the jounalistic inaccuracy

  2. Lauren says:

    I adore both of the Jasper Fforde series. Other books that I have enjoyed of a serial nature include:Alan Dean Foster – Pip and Flynx seriesAlexander McCall Smith – Precious Ramotswe detective seriesStephanie Barron – Jane Austin mysteriesDianne Day – Fremont Jones mysteries set in 1906 era San FranciscoIf you like puns, then Piers Anthony world of Xanth series will be goodKatherine Kurtz had the Deryni series (first 3 book s are abouta boy king and there is magic)Madeline D' Engle – Wrinkle in Time seriesUrsala Le Guin – EarthSea trilogyLemony Snicket who had 13 books in the seriesDavid Weber – Honor Harrington series for Hornblower in space adventuresElizabeth Moon – 2 series – Herris Serrano and Vatta's WarC. J. Cherryh – Has several series, some are fantasy and some are SF, currently she is doing the Foriegner seriesRoger Zelazny – Amber seriesSome of these books are fantasy, others are mysteries, and others are SF. Many of them have been around for a long time.

  3. Gustavo says:

    May I suggest, if any of you still don't know him, Mike Resnick and his wonderfully funny series, Lucifer Jones? Or his Widowmaker tetralogy? An those wanting a good pirate story should look for his Starship books. My personal favorite is Kirinyaga, but The Outpost must be one of the funniest reads I've had in a long time. Get out of that chair and buy them all, NOW! :)Here's a link to a page where he discusses some of his ideas:http://novelspot.net/node/1669Btw, Mr. Ostrander, I'm still waiting for the column about The Independence Day movie…