John Ostrander: Aurora

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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5 Responses

  1. mike weber says:

    It could have been worse – the rifle jammed, and he had to go to his pistols.

  2. Many people in these situations are quick to the hangman’s noose. I personally say that for this ‘Joker’… it’d be a fate too easy and undeserving. He needs to pay for his numerous acts of aggression every waking moment for the rest of his existence. I am barely able to fathom the senselessness he showed. So much so that during my viewing of the movie, whenever someone in the film opened fire on innocent people (and it happens plenty)… it jarred me out of my enjoyment for a second as I contemplated the truly irrational violence on display. It placed within me the very truth as to why I can’t even fathom war. That anyone can choose to hold power over the life of another with a gun is the ultimate act of selfishness.

  3. Skel says:

    “If I deny him his humanity what happens to mine?”– an amazingly powerful and accurate point.

  4. Rich says:

    Comics are about heroes, so it is worth focusing on them as well. I don’t know how much detail has gotten through to the national media (The local news here in Denver has been pre-empting the national news all weekend to feature stories about the massacre), but the number of heroes that have emerged from this story far outnumber the perpetrator. 3 of the people who died gave their lives to save loved ones or friends as did several of the wounded. And a number of the survivors did the same. One person in auditorium #8 was pulling an injured person to safety and saw the gunman face-to-face as he did so. He slammed the exit door in his face and saved countless others in the process. Those people may have been part of us as well.

    Rich

  5. John Ostrander says:

    For those who are interested, WTVR in Richmond, VA, interviewed me via phone about “Seduction of the Gun” in the wake of the Aurora shootings. If i do this right, the link is here: http://wtvr.com/2012/07/24/holmberg-the-story-behind-batman-and-robins-fight-for-gun-control-in-va/