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Love the art, hate the story?

Started by Eric Seffinga,

21 posts in this topic

Eric Seffinga

Eric Seffinga

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I was reading an art discussion on another forum, and it made a topic come to mind that I don't recall seeing discussed in depth here before, but one I think is interesting to ponder.

 

I know MANY comic art collectors are nostalgia based, so I'm not sure how this will play out. But have you ever bought any art that you love, but you couldn't stand the comic that the art was used in?

 

I'll have to think on this one myself, but thought I'd out it out there in case anyone has any good examples that come to mind.

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BCarter27

BCarter27

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I broke the seal this year on buying art from a book I haven't yet read, but none that I actively dislike.

 

Anybody got any Batman: War Crimes art featuring Leslie Tompkins confessing to murder? lol.

 

What's the Marvel equivalent? Gwen and Osborn hooking up?

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JadeGiant

JadeGiant

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Oh yeah, I will buy a great piece of art even if I know nothing about the story/comic. The Hulk reboot by Loeb/McGuiness a few years ago was a visual feast, the story .... not so much ... but I can't get enough of the art from those issues.

 

Even with my nostalgic sweet spot when I was reading comics as a kid, I always gravitated toward story arcs with great art. I just had this conversation with a friend recently and came to the conclusion that I would much rather read a comic with great art and mediocre (or even below average) story than a comic with great story and sub-par art.

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Brian Peck

Brian Peck

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Never bought any art where I hated the story. I have bought art from a story I never read. There are stories that I like but would never be interested in buying the art, Dark Knight Returns is one of them. Even if the art was alot cheaper, I have no interest in owning it.

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thethedew

thethedew

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...have you ever bought any art that you love, but you couldn't stand the comic that the art was used in?

 

I was and remain very critical of the concept and storyline of 'Micronauts: The New Voyages' ...but most of the art was by Kelley Jones.

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Will_K

Will_K

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I don't recall ever loving the art but hating the story.

 

I grew up a DC fan. And I have to confess that I'm bewildered by how certain Marvel (and certain DC) artists are highly regarded. Not going to mention any names because just about everyone would pummel me.

 

I'm only making the point because the only way I can rationalize why fans love artist X or Y is because they LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the story even though the artist may not be so great ( to my taste ). This seems especially true of artists that had long runs on titles.

 

To me, that has a lot to do with the "nostalgia" that is mentioned in this forum. You can say you love the art. But you REALLY love the story.

 

Just sayin'

 

 

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malvin

malvin

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Don't know the stories behind all the pieces I buy, but have consciously passed on art from stories I dislike.

 

Conversely, does anyone buy art they dislike from stories they love?

 

Are you trying to get me in trouble :)

 

There are quite a few stories that I enjoy with mediocre art, and I would buy it despite the art. I won't name examples though, look through my gallery and guess if you want :)

 

Malvin

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malvin

malvin

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Conversely, does anyone buy art they dislike from stories they love?

 

I wouldn't say I dislike it but I'm not crazy about it. Love the story in Whiteout. Frank Miller did a fantastic trade cover for it, wish he did the whole book.

 

I actually liked the story and art for Whiteout, no issues with the art for me, but of course we all have different tastes

 

Malvin

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Eric Seffinga

Eric Seffinga

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Yeah, I remember liking Leiber's art on Whiteout a lot actually. I owned what seemed like a great page from the book at one time. I only sold it when I began my purge from art in the closet to only what fit on the walls. I haven't even thought about that book in ages. I should give it a re-read and see how it holds up.

 

I've certainly been guilty of buying art for art's sake. I can honestly say I feel like that's become my primary approach. I sold off a lot of stuff that, as my tastes be came more "sophisticated", started to look a bit wonky when I'd see it. As time has gone on I've realized that some wonkiness I can forgive and live with, but past a certain point of bugging me, it's gotta go.

 

But back to the topic at hand, I bought and owned a Geddes zombie comic cover for a number of years, having never read the book it was in. Didn't even care the book existed. In fact I can't even recall the name, just that it was through IDW. I just liked the painting, and Jeremy's art.

 

Same went with the cover for Dead Irons #1 that Jason Shawn Alexander did. Though that one I read after the fact. The story wasn't amazing. It wasn't bad, it was ok. I LOVE his art on that book though. Bought some interior splash pages from it.

 

I adore George Pratt's art, and bought a cover from him, but didn't care for the story in the book much. Again, didn't care because I love a lot of George's artwork.

 

As for doing the reverse with interior pages, back when I was a "theme" collector and was buying up Deadman artwork all over the place I had some masterpieces by folks like Kelley Jones (the mini-series poster I sold to Kelvin) and original pages from Brave and the Bold by Adams. But along with that material I found myself buying by guys like Dan Jurgens from Action comics. Several of those stories were garbage, but I was ticking off imaginary boxes (a Deadman example by a different artist), and ultimately realized how much I was spending on an empty exercise. After selling off the first few really pieces, it opened the floodgates and the rest is history.

 

And for stories that were great but the art sucked... I can think of a few Hellblazer issues where that happened, after some artist changes post-Dillon, and then again after getting used to Phillips and his departure. There were some artistic doozies that came along after that. But I just couldn't bear buying any of it, despite there being some great stories in there.

 

 

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zhamlau

zhamlau

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I cant actually "hate" the story, but a lot of great artists do get work on in their early/interesting stages on books that are so-so. McFarlane pages and Larsen pages on ASM for example. Its "meh" storytelling at best...but they command 4-6 figures on every piece between them. I think its because the art is so mindblowingly good you can almost get over just how pedestrian the plot and dialogue is at times.

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Solar

Solar

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The whole McSpidey (not ASM) run had a bland storyline with rather horrible writing and I've owned pages. It's all about the art on that one.

 

On the other hand, I almost exclusively collect based on story and am willing to buy pages with mediocre art when I care enough about its story. Sandman comes to mind - although some of the art was fantastic, it certainly had low points that I would still consider buying.

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Rune

Rune

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I can say that I've found pieces that I was interested in and have gone out of my way to go read the story before purchasing.

 

Same, except that I will buy a great looking piece of art and then go read the story after the fact.

 

 

+1, especially a cover, as people say:

 

"Never judge a cover by its book" :preach:

 

- or was it the other way around hm:insane:

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