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Story Or Art ?

Started by nik,

40 posts in this topic

nik

nik

Posted
Posted

Which one is more important? Which one draws a fan to a comic book?

 

As far as I can remember, when going to an LCS, it was for me anyways, wow what a great cover!! gotta get it and read it. If I coulnt stomach the cover art I would pass on it never knowing if the story was good or bad. As I'm sure there are good stories out there present but just cant pick them up because of the horrible cover art.

 

I'm not saying that great cover art equals great story, just saying its a bigger draw to picking up a certain book/title and reading it.

 

Your thoughts?

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divad

divad

Posted
Posted

Art sumo.gif

 

I have to agree, for me it's always been the art, but then again - I was spoiled. When I first was buying books, Stan wrote 3/4's of them, and the stories were always good - so basically I took it for granted. Some of my favorite reads were the early Sgt. Fury's, FF's, and Spidey's - by the time other writers took hold, I was heavily entrenched in Marvels. Roy Thomas could spin a thread too, and with Steranko we got all three - great cover, great story, great art. grin.gif

 

But it was always the covers that drew me in, and keep drawing me in: Ditko's Spidey's, Jack's FF's, Steranko's Shield's, Jack's Cap's, Steranko's Cap's . . .

 

I never really liked the "double cover" work of the early TOS and TTA, but came around big time when they started alternating the covers. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

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arexcrooke

arexcrooke

Posted
Posted

I agree holeheartedly (sic)

Some of the first books that I look for when working on a run are the ones that have really cool covers.

Example, right now I am starting a Hulk/TTA run, the covers that draw my attention are the ones i focus on first. Examples TTA 63 TTA 65 TTA 93 TTA 101 Hulk 104 Hulk 105. These are the issues I want either first or will wait for in higher grade than I will accept in the other books.

So, for me, the art is what draws me to a book.

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BassGMan

BassGMan

Posted
Posted

Since I normally don't read the books, I'd say that for me it is 75% cover art, and 25% interior art. If I am collecting a run, I'll buy the book regardless, but these days, when I just pick and choose out of everything, I just buy the books that have characters that interest me and that has an outstanding cover. In fact, I'll buy multiple copies and grades of a book with a cover that I like.

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chrisco37

chrisco37

Posted
Posted

I like story better.

 

Some of the art in Sandman wasn't the "greatest" stuff I've ever seen, yet Gaiman pulled it off beautifully.

 

Alan Moore's work could have stick figures and I'd still read it. And, it would probably be wonderful (as long as there was some semblence of consistency with the art). His Supreme was great, despite the Liefeld art.

 

Bad writing is bad writing. It doesn't matter who the artist is. If the story sucks, the book is a failure. Art helps, but it comes down to writing for me.

 

Another case in point. Frank Miller's DKR was fantastic. A wonderful mix of Writing and Art.

 

His DKSA was putrid. Art wasn't as good as DKR (I'll conceed), but still close. The writing was trash.

 

How about All-Star Batman and Robin? Wonderful art by Jim Lee. Cr@p writing by Miller. Bad book.

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Smokinghawk

Smokinghawk

Posted
Posted

Art. I've bought books just for the art, even if I knew nothing about the story.

 

Freaks of the Heartland was one example.

I love David Mack's art, and would buy anything he's produced, almost.

The older Kent Williams stuff blew me away when I was a teen in art school (Blood: A Tale)

I found a book by Toc Fetch and I didn't understand the writing, but the art floored me.

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nik

nik

Posted
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Posted

How about All-Star Batman and Robin? Wonderful art by Jim Lee. Cr@p writing by Miller. Bad book.

 

This is a good example. Normally I would have never picked this book up, but the cover drew to me to the title.

 

Another one would be GL. I have never picked up a book from an LCS but once again the cover art was awesome.

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joe_collector

joe_collector

Posted
Posted

It's Art for me as well.

 

Comics are a visual medium, and the art is what separates it from a novel or other written story form. Most top writers, like Moore, visually describe each panel, lighting, theme, symbolism, etc. - so if the art sucks and doesn't convey it (i.e. the stick figures comment) then it defeats the purpose of a great comic book story.

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Norrin_Radd

Norrin_Radd

Posted
Posted

Both!

 

I'm trying to limit my collecting by only buying comics where I like both the story AND the art. Comics that have both are the ones I really enjoy owning.

 

That's why I'm working on my Tales of Suspense run. I love reading the stories (from 46 on anyway) and I love the art by Heck and Colan. I've got most of the issues from 58-99 and reprints for most of the issues from 39-57.

 

I'm selling off anything I bought because I thought it was neat but don't really care for the story. I am especially selling any comic I bought simply because it was HG.

 

 

Key comics on my must-have list have classic covers and an interesting story...

 

Detective Comics #31 (The Bat-man in Europe vs The Monk. Is he a werewolf? Is he a vampire? confused-smiley-013.gif)

Fantastic Four #3 (1st everything... costumes, Fantasi-Car, Baxter Building! laugh.gif)

Amazing Spider-man #1 (Tries to get a paying job with the FF. Too bad they lost all their money in the stock market. foreheadslap.gif Love the Chameleon story, too!)

Silver Surfer #4 (Silver Surfer is finally free of the barrier..... NOT!)

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ArAich

ArAich

Posted
Posted
Art's the draw but it's the story that keeps the people buying. There are plenty of books out there with excellant art but without the story they are short lived. IMHO of course.

 

 

Agreed...however...Sometimes art is the draw and yet art is also the reason for leaving...Jim Starlin's "The End" comes immediatly to mind...the cover on #1 drew me in but the interior art was so freakin' busy and jammed with no sense of reason that I never bought another issue....

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sborock

sborock

Posted
Posted
I like story better.

 

Some of the art in Sandman wasn't the "greatest" stuff I've ever seen, yet Gaiman pulled it off beautifully.

 

Alan Moore's work could have stick figures and I'd still read it. And, it would probably be wonderful (as long as there was some semblence of consistency with the art). His Supreme was great, despite the Liefeld art.

 

Bad writing is bad writing. It doesn't matter who the artist is. If the story sucks, the book is a failure. Art helps, but it comes down to writing for me.

 

Another case in point. Frank Miller's DKR was fantastic. A wonderful mix of Writing and Art.

 

His DKSA was putrid. Art wasn't as good as DKR (I'll conceed), but still close. The writing was trash.

 

How about All-Star Batman and Robin? Wonderful art by Jim Lee. Cr@p writing by Miller. Bad book.

 

I agree.

Story thumbsup2.gif

 

But it is a "comic book" so, I want both! yay.gif

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october

october

Posted
Posted

Bad writing is bad writing. It doesn't matter who the artist is. If the story sucks, the book is a failure. Art helps, but it comes down to writing for me.

 

My sentiments exactly. 893applaud-thumb.gif

 

As far as enjoying a book, story comes first for ALL moderns. For early bronze and silver, I place cover art first as to what books I purchase. Either way, interior art isn't really important to me. Poor interiors don't hurt a good story very much, and the don't help a poor story much either.

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