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Story Or Art ?

Started by nik,

40 posts in this topic

nearmint

nearmint

Posted
Posted

Sometimes I will suffer through adequate art if the story is good enough. For example, I'm a big fan of Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man, but I'm not a fan of Chaz Truog. I bought every issue, but I often wonder how much more I'd have enjoyed it with a better artist. At least every issue had an awesome Brian Bolland cover!

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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted

For me, almost always story.

 

A great story can make for great comics, as long as the art is at least competent. I'll second Chris' example of some of the Sandman arcs, and also mention Morrison's Animal Man: "competent" is about as far as you'd want to go in describing that art. Ditto for Morrison's JLA. Contrast that with the Bryan Hitch illustrated JLAs in Mark Waid's follow up run. Pretty enough to look at, but since the stories never completely clicked, I have little interest in re-reading.

 

But when you have a perfect synthesis of story & art, then you really have something special:

 

- O'Neil & Adams

- Englehart & Rogers

- Moore & Gibbons

- Goodwin & Simonson

- Roy Thomas & Barry Smith

- Will Eisner doing it all...

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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted
Sometimes I will suffer through adequate art if the story is good enough. For example, I'm a big fan of Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man, but I'm not a fan of Chaz Truog. I bought every issue, but I often wonder how much more I'd have enjoyed it with a better artist. At least every issue had an awesome Brian Bolland cover!

 

thumbsup2.gif

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toro

toro

Posted
Posted

Art is what drew me in, when I was a kid. I taught myself to read through comics. But, it is the story that makes me still read comics today, still collect comics! I love to go back and read the Stan Lee stories, as hokie as they are, they were fun.

 

Good art will sell a number one, but a good writer will keep them coming back, a great writer makes you buy everything and anything that they write! I love Neal Adams, but I was sure as heck not going to buy this New Giant-Sized X-Men just for that. Give me the Alan Moore and his stick figures!!!!

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squidmo2000

squidmo2000

Posted
Posted
The art, especially when the art basically tells the story. But a good story helps too, but not lots of dialogue for me.
Art first,story second........I always loved the Ditko Spidey covers,Kirby's Thor,Cap and FF's,Romita Spideys,Buscema's Surfer,Steranko and Gil Kane.While I collected all Spidey's as a kid(even those horrid Sal Buscema books 893whatthe.gif)If the cover caught my eye,I'd pull it off the rack.If the inside looked good i'd by it and read it.Sometimes I'd be in a rush and buy the book first,then come home and projectile vomit all over Don Heck's and Frank Robbins interior work. insane.gif
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backtomarvel

backtomarvel

Posted
Posted

Mostly the art.

 

I can flip through a comic with lame writing but good art and enjoy it. I can also read a comic with great writing and mediocre art and enjoy that, too.

 

But can't get though a comic with great writing and poor art.

 

That make sense? tongue.gif

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Fandango

Fandango

Posted
Posted

I too think the medium works best when art and story share equal prominence; I know it’s the obvious thing to say but I really do find it difficult to really enjoy a comic when the arts great and the writings poor (the opposite also being true). Whist on the subject of art, does anyone else feel that mainstream comics at present reveal a heavy bias towards 'realistic' artwork; I do hope this photo-realistic style is just a phase?!!!

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johnenock

johnenock

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Posted

For modern comics it is ALL about the writing because, to me, all the art looks the same. It is the story that makes me collect comics. Y the Last Man is a good example. Horrid art except the covers, but the writing keeps me reading and reading and reading.

For bronze and older it is all about the art. Cool cover(and the Phantom Stranger) and I do everything I can to buy it. An example would be those great Wonder Woman covers by Jones or the gothic romance books from the early 70's. Some of the best covers around(and everybody wants 'em), but I challenge anyone to read them and like them.

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october

october

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Y the Last Man is a good example. Horrid art except the covers, but the writing keeps me reading and reading and reading.

 

I was just thinking about how bad the interior art is on that title (the cover art is fine). Every woman looks the same except for her hair color. foreheadslap.gif

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Shadow

Shadow

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It's primarily art for me. The writing helps me get through it though. Bad writing will make me quickly start to "scan" and file the book away.

 

The art doesn't hold the same wonderment for me anymore that it did when I was a kid in the 70's. Adams & Wrightson blew me away and I was amazed at their ability. (This coming from someone who loved to draw superheroes, etc. ) I tried to replicate their style. Then Perez and Byrne really caught me. I like many artists now, but it's not the same. Must be I got old.

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Zonker

Zonker

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Posted
Zonker...Are you a big UFO fan? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

Jim

 

Can't pretend to be a huge fan, but I fondly remember watching the reruns about 30 years ago or so. The main image I remember is the interceptor launched from the submarine-- I thought those pre-Star Wars SFX were way cool. I notice a DVD is out-- if I pick it up, will I be disappointed?

 

 

Re: the avatar..you and Gary Cove so far are the only ones to comment on it! thumbsup2.gif

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awe4one

awe4one

Posted
Posted
Can't pretend to be a huge fan, but I fondly remember watching the reruns about 30 years ago or so. The main image I remember is the interceptor launched from the submarine-- I thought those pre-Star Wars SFX were way cool. I notice a DVD is out-- if I pick it up, will I be disappointed?

 

Some episodes are great...others not so...

 

The SFX still hold up very well but then that's the case for most of Gerry Anderson's shows...

 

If you can get by the chessy late-60s styles (gotta love those purple wigs), it's a very entertaining show. Watched much of them again when they were re-run on UK Sci-Fi a couple of years ago. Much better than New Avengers and better than Space 1999 (after the first couple of episodes) if you need similar time based examples.

 

Jim

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