I'm currently serving as a reviewer for Geekorama.net, run by the awesome Kat Roets - be sure to check it out! - and I love being able to read a wide selection of independent comics, even the not-so-good ones. I also love having the chance to vent my spleen upon some poor unsuspecting comic. It can be difficult to find something to say due to the episodic nature of the medium; it's pretty much like reviewing a TV series episode-by-episode...and in some cases, reviewing half an episode at a time.
But here's the question I'd like to discuss on The Rick Show today: why review comics?
As a medium, comics is just as worthy of review as film or literature; that's a moot point (at least to me). But what I'm really asking is, what am I trying to accomplish with my reviews? Why give a scathing review to something like Titan's Penny Dreadful - a really bad comic book treatment of a TV show - when it would be just as easy to ignore it as yet another example of comic schlock? In other words, why waste the words?
In my normal way of overthinking everything, I've given this some gray matter, and decided it's sort of my mission to try to make comics better. Do I think I'm going to sway the executives whose memos create new comics lines, or give hope to burnt-out artists and writers slaving for the abovementioned executives? Not really. Mostly I'm trying to convince the comic-buying public that they deserve good stories. No matter what kind of comic they read, they should expect excellence. If they want to read Penny Dreadful in a comic book format, they shouldn't get fifth-rate hackery - they should get a narrative that builds on the show's limitations and creates something worthwhile. Even if they're reading whatever new monstrosity Marvel-Disney cranks out, and then only out of a dedication to completionism, they deserve a good story. Excellence should be the watchword for comics: excellence in art, excellence in writing, excellence in plotwork.
There is a big problem in the comics industry with expectation. Here in America, at least, we feel that comics is a schlocky medium, and therefore we expect little of it. We did the same with television programming for decades: the medium was obviously a mind-suck, so how could quality possibly come out of it?
In video games, there's a name for the sort of franchise tie-in/ripoff detritus that preys on low expectations: "shovelware". We don't have a name for it in comics yet, but we should. Maybe I'm cheap (actually this has been confirmed), but if I'm going to drop $5.00 US on a comic book of any type, it had better be pretty damn good. I don't expect Wordsworth all the time, obviously - if I'm reading a comic about ninjas chopping up clones, I know what I'm getting into - but at least the art and story should be worth my time and money.
There are several independent publishers I'd like to applaud here, for quality in art and storytelling:
But here's the question I'd like to discuss on The Rick Show today: why review comics?
As a medium, comics is just as worthy of review as film or literature; that's a moot point (at least to me). But what I'm really asking is, what am I trying to accomplish with my reviews? Why give a scathing review to something like Titan's Penny Dreadful - a really bad comic book treatment of a TV show - when it would be just as easy to ignore it as yet another example of comic schlock? In other words, why waste the words?
In my normal way of overthinking everything, I've given this some gray matter, and decided it's sort of my mission to try to make comics better. Do I think I'm going to sway the executives whose memos create new comics lines, or give hope to burnt-out artists and writers slaving for the abovementioned executives? Not really. Mostly I'm trying to convince the comic-buying public that they deserve good stories. No matter what kind of comic they read, they should expect excellence. If they want to read Penny Dreadful in a comic book format, they shouldn't get fifth-rate hackery - they should get a narrative that builds on the show's limitations and creates something worthwhile. Even if they're reading whatever new monstrosity Marvel-Disney cranks out, and then only out of a dedication to completionism, they deserve a good story. Excellence should be the watchword for comics: excellence in art, excellence in writing, excellence in plotwork.
There is a big problem in the comics industry with expectation. Here in America, at least, we feel that comics is a schlocky medium, and therefore we expect little of it. We did the same with television programming for decades: the medium was obviously a mind-suck, so how could quality possibly come out of it?
In video games, there's a name for the sort of franchise tie-in/ripoff detritus that preys on low expectations: "shovelware". We don't have a name for it in comics yet, but we should. Maybe I'm cheap (actually this has been confirmed), but if I'm going to drop $5.00 US on a comic book of any type, it had better be pretty damn good. I don't expect Wordsworth all the time, obviously - if I'm reading a comic about ninjas chopping up clones, I know what I'm getting into - but at least the art and story should be worth my time and money.
There are several independent publishers I'd like to applaud here, for quality in art and storytelling:
- Valiant Entertainment. I just reviewed Ninjak #18, which has, well, ninjas chopping up clones. And yet they kept me interested. The art is gorgeous in all their comics, and the writing is at least coherent across the board. Their Divine series is something to behold.
- Oni Press. Publishers of Space Battle Lunchtime and Joe Steinberg, Oni always has something weird and cool up its sleeve, and a definite alternative to the usual comic book stories.
- Fantagraphics. Sort of a respectable publisher of underground titles. This one is probably the best-known for its distribution of art titles, especially those of Chris Ware. If you're reading something weird, arty, and a bit melancholy, it's probably Fantagraphics.
That's my drumbeat from now on: excellence, excellence, excellence. Comics is coming into its own as a medium. I'm excited for whatever comes down the pipeline next.
Rick Out.
Comments