Shelf Life: What's More Important: Story or Art?

[jafabian]

From CBR: Shelf Life: What's More Important: Story or Art?


Ron asks - and answers - the age-old comics question regarding the importance of story and art, using Gibbons, Williiams and Kirby to prove that the two should work hand in hand.

[Kyer]

From CBR: Shelf Life: What's More Important: Story or Art? Ron asks - and answers - the age-old comics question regarding the importance of story and art, using Gibbons, Williiams and Kirby to prove that the two should work hand in hand.

jafabian

I agree that art and prose must work hand-in-hand or you don't have a comic book at all be it of superheroes or a jaded office worker. Plus, I do get sucked in by pretty cover artwork (drawing was my best subject in school.)

On the other hand...when asked what it is that I love about a character...it's the stories that my mind instantly think about.

The Flash trade Ignition had horribly bland 2-D art. Lousy colors, no appreciable shading. It's one of my favorite books despite that the art is dull. In fact, I've noticed that most of my favorite trades (the ones I want to automatically pick up and re-read) have lousy to so-so artwork, but great stories while ones with great artwork (Manapul)I rarely go back to because the story was a yawner. (imho, of course. Both versions of beauty are in the eye of the beholder.)

Naturally, when I find a story with both great artwork and a heckyeah! storyline...well, life is just roses. Those are the books I willingly pay extra to get the hardbound in high-quality paper because I want that sucker to last longer than I'll live.

[ronaldj]

good art cannot save a bad story....but a good story cannot save bad art....both..perhaps

[ronaldj]

that is why they are storybooks with pictures...

[Jake1823]

good art cannot save a bad story....but a good story cannot save bad art....both..perhaps

ronaldj

I disagree. A recent example is Francis Manapul carrying the Flash on his back.

I used to be someone who said that the story matters no matter what, but I've learned that this IS a visual medium. The great artists can make anything worth staring at, imo. For example, Batwoman: Elegy isn't a particularly great story, but J.H. Williams II made it memorable (along with the hype).

[JRM]

It depends - on what the book is striving for. In some cases it would not matter, in others it would big time, that goes for either way. For me, I'd be honest, it is plotting, art and lastly scripting. Sorry, I can skip or "re-write it if the other two work - though good scripting is often what takes good and makes it great.

Jim

[Matches]

False distinction. The art is part of the story. Bad art will ruin a good script far more quickly than a bad script will ruin great art.

[jafabian]

IMO, since comics are a visual medium great art can make a bad story decent and a decent story seem great. There's some artists who work better with a specific writer and their writing style than they do others, IMO. Frank Quitely works best with Grant Morrison for example.

[Horus]

Bad art can definitly kill a book, pretty much everyone had their hope for Hawk and Dove killed when Liefeld got the book, even if Sterling Gates was going to write the thing. More close to home, Greg Toccino can't draw. I don't know if his style is his 'artistic' but it looks terrible in Batman and Robin #24 and it looked terrible throughout Ion: Guardian of the Universe.

Of course it is still harmonius. Civil War looks really good but it's plot is batshit stupid. Same goes for Ultimatum which had really ******* art and yet is a terrible evil thing.

Of course the other side is just as bad, my main complaint with cape comics from the big 2 in the past decade is the majority are written and drawn by people who don't grasp 'Action' Oh sure some times we get ******* fight scenes, but it's not up to the standards of Jack Kirby (Kirby really drew ******* fights).

Now I tend to believe, as someone who studies writing and not art, that a good story can save a terrible product. Case in point (not a comic) Digimon Adventures was a poorly animated mess of a show filled with generic stock footage and choppy animation. If not for the writing fleshing out the Chosen Children the show would be worthless. 02 it's sequel lost the good writing and didn't gain any additional art boosts so it was just terrible. Frontier the 4th season had a 'barely there' plot but the action was actually very good. And Tamers the 3rd season was a nice hybrid of good animation and action along with good writing and character development.

Wow I'm a nerd

Disclaimer: Yes there are good fights in cape comics from the big two, we could probably sit down all day and go through every good one. But a majority of what comes my way is bad, the action does not feel intense or the enviroments aren't used to there fullest. Outside of the big 2 this doesn't seem to be much of a problem, though it can happen.

In short: Art and Story have to form the Cadbury Creame Egg of comics, but if forced to pick and choose the good story center of the cuccumber rather than the tasteless skin of artwork.

I'm hungry