Art vs Writing: Why I Review the Way I Do

Over at Dick Hates Your Blog, Dick Hyacinth makes a good argument for discussing art with reviews and it got me thinking...

Now, I rarely write actual reviews, I prefer to go with my immediate emotional reactions: "That was funny!" "Hey, cool!" "That sucked." that sort of thing. Even so, I almost never discuss the art.

This is a failing, I know. A review of a comic that doesn't discuss the art really is an incomplete review. In my case though, my only real excuse is that I don't notice the art.

That sounds odd when put in writing, I'm reading a comic book of course, but I'm a very story-oriented comic reader. I pay attention to plots, character development and dialogue, especially with regard to what came before and where the story seems to be going. And I'm not saying that the art doesn't play a big part in the first two, but I rarely notice the art for its own sake.

If you put two issues of a comic in front of me, I can tell you which artist's style I prefer but generally I couldn't tell you why. Most of the time, I don't even think about it in terms of art. I DO have a grasp of reality, so I know that they're only drawings on paper. But in general, I'm too wrapped up in the story to look beyond that. This is probably a little stupid, but, I tend to think of the drawings like actors. It's usually "Wow, for a playboy millionaire, Bruce looks kind of ugly." Or, "Kyle's looking pretty today." Or "Yeesh, Guy looks haggard."

I admit, I'm one of those philistines who get really bored in art museums unless the art seems to portray a story. I'm not a huge fan of cubism, for example, because I tend to not understand what the heck is going on or what I'm seeing. A lot of modern art is the same way for me. I like tapestries though, for obvious reasons.

Part of it's also that I really have no background in art. I can't draw a straight line. I have absolutely no real artistic skill whatsoever. (Much to my dismay, as I'd taken three years of high school art classes to try to fix that). I'm not a very visually oriented person. I recognize names better than faces. That sort of thing. While I can say "I like this" or "I don't like this", rarely I can say why. And I don't tend to feel comfortable criticizing on the basis of art, because I wouldn't know the first thing about what I'm talking about.

In contrast, I fancy myself a writer, so I can talk with a bit more confidence about plot developments, characterization, dialogue, pacing, that sort of thing. But basic panel construction, perspective, visual symbolism...even if I do notice, it's pretty beyond me.

The only time I ever really mention the art is when something about it starts to pull me out of the story. Like for example, my many complaints about the shininess of Phantom Lady's breasts in Freedom Fighters. (Though, I've backed off some. Since there are other women now that aren't drawn that way, I've concluded that it's simply "the way she is."). Or, the embarrassing fact that I've never been able to get through Dark Knight Returns because I can't abide the way the figures are drawn. Billionaire playboys are not meant to look like gargoyles.

So, while this is kind of cheap, all I can say is that in the end, my lack of comment on the art is intended to be the highest compliment I'm equipped to give: "It fit with the story." It's the best I can do.

I sincerely hope no one who comes to PFP is coming for intelligent or insightful art critiques, because you're really not going to get any here. I'm sorry. :-(