would define them as Hall of Fame comic book artists.
following the writers, then they’ve “overridden” their critical faculty concerning the primary visual component of this synchronicitous verbal/
SP!: NOWADAYS, THERE IS A PREMIUM ON WRITERS (BENDIS, GAIMAN, visual medium. But I believe that subconsciously/unconsciously, you can’t
MORRISON) AND THE ARTIST IS SECONDARY. DISCUSS.
really enjoy reading a comic book if you don’t like the art. But great art will
make you read a weak story! Or, as Gil Kane himself put it (on the table
AS: Well, to my eye, there’s a sameness these days to the art in the Marvel of contents page in my book): “The only thing that makes comics worth
and DC mainstream superhero product that’s not helped by the same slick reading is the art.”
printing on glossy paper with styleless computer coloring. Not enough
original styles stand out, though there are a number of greats working And the comic book artist’s view of the world is what takes you through
in the field at the same time (Mike Allred, JH Williams III, David Mack, Bill the comic book reading experience, just as a director’s worldview takes
Sienkiewicz, Amy Reeder), so it is a bit of a paradox. But with this ubiquity you through the movie that he’s directed from a screenplay, from words
of similar-looking art, comic book artists are now like the anonymous com- on paper—just as a comic book artist, when collaborating with a writer
puter graphics experts behind the look of today’s movies, and therefore, (or written script/synopsis in any form), has to figure out how to visualize,
the writer/director plays a bigger part in the storytelling process and the bring to life, and story-tell a writer’s words into a comic book reading expeeventual publicity/promotion for the project.
rience. I discuss all of this in further detail in my 16-page verbal/visual essay,
“The Auteur Theory of Comics”(http://kirbymuseum.org/pubsandmerch/
But, bottom line, comic book art is still primarily a visual medium first: you auteurtheory/), that uses the Jack Kirby-Stan Lee conflict over the creation
have to be drawn (pun intended) to the art first, and then you decide if of the Marvel Universe as the foundation of my manifesto—patterned
you want to be the story. Although I suppose that, if now readers are just after the 1950s French film critics’ Auteur Theory of film—that posits the
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SELF PUBLISHER MAGAZINE 2015