Graphic novels shouldn't try to be like text novels. There are lots of writers who want to be accepted as literary, they want to be all deep and wry and elite-approved. (Fun Home, looking at you)
But graphic novels should try to succeed with the STRENGTHS of the medium...I'm tired of seeing pretentious comics with scratchy, poorly planned art and good stories. Comics exploit the graphic elements by giving us pretty ladies to look at, fantastical images, aesthetically pleasing lay out, fap material, elements of modern visual culture.
Sometimes uglification is the point. For example, V for Vendetta.
>>If you have a story, you should ask yourself "Does this story have things I want to LOOK AT and SEE." If the answer is no, it should be a text novel, not a graphic novel.
Read just one issue of Promethea and you will understand that there are certain things that can only be accomplished in this medium.
I say they do what they like to do; and if in the process they can manage to convey any kind of message, then let them be. There is enough space on our bookshelves for them all.
I don't think >>1 misunderstands comics. He/she is complaining that some comics are too focused on having deep stories and literary merit, at the expense of everything else that goes into making a comic, and arguing that they should focus more on the synergy between art and text that really defines the medium (though "pretty ladies to look at, fantastical images, aesthetically pleasing lay out, fap material, elements of modern visual culture" is a bit of a crude way of putting it.)
>>8
Well, I mostly read indie comics as opposed to superheroes. When I say comics, I mostly refer to indie ones, because I have a "average mainstream superhero comics are so crappy they're not even worth mentioning in discussion" sort of mindset.
You fail, sir. The reason for comics to be comics in the classic sense was not to entertain you with pictures (.Text can descrpe as much as you want, but only pictures can show what the writer is truely imagining (assuming he has any say over what illustrations are published in his comic). Thats its strength. There is less text devoted to writing and can therefore tell a story as well as any novel with less reading and, therefore, appeal to readers who dont have the time or imagination, or willingness to read a novell. V for Vendetta and Preacher are 2 such comics. They get a good point across while getting to the point without having to deal with the excess of description for those less inclined to read or lack the imagination to understand things, and it also shows you stuff much like movies do without having to be chopped to pieces to fit into a 2 hour movie.
> Text can descrpe as much as you want, but only pictures can show what the writer is truely imagining
clearly n is the best medium because it is better at depicting things by some arbitrary metric of depictification, also my head is full of cottage cheese kill me now
I don't think the artistic style of Watchmen is particularly appealing in and of itself, but it still wouldn't have been the same experience if it'd been a novel. For example, Rorschach's changing mask wouldn't have had the same effect if the writer had to tell the reader that Rorschach's mask changed shape.