Comments on: Everyone’s A Critic: Why Can’t We Be Friends?

By: aviation courses

aviation courses — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 03:52:02 +0000

Good artile you’ve created very interesting!

By: Ben Towle

Ben Towle — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:49:08 +0000

The comics world is small and incestuous. If you’re a comics creator, chances are your work will eventually be reviewed by someone you know or will eventually know… and chances are, your work will not be reviewed 100% favorably. If this presents you with a real problem, then don’t submit your work for publication. Have the maturity and professionalism to recognize that it’s part of a critic’s job to state honestly whether he or she recommends your book regardless of whether they know you and/or like you.

By: There's No Nerd Like Coyle, Part 2

There's No Nerd Like Coyle, Part 2 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:05:46 +0000

He is in our hearts and minds.

By: Steven R. Stahl

Steven R. Stahl — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:02:18 +0000

Having qualms about reviewing a story that contains deeply personal statements about friends and/or the author makes sense. Rejecting the story could be equated to rejecting people. I doubt that genre stories, though, and certainly not Marvel’s products generally, contain such material. If the writer of a fantasy story resorts to using a deus ex machina at the climax, relies on an idiot plot to create a threat, engages in mischaracterization, violates continuity, makes mistakes in basic science, or produces poor material in a number of other ways, pointing out those mistakes shouldn’t be hindered by knowing the writer. If he’s producing poor material, he should know about it; if he’s being edited, he should wonder why his editor doesn’t point out the mistakes.

I’ve recently seen a couple of instances online in which people have dismissed obvious mistakes in stories with “Oh, it’s all fantasy, everything that happens is impossible. . . You might think it’s a mistake, but it doesn’t matter.” Just how prevalent is that attitude among readers? How many reviewers might think that way? How many reviewers are willing to say that a problem with the premise of the storyline wrecks the plot(s), regardless of anything else the writer might do in future issues as the storyline progresses?

Years ago, a used bookstore I frequented got many books that were nearly untouched. They came, the proprietor said, from people who decided they didn’t want to read the books, or read each once. A serialized story might be published and marketed as separate issues, but a problem with the premise isn’t going to fade away by issue #3. Reviewers might not want to emphasize that point, but they shouldn’t ignore it.

SRS

By: Tom Spurgeon

Tom Spurgeon — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:18:49 +0000

Wait: Douglas might not be real now?

By: There's No Nerd Like Coyle, Part 2

There's No Nerd Like Coyle, Part 2 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:56:04 +0000

Also of note: half the books “Jess” reviewed were written or drawn by people Heidi worked with at Vertigo, so she must have had influence on what “Douglas” chose to review.

By: John Smith

John Smith — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:54:22 +0000

“You’re welcome to slag me for that stuff if you like, but she’s not to blame for it.”

So she merely published a series of deceptive reviews, she didn’t write them? Well that’s different, then!

By: DerikB

DerikB — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:39:39 +0000

I have to agree with Joe. People need to learn to take criticism (of all forms). If you are going to put something out there (publish artwork) then you have to accept that some people aren’t going to like it, and some of those people are going to be vocal about it. Focus on the positive criticism (if there is any).

By: Joe Williams

Joe Williams — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:34:58 +0000

Literature, fine art and other artistic fields are filled with examples of close friends carrying on a conversation through their work and criticism of each other’s works. Comics could actually use more of that, as long as it’s an honest debate. The big problem in comics is people seem to take criticism so personally that they see a negative review as a personal attack and reviewers eventually learn to back off unless they’ve got only nice things to say (which leads to puff pieces, not criticism).

One reason why so many people hated The Comics Journal for so long was because they were the first (& only for a while) willing to publish critical reviews instead of lavish praise. I think it was that criticism that directly led to better books- the Hernandez Brothers cite those bad reviews as something that inspired their desire to prove themselves. I blame the creators more than the reviewers- unless someone gets overly personal and nasty why not just try to learn from the bad reviews or ignore them?

By: There's No Nerd Like Coyle, Part 1

There's No Nerd Like Coyle, Part 1 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:49:53 +0000

Tom Spurgeon IS McCloud?

By: Tom Spurgeon

Tom Spurgeon — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:34:40 +0000

You remember correctly. The Jess Lemon that wrote for Heidi was Douglas Wolk. The Jess Lemon that wrote for me was Dennis Weaver.

By: TimCallahan

TimCallahan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:19:15 +0000

…no bearing…

is what I meant

By: TimCallahan

TimCallahan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:18:27 +0000

In the relatively short time I’ve been in the comics crit/review game, I’ve built a few relationships with creators, and while it doesn’t affect my reviewing habits, it might affect my relationships–I just haven’t seen that happen yet. But since I’ve been a teacher for far longer than I’ve been a professional reviewer, I have, I guess, a kind of teacher attitude where the grades students receive have absolutely know bearing on how I feel about the students. Some of the students I absolutely love having in class might get some of the lowest grades on the assignments, and that’s just based on the quality of their work. So, if I give a creator I really like a two-star review, I don’t feel like it’s personal at all. So I don’t think of it in terms, of “jeez, will he not talk to me anymore?”

I haven’t felt the backlash if it is taken personally, but maybe I will someday.

By: Kevin H.

Kevin H. — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:52:13 +0000

I thought Jess Lemon was two people?

By: Chris Mautner

Chris Mautner — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:29:17 +0000

Sorry about the missed link Alan. It should be up now.

Thanks for the toothbrush. Just no more Bette Midler movies please. I’ll keep the Chardonnay cold.

By: There's No Nerd Like Coyle, Part 1

There's No Nerd Like Coyle, Part 1 — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:23:06 +0000

http://www.ugo.com/channels/freestyle/features/alexross/

UGO: I interviewed Evan Dorkin a couple of years ago. He said that you bilk your fans with everything you put out. What’s your response to that?

AR: Let’s also consider the mouth it came from. This is a guy that I took the time to do three painted pages of Kingdom Come for his World’s Funnest book at DC. So I don’t think he should be out throwing a lot of shit my way. Especially when I went to that trouble for him and he didn’t do shit for me. Heidi MacDonald at DC Comics wrote an article for The Comics Journal talking some shit about how Kingdom Come is the wrong direction for comics, just trying to pick a fight where there is no fight to be had. Kingdom Come is not how comics are going to be done; it’s a one-time kind of thing. Don’t get too worked up about it. But Heidi MacDonald was in it. She posed for one of the background characters. She was very willing and pleased to be visually represented, but yet she was also interested in knocking it later. It’s been a long time since this article happened and I’m probably forgetting a lot of details, but I don’t necessarily care for these guys that I have some association to, that I’ve done something for, kicking me in the teeth.

By: Douglas Wolk

Douglas Wolk — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:08:54 +0000

John, “Jess Lemon” was me, not Heidi. You’re welcome to slag me for that stuff if you like, but she’s not to blame for it.

By: John Smith

John Smith — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:43:06 +0000

“Since I try to adhere to the dictum “Don’t write something you wouldn’t say to a person’s face,””

Jess Lemon, anyone?

By: ADD

ADD — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:39:47 +0000

I’m hurt that I’m the only guy on here with no link to his website, but Chris probably did that because we’re having an affair and wanted to appear unbiased.

You left your toothbrush at my house last night, by the way, Chris. I’ll bring it with me tonight when I stop by for movie night.