Are Comics art or product?
Comic Reviews for week ending 8/14/2022
Good morning, my friend,
Today’s topic sounds like a tough one, but it’s not because the answer relies on that caveat of caveats - “it depends.” Thankfully, that dependency relies on one simple question:
How much money do you want to make?
The gray area between art and product is tough because so many individuals working for the larger publishers, from their public comments, don’t know the difference. So, my fine readers, today we’re going to get this straightened out.
True art is a profound expression of the creator’s thoughts and feelings. By definition, the person who gets that finished art the most is the person who created it. In effect, an artist’s perfect fan, the person who’s most likely to love everything that artist does, is themself.
A good artist will develop a fan base, but we’re all different in our likes and dislikes, so every creation does not appeal to everyone equally. An artist focused solely on their creative expression will always have a limited audience willing to buy their work.
Conversely, a product is meant to appeal to the widest audience possible. The product’s creators do (should) craft, hone, and tweak the product to maximize customer appeal. In other words, a product appeals to the thoughts and feelings of the customers rather than the creators. Created and marketed correctly, a product will have the widest purchasing audience possible.
That brings us back to the simple question: How much money do you want to make?
If the goal is to make the ultimate comic that expresses everything you think and feel about a story in its purest form, you’ll only sell as many comics as the size of the audience that thinks and feels precisely the way you do. For the vast majority of us, that audience is always smaller than we believe.
If the goal is to make the ultimate comic that pleases as many people as possible, you will make a lot of money as long as you understand the comic you make is meant to express the buyer’s thoughts and feelings. Not yours.
Let’s recap.
The line between art and product depends on the selling intent
Art expresses the thoughts and feelings of the creator solely, so purchasing demand is lower
A product expresses the thoughts and feelings of the customers, so purchasing demand is higher but at the expense of a creator’s artistic vision
Do the big comics publishers understand the difference between their editors and creative teams? Do some publishers drift too far to one side of the line or the other? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Now, let’s look at last week’s comments.
PELLUCIDAR: ACROSS SAVAGE SEAS #4 – Review
BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR: WARRIORS OF ZANDAR #4 – Review
BLADE RUNNER: BLACK LOTUS #1 – Review
THE TIGER’S TONGUE #2 – Review
DRAGON WHISPERER (VOL. 2) #3 – Review
GRIMM UNIVERSE PRESENTS QUARTERLY: SLEEPING BEAUTY – Review
DRACULINA #5 – Review
ELVIRA IN HORRORLAND #3 – Review
SHEENA: QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (VOL. 2) #8 – Review
RED SONJA FAIRY TALES (ONE-SHOT) – Review
VAMPIRELLA FAIRY TALES (ONE-SHOT) – Review
ARCHER & ARMSTRONG FOREVER #4 – Review
IN OUR DREAMS AWAKE #1 – Indie Review
BIG BANG ADVENTURES #15 – Indie Review
Man Goat & The Bunnyman: Green Eggs & Blam! #2 (Zenescope Entertainment)
Potions Inc. #3 (Scout Comics)
Over The Ropes: Broken Kayfabe #3 (Mad Cave Studios)
The Living Corpse: Relics #6 (American Mythology)
Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia, Part 2 #1 (Titan Comics)
Promethee 13:13 #2 (Ablaze Publishing)
Army of Darkness vs Reanimator: Necronomicon Rising #2 (Dynamite Comics)
Immortal Red Sonja #5 (Dynamite Comics)
Lady Hel #1 (Dynamite Comics)
Le Fay (Vol. 1) - Indie Submission
WarBound #3 - Indie Submission
That’s the shortlist for now. We’ll add more titles and adjust as time and resources allow.
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Have a great day!