Observations on Comic Book Art: Part I, the folly of youth

The other day I was browsing a copy of The Dark Knight Strikes Again. I had heard the negative rap surrounding this sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, a favourite of mine, but after leafing through the pages what bothered me was the artwork.

It was distracting and messy. They tried something akin to The Dark Knight Returns but with none of the watercolour ink and too many things that distracted the reader. 

There's a place for a certain art style in comics but sometimes the wrong artistic choices can really break a story. Why have I brought this up? Well, it reminds me of how far I've come since picking up my first comics all those years ago as a child.

A 14 year old me would have adored the artwork you see in so many modern comics. Tidy ink, well defined colours. 14 year old me would love the X-Men or Batman of the 90s and even more the most recent publications of Invincible Iron Man (more on that later). For me, the stories were usually good enough and the art was everything. It had to look good and be easy on the eyes.

I would never have gone near the likes of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or other black and white works. No, those were inferior to the coloured comics that were available, the ones that promised to look nice. Comics which didn't need much attention to discern what was going on. To figure out who was fighting who and what was happening in the background.

I've had a few Batman paperbacks in my collection. Year One, the Long Halloween. I've been reading Iron Man since the Extremis story arc and have a shelf lined with the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, bagged and carded (how times change). 

Years of reading brilliant sci fi and fantasy novels (Frank Herbert, George R.R. Martin, Iain Banks and of course Tolkien), the chance to absorb movies and TV, and a more discerning eye have given me a better appreciation for art in the role of storytelling.

Which is why I can write the next part...

Related: Observations on Comic Book Art: Part II, a little wiser