RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2011-09-24 09:10 pm
ratcreature) wrote2011-09-24 09:10 pm
Entry tags:
- animal man,
- comics,
- comics: rants,
- dc,
- rants,
- wtf?
Animal Man #1
So, I couldn't resist giving the new Animal Man series a chance, because I love the character, and the story may have potential, or at least the opening doesn't seem worse than average, but yikes, that art is seriously bad. (I preordered just based on series title, if I had seen page samples I might not have spent money on this.)
It completely lacks details and textures in the background that would create atmosphere, or even just normal looking rooms and environments. Seriously, it's like empty squares, boxes and tiles, and the artist couldn't be bothered to put in any effort, but not in a deliberate minimalist way, but just because they couldn't think to put something else on a nightstand besides a square clock, or give texture to a windowsill that would make a square look like an actual window and so on. (ETA: I don't necessarily expect excessive detail rendering, considering that there time/effort constraints on a comic production schedule, but there are ways to make panels *look* decent and alive through blacks and dynamic lines and hinting at detail and texture, just look at for example Ditko's art in old Spider-Man comics.)
Then the layout is atrocious with panels being given odd shapes for no good reason, same for some perspective choices. And the artist can't really draw humans well either. All their hair just looks odd, and okay, hair is difficult, but they get paid for this after all. Then there are sometimes odd scribbles on the faces, like in one scene taking place at a hospital I thought Animal Man contracted a weird infectious disease and those were skin sores, but he didn't. I have no idea what that texture on his face was supposed to be.
I honestly have trouble believing that they paid someone for this.
It completely lacks details and textures in the background that would create atmosphere, or even just normal looking rooms and environments. Seriously, it's like empty squares, boxes and tiles, and the artist couldn't be bothered to put in any effort, but not in a deliberate minimalist way, but just because they couldn't think to put something else on a nightstand besides a square clock, or give texture to a windowsill that would make a square look like an actual window and so on. (ETA: I don't necessarily expect excessive detail rendering, considering that there time/effort constraints on a comic production schedule, but there are ways to make panels *look* decent and alive through blacks and dynamic lines and hinting at detail and texture, just look at for example Ditko's art in old Spider-Man comics.)
Then the layout is atrocious with panels being given odd shapes for no good reason, same for some perspective choices. And the artist can't really draw humans well either. All their hair just looks odd, and okay, hair is difficult, but they get paid for this after all. Then there are sometimes odd scribbles on the faces, like in one scene taking place at a hospital I thought Animal Man contracted a weird infectious disease and those were skin sores, but he didn't. I have no idea what that texture on his face was supposed to be.
I honestly have trouble believing that they paid someone for this.
no subject
And there are really no skin sores. Earlier his eyes were bleeding (not really explained yet, supposedly somehow connected to something with the Red and his power) but nothing is supposed to be wrong with his skin or forehead, so I have no idea what is going on with his face.
While looking at this I kept thinking that some maybe could have been salvaged if a good inker had taken some liberties, done away with the ridiculous zick-zack lines, the weird crap on their faces, the odd hair rendering etc etc, and instead either inked it maybe with a more dynamic brush linework with variations in the lines instead of all being thin and/or decent crosshatching for shadows and such instead of these scribbles you try to read as who knows what, and had been more bold with some more black areas and detail suggestions through textures. Like I haven't scanned this, but in other panels houses are just blocks with squares in them for windows, and actually the windows not even arranged in the most believable areas and such. But since the penciller did the inking at least in part, it looks like they just traced the pencil maybe? I mean, maybe the scribbles were initially in pencil and then didn't look so odd. IDK.