Monday, June 09, 2008

Criticism

If you're a comic book reviewer, ask yourself a question, and answer honestly: What do I hope to achieve with my criticism?

Do you just want your opinion noted? Do you wish to prove people wrong in their assessments of books? Do you hope to point people toward good work they may have missed? Do you hope to steer people away from books you personally don't like?
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4 comments:

David Wynne said...

This subject really has been gnawing at you, hasn't it?

Well, you already know what I think from over at P&P, but:

You missed two other possible reasons off your list- to get people to question their own choices and judgements (which I think is a highly worthy aim in any area, let alone comics); and to be entertaining, which I think is becoming a rather under-rated quality in writers these days...

Ah, ignore me. I don't even review comics myself, really- the most I do is give a quick shout-out for something if I like it and explain why. So I guess that, in practice if not in principle, I'm actually with you on this anyway...

1:36 AM
B. Clay Moore said...

It's not that it's been gnawing at me. I just stumbled across a thread about my blog post on the iFanboy forums, and will be discussing it with them on the air next week.

I hear what you're saying, but I think a lot of the discussion is unrealistic (and idealistic) when we apply it to comic books. Do you really think comic book fans question their own choices when asked to do so by a reviewer?

If the reading demographics were broader, I'd support that notion, but you're not going to convince a Marvel fanatic that Secret Invasion doesn't really give him wood.

2:17 PM
David Wynne said...

you're not going to convince a Marvel fanatic that Secret Invasion doesn't really give him wood

Maybe not, but isn't it worth a try?

I've got to say, though, bringing out Dave Wyndorf as a witness for the prosecution (or is it defence?) is probably enough to shut me up for good... I'm off to listen to "God Says No"...

7:27 PM
Jon The Crime Spree Guy said...

When I review comics or novels or DVDs I try to steer people to something they might miss, or to help promote authors I enjoy so that they sell more books and get to keep writing thus allowing me to read more of my favorites.

I really just want to help readers find more to read.

9:36 AM

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