I was sure that modern comic book art was all style over substance

Back in the 90s I was heavy into guys like Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, big muscles and crazy poses. Then a buddy at the shop in Portland handed me a copy of 'Blankets' by Craig Thompson around 2003. I figured it'd be some slow indie nonsense but I couldn't put it down. The way he drew emotion into just a character's hand or a snowfall scene hit me different than any splash page ever did. Has anyone else had that one book that flipped your opinion on an entire art style?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray36312d ago

Did you ever read 'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan? Wordless book. All drawings. Took me a whole afternoon to go through it because I kept staring at every page. That one convinced me style could carry more weight than a thousand word balloons.

blakem3712d ago

That Shaun Tan book's a good call. Did the wordless thing change how you looked at other art afterward, or was it just that one book that clicked?

derek65612d ago

Not sure it was that deep for me. I like the book but looking at art before and after feels like a stretch. Might just be a cool wordless comic.