What Makes Comics More Compelling? The Art Or The Content?

For the question stated in the title of this post, what makes comics more compelling? the art or the content, I have done a bit of research to figure this out. Going along with this Batman theme that I have started, I am going to use a review of the comic, Batman #14, because it gave me exactly what I was looking for.

This particular issue has the villain The Joker, who is very well known to those of us who have seen The Dark Knight Returns (with Heath Ledger portraying this famous character) or 1989's Batman (where he is played by Jack Nicholson).

It is mentioned in this review that though Joker's script is part of what makes him so terrifying, what really makes him so compelling is the artwork of him. Here is this particular section of Dean Stell's review:

"You're simply not going to find better art in a comic than this. Part of the scariness of Joker comes from the words in the script, but most of it is coming from how the Capullo/Glapion/Plascencia team is drawing him. My god... This is someone who would make you soil your pants if you really saw him. He's so creepy and imbalanced. You don't want any part of this guy. But this art team rules the quiet moments too. There are a lot of 'talking heads' scenes in the comic and those types of scenes rise and fall on the acting of the characters. We even get a classic Capullo splash page where he made Glapion and Plascencia ink/color tons of little drops of blood. I always wonder if Capullo warns his collaborators that such a page is coming? Do they ever play tricks like sending complex pages to the next guy in the art chain at inconvenient times? Like anniversaries? Holidays?"

With this, I would definitely have to say that what makes a comic the most compelling, is the artwork. Sure, the storylines are important too, but since comics don't go into much detail with the script, you have to rely on the artwork to really wrap you in the story. Plus, if there was no artwork or a minimal amount, that wouldn't be a very great comic - tons of details and written images are meant for novels or poetry, which definitely makes sense after reading this review.

Here is some of the artwork from this issue of Batman, so you can understand where we're coming from with this:

Batman #14

Stell, Dean. "Batman #14 - Review." Weekly Comic Book Review. Weekly Comic Book Review, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Which Batman Do You Like Better: Michael Keaton Or Christian Bale?

So I have been asked the question: What is it about Batman, Superman, and Spider Man that make them so interpretive? And I can think of some of my own thoughts and possible answers to this question. Though I am someone who really isn't that in to superheros or comic books, I am an avid movie goer - I can't think of a better place to go than the movies. I have seen every installation of The Dark Knight Saga (mostly because Christian Bale is super attractive and plays a pretty rad Batman), I watched Smallville (a TV series about the life of Clark Kent), and I have seen all of the Spider Man movies (including the most recent and AWESOME movie: The Amazing Spider Man).

When if comes to the Batman movies, I think that they only get better over time because of the special effects and cinematography, not to mention there are so many different villains from from the original comics that they can be placed in a butt load of different movies, which brings me to my own answer: Considering the large amounts of Batman comics there are, they have enough characters, plots, and material in general to make as many films as they have, and each movie is always new and extremely exciting.

When Michael Keaton (no one can argue that Michael Keaton may have been the best Batman of all time) played Batman 1989 and again in 1992 in Batman Returns, this was the best thing to ever happen to Batman! It was new and exciting, and it makes sense that within the next 20 years it would have to be remade, like all originals from this time period. How could a director just let Batman and Batman Returns sit in a vault for the rest of forever, when there are so many new concepts, special effects, and cinematography being created that will only make this superhero even more awesome. I know I only used Batman as an example, but these things are why I believe these superheros can be interpreted in so many ways. With time comes movie evolution, and since these movies have always been such a big hit, they will only keep adding new installments. I mean, that ending of The Dark Knight Rises??? HOW CAN YOU NOT MAKE ANOTHER INSTALLMENT? I am so excited for it, if you can't tell by my obnoxious caps.

While researching for an official answer, I found an article talking about future installments for the Batman franchise. Christopher Nolan, the writer and director of The Dark Knight Saga, states:

"[The Dark Knight Rises] is the end of our take on the character. ... Batman will outlive us all, and our interpretation was ours. ... Warners will have to decide in the future what they’re going to do with him.” 

Basically. all writers and directors have their own takes on these superheros, and they will interpret them the way they wish to. With the infinitive amount of material that they have, these interpretations will live on forever.

Oh, and a final thought: While researching, I noticed Superman hasn't had a movie in literally forever, but keep calm my readers, in June 2013 Man Of Steel will be premiering in a theater near you! Who is playing Clark Kent you ask? Henry Cavill, probably someone you are not too familiar with, but he acted in Tristan + Isolde, Red Riding Hood, and Immortal. With Clark Kent always comes Lois Lane, who is going to be played by Amy Adams, who also starred in Julie & Julia, The Fighter, and Leap Year. Other actors who are going to be in this flick that you would know of include: Russel Crowe, Michael Shannon (from the best show ever, Boardwalk Empire), Diane Lane, and Kevin Costner - there's no doubt this movie is going to be awesome.

Man Of Steel (2013) Trailer I seriously got goosebumps watching this.

Directed by Zack Snyder (who also directed Watchmen)

Produced by Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight Saga)

Jefferey, Peterson. "What Does the Future Hold for Batman, the 'Dark Knight' Saga and the Justice League?" Salt Lake City and Utah Breaking News, Sports, Entertainment and News Headlines. Deseret News, 1 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.

Some Popular Graphic Novels

Another sort of new, yet increasingly popular type of comic is the graphic novel, which is something I assume most of you have heard of before. Now, since I myself am not too familiar with graphic novels, the only one that I can really think of off the top of my head is Watchmen, I had to look at a website called Graphic Novel Reporter in order to find some popular ones to talk about.

So the basic idea of a graphic novel is that it has all of the panels and everything that a comic has, but instead of only being a couple of pages, it is a whole novel and story in one book. Usually, there is more of a storyline within a graphic novel, and many times movie versions of comics are turned into graphic novels later.

Just by looking at the homepage of this website, it is apparent that there are millions of types of graphic novels, which kind of intrigues me. The writers for this site talk about what's hot this fall, some of the top graphic novels today, where you can find comic book shops in your area if you have no idea where they are, and what events and conventions are happening in the comic book world. Just by looking at the slides that are at the top of the home page, I can tell that there are some really awesome graphic novels out there because the images that they use from the novel look really awesome - many of these things I would have never pictured as graphic novels, which is why I find them pretty awesome.

If you have no idea what intitels something to be considered a graphic novel or you are just looking for something new, I would definitely check out this website because the writers give you a pretty awesome in-depth analysis on their opinions of many graphic novels.

Here are some popular ones from over the past few years: