Monday, September 20, 2004

Any review is a good review, right?

I'm not sure what to make of this. There's a review of Shooting Star Comics Anthology no. 5 up at Cognitive Dissonance. Johanna isn't too kind with her overall assessment of the issue, but her assessment of my story is something of a mixed bag:
The next piece has a painted dragon talking to itself, partially in French, while it fights a dinosaur. I don't think I'd ever see something like this anywhere but a comic. It's a noble failed experiment by Jamie[sic] Lynn Blaschke and Lori Krell.

Actaully, I'm not convinced it doesn't work. Sure, it could've worked better, but there were some communication issues between myself and the artist that diluted some of the story's impact. But if Johanna didn't think it worked, that a valid criticism. Am I disappointed? Sure. But I've had worse reviews and got over them.

What juices my spirits, though, is her assessment that it is a "nobe failed experiment." In my book, there's no shame in that. I set out to set myself apart from the superhero crowd with my first published graphic narrative, and I think on that count I've succeeded. There isn't anything else out there like Dracosaur. I found a great artist to illustrate the piece, and even if the story doesn't work for readers on a basic level, at least it leaves an impression.

I've got some more proposals in with Shooting Star right now, and have a number of plot lines sketched out that continues the Dracosaur story in strange and unexpected ways. I believe that I've got a better grasp of the author-artist partnership now, and a clearer view of what works and what doesn't in the graphic format. Hopefully, I'll get a chance before long to put that to the test, and create a story that is a noble experiment that succeeds.

Now Playing: Berlin Philharmonic "The Ring" Without Words

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