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Fanboy Rampage: When Is A Comic Not A Comic

It's one of the oldest comic arguments going. And today on Twitter it was between Tony S Daniel, Greg Capullo, Kurt Busiek, Jonathan Ross and others.

Here is a smattering of what went down. Feel free to follow individual timelines for nuance, comprehension and context. Consider these a few headlines…

Not just today. When Sandman #19 was given a World Fantasy Award, it was just for the writer, Neil Gamain until he complained and Charles Vess was added. The rules were then changed so a comic couldn't win again. When Hawkeye was nominated for the Eisner Awards this year, it missed out one of the artists, Annie Wu, who had drawn more issues in the qualifying period than the nominated artist, David Aja. This was fixed. 

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Exhibit A. But were were we going with this?

Weeeeeell… is that true? This is Longshot Comics #2 by Shane Simmons. It is one of my favourite comic books of all time.

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Exhibit B. Then there's Alpha Flight #6, set in a snowstorm.

Alpha-Flight-006-Page09

 

Of course,

Though as we have shown, it can also be made with no pictures. Time for a non-artist writer to join in.

They have. Marvel even went a month doing nothing but wordless comics once. But they were still all written…

I quite liked the New X-Men one.

NewX-Men-121-NuffSaid-Silence-PsychicRescueinProgress-14_zps9be04742

Indeed.

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But… someone did write that comic. Just so happened to be the same person who drew it.

https://twitter.com/GregCapullo/status/673557607152541696

https://twitter.com/GregCapullo/status/673558456473919488

Thing is we've been here before. Again and again and again.

Who knows how many Silver Surfers, Demons, New Gods, Deathloks, Ambush Bugs, Cables, Shatterstars, Ferals, Elektras, Mr, As, Ronins, Shrapnels, Termanuses, Alpha Flights, and many others aren't being created, because artists are being overshadowed by lazy writers?

l know that when l'm illustrating a story by most writers l'll get the same thing that writer's been churning out for the last 15 years — no suprises — the *same* thing. Meanwhile, l'm getting better, introducing new characters and concepts and coming up with stuff guys like him can and will rehash for years come while all the while complaining about guys like me.

So skip to the end. Yes, artists should be credited alongside writers on awards. Take note, GLAAD. Some people buy comics for the art, some for the writing, some for both. But writing goes on when there isn't lettering. And art goes on when there aren't pictures. Artists can be the writer. The writer can be the artist.

And I really need to go to bed. Night all.

Fanboy Rampage was a blog by Graeme McMillan dedicated to the funniest, most ludicrous and most inappropriate comic book back-and-forths online. McMillan has moved on now, becoming a proper journalist for the likes of The Hollywood Reporter and Wired but he gave permission to Bleeding Cool to revive his great creation. Feel free to suggest your own observed spots of online excess.

 


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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