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Nick Mullins on Satrapi and the Potential for Collaboration
posted April 24, 2005
 

Nick Mullins
Via the Internet

When I first saw that photo with "the new ART SPIEGELMAN" written across it, I thought, 'Art Spielgelman's had a sex change?"

Concerning the Crispin quote, I think the use of the term "illustrators" is telling. To me, this betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what comics, as an art form, is. Her books, and comics in general (though most journalists fear the term "comics" and use only "graphic novel") are not merely "illustrated" texts. All us geeks know this, but I'm not sure most people appreciate the distinction, including many journalists who write about comics. Satrapi's art may be a bit stiff, and perhaps the lack of detail hinders the story in some way (I haven't read Embroideries either, but I do find the Persepolis art a little empty at times), but if so, then critique the art.

Also, the suggestion to hire an artist to make the work look more slick is a product-oriented argument. Most artists are concerned with the expression of ideas, not the creation of a marketable commodity. All in all, the questions should be whether or not the drawing style reinforces the themes and moods of the work or if it hinders the reading experience.

And actually, this seems like one of the worst insults ever. Telling a cartoonist to hire an artist sounds the same as telling her that she's hopeless. "Your artwork sucks so bad, there's no way you can get any better. You should just hire someone else to draw the book."