I know some will argue, but I think any creative person who puts his or her work into the public arena, but who then claims complete indifference to any critical reaction to that work, is pretty much a big fat liar. Most of us creative types are curious to know how our work is received. After all, we’ve made a deliberate effort to get our work out before the public by seeking out a publisher, record label, or whatever—or just doing it ourselves.
That being said, I don’t really have a whole lot of time or energy to expend seeking out reviews of my stuff. Thanks mainly to the good folks who maintain the SLG livejournal news blog, though, I usually get wind of the occasional review. So, below is a short list of a few recent reviews of Midnight Sun #1. They range from extremely positive to one somewhat negative writeup, with the reviewier pointing out a couple of pretty egregious editing mistakes (that I can’t believe I missed—given that I’ve read the thing ABOUT A MILLION TIMES in the process of making the book) and not digging the admittedly languid pace of the first issue. Here you go:
While I’m extremely flattered (and a bit surprized) by the more glowing reviews, it’s actuall the bad review which is the most useful, since it gives me some information that I can apply to the second issue, which I’m working on now and will be out in October: namely, get several people to look over the mockup of the book before it gets sent to print. Heck, I ought to send him a copy and see if he’d look it over!
2 comments
Ben – I always get freaked out when a creator actually reads my reviews, because I’m a bit of a neophyte at it and I certainly admire someone who is out there making comics. I just re-read my review and it’s bit meaner than I really feel about the book – I want to read this story, and was frustrated by the pace more than the actual story. I understand that the economies of the market mean that this probably can’t come out all at once, which is the frustrating part, because the first few pages of the book grabbed my attention and I want to see the whole thing. Some things work better as entire stories, I guess. I’ll keep my eye out in Previews for the next issue (it should be solicited next month, right?) and see how it’s going. The question is – how many issues do you have planned?
Greg – I felt similar to you in that the story seems perfect for a OGN. But Ben told me something at HeroesCon that made me feel better about the monthly format (and I apologize if I’m putting words in Ben’s mouth) – it’s sort of like Charles Dickens publishing a story by serial in the newspaper. So looking at it from that standpoint, it makes it a little more interesting to read at the current pace as a serial vs. reading the collected GN.