B&W vs Colour? No argument...

JTurner · 07 February, 2002, 11:54:25 PM

Is this really still a debate? The art should suit the story, full stop. Would 'From Hell' have been better in colour? Would Storming Heaven have worked in black and white?

paulvonscott · 07 February, 2002, 11:56:42 PM

Not from me :)

Matt · 08 February, 2002, 12:07:57 AM

You're either taking the piss or misunderstood my post. I was simply stating that just like the artwork debate was a load of bollocks so is the old vs new debate. It will go back & forwards forever because we have a tendency to over analysise on this site. At the end of the day a strip should be commissioned because it is good. Not because it contains the right ratio of old & new or black & white. If we start putting strips together on those basis, then we are entering the world of crass, manufactured, lowest common denominator, shite. A bit like Pop Stars but with comics instead.

JTurner · 08 February, 2002, 12:12:32 AM

Hmmmm.

I am NOT looking for the magical elixir of the perfect mix of elements, Matt. I was arguing that comics created with a solid vision in mind are what is best. I will be the last person to advocate 'manufacturing' comics.

j.

The Amstor Computer · 08 February, 2002, 03:24:01 AM

I have no problem with B&W or colour, provided it's GOOD.
I hate the artwork on Bad Company 3 - it looks like a cheap knock-off of the illustration in the earlier series - but I love Necronauts & Flint's work on Shakara & ABC Warriors.
I love Ian Gibson's colour work, but the recent stuff with Chris Blythe colouring just doesn't cut it (IMO, there's only one artist whose art is complimented by Blythe's colouring - Cam Kennedy).

Actually, that's my one big objection to a lot of the colour art in Tooth nowadays - the colouring itself.
Jock & Simon Fraser churn out some great linework, but it's screwed by the colouring (try comparing early Dante to "...Gentleman Thief").

paulvonscott · 08 February, 2002, 05:34:43 AM

I think all of the drawings should be printed in radioactive isotopes that while invisible to human eyes, my species can properly appreciate.

Admittedly this makes storing of back progs a more hazardous task.

Anemic_Newt · 08 February, 2002, 05:40:52 AM

"Would Storming Heaven have worked in black and white?"

Does Storming Heaven work?

paulvonscott · 08 February, 2002, 05:45:13 AM

I don't know as far as art goes, I don't think many people would say it hadn't worked. he knows how to operate a pencil and which end of the computer you hold!

Stroming heaven almost works as a capping story to a 50 part epic, but as a one off ten part series, I can only watch so many people I don't know being disintergrated.

I think From Hell would have worked better if it came with some 3d glasses, then you could have had scenes where the knives and prostitutes leap out at you.

Or maybe not :)

Cheers

PVS

Mudcrab · 08 February, 2002, 05:21:02 PM

I think there's good and not so good either way. I like black and white stuff, being old school, but some of the newer stuff is "too white" if you know what I mean. I'm shocked to find myself saying that Steve Yeowell's Demarco just isn't what Zenith was etc etc. Plus, we haven't seen much these days to compare with Glen Fabry's older
Slaine work (hard/impossible to beat as it is) or Belardinelli at his best (Flesh Book 2, Meltdown Man, Ace Trucking Co). That kind of stuff had tremendous detail and looked like it was impossible to draw. Not so much these days though. Ah, those were the days, not just a few lines chucked together!!

Matt · 08 February, 2002, 05:30:51 PM

You know when I said the old vs new could run & run like the B&W vs Colour debate, I wasn't wrong was I...

nathan · 08 February, 2002, 05:35:49 PM

'I like black and white stuff, being old school, but some of the newer stuff is "too white"'

i know what you mean Doug, a lot of recent BW strips like Killer, Demarco in the meg, some of the Future Shocks, even Carver Hale, have looked ...puny. They don't have the boldness of Belardinelli or McMahon, etc. Not enough solid black is used, making the page look too pale and empty.
Luckily we have Henry Flint, Frazer Irving and Jock delivering jawsmacking B&W, so it's not all bad news.

N

Mudcrab · 08 February, 2002, 06:08:03 PM

Exactly. All there new stuff is fantastic. Flint's definitely a good replacement for the sorely missed Kevin O'Neill. Oops, I missed him out of my list of old detailed classics. Saying that, even the end of Nemesis Book X wasn't quite what it used to be. Still brilliant though.

Frazer Irving's amazing too. I'll have nothing else on my desktop. originally Necronauts, but now Judge Death's there in all his black and white glory.

And Jock is Jock, say no more. (that means very good)

Mudcrab · 08 February, 2002, 06:08:37 PM

I just... just... couldn't help myself!!!!!

Thread Zero · 08 February, 2002, 06:35:37 PM

I loved the old 2k black and white. You are so right Doug, there was a level of detail to the art of yesteryear that seems absent these days. Although Henry Flint does sterling b and w.

scojo

Mudcrab · 08 February, 2002, 07:19:48 PM

I think the last example of artwork like that was when Kev Walker did the ABC Warriors in Prog 2000. Some of the Warriors since then has come close though.

I know, how about a special edition prog with loads of detailed B&W art done on newsprint!!!! Now that's retro!!! That I would love to see.