Introspective

So as far news goes, this is kind of a bummer.

Ha! You thought this it going to be about those Civil War delays, didn't you? Well, I've already bitched about that in the comments of at least three or four other blogs, so I'm ready to stop boring you with it.

I figured Bagley would leave Ultimate Spider-Man eventually. I mean, the guy's been drawing 18 comics a year on that title for what, 5+ years now? And Millar says McNiven is a fast artist because he can do '9 or 10 issues a year'. *snorts derisively*

It's always interesting to see other people's reactions to the same artist. One comment before mine, we had a fellow named Martin who said he hoped Bagley wouldn't start drawing any books he bought. Then you follow it up with a guy who says he might drop Ultimate Spider-Man with Bagley gone (that'd be me). I'm not sure how true that is. I suppose it depends on who replaces him. Mark Brooks wouldn't be objectionable, though I have no clue about his track record with deadlines. Whoever it is, I think we be sure we won't be seeing 18 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man a year anymore.

Of course, art is subjective, and so both Martin's opinion and mine are equally valid. I mean, some people love Frank Quitely's art. I don't really see it. I saw that he drew Charles Xavier's head like a peeled potato, and I said 'No thank you, sir!' But again, it's all subjective.

So what am I getting at? Well, it's been a realization of mine that I can rarely put into words what it is I like about something I like. I can't explain my tastes in music. When people say that New Excalibur is crap, and only for people who buy whatever Claremont writes (a descriptor I don't believe applies to me), I want to try and understand why I do buy it and enjoy it. I'm still trying to put into words what it is about X-Factor I like so much. Not necessarily because I feel like there might be something wrong with liking what I do, though when everybody keeps saying "This book {insert title} sucks!", you start to wonder, but because it'd be nice to be able to give an actual defense. It solidifies it somehow. Is this making any sense?

But with Bagley I actually know what I like. His art is clean. Let me explain that adjective. I'm a big fan of art that looks like what it's supposed to be. You draw a boat, it better look like a boat. If I wanted to see a picture of a boat that looks more like a whale, or a house, or inarticulate squiggles, well, I could draw that myself. This probably explains why I'm not much of a Jackson Pollock fan. With Bagley, you'd could always tell what was going on. You could look at a character and see that they're angry, or happy, or scared or beaten down. Maybe part of that goes to the inker and the colorist, I'm not sure who gets credit for things like, well I'll call them "action lines" that you'd sometimes see around a characters' head when they're excited and shouting, which helps when they're wearing a complete mask (ala our friendly neighborhood webslinger).

In his fight scenes, I think Bagley does an excellent job of conveying movement, and knowing when to do a close up picture and when to pull back. I can't recall a Bagley-drawn Spider-Man comic with a fight scene and me not being able to follow who was attacking whom, and how that person got to that position from where they were two pages ago. You were able to keep track of what's going on, which is an important part of being a comic artist (I'd say). Contrast that with, for example, Damion Scott's work on Robin about a year ago. I found myself looking at panels three or four times, trying to figure out who got sliced, or kicked, or what that character did. There seemed to be too many close-ups, and I felt confused.

At any rate, I did just want to give some props to Bagley, seeing as he's probably my favorite Spider-Man artist (Romita Jr. comes close, based on his stuff during the early JMS run, but his early Spider-Man, from before the Clone Saga and leading up to when they rebooted the titles was really bulky, which was a bit distracting. It's the little things sometimes, you know?)