Who Are These Guys?
I should start off by saying that I rarely put much stock in reviews. I do occasionally read reviews of comic books, video games, and movies. But that doesn't mean I listen to their advice. And I definitely don't listen to the reviewers over at Newsarama. I mean, who are these guys and why are they reviewing books?
I was reading a few of the reviews by Newsarama's "Best Shots" review team. I didn't particularly care for what I heard from some of them. I took immediate umbrage with the review of Black Adam #1. The reviewer is quick to point at that the art is beautiful, the story is intriguing, and the writing is quite good. But the book still sucks.
You may be thinking: "Huh?" I know I was. The thing is, the reviewer mentions several times how he hates Countdown (calling it a "black hole of a series"). And since Black Adam is tangentially connected to Countdown, it's not worth reading. What ever happened to reviewing a book on its merits?
But the really awful review is the one for Green Lantern #22. It starts out like so:
I feel vindicated now that Kyle Rayner has switched sides and is currently the tentpole of the Sinestro Corps; I always knew he wasn’t worthy to be on Team Green and I pray for a square-off between him and Hal and for the former Mr. Graysides to knock his block off.
So am I supposed to take this guy seriously? Any credibility he may have had immediately goes out the window when he starts a review like that. It's completely unnecessary and I'd say quite unprofessional.
Now, there may be someone out there thinking: "Wow, that Diamondrock is a real hypocrite. He talks trash about characters he doesn't like all the time!" And that person would be right about my calling Wolverine a tool. But they wouldn't be right about my being a hypocrite.
Because you see, this is my blog. Here I (and my co-bloggers) express our opinions. That's what blogs are for. If that reviewer wants to talk about how much he hates Kyle Rayner, he should get himself a blog and talk about it to his heart's content. I'll be happy to never read it.
But in my mind a review column on a site reputedly focusing on news is not really the place for that. A review is meant to inform poeple about the merits of a book, its writing, and its artwork. It's meant to help others decide whether or not they should buy the book as well.
Professional reviewers of books (the non-comic kind) are expected to leave their personal biases at the door when they write their columns. If the comic industry ever wants to stop being seen as a gathering of unwashed nerds by the outside world, our "professional" reviewers should be held to the same standard.
So far we're not doing very well.
posted by Diamondrock @ 9:22 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Good point, I just saw that review yesterday and once I read the Kyle-bashing I just stopped reading. I'm a Kyle fan, and reading something like that made me completely disinterested in anything else that needed to be said.
(I don't remember exactly the review of Black Adam, but because of Countdown we know Black Adam gets his powers back, we know his word was "Sorry," we're reasonably sure Isis is dead again, and he also gives away his powers. So we already know the ending of the miniseries, that makes me not want to buy it even though I love Doug Mahnke's art.)
Well reasoned. There is a certain level of professionalism that must be met, if you are doing reviews for what is supposed to be a professional entity such as Newsarama.
If you are just going to start screaming about poor Kyle, then do it on your own blog. Which is why I am frequently startled to have enjoyed a new book, and then read a review of it, that tells me that all right-minded people are supposed to hate it...because the reviewer did.
Bah!
That's surprising. I stopped reading Best Shots months ago, because I'd never read a single negative review. It seemed like their whole purpose was to praise whatever came out in a given week, and to do so without any real thought or cleverness.
Incidentally, there were people walking around the Chicago con this weekend with shirts that read on the front "Best Shots reviews: Your bias is showing" and on the back "www.newsarama.com Spreading the comics Love." I thought it was a reference to how that column never gives out bad reviews, now I'm not totally sure.
In any case, agreed. There's a professionalism lacking there, which really ought to be present on a comic site as big as Newsarama.
Jim, did you see that the Dr. Polaris is in the JLA Heroclix set being released on Sept. 5?
I totally did *not* know. But now that I do I *must* have one. I just have to get a Doctor Polaris figure at all costs.
And incidentally, my name's not Jim. But you're welcome to call me that if you like. :-)
Pretty much any commercial (ie non-academic) review exists as much to entertain its readers as much as to inform them. So, personal anecdotes, far from being unprofessional, are usually warranted to increase reader interest. The writer is, in a sense a brand, his voice can build audiences and it can alienate them.
I won't defend his review of Black Adam, that was patently stupid, and I won't say it is wrong to not read a review that bashes a favorite character, but I don't think we should assume that anyone ever puts their personal biases aside when they write for publication.
Bloggers are just columnists with less editorial over site.
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