Yeah, But Can They Write?

I read lots of comics, more so than I should, and after reading about how local comic book artists are finding the business difficult, my feeling on the matter is that while some of the local artists can draw (and I'm using the phrase loosely here), many of them simply can't write or tell a good story on par with what's being produced by the mainland artists/writers. In my opinion, that's why the locals are failing. That's real life reality.

Oh, and I also hate it when I see stuff like this.

And here's a local boy that succeeded.

Comments

Haken, what is it about the Hawaiian Dick comic that you don't like? Is it that you think the book is badly done? Or is it that the book's OK but that it's being done by yet another outsider and not a local boy? I'm not sure which you meant.

Bruce posted a preview of "Hawaiian Dick" here several months ago, and linked to a discussion (now gone) where some had taken the artist to task for the Hawaii characters and setting.

I can't judge it until I've actually read it, but I grok the concept as Hawaiian "camp," riffing on the cheesy tiki look of the 50s, a la a shadowy version of the Brady Bunch's Hawaii (or maybe a much darker echo of Lilo & Stitch's setting). The question to me is if he can get that look and feel right, rather than whether he's providing a hard, realistic modern-day depiction of Hawaii populated with PC characters and wholesome storylines.

So has anyone read Hawaiian Dick? In all honesty, I thought the story wasn't that bad at all. Sure there are loads of stereotypes in there, but the overall writing of the story is not bad at all. At the same time, the story is being told from the POV of a malihini, ex-military, ex-cop guy. I love comic books with my whole body, including my pee pee. I also love Hawaii.
I've always thought that Chris McKinney of "Tattoo" fame would make a great comic book writer if he could find the right artist.

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