Note to Reviewees
Blog - Note to reviewers: Stay away from Tokyopop.
No, I didn't substitute an 'r' for an 'e' accidentally up there. This is for the folks out there whose work is going to be reviewed, or those who think they might want to have their work reviewed in the future. Ready? Here goes.
1) What you intended doesn't matter. Your intentions for the work, while all fine and dandy during the formation of the work may not have anything to do with what people actually take out of the work. Conversely, reviewers who make personality judgements regarding the artist by way of their work are likely trafficking in horsefeathers and not any kind of reality. But, what you *meant* to say doesn't matter. You don't get to sit beside the reader and say "Okay, now here I was making a general statement about the nature of the father-son relationship and not about the fundamental injustices of the capitalist system as others have intimated." You don't have that privelege. The reader gets to jump to their conclusions on their own. Granted, those concusions may be ill-formed at best and highly reflective of the readers own prejudiced and experiences. And then they may go on to attribute those feeling to the work itself, rather than themselves. This may make them say things that you didn't intend (or support in the slightest). Deal.
2) You can't make people like your work. You can do your darnest (darnedest? -- someone help me out here) to make your work engaging and to tell the story that you want to tell (you *are* telling a story, right?). You can bend over backwards to fill your work with meaning (though that's dangerous -- see number 1 above). Once the work is out there, it's out there. No rewrites, no do-overs. It's done, move along.
3) Arguing with your critics (even worse, aguing *about* your critics in another forum, thus drawing even *mroe* attention to the "faulty" reading) is stupid in the most meaningful definition of the word. Did we not read #2 above? You *can't* make someone like your work. They like or they do not. Losing sleep over it or getting into heated debate about it (and spending energy *not* doing more work and actually growing as an artist) is a waste of resources.
4) Most criticism on the internet isn't worth bothering with (positive OR negative). This includes counter-criticism of criticism itself. Maybe. There are a handful of comics reviewers that I'll pay attention to (I'm looking at you, Jog; Ian, too) but you know what? I like plenty of stuff they loathe and vice versa. There's no arguing taste (see #2 above).
Of course, people are going to refute this and say "but what do you know, you're not a professional!" You're right, I'm not. But I try to conduct myself in at least a semi-professional manner. Griping at your critics and refusing to shut your trap is fruitless. If someone "didn't get" your masterpiece, well then you might consider how you might have obfuscated your thesis or betrayed your own intentions. Calling them out on it, however, is only going to make you look like an increasingly strident amateur (regardless of how many publications you have under your belt) and again, only bring more attention to the viewpoint that you want downplayed.
And there goes my blogging time for the day. Maybe I blog about comics tomorrow.