lots of sand in that vagina today. . .it's always about you, isn't it?
sure, there is art in mainstream comics. I never said there wasn't. but the fact is that anything coming close to art will always take a backseat to commercialism in that world.
just look at the current listings in Previews. 20 something Bat-titles a month? I'm sure there's "art" in there somewhere, but I'm not wasting my time looking.
I'm pretty sure Eisner, Miller, and Gaiman wanted to get paid, as well. if you don't think Miller took the money and laughed all the way to the bank on DKSA, you're kidding yourself.
if you don't think Miller wanted to make Batman and Daredevil more viable properties, when he took them on, again you're kidding yourself. the fact that he was allowed to do anything approaching "art", is his personal good fortune.
do you think Gaiman would be able to make "art" if not for the commercial success of Sandman? what was the last comic work of Gaiman's that you considered "art"? 1602? Eternals? Whatever Happened to the Dark Knight? pretty much all corporate work. I enjoyed Eternals, but it wasn't "art", it was popcorn.
Eisner was all about making money from the get-go, as were most golden age creators. did they enjoy drawing and doing what they were doing? yep. did anything think they were making "art"? very few, if any. the primary concern for them was making money to put food on the table and pay the bills. most of them never thought past that. Eisner was smart enough to make good deals so that he could make a good living. any notions about "art" took secondary concern.
The Spirit was his commercial work. it paid for him to do the other things he thought were more profound. is there "art" in The Spirit? sure, but how much depends on who you ask. Eisner fanboys will rave about the "art" in Spirit all day long, but Eisner himself would shrug and point to something like "Contract with God" or his other works as "real art." and how many fanboys read that stuff? almost nil, because for all their bitching about "art", at the end of the day all they really want is pretty spandex comics.
not that there's anything wrong with that. I enjoy some Perez goodness when it arrives, too. but I don't confuse it with "art." "art" is something personal and subjective. Perez draws pretty spandex comics. is that "art?" not to me.
