The following quote comes from this post on the blog I'M SKEERDY, in response to a minor shitstorm last October from a small contingent of comics-critics that decried a particular comic book, NIGHTWING #146 as "torture porn." I don't care about the title any more than the blogger I'm quoting did, but I agree with the spirit of his response:
'if you picked up Nightwing #146 expecting something more profound than "Nightwing beats the bad guy" or "Nightwing fails to beat the bad guy", if you weren't prepared for "torture porn", I contend that you are quite probably a fool.'
I may not agree with everything the poster says in the essay, but I think I've also observed many times where critics become blind to the reality that junky comics are supposed to deliver junky thrills. I will admit that there's a sort of "middle ground" of popular works that deliver their thrills with a patina of sophistication, but I for one wouldn't expect every Scott Lobdell to be transformed into Alan Moore; nor would I think such a transformation would necessarily be an improvement.
NIGHTWING !46 might be good junk, or it might be bad (i.e., undistinguished) junk. But it should be judged for what it's supposed to be, and not according to some critic's preconceived notions.
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