The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

When David Smith makes a deal with Death, he gains power over stone and metal to create his sculptures, but the deal involves more than he knows, and his artistic talent is the only thing he has left to carry him through. As he comes to grips with his own art, his friendships and relationships begin to suffer and he has to lose everything to find himself.

This is the most depressing thing I’ve read all year. Ugh. I can’t deny that it’s very powerful, but I didn’t like the way it made me feel. And I didn’t like the smatterings of profanity. At least the profanity wasn’t on every page, so I was able to mostly ignore it and read through the entire book. And then there was some nudity towards the end that got on my nerves, so yeah. bleh.

The thing is… it’s really very well-written and the artwork is so incredible! The story line, the characters, the relationships, and dialogue, and mood and tone and everything… it’s genius! But I didn’t LIKE it. I didn’t like how it made me feel. I thought it was depressing and grotesque and hopeless. The art is so beautiful, but it depicts such ugly things. It made me uncomfortable. Continue reading →