Larry Young of AiT/Planet Lar discusses the criticism of the Brian Wood / Becky Cloonan series, Demo (no permalinks that I can find. It's the June 11 entry):

It's interesting to me, personally, that most audience members find the various snapshots of Demo so compelling that it seems, to me at least, that many readers are missing the lemon because of the meringue. Many folks who should ostensibly know better get fixated on the what-happens-then or the but-what-about-the or the he-didn't-take-responsibility or whatever. Me, I think they're not getting the fact that the story is the story. You're on the bus, or you're not. No need to blame the bus.

Now, certainly I'm willing to admit that a work should be critiqued on its own merits. Even within that restriction, however, there's plenty of room for criticism. The story is the story, but that doesn't mean it's without flaws.

It may be that Young simply doesn't think of writing the same way I do. After all, his response to initial criticism of the weakness of story in his own Planet of the Capes was "All of your issues with the story are addressed if you don't read it as a superhero comic and read it as an allegory FOR superhero comics."

Both of Young's comments together suggest an approach that is, as I understand it: the only level of a story that matters is the level that most interests the author, and if you don't read it there, that's the reader's fault, not a flaw in the writing.

And that, really, is just plain lazy. Truly impressive writing works on all the applicable levels, or at the very least plays a skilled magician's game of compelling the reader to focus on the levels that work while failing to notice those that aren't quite so solidly constructed.

If you haven't managed that, you haven't managed it. Playing "you just don't get it" does no one any good, and just leads to a lot of naked emperors prancing around. While that might make for good porn, it's not the best way to encourage critical thought and improve your storytelling skills.

Ah, and about the bus? If the bus has always had a flaw in the transmission, so the whole thing rattles like it's in an earthquake every time it hits second gear, no, you don't blame the bus. It is, however, perfectly sound to consider pointing out the mechanical flaw to the designer or the manufacturer, or possibly calling up the bus company and wondering why they put the bus on the road without sending it back to the mechanic first.

Tags: comics, commentary, writing