Rank what's most important to you as a reader: Story, Character or Art?

[R.n.P]

1Story
2Characters
3Art

[XzynderVexymous]

The Story is WAY beyond everything else. Then it's characters then it's art for me.

[DiegoPalacios]

Personally, i prefer this order:

1.Characters: You need to care or at least be interested in the ones who make the story happen. And their actions must make sense with who they are.

2-Story:¿Is what`s going on interesting, memorable or at least enjoyable? Some works can survive without a good story. Some works may be generic, but if they touch your soul and make you care for the characters, they can save it. Obviously, if you have a good story, use it wisely.

3-Art: Good drawings without content won`t take you very far. But the art is your first impression, so, if you are a good artist, use it to your advantage.

[Luminosophy]

Normally I'd just rank story and characters together because some plots are more world driven and others are character driven. It's just a style thing. If we're talking about characters are far as aesthetics, yeah, I'll always appreciate cool and interesting designs. But that's extremely superficial, Studio Ghibli creates wonderful and memorable characters with some of the basic designs possible. And sometimes simple really is better, it depends on the point of your story.

Lately though I'd probably rank it like this:

1. Story - I like an interesting basis/ concept for the story to really pull me in.
2. Characters - I will be immediately turned off if I can predict exactly what the character will say to any given scenario because the entire cast are copy/paste tropes
3. Art - If you can understand that style is just based on symbolism and execute it well enough then your comic is legible. It doesn't need to be a museum masterpiece.

[Kura]

Characters
Story
Art

Even though all of those to me are important, that's how I would place it judging from my experience reading Hunter x Hunter. Most people who know that manga for that series, know what I am talking about.

I read that series through that horribly drawn sketchy first release ant arc (pages were later cleaned up when graphic novels were printed, but the original pages were absolutely horrible) and was still invested in the characters, even though the arc right before this arc in that series were not as great as others (Greed Island island arc, I just really wasn't that big of a fan of that story arc)

So as long as I like the characters, I can deal with get through a so-so story to reach the next hopefully more interesting adventure with these characters. While art apparently I don't have to know what the frick is going on and I'll still read it (seriously, some of those pages in the ant arc I could NOT tell what was happening) Like... I really didn't realize I didn't give a fuck about art as much as story and characters until those damn HxH pages holy crap.

[Griffian]

For me it's:

1. Characters:
   Characters are the driving forces behind me reading things. If I like your comic's personality and the characters are interesting, I can overlook a lot of story and art flaws. If your characters are irritating, artificial, and/or irrational, then I will drop your series in a heartbeat no matter how good the art and story are.

2. Story:
   I might hang onto a series with bad writing if I really like the style and characters, but it's not likely. I'm much more likely to hang onto a series with bad art with writing that works around it.

3. Art:
   Honestly, so long as I can tell what's going on and it's not obnoxiously bad I don't really care too much about the art. I'll geek out over it if it's gorgious, but bad art won't stop me from reading a good story.

[Silerna]

All of them. It makes a whole comic complete. If your not that good at drawing doesn't mean your story sucks or that the characters are bad written. It's a combination of all that whatever one lacks the other make up for it.
I think alot people forget that and only look at the art. That's not the only important thing. But you need to look through it for the other three things too.

[eicue]

1-Story
2-Art
3-Characters
But there's an element that should tie these points together: Storytelling. Without it, a comic could be only a bunch of great illustrations, great ideas and great stereotypes.

[phen]

Some interesting thoughts on this and what's more intriguing is that, for me, the novel versus comic/graphic novel brings in some huge differences in order.

Novel -- story first and foremost. Some of my favourite works have vague or constantly transforming characters that are carriers of the plot and not much more. Also, first-person narratives can often work to obfuscate the division between author, reader, and character, melding the three to create a piece that harmonises on memories, firsthand experiences. So with respect to my preferences, by extension, character isn't very important for an immersive story in novel format. The more abstract and crafty the approach of a story, the better.

Comic format -- art, characters, and story. Especially if it's a one-person operation, I find that if a lot of attention is given to the art, it speaks volumes of the passion even in a vague concept. Characters can be brought to life with an imagination that inserts itself. It's not to forgive inept writing or badly constructed characters, but personally, I can work to make connections in a loosely laced story if the art is highly appealing. It certainly doesn't guarantee success on a large scale (my favourite books and films have made my friends distrust my opinion on quality, OOPS).

[indagold]

1-Story, thats why they call it a story driven medium.
2-Art, I really would put this as close to story as possible because it's what sells a piece.
3-Characters, I guess isolating them in this case from story is the bare minimum. A wacky cool looking character just isn't enough, you need a back story first.

[dawgofdawgness]

1. CHARACTERS
2. art (as long as it doesn't make your eyes bleed, I will enjoy it)
3. story (Don't really care honestly)

[sprakdesigns]

1. Characters
2. Story
3. Art

I love art, but I can learn to appreciate an art-style I wasn't immediately fond of, or still get the story/feeling of a comic even if the art isn't to my liking. If the story is bad or boring, even with the most beautiful art in the world, I can't read it, it's too boring. I'd rather just look at a still-image from the artist then sludge through a whole story at that point, hah. Characters are always the most important to me!

[Aura-Redwood]

1. Story
2. Character
3. Art

[anon17421845]

1. Characters
2. Story
3. Art

I feel like characters and story are interchangeable for me depending on what I'm reading. Sometimes I'll love a story but not really feel any attachment to the characters, or sometimes a story can be mediocre but I love the characters so I enjoy it anyways. Art is what initially catches my eye in terms of visual storytelling, but what makes me stick around is fun characters and/or a good story.

[modrawmanga]

Interesting thoughts indeed, I love reading all the different opinions and their reasonings here.

@sarrowsmith10 @Ayusaurus I'm surprised that creators interaction made the list here, this is quite fresh to hear

thanks for all the opinions, keep it flowing for those who has not chimed in, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[Demy]

For a novel I'd have to agree with @phenylketonurics that story should be first and foremost. However, since I appreciate slow pacing so much I would (personally) prioritize the characters a little bit more. The slow pacing would give the audience time to get to know them and care about them. Just my preference.

For a comic, I'd personally prioritize the story and the characters. But the art should at least be presentable. But know that you can get away with this. Mob Psycho 100 and Homestuck have some pretty mediocre art in most areas (I heard Mob Psycho improves over time though, Homestuck definitely improves).

Hell, Jojo's Bizzare Adventure got away with some horrible anatomy for the first few parts.

Fast forward to part 8 and you can see the improvement/art style changes:

You can definitely get away with bad art if your story is really good. You'll even improve over time. But personally, I'd make sure my art is decent before I start my comic.

[Testaccount]

1. Characters
2. Story
3. Art

Well-developed characters and an interesting story trump art for me. As long as I can make out the people and settings, I'm ok with any art style.

[modrawmanga]

I'm very surprised seeing that first image of jojo, but I will pick up manga with ugly characters and goofy anatomy only if its highly recommended, or it has surpassed a certain level of popularity that made me think that I really gotta see whats the hype all about, and jojo has been sitting on my reading queue for a while, just hasnt gotten around to it.
I heard it was realy good?

It took me several years after it was highly recommended to finally checking out Shingeki no Kyojin manga, due to the rough art, but the story was so compelling to me that it ends up to be one of my favorite manga series like ever.
Without the recommendation, I wouldn't pick it up and missing out.

As others mentioned, art helps to grab first initial attention to make a reader give it a chance (without anyone's recommendation) but on the long run, story and characters will be he one keeping the reader attention imo

[Demy]

JoJo's fantastic imo. I suggest watching the anime adaptations first then reading the rest of the parts through the manga.

[MisterGrey3000]

Hmmm.
Like... I'm basically of the mindset that both "character" and "story" are intimately interlinked; well-crafted/well-thought-out characterization (backstory, values, dislikes, motives, etc.) often drives compelling and believable storytelling, if the former is half-baked the latter will be very weak also.
I just can't put one over the other.
And when it comes to art/artistic direction, I really can't begin to stress how important I think it is for a comic to have appealing, well-executed drawings. This is a visual medium after all, artwork is what makes this specific mode of storytelling both enthralling and unique. If all I wanted to do was simply READ a good story, I'd probably just go and pick up a novel.

Honestly, I just don't think I can rank those elements from "most to least" important, all three are very important to me and ultimately work together to create a compelling comic.