What's the thing you most value in comics?

[fleurravenbooks]

If blurb doesn't catch my attention, i start comic for the art style, but if i already heard about that and i like the story i don't care about art style

[Aeneas1]

Obscure literary references.
I feel that in comics, one should always include little references to appease intellectuals. That’s why Neil Gaiman’s Sandman works and Gerard Way’s Umbrella Academy doesn’t. Well, that’s what I think.

[GingerLoge]

It's not fair game to just compare anyone to Neil Gaiman
just my opinion of course.
but yes: that feeling of triumph when you get a reference and think "oh, I know that!" and feel connected to the author! Books talk about books, that is, it is as if they were talking to each other

[Mallory]

Characters for me. If I don't connect with the characters of a property, I usually just lose interest, no matter how interesting the plot/world was or how high the production value was. I especially like characters who are built on contradictions but still come out looking like one coherent entity despite the obvious conflict (e.g. a pacifist-oriented individual gets drafted to war and is found out to be a brilliant strategist because they have very unconventional means of thinking about problems; they wind up being celebrated for being great at war, even as that takes a big emotional toll on the character).

[GingerLoge]

Yes! People are also made of contradictions after all! A character without contradictions is predictable, a bit flat maybe. Especially when the whole story is based on the characters' personalities

[Kelheor]

Because comics are a visual media for me.

By which I mean not "the comic must look like WLOP's art", but it should look good in some way, it shouldn't consist of flying heads and it should make me feel things?
I consider art being the same as writing in a book. I won't read it if it's badly written, and I won't read it if it's badly drawn, I will only struggle through art (or writing) I don't enjoy if someone trustworthy will say it will pay off later.

(I do consider my criteria pretty strange sometimes though, because the "feeling" of each and every comic is absolutely subjective and I can dislike some pretty comics because of some unidentifiable reasons)

[Swamp]

Characters! It's hard to gauge plot early on, but the ability to write real feeling people comes much earlier. Besides, I'm fine waiting for authors to learn as they go on plot if the cast is interesting.

For me, art supports the writing. Good art helps me understand the plot, see the character's emotions and relationships, and buy into the story.

[BarBarKetrab]

Being able to feel what the characters are feeling/accurate portrayal of emotions. It's a must for me.

[incognito-burrito]

The story! A good story encompasses well written characters, a driven plot, and good pacing. Whether it's a comic, novel, or movie, if the story is poor, nothing else can save it. In the case of a movie, you can have a great cast of actors, amazing set design, but the script can be garbage. The actors can try their best with their delivery, but they can't save the movie from flopping at the box office. It'll just be 'glitz and glamour' without the heart and depth a story should have. An example would be the butchered script of Justice League versus the actual vision of Zack Snyder's Justice League.

With a comic, the artwork doesn't have to be stellar if the story really shines through. I've heard a lot of good things about One Punch Man and from what I understand, the creator wasn't exactly the greatest artist, but people were so invested with how great the story was. When a story can pull you in like that, you can look past the artwork.

[Kaisei]

Characters are definitely an important aspect. I might enjoy a story without amazing characters, but great stories get you invested in the characters (and this goes for all forms of storytelling). Consistency is important; it's always a bit jarring when a character does something that makes zero sense for their personality and background.

Also, storytelling. I love it when creators go beyond merely illustrating the story and take advantage of the medium.
Examples: The text might be positioned throughout the artwork in a way that evokes stream of consciousness.
There might be closeups of a hand of a character reaching towards another character, but then pulling back.
Background images whose importance only becomes apparent later in the story
Symbolic, recurring objects or motifs
Imagery that evokes emotion without outright saying it
Non-linear storytelling

Things that make me twitchy:
- bad writing
- MLs who are forgiven anything and everything because they are hot
- tiny print - Have pity on my poor eyes!
- super confusing speech bubbles - Who said what?

[GingerLoge]

I can't argue with none of you! Your points are all valid
I also see that there are many ways to make a bad comic

[iHateFridays]

Hmm, definitely when it's easy to follow a story without getting lost haha XD

[Llyrel]

I come for the art, but will stay for the story as much as I love looking at pretty pictures, if the story doesn't interest me I'll probably stop reading or only come back once in a while to stare at the art.
As far as story goes, the things that I value the most would be...

• An actual plot with actual stuff happening. And I'm not talking about a heavily action-packed kind of story: to me, a good story needs balance. There can be intense moments, but for me it doesn't have to be all there is to the story. I also need some quieter moments to get to know the characters better, figure out what their motives are, and overall, take a break where there isn't constantly new stuff being thrown at my face. This also applies to stuff like worldbuilding and info-dumps: SOME info-dumps are good, they help me figure out how a world works and such, but I also want to see characters REACT to said infodumps. Let the info sink in, give characters (and readers) time to come up with questions, let them be surprised, scream, be scared or whatever if they don't like what they just found out, but for the love of everything that's holy, don't just dump 30 pages of lore on your character to let them know that their entire life was a lie and then move on to the next scene like nothing happened D: that said, I also don't like the opposite, aka stories where the plot is too "washed out" and nothing really happens for twenty chapters in a row. Or, well... stories where there IS a plot, but the same storyline is repeated over and over again (e.g. main character is too pure for this world but some jealous people want them to fail so they try to ruin their life, main character finds a way out, but then another character who's jealous will pop out and try to ruin their life, MC solves the problem but then ANOTHER character who's jealous of MC's success tries to ruin their life... AND SO ON AND SO FORTH FOR 10000 EPISODES). As I said, balance is key

• Well developed characters. I want to know who they are, what their personality is, what they like and what they don't like, I want them to have flaws... basically, I want them to feel believable and not a piece of cardboard.

[Legendofgenii]

Wholesome moments that break up the action. And character building please.

[GingerLoge]

Now I won't say I'm taking notes, but I'm taking notes

[GesuGesu]

Art. You won't get me to even click to read the summary without a good level of art right off the bat.

Summary. If your summary doesn't get me after I've been lured in by art, such as:
- too long (multi-paragraph)
- doesn't intrigue me with a source of conflict
- tells too much irrelevant info (character age, backstory, etc.) that can be told IN THE ACTUAL COMIC

For staying power:
- story - conflict exists, and you keep the curiosity piqued appropriately by the end of each episode so that I want to keep reading.
- MAIN characters aren't annoying / overly dumb, OR are, but develop enough that I don't get pissed off and stop reading.

[NickRowler]

Readability.
If I can't read your text because of bad font, I am not going to squint my way through your comic. If your visual storytelling is good to the point where I can get what your comic is about without worrying about text, maybe I would give it a pass, but that is super rare.

Readability.
But the other kind, the one that has to do with how panels flow. Sometimes bad composition can leave me very confused what is going on and where the characters are supposed to be. I like when characters feel grounded in a space. When it is done right, it's great. When it is done poorly, I do not like it.

Dialogue.
I respect punch up writers. It is sort of hard to describe to newbies with weak dialogue why it doesn't work. When it is done well you don't even notice it. But when it is done poorly, I'm like no...no...NOOOOOO...AGHGHGHGHGH. THAT IS NOT HOW PEOPLE TALK!

[Kuma]

Emotion. If it doesn't generate an emotional reaction from me, is more or less just a way to pass the time.

[hockeywebcomics]

Character development. I like to see more of the characters besides the point that drives the story, specially their personality and even trivia stuff. I think it's important to build any kind of bond between the reader and the character.

[SagaHolmgaard]

This is an interesting question. I would say that what I value the most in comics is everything that sets comics apart from all the other story formats you could choose to tell your story in.

The relationship between the panels and the text, how they can contrast (character says one thing, does another) or help each other to tell the narrative. All the cool things you can to with the pacing of your panels. With the flow of the entire page. How you can reinforce the genre or the mood by choosing a fitting art style, color scheme and font. All of these things that make comics comics I guess is that I value the most.

The story and the characters are what I value the most in any story I consume, but that isn't comics exclusive. It goes for books, TV-shows and movies as well. And a unique and interesting art might be the first hook that makes me look at something, but again, not comics exclusive. It's the same for cartoons, anime and illustrated books.