The Sculptor

The Sculptor

A massive almost-500 page graphic novel by Scott McCloud.  The premise is promising enough; a starving artist makes a deal with Death: the ability to sculpt whatever he can imagine for two hundred days, at which point he’ll die.  I was sucked in at that point.  

Unfortunately, what follows doesn’t quite live up to the premise.  For a story ostensibly about art and the process of creating it, The Sculptor spends relatively little time on it.  I would have liked to read McCloud’s thoughts on it.  Also, David Smith’s sculptures kind of suck (to this untrained eye).  The only exception is the sculpture of his sister, and although McCloud appears to do some foreshadowing with it, he never returns to that piece of art.

It doesn’t help that neither David nor Meg are really likable characters.  It’s their situation that makes them sympathetic, not their personalities.  To be fair to McCloud, he’s quite successful on that front; I couldn’t put the book down, and definitely needed to know how the story ended.  It isn’t the most satisfying of conclusions, but there was one moment that I liked:

For a book that revolves around the idea of legacy, McCloud's thoughts on it are surprisingly vague. I may never read this a third time, but I can’t rule out the possibility.  Keeping it around.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice