I'm delighted to see the sophistication of these responses. I thought the piece would be slightly interesting to Poser artists, but I'm surprised to encounter folks who are deeply familiar with McCloud's work, not to mention Semiotics (the fundamentals of which I've only skimmed.) 3D art is definitely a 'new language,' as are comics. What a shame it would be if we were to conclude that the two weren't compatable! But I doubt that's the case. To answer Cedarwolf's question, I'm quite certain that most artists and writers have a firm grasp on what they're doing. But the role of the critic is 1) to verify that the intent of the work is achieved, and 2) to perceive details and themes that evade the artist's conscious awareness. Sometimes the artist chooses to assume the interpretive role and become their own critics. For instance, French novelist Alaine Robbe-Grillet published an article explaining the meaning of his first novel, Les Gommes, and went on to write a book about his writing philosophy, For a New Novel. But more often, artists let the work speak for itself.