I know this is only tangentially /co/-related, but I would like to hear /co/'s opinions on the topic of other media that take visual cues from western comics and/or cartoons. For your consideration, I bring forward three different games as examples.
Codename S.T.E.A.M. was a 3DS game that took inspiration from Jack Kirby's artstyle for a wacky plot involving a team of characters with unique powers who fight off an alien invasion on behalf of Abraham Lincoln. Obviously the similarities to the work of Jack Kirby start and end at the proportions of the characters and the way they are shaded. As far as I've read, almost anyone that talks about Codename S.T.E.A.M. be it on /v/ or /co/ pans it for its visuals (and other technical flaws that are intrinsic to the 3DS).
In contrast, Freedom Force, a game that came out for the PC in the early 00's that also took heavy influence from Jack Kirby, tends to be well received for its art style even though on a technical level (poly count) it seems to be about par for its era. To what extent (if any) can the relevance of Kirby's artstyle to the subject matter of Freedom Force be attributed to its success in capturing the aesthetic it strove to imitate? Was Codename S.T.E.A.M. a failure in this regard because the aesthetic was more or less slapped on it rather than being integral to the narrative (as it was in Freedom Force)? Or did Irrational Games (developer of Freedom Force) just do a more technically competent job than Intelligent Systems (developer of Codename S.T.E.A.M.)?
I'd also like to talk from a /co/ perspective about Madworld, which was a Wii game by Platinum Games that took heavy visual influence from Frank Miller's art from Sin City. I think Madworld seems like it has more of a mixed reception than the other games, because the artstyle, while interesting in almost everyone's estimation, introduces so much visual noise by being overwhelmingly (and faithfully) blocky while removing most color, that it becomes a little more difficult to discern what everything is than might be ideal. This raises a number of questions to me. Chiefly, at what point does adherence to an art style go too far and how do you dial it back without compromising the integrity of the creative vision?
Works derivative of /co/ related works general, I guess.