One of the problems with analyzing comic books or any work of art is the tendency to over-analyze it. Sometimes, a little bit too much logic is applied to exploring what is present in the material. That is not to say it is wrong to look at the various facets of the storyline such as the underlying psychology and themes of the story, but overemphasizing such an approach can take you a little bit too far out of the story.

There is a theory in Zen philosophy that promotes the notion that if you are constantly analyzing something, you can end up not learning as much about it as you initially intended. The reason for this is that you miss the true experience of the work. This is because you are no longer feeling things. You are looking for things. And there is another philosophical point that states when you seek, you cannot find.

Art is often designed to promote an emotional reaction. This could be joy, laughter, sadness, and so on. While we can recognize those themes on a level of cognition, sometimes it is better to absorb the themes into the subconscious. This is why we get that feeling of liking something while not really knowing why we like it. As the old saying goes, we are little more than a sum of our experiences. Again, we are not always cognitive of this process. We can carry certain likes and dislikes because our subconscious carries around an internalized fashion. This is why we flip open to a particular book and like it but don’t know why we like it. Then again, who cares why? The main thing of importance is that the reader has come across something he likes and is entertained by it. Spending too much time trying to figure out why we like it takes away from the experience. The joy of reading is in the being. Deviating from this can undermine the very joy that we seek.