 In the early 1960s Lichtenstein 's theme of comics @-@ based work was hotly debated . In a 1963 New York Times article , Brian O 'Doherty wrote that Lichtenstein 's work was not art , saying Lichtenstein was " one of the worst artists in America " who " briskly went about making a sow 's ear out of a sow 's ear . " This was part of a widespread debate about the merits of Lichtenstein 's comic blow @-@ ups as true art . In January 1964 Life ran a story under the title " Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S. ? " on this controversy . Later reviews were much kinder and Todd Brewster noted that this may have been motivated by popular demand saying in Life in 1986 that " Those cartoon <unk> may have disturbed the critics , but collectors , tired of the solemnity of abstract expressionism , were ready for some comic relief . Why couldn 't the funny pages be fine art ? " Although his work is now widely accepted , there remain critics who continue to raise issues about it such as the claim that every comic @-@ based work was done without attributing the original creators , nor paying any royalties or seeking permission from the original copyright holders . David <unk> has dedicated decades to identifying all of Lichtenstein 's source materials and has posted over 1000 images on Flickr detailing Lichtenstein 's unrecognized sources . 
