The Future of Comics

This week I read both Stand Still Stay Silent and Strong Female Protagonist. Web-comics opens up a new venture in the comics medium. It’s accessible to a wider range of audience, and the content that is created is not necessarily restricted by companies/publishers. The work in both these web comics are reflective of a more artist focused schedule and experimentation. One of my favorite things about Stand Still Stay Silent is the limited color palette and the use of a narrative that builds from a prologue set in the past before going into the post-apocalyptic future.  

The other comic, Strong Female Protagonist is a standard superhero comic that ends up being a more focused on the coming of age portion in college (and the fears of the having powers around people who don’t). It also puts a slight twist on the genre with her having a celebrity status beforehand (and with no secret identity to boot). The web comic that both of these stories are in are easy to navigate/user friendly. The advantage of this format is that it invites readers in without the overwhelming nature of finding issues and it can allow direct conversation with the creator through the comments section (which can be a blessing or a curse). Another advantage of the web comic format is the almost binge quality nature of it (this varies from story to story). Instead of having to wait monthly or bi-monthly for an issue, comics would update almost weekly. 

For the web comic that I have found, is Sabrina Cotugno’s The Glass Scientists. Not only is the art really appealing, but the story takes a twist on the classic Victorian era fictitious science stories, with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as one of the main protagonists. It has been running for about four years now, and has a continuous storyline. A big plus to this being a web-comic (or without the restrictions of mainstream publication) is that the main cast of characters are diverse. 

Web comics are very much the future of the comics industry, as long as it keeps its creative synergy and creative freedom. 

Superheroes Reconsidered

The comics that I have decided to read for this week is Black Panther World of Wakanda and some pages from the Christopher Priest collection of Black Panther. To be upfront the comics were definitely not very much like the movie, at least in tone. Christopher Priests run had some bitingly funny moments (like the very first page, with Ross on the toilet). The stories themselves tended to be darker, and in the case of the World of Wakanda issue that I read, Black Panther hadn’t shown up (instead, focusing on the side characters and world building). There is a deeper understanding of the character when the world is fleshed out and the people writing the scripts know what they are writing about which  gives a more authentic representation that didn’t exist at the beginning.

 Comics like Black Panther are important to the continuation of comics and the continuation of making comics that can appeal to anyone other than the white heterosexual man. It expands readership, content, and inspires others to tell their stories. For that, reconsidering the superhero, especially in our time, is essential both for new stories and as a step towards cultural/social representation in media. Superheroes should reflect our current days, and, in my opinion, should offer a hope towards a brighter future. This isn’t always the case, and with Alan Moore’s work, the characters are more human than super, virtues and vices and all. Which, with the right characters, is a fantastic way to delve into the psychology and deeper societal themes. 

Comics by Women

The comic that I had read for this week is Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. I had previous known about this work from the stage musical adaptation of it, but was curious about the original comic (I had no idea it was a comic beforehand). For me, personally, it was hard for me to pin point my exact feelings towards the work. At, to an extent, I think that’s the point. Alison Bechdel is trying to come to terms with her father’s suicide, his repressed sexuality (and the not great stuff that came along with that), and her own coming to terms with her growing sexuality. It’s messy, and deeply personal, and doesn’t try to completely justify the behaviors of her father. Instead the comic calls back to the confessional comics movement, where the comics were built as a cathartic way of examining one’s self. 

 Fun Home is then more than a recollection of the past, but a way to make sense of it in order to continue forward. A part of what I think makes Fun Home important in comics in general is the raw honesty and a dry humor that is interwoven throughout the narrative. It deals with topics that underground comics dealt with, but now it is more mainstream and so forth reaches a wider audience with more critical acclamation. It’s a reading that gives strength, and also shows how internalized homophobia can hurt a person deeply. The people within Fun Home are tragically human, and I find that to be its most appealing quality. 

Comics as Contemporary Literature

For this reading I chose My Favorite Thing is Monsters, mostly because I thought the illustrative work on the backdrop of a notebook was really cool. At first the reading was a bit daunting, as it was walls and walls of text. However, the use of bulky text along with the ballpoint illustrations gives the graphic novel a personal, diary quality.

 Because of this, the story in it of itself felt like I was reading something personal. It’s also interesting that the main character that we follow is one of the few that are truly depicted as a monster (whereas everyone else seems to be very humanoid with more grotesque/caricatured features). It almost feels like the narrator/author of the “diary” views themselves as a monster (though not necessarily in a negative light). 

In fact, a lot of the true monsters were depicted as being entirely human (the lady at the diner telling a character that he didn’t belong there, or the two men with ill intentions who had jumped out of the car towards a woman walking down the street). My Favorite Thing is Monsters is experimental in format, and manages to work in a way that I feel like only works with this type of story and art. The use of iconic imagery in the horror genre is important in connecting the audience further with the story. Recognizing how vampires behave, or how movie monsters in general behave gives the audience a point of reference that grounds the story (even if the main character is a monster, it’s still realistically portrayed). 

Manga and the Japanese Comics Tradition

When reading Osamu Tezuka’s work, I am reminded of how influential his work has been on the content that had inspired me to go into animation. So, when reading his work, it’s almost like going back to the roots. Astro Boy was the work I was most familiar with, so I ended up reading his Buddha series. What I found interesting about it is that there is an overall serious tone to the novel, but there is also a very distinct Disney feeling or reference at the very beginning, with the designs of the forest animals. Of course, when the rabbit sacrifices himself as food, it becomes apparent that the story is much more geared towards adults. 

This is a distinction that I find to be becoming more common in western comics/animation as a result of manga influence. In which more mature themes are being explored/discussed in ways and styles that were originally deemed as too child orientated. Tezuka’s work is stylistically appealing and is iconic in the designs of the characters (especially with the use of the big eyes, which is heavily prevalent in manga/anime). 

I had actually read manga before reading comics. I had also watched anime in the form of Pokémon before venturing into other cartoons and forms of media. It’s a part of my childhood that has continued to inspire to push forward with artistic ventures. 

Wide World of Comics

For this assignment, I ended up reading Moebius 1 Upon a Star. I had been introduced to Moebius through art assignments and still images, but hadn’t actually read the comics that the images were from. One of my favorite aspects of the Moebius comic is how richly developed the world is, along with the simplicity (and yet detailed) of the art. The use of science fiction in this comic can be seen as highly influential of modern day science fiction (especially in its visuals of urban decay, and bright-almost pastel color scheme). One of my favorite visuals/aspects is when the main character hooks his mind to the ship in order to pilot it. It’s a concept that I’ve seen in later sci-fi works, that I semi-wonder if these works were inspired by Moebius. 

Something that I also appreciated about Upon a Star was the scope of the work, in which the characters are driving the plot in a way where we get a payoff for previous events. The characters are interesting, and relatable (there is one moment when a character has just cooked, and when Stel shows up with dirt all over him, the other character just says you can’t eat with dirty hands, and the next panel shows them eating with Stel cleaned up. It reminded me of how my parents would chastise my sister and I if we showed up to the dinner table without washing our hands first). It was a small moment in a large sci-fi adventure that made the story feel more grounded.

Stereotyping

The use of stereotyping in animation (or in entertainment in general), acts as a negative conduct of association. There is a tendency to visually connect certain aspects of one’s character, and the connotations behind them. Stereotypes are generally rooted in ethnic, racial, homophobia, etc. in order to cast people as “the others”. It’s harmful to those who are affected by it because it “justifies” the phobias and racism (even those labeled as a “joke”). There was a push in animation to use various caricature features to make a character “recognizable”, however this is starting to be said less and less. Instead stereotypes are starting to mean actions or situations that are instantly recognizable to the audience (still not entirely great).

There are instances of satirical stereotyping, and for those it’s best to look at what those who are being satirized are saying. It’s important to read works of fiction that are made by people who are not in the white, heteronormative space. March, by John Lewis is a good example of how racial stereotyping is not needed in any capacity. The story recounts John Lewis life and eventual political career sparked by the Civil Rights movement. The comic expresses how deeply racism has and still to this day impacts our society (both socially and structurally). I loved March for this, and also for how visually beautiful the novel was. The people were portrayed with relative realism (with some hints of cartooning). It contrasts with Will Eisner’s theory of using stereotypes; the little old white lady is not a kind grandmother, but instead a racist who runs out of the bathroom (March, Book One, pg. 95).