Week 11: Comics as Contemporary Literature

This week we looked into comics as contemporary literature.  I wish when I was in elementary and high school we could’ve gotten more comics as assigned literature.  Illustrated school books were my initiation into what I now pursue as a career.  So as an alternate reading selection for this week I chose to look over Craig Thompson’s Habibi.

I want to buy a personal copy of this graphic novel someday.  The amount of work Thompson puts into detail with his pen and ink is inspiring.  You find yourself staring at the patterns derived from Islamic art techniques.  The story is very entertaining also.  The way Craig Thompson gives us multiple storylines is very seamless and surprisingly not that confusing considering how the juxtaposing of multiple stories could easily get tedious and hard to understand.  But it flows nicely.  It really caught me off guard at first with the content.  Not for kids… that’s for sure.  It is definitely geared toward the young adult and older crowd.  But I love the middle eastern influence.  The Biblical mythological story, derived from aspects both present in Islamic and Christian traditions, of the great flood, and of God’s creation of letters was just really fun to read.  I really enjoy his style of work.

Contemporary literature is an extremely diverse field.  The new generations of children are raised, more and more, on visual stimulation.  So it is my hope that the influence and prestige of the graphic novel continue to grow.  It is groundbreaking works like this that just excel in literary and illustrative quality that are the future for the graphic novel industry.  Just like Japan pioneered in the future of what is robotics, among other things, I think they also have set an example for the impact of the graphic novel in society.  The significance of visual storytelling to us is huge.  We are imaginative creatures, that is what drives us back to childhood when most of the time our imagination could entertain ourselves.  Graphic novels are visual escapes that take us away from the daily worries and entertain us.  But also looking back at history it is not surprising to me when the original printings of classics such as Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, had beautiful illustrations by Gustave Doré.  Versions that were very popular, and were a prelude to the masterpieces of graphic novel work out there today and the ones to come.

Week 7: Maus and the Legitimization of the Graphic Novel

This week we looked into Art Spiegelman’s Maus and the legitimization of the graphic novel.  This iconic work served to create a foundation for the acceptance of the graphic novel in the mainstream literary market.  So acclaimed it was that it was brought to many school class curriculums and was reviewed in major magazines and newspapers.  Breaking away from the “underground comics” scene, the era of more serious and artful comics that Spiegelman pioneered with Maus led to a popular response from the general audience and an overall acceptance of the graphic novel as a legit literary art form, and also a potentially useful learning mechanism for children and young adults.  But not only do the young ones get to enjoy this work, but also older adults can obtain great entertainment from reading Maus. 

World War II was one of the most tragic times in human history, needless to say.  That is why whenever somebody touches the subject, be it in a literary, illustrative, or other type of way there is certain respect that must be taken.  There are still survivors of the Holocaust that are still alive, and countless families with some relation back to those times.  So my initial thought was of confusion, to think that a graphic novel with mouse-people could’ve been any type of respectful way to depict a Holocaust survival story.  This fact did raise many eyebrows and bad criticism at the time of its publishing.  But the fact that a Pulitzer prize was given to Spiegelman made me reconsider my first judgment of the novel, and after reading it I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Maus takes you back in time.  It’s funny because you wouldn’t think so, with Spiegelman’s cartoony style.  But from the first page, the simple, yet real dialogue just grabs you.  I really enjoyed the way that Spiegelman wrote the dialogue of the older Jewish characters, because even though there are messed up words and broken sentences, it is real.  There’s something about being authentic that just goes a long way, no matter what realm of art you’re working in.  Also, in any other context I would have probably hated Spiegelman’s illustrations.  But they go perfectly with the story.  Spiegelman’s style is gritty, sketchy, imperfect, squiggly black and white.  Not really my cup of tea, but it just fits.  The panels look like they were originally drawn on the back of napkins at a bar, but for that same reason they go with the story.  The consistency of his style helps create an older, grittier mood, that relates to wartime in the 1930’s eastern Europe.  This is something that through this literature of comic books class has changed a bit with me, because from now on I will give equal weight to the storyline as I do the illustration work.  Even though I will always be partial to the illustration work, being an artist myself.  But Maus is one of those few works that brings a great story through simple panel works.  It is a moving and emotional production that will stand the test of time as one of the more artistically important tributes ever made to the story of Holocaust survivors.

Week 13: Reconsidering the Superhero

This week we looked into reconsidering the status of the superhero.  It’s hard to stay relevant.  Many things; genres, objects, traditions; have become things of the past through the years.  In the comics industry, the relevance of a character is only equal to his/her/or it’s (if it’s an otherworldly being) popularity.   There is a surplus of superheroes from past decades that did not last too much time in print.  For whatever reason people just lost interest.  It has taken the efforts of talented artists, and in most cases the help from financially sound publishers, to keep reviving and reinventing superheroes.  Bringing an adult atmosphere to the stories of these superheroes served to appeal to the young adults and older collectors that have grown up through time with them.

One of the artists in recent history to bring a cinematic feel to his comic book stories is Frank Miller.  Along with Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and others, Frank Miller was very influential and distinct in his work, something which granted him a huge following, and the ability to transition into other genres such as film making.  With a very distinct style, Miller draws a lot from pulp fictions and film-noir type of stories which had a dark black/white quality to them, using dramatic lighting.  His original style brought popularity back to the Daredevil, Batman, among other characters, and was able to propel the success of his own independent work through Dark Horse comics with Sin City and 300.  He also wrote scripts for two Robocop movies, and all of the titles mentioned above enjoyed success in the box office.

As part of my reading I looked into Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One this week. Definitely one of the best Batman stories ever published.  Even though I enjoyed the last series of Batman movies, I wish they would have based one off of this comic book. He makes it feel more like a biographical story rather than a fictional superhero.  He brings a lot of grittiness and realness to his characters.  Not to mention with the help of David Mazzuchelli illustrating it, this is definitely one of Miller’s best works, and a great example of the modern revival of superheroes.  The fact that there are few heroes coming out today with the same popularity and personality as those in the past says a lot about the work put in by these artists.  We’ll see how many icons the early 2000’s will produce for the years ahead.

Week 10: Manga and the Japanese Comics Tradition

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This week we discussed Manga and the Japanese comics tradition.  Starting from Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, Japanese manga and anime have developed a cult following over the decades internationally.  A special fan base was produced when these graphic novel and animated productions were introduced to the United States.  I remember as a young kid back in the 90’s to the early 2000’s anime had a huge impact on me.  Without a doubt it helped to spark my interest in going into art professionally.

It is not my goal anymore, but around eight or nine years ago I used to dream of going to Japan and becoming a manga artist.  I had read some random cool samurai graphic novels such as Vagabond, and Rurouni Kenchin with his backwards sword.  I was hooked on the early years of Toonami in Cartoon Network too where Dragon Ball Z was king. But when Shonen Jump magazine made it’s debut for the U.S market I pre-ordered my first issue.  I loved it.  So much so that I wanted to learn the language and move. It’s nostalgic for me to remember reading those issues and learning these fun new stories I hadn’t heard of, like the pirate adventures in One Piece and Naruto, which became a huge hit in the U.S after that.  What always got me was knowing that over in Japan kids where already into newer stories than what we were on to.

I’m not interested in becoming a manga artist in Japan anymore.  It’s crazy, because so many years ago I was so sure that I wanted to do that.  But through the years my art and my perspective on life took many turns, and even though I don’t deal with anime or manga in my illustration work I do recognize the immense influence it had on me.  Yes, like any other product and market in the Capitalist world we live in, the industry of manga and anime can be seen as a monster cranking out copies of similar faces and repetitive, sometimes senseless, storylines just for the sake of profit.  But throughout all that we can find the gems, old and new, that really create an impact.

Week 4:The Comic Book

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This week we discussed the rise of the Comic Book.  Starting as advertising giveaways, publishers put together books of issues of their comic strips, and with this introduced what we know as comic books.  People could read multiple parts of a storyline, or just several different stories of their favorite characters in these compilations in one sitting.  No longer did people have to wait for the next strip.  Instead a whole collection could be purchased at once.  Popularity among WWII soldiers was huge and lost of books were shipped to active men in the war.   But as that recognition grew, so did the criticizing of the media.  These books were seen as un-educational and juvenile, and underwent a lot of censorship through the 50’s and 60’s, eventually giving rise to underground comics movements.

 Something that comic books are responsible for is solidifying the popularity of costumed heroes.  Now that people could see larger stories of them, their fame was inevitable.  Amongst some of the earlier and cooler characters was Plastic Man, on which I looked over a few of his stories.  Originally made by a company called Quality comics, and later acquired by DC Comics, Plastic Man was a crime fighting superhero, created by Jack Cole.  He stretched and curved his body around all sorts of things, being able to bounce back bullets off of him and defend the innocent.  But the most awesome part of his story is that he was an ex-criminal, something unheard of at the time.  And not only that, but he was sympathetic to criminals and his enemies, often protecting them from the gunfire of police trying to chase them down, so that they could be taken alive.  Although he didn’t become as popular as Batman or Superman did, he was still largely influential to writers and artists of comics of later decades.  One of my favorite illustrators, Alex Ross, has depicted him more than once in his works as part of the Justice League, which to me really solidifies his status among important characters.  I think the character is cool enough that, with the right people behind, could merit a nicely produced animated feature.

Week 9: A Wide World of Comics

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A couple years ago, a friend of my mother gifted me a stack of his old comic books, upon hearing that I was studying Illustration at the Ringling art college.  They were all pretty cool, he even had the original V for Vendetta issues.  Among them too were two issues of a special 2 part edition of the Silver Surfer.  The art in these happened to be done by Moebius.

This week we discussed the work of European artists, who have been a great influence into the realms of science fiction and fantasy worldwide, in comics, but even also in movie productions.  One of the most influential was an artist named Jean Giraud from France.  He took the pseudonym Moebius and created many works of science fiction and fantasy with a very distinct abstract, almost surreal style.  He was part of a tradition called bandes desinées which translates into drawn strips from French and was the name given to the comics produced for French and Belgian audiences.  His body of work was huge in comics, like his Blueberry western series, Arzach, and The Incal.  Not only that, but he did great storyboard and concept work for the creation of movies such as the original Tron, Alien, and The Fifth Element.

The art in this two part Silver Surfer issues is amazing.  Through the story the Surfer battles Galactus, who had recently decided to arrive on Earth and proclaim himself God.  As a consequence, all part of Galactus’s genius, the people started to deify him, and whoever disobeyed was killed.  This created a lot of turmoil, and the people began to divide themselves and fight.  This prompted Silver Surfer to confront Galactus and what ensued was a battle of epic proportions…(and proportionally Silver Surfer looked like a shiny worm next to Galactus)  But it didn’t matter though, his speed was too much for Galactus who later on decided to just leave seeing that the Surfer was willing to fight him to the death to save humanity.  Moebius’s illustrations are awesome.  I love his work, because it is the type of work I eventually want to do.  Anytime an artist makes me feel like I’m watching a movie from looking at the panels he or she composed is inspiring to me.  His line work and use of colors is great, but his composition of scenes is even cooler to me. It’s people like him that give me hope for a successful future in the illustration field.
Moebius inspired sketch I did from the 1988 two issue limited seris "The Silver Surfer"...

Week 14: The Future of Comics

This last week we discussed what is to be the future of comics.  The age gap between people who buy printed comic books the old-school way, and the people reading comics on the web, is ever growing.  The average comic book buyer’s age is up in the 50’s and 60’s.  So it’s no wonder that their sales have dropped and so has their popularity.  But just like in a superhero story where it seems that doom has taken over…there’s still hope for the industry!  There has been a recent rise in numbers of comic book fans due to several blockbuster hits at the movie theatres this past decade.  The comic book industry has gained a lot of new followers.  So in return, their has been a spark of survival to the sales in printed comics, collectible toys, and also (something that interests me personally as an aspiring artist) special edition items like sculptures and illustrations.

Another reason there is some light at the end of the comics tunnel is the rise of web comics.  Independent artists that decide to post their sequential art on the internet now are just a scan and a click away.  It’s free to publish on the web.  It’s one of the best ways to showcase your art.  So if I’m an aspiring comic book artist and can’t get a major company to employ me yet, I can still publish work where there will be a potential audience.  And if eventually this audience grows to large enough numbers, big publishers will get interested and are more willing to publish these web sensations.

But with the free space of the web also comes a lot of crappy web comics.  Literally anybody can publish a comic on the web nowadays.  Hopefully they’ll stay in the shadows of unknown websites and blogs.  I looked through chapters of the web comic Rice Boy by Evan Dahm.  Even though I wasn’t too crazy about the drawings, I really liked his color usage and it really carries a lot of weight.  I checked into some other works of his and his blog, and some of his more finished works have a real nice digital quality to them, especially his Vattu: The Name and the Mark illustrations.