This is a couple weeks late...but honestly, I just wasn't sure how to respond. I don't care what kind of pretentious mental gymnastics you have to do to consider them "important" or "artistic," I'm just going to say they kind of suck. Basically, just the taste of them I got from skimming gave the impression that their makers had missed some major fundamental development along the way. Obviously, huge amounts of political unrest ("totally reflects the time!") and extreme sexism, racism, and other isms ("totally raw, dude!"). All in all, most of these comics seemed to make people feel okay with their darkest, lowest interests in some cases and, on the other end of the spectrum, to simply "offend." Offending doesn't make for much of a purpose. Like trying to please everyone around you, living off of their offense leaves one with very little personality of his or her own.
Subject matter aside, I had trouble reading just because of the art styles used. These "artists" would obviously be rather useless drawing anything else. I know what you're going to say: "They didn't need to draw anything else. Just drawing their characters in their style was all they needed to get whatever message across." Yeah, but...ya know, that's not too interesting from an artistic viewpoint. Basically, these comics leave a lot to be desired. I've seen some of these same types of things reflected in webcomics today, but usually not quite as offensive material-wise. I guess they're the awkward teenage phase of the development of comics, the one where you look back and either shake your head while smiling that it happened or else try your best to suppress it's existence and your knowledge of it. Oy, can we not do that again?
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Contract with God
Will Eisner's Contract with God was....unexpected. Between the style, stories, and storytelling, it felt transitional, which of course it was. The drawings find themselves somewhere between charicature and and noir, with very inky lines and shading--sometimes to the point that it's difficult to read the image at a first glance. In the opening pages, for example, we see a man coming in from the rain who is just about melting into his surroundings from the water dripping off his coat and hat. (Eisner sure does loves his rain!)
The stories were much darker than what's been seen in the past, thus they almost work against the drawings, which retain a bit of a goofy stylized quality. But they're so serious, revealing a huge amount of dispair and mediocrity. In the end, it's just to explain the characters of this neighborhood, their hopes and dreams as well as the reality that they will probably never escape.
This is, supposedly, the first use of the word "Graphic Novel," because it's simply not a comic...at least, not the way the comics before were. The first few pages especially read more as illustrations than comic panels due to their openness. The text, as is common, is hand-lettered looking something like how grade schoolers print. Unfortunately, at least to me, this seems to almost make a joke of the seriousness of the situation, as well as the way it's told.
The stories were much darker than what's been seen in the past, thus they almost work against the drawings, which retain a bit of a goofy stylized quality. But they're so serious, revealing a huge amount of dispair and mediocrity. In the end, it's just to explain the characters of this neighborhood, their hopes and dreams as well as the reality that they will probably never escape.
This is, supposedly, the first use of the word "Graphic Novel," because it's simply not a comic...at least, not the way the comics before were. The first few pages especially read more as illustrations than comic panels due to their openness. The text, as is common, is hand-lettered looking something like how grade schoolers print. Unfortunately, at least to me, this seems to almost make a joke of the seriousness of the situation, as well as the way it's told.
The Adventures of TinTin
With the new movie out so recently, I've been hearing a lot about this series lately. Though I had seen the character before, I had never known anything about the comic itself, except that its popularity was mainly in Europe. After reading it, I can see why it's so insanely popular there...and slightly saddened that I didn't have TinTin as a kid.
Unlike many other comics of the time, it seems to have a certain level of intelligence behind it. Despite how simply they are drawn, the characters are smart, and the writer seems to have had a lot of interest and knowledge of other places and cultures. Traveling across the world makes for surprisingly fun and interesting stories, and TinTin makes for a surprisingly strong character. In the comic I read, TinTin travels to Tibet in search of his friend who may have died in a plane crash (surprisingly dark I thought). He's of course with his loyal, if grumpy companion Captain Haddock as well as his dog Snowy. What shocked me most about this story is that I actually learned things about Tibetan culture. Learning! In a comic! Ha! (Seriously, I was crosschecking information with google as I read out of curiosity, and TinTin was fairly accurate with names and customs.) That isn't to say there isn't a fair amount of stereotyping. It's still there to an extent, but in that naive way that saturates most things from that era. The style it's drawn in really sings with me. The characters are cartoony enough to be likable, but realistic enough in shape and body that they can believably exist in this world.
Unlike many other comics of the time, it seems to have a certain level of intelligence behind it. Despite how simply they are drawn, the characters are smart, and the writer seems to have had a lot of interest and knowledge of other places and cultures. Traveling across the world makes for surprisingly fun and interesting stories, and TinTin makes for a surprisingly strong character. In the comic I read, TinTin travels to Tibet in search of his friend who may have died in a plane crash (surprisingly dark I thought). He's of course with his loyal, if grumpy companion Captain Haddock as well as his dog Snowy. What shocked me most about this story is that I actually learned things about Tibetan culture. Learning! In a comic! Ha! (Seriously, I was crosschecking information with google as I read out of curiosity, and TinTin was fairly accurate with names and customs.) That isn't to say there isn't a fair amount of stereotyping. It's still there to an extent, but in that naive way that saturates most things from that era. The style it's drawn in really sings with me. The characters are cartoony enough to be likable, but realistic enough in shape and body that they can believably exist in this world.
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