21st Century Comics

Here we enter into the comics of today, where all kinds of things are happening all at once, and the popularity of online comics has grown significantly. Online comics come into the forefront because they are easily, accessible and have an open variety that isn’t hindered by a publisher. It also allows the artist’s to update and move their story forward at heir own pace, with out a huge stress on deadlines and whether or not they sold enough. Many of the artists have areas in which you can donate and support them in their work. Allowing them to work at a job that supports this passion or at a place they are equally passionate for. This has allowed readers to really read and enjoy variety and get the updates they desperately wait for and contact with the creator. That is another thing that really is a nice thing, is the contact you get with the creator. They have blogs and places where you can ask them questions and interact with them freely, creating a sense of community through the Internet. They even give how to tips and enjoy getting to talk with their fans. It creates a more personal warmth than just getting a comic from the store, you don’t often get to ask those creators unless they happen to be at a convention. But online it’s just a click away. And that’s where I believe comics are headed, where their next big leap will be. Through the web comics will prosper with out limits in format and audience artists can be truly free to express themselves and have their own group of fans no matter how big or small. The only question that arises is how will companies compete with this when it becomes the go to format? Will a company arise that will just pay artists to publish on there cite and viewers just have to have a monthly subscription? Or will it stay by donation only? Only the future holds the answer and we can either watch or start it.

Superheroes Reconsidered

Superheroes tend to be eh today, in the sense that we know what’s going to happen. That no matter how many times you kill Superman he just comes right back up, with some deus ex machina trick. But the boom or in a way the pebble that fell into the pond and cause ripples was Alan Moore’s Watchman. Moore took our Greek pantheon like ideals of superheroes and made them horribly human, so much so that they became rather frightening. It was like when you meet your childhood hero and they are not what so ever what you expected them to be. The characters in Watchmen are really people you could meet or know in real life, and some of them you really could ever imagine saving your ass. With Moore he explore the consequences of people who became heroes to the public eye, how it affected them and their loved ones and their future generations. The perspective of making a hero human means we have to accept their mistakes and the monsters with in them. It means we have to give a cold hard look at what we at times have looked up to before and realize that we could do the same. We could try to help, even if that inexplicably destroys us; well at least we tried. Which really makes Watchmen interesting now with a second pass, because people who have to go through something that makes them a hero, truly has some psychological damaging aspect.

With Moore we really did get the ball rolling and have gotten new heroes that have become more close to reality than fantasy, in character. Now even our popular superheroes are beginning to be written less like Greek gods and more like people in horrible situations, with some powers thrown in. The idea of our heroes being more flawed than we have realized before is a mature idea. Its an idea that happens as you grow up. So as the older you get the more you see your heroes being closer to the ground than flying in the sky.

Women in Comics

I did the reading of Pretty Deadly another great comic from Image. I really enjoyed the idea of the story of Death’s daughter fighting against him like an old western folk tale. I particularly enjoyed the story-taking place in the old west, with a powerful female protagonist. It takes what is usually a male dominant genre and puts a twist with a main female protagonist and a balanced cast of characters.

 But for me I hate when someone says that is a comic for girls or its feminine. Women have written and illustrated work under male names and no one saw the difference. The only thing I can say is that you can get a different perspective on issues, but that is with any writer or artist, because there experiences and opinions go into their work. Now yes, female writers can bring in more cultural things and experiences women can relate to, of course. But that doesn’t make their merit as an artist any less, which is an issue today still. With more female artists and writers coming to the forefront we do get more variety and story that reader’s will be interested in, both male and female. And that is because you’re tapping into new stories and ideas. That have generally been ignored because they are labeled feminine. But I think that both men and women like the new Ms. Marvel because she is new and something different, something that real people can relate to. And there are comics coming out that in general people see as written specifically for women. But come on there are bronies. So with this opening up for female writers and artist, I think what were really seeing is an opening up to new stories and ideas. Which you get a lot more of from people who have barely has a voice in the industry before.

Contemporary Comics

I did the reading of Asterios Polyp a fantastic little graphic novel, a bit of slice of life and remembrance. It was interesting to see Asterios move from being a complete narcissistic asshole, to a thoughtful and a person willing to open up to other people. It comes about when his wife leaves him and his apartment catches fire and he decides to leave everything behind and begin anew. In this he is force to reflect on the man he’s become. Which happens to everyone at some point in their live, we have to have the ability to reflect upon ourselves to truly see how we can move forward and better ourselves. The comic really moves in that way, bits and pieces come up from his life that he reflects upon and his dead brother, who is our narrator, tells us his own thoughts. The use of the dead twin is really quite interesting, it really makes me think its more of the man Asterios has yet to become, because he hasn’t broken down his own barriers yet. And once he begins to you here less and less from his dead twin. Once Asterios has completely seen what he was and now is, he returns to his wife. This for me was my favorite moment. We see him finally with the person he could not show vulnerability to. And yet he stands out in the cold, after walking miles to get to her house, just to really be with her. He lets her talk, he actually compliments here work and he actually looks at her and is with her. Even though the end is open ended, it is a proper ending, because this is the start of his new life. He is no longer the same man, nor is she the same person. They are two new people reuniting, like reincarnations; they get to start all over again. And hopefully get it right.

Japanese Manga

Japanese manga has become a major influence in today’s comic book culture. The reasons leave some old prudes puzzled, but there is something about the stories and variety that interest a range of people.  Japanese manga has such a ridiculous amount of variety, that to try and create a overlying genre, is just too boorish. If you can think of  a lawyer that secretly wants to become the world’s greatest chef, there is a book for that, if you want something silly like a world where you can basically eat everything and that there are super powered people that capture unique foods, you got a story. If you want a story of a pirate looking for the most envied treasure in the world and there are fruit that can give you super powers you have that. Or f you simply want a slice of life of a group of girls trying to make it through high school you have that. The point is, is that Japan is open to variety, and it brings in viewers because it isn’t just the same old stories we’ve heard hear in the west. There is also a willingness to allow fans to join in on the fun, with some artists’ style’s being easy to mimic. So fan art can be put out into the public eye and basically its free advertisement for your work. The overall culture of it being beyond the manga and anime, to it being about cosplay and online forums, brings a closer nit group of people who enjoy the culture of it. Even though in the west we have this with our comic book conventions, you see more Japanese characters cosplayed than American.

And I think that’s because, were so used to our superheroes, that who really wants to be one of them. They don’t really seem to go on adventures, they are serious most of the time, to us they become farther from a normal person. Where even in anime a simple high school student, teacher, dog, cook, lawyer, anyone could become the hero in their own world. That is what attracts readers and viewers is no matter how out there and weird the characters can get there is something that is still more grounded than in some western comics.