Skip to main content

Week Eleven: Contemporary Comics

This week for comics as contemporary literature I read Transmetropolitain by Warren Ellis and The Bus by Paul Kirchner. I think it’s really refreshing to see contemporary comics grow up a little with their audiences and tackle more literary topics. I love the simple yet somewhat profound themes handled in The Bus, and really enjoy stories in general that create a space to break the rules, leaving one magic stationary place that you can count on, piloting through the madness with the regularity and drollness of a bus stop.


I also thoroughly appreciated the subtle nods towards Hunter S Thompson in Transmetropolitain – although I hardly think the good doctor himself would have approved. In one of his documentaries, Thompson goes into a bloody rant in the middle of his kitchen when the first directors set to direct Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas try and turn his famous San Francisco “Wave” speech into a cartoon. Thompson hated being characterized, especially as a cartoon. When asked about his reaction to the Doosnbury character “Uncle Duke” at a Colorado lecture, Thompson expressed both anger and irritation stating, “Some people grow up and want to be firemen, and some want to be president; nobody wants to grow up and be a cartoon character.” According to his first wife Sandra, Thompson often struggled with separating himself with the image he created of Raoul Duke. This duplicitous situation often created an uncomfortable set of expectations by his admirers, which he wasn’t always comfortable with.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week Thirteen: Webcomics

The greatest web comic I’ve ever read – and possibly the greatest web-comic of all time, is without a doubt Steve Lichman by Dave Rapoza and Dan Warren https://rapozacomics.carbonmade.com/projects/5313679 I think Steve Lichman is a great example of why web comics are so successful. The rough linework and simple color palate give it a personal touch, while the relatively short panel size make it quickly rewarding and easy to scroll through. It really feels like someone’s labor of love, that they come home to each night and scribble out when the mood hits. It also looks like something one of your friends might’ve drawn, and I think that makes the comic feel more personal and contemporary. It s simplicity also makes it feel more visceral, like all of its guts are right there on the page for you to see. Another thing that I think makes it so successful is the overall tone, and the humor and wit, that seem to seep out of every panel. It’s freaking hilarious, and I think that the hu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week Twelve: Comics by Women

I was really impressed by the comic Pretty Deadly, although I think the title could use some work. One of my friends from the Air Force used to be obsessed with Taylor Momsens band “Pretty Reckless” and I always used to give him a hard time about how teen-angst that name sounded.. In all seriousness the comic was awesome. I loved the art; the line work was expressive and detailed, charged with life and beautifully orchestrated. The colors were also phenomenal, and really added to the overall tone of the story. I also really liked how such non-traditional narrators were narrating the story almost like a fable. It seemed to allow for bending of the worlds rules – like having the vulture girl come in as an actual vulture in the first volume. I never would have questioned the legitimacy of a comic based on the sex of its creators, but its awesome to see such slam-dunk work out there in the name of equality.  
Post a Comment
Read more

Week Nine: The Wide World of Comics

This topic has special interest to me, because of the particularly nostalgic and poignant time in my life when I discovered people like Moebius and Jodorowsky. I was assigned to do six months in the Beale Air Force base Honor guard, when in my off time I stumbled across a torrent with the entire Jean Giraud archive. Far up north in the foothills of Tahoe, for that entire green and rainy California spring, in between flag folding ceremonies and funerary rifle firing - I was absolutely immersed. There are many incredible things about the work of Jean Giraud; his soft ethereal colors, his borderline mystic line quality and geometrically grounded spirituality, his philosophy on art, his humor, its really hard to pick one aspect of his work to rave about. Ultimately his incredibly detailed and sometimes delicate draftsmanship, mixed with his use of both silent and worded storytelling makes for a fantastically engrossing experience. The only thing more fantastic than being absorbed by o...
Post a Comment
Read more