The Future of Comics

I think web comics are definitely the future for the medium. More and more new comics that are rising in popularity in recent years either started as a web series or is entirely online. To be honest, I think it’s only natural that it move in this direction. I mean just about every form of print media is moving to digital format. A lot of newspapers and magazines have made the switch to digital and have stopped printing hard copies all together. Many books are being transferred to different forms of digital format. It was only a matter of time before comics did so as well.

            I’m not here to debate whether this switch is good or bad. Only time will tell in the long run. But we are living in the digital age and if a medium wants to survive it has to adapt. This new, more widely accepted format also makes it easier for artists to get their work out to the public. Before an artist would either have to work for a company drawing what they were told to draw, or be able to sell their comic to a publisher. Now anyone can post online and gain a following. The same goes for music artists when iTunes became popular. It became much easier for individuals to sell their music and break into the industry. The entertainment industry as a whole is a rapidly changing business. It always has been and it always will be.

            That being said, I don’t think any of the major comic companies are going to ever make the switch to solely one form or the other. They make far to much money in collector value with hard copy comics. But I do believe we are going to see many more online comics gain just as much popularity, if not more, than the titles held by the major companies today.   

Comics as Contemporary Literature

For this week I read Pride of Bagdad, a graphic novel that I had read once before in high school and enjoyed immensely. When I read it the first time, I was only just beginning to discover graphic novels as a form of real literature. I remember that it really resonated with me. I never thought comics could be this profound. Now I've discovered graphic novels that really are great works of literature, like Maus and Persepolis. It really is a whole new world of comics.

              The art for Pride of Bagdad is absolutely stunning and the story is beautifully heart breaking. I like that it’s not directly telling the story of the war, or even trying to take sides. There is a lot of symbolism that could be interpreted in many different ways but at the comic’s core it isn’t trying to take an outright political stance on the events. It is simply telling a beautiful story.

            I think the overarching theme of the story is that war is sad. It doesn’t matter who is fighting or for what reason, war is always devastating. There are losses on both sides, but neither side is painted as the bad guy. I think the lions make the perfect neutral party on the events. They don’t know what’s happening or why, they are simply trying to survive it.

            I think this graphic novel is a perfect example of comics taking a step to becoming contemporary literature. Something that can be read for it’s rhetoric and looked at in the same light as classic literature. Maybe someday graphic novels will become an average part of school curriculum, as they can be just as profound and educational as any literature that is taught today. One can only hope.   

Comics by Women

            For this week I read the Classics Illustrated Arabian Nights by Lillian Chestney. I’m already fond of classic fairy tales so this work was particularly enjoyable for me. The art gave it the feeling like it was coming directly out of a storybook. It was fun, imaginative and beautiful.

            It’s interesting to note that this comic was made by a woman and The Arabian Nights story also has strong female characters in lead roles. One could make the argument that Sharazade the main character of the story, as she is the one telling all the tales. She is praised for her cleverness in coming up with a plan to save her life. In the story of Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves, it is Morgianna that continuously saves Ali Babba’s life through her bravery and cleverness. It isn’t often in classic tales where women play more of a role than just a pretty face to be rescued.

            It is also something to be noted that none of the female characters are overly sexualized as I feel they probably would have been if a man had been making this comic. They are beautiful, yes, but in a respectful manner. In the story of the flying horse when the prince comes across the princess bathing, it isn’t sexualized at all. I have a feeling that if a man had been drawing that scene he would have taken full advantage of the “fanservice” of drawing the princess naked. But Chestney keeps it respectful. The princess remains fully clothed and the girl in the bath is only visible from the neck up. From someone who has had to put up with scantily clad female characters in superhero comics for years, this is something that I appreciate.    

Manga

Manga makes up a very large part of the comics that I read regularly. It’s been a part of my life almost as long as super hero comics have. I suppose I first discovered manga through anime. Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Pokémon, Yu Yu Hakusho; the classics that were on mainstream T.V. when I was a kid. Then my school’s library started carrying a few manga volumes and after that I was hooked. Of course, coming from a small town without much cultural diversity, shall we say, that always prompted the questions of “why is that book backwards? Why are their eyes so big? If it’s Japanese, why don’t the characters look Asian?” Suffice it to say, I was in the minority back home by way of taste in comics. Although I never lost my appreciation for them.

 I just love how it’s such a wide-ranging genre. There is something for everyone if they know where to look. Since most American comics, at least when I was growing up and had access to, were very limited in their audience. Since comics in Japan are accepted as a legitimate form of literature, they have been able to grow and mature over the years in a way that American comics never have. There were specific genres for me when I was young, a lot of action-adventure, sci-fi and comedy, and now that I’m older, there are still just as many genres that interest me and have matured with my tastes, like romance, horror and drama.

            Some of the classics that I have read in the past include Astro Boy, Cyborg 009, Barefoot Gen, and Akira, but there are many many more that I follow regularly. Black Butler, Attack on Titan, Noragami, Ouran High School Host Club, Pandora Hearts, Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note and so many others that I couldn’t even begin to list them all. Most of the time I get introduced to a manga through its’ anime. Since most anime adaptations either never finish the whole story or deviate from the original, I almost always read the manga after I finish the series. I think it says a lot for the genre as a whole that there are so many formats for the stories. It’s really a statement to how widely accepted it has become, especially in recent years. It’s become an entire culture in and of itself. If Japanese comics can grow like this, than there’s still hope for American comics as well.  

A Wide World of Comics

 For this week in the subject of European comics, I read Ranxerox. It was interesting to say the least. The art was very good. The mix between graphic styling and hyperrealism was interesting and all of the character designs were unique and different. It reminded me a bit of the underground comics from earlier in the year, but of a much higher quality.

            The tone reminded me a lot of sci-fi movies of the early 80’s like Blade Runner, and Total Recall. The idea of this sort of high technology, low moral future seemed to be popular in that time period. The not-quite-dystopian future where the control everything and death is completely overlooked and downplayed.

            It is also interesting to note that there are no “good guys” in this comic. We have our protagonists, Ranxerox and Lobna, but they are by no means good. And neither is anyone else in this story for that matter. Choosing a “hero” is pretty much picking who you dislike the least. Ranxerox is a murderer, Lobna is a drug dealer and is awful to her robot “boyfriend” and everyone else is a mixing pot of psychotic. An interesting way to do a comic, but I guess for the type of future they were aiming for it kind of fits.