The Comic book in the modern era

The two aspects of the modern Graphic novel and Comic book that stand out most to me are the way artists are experimenting with the form in a digital way, and the incomplete nature of many narratives. Very often an artist will create a blog, and on this blog they will have their art, and as a part of that art they will have an original character. While the character, or characters, themselves are very well developed, and often the world they exist in is developed as well, the thing most lacking is actual content for a story. An artist will spend hours developing and writing out a story, but when they try to put into the comic medium the work is much, much heavier than they might have previously anticipated. The artists bites off a little more than they can chew, as it were. The comic book and graphic novel has become such a normalized medium to our generation that the idea of the comic book, and the creation of our own becomes much more simple in our minds. We see so many every day, that the idea becomes if there are so many how hard can it be? The work load turns out to be much more of a commitment than coming up with a cute character and a neat world. The amount of dedication and work that goes into a comic is often much much greater than the artist believes, and their character never gets to their story.
On the other end of this predicament are the artists that not only have created a consistent narrative, but have experimented with new forms and mediums. The incorporation of technology into comics creates the possibility for entirely new ventures. Such as motion comics, which combines animation and the comic book. The best current work is almost always on the margin of comic and another medium. Technology and the internet really has opened up entirely new possibilities to artists and creators. The concept that all you need is to publish a story is a blog and the drive to create is an incredible development in our world. There is a comic out there for every kind of person, especially on the internet.

The Killing Joke

My initial response to the graphic novel is a pang of empathy for each character, the Joker in particular, having his back story unfurl as we're taken simultaneously through his story and that of the novel itself. Though we are almost forced to question the legitimacy of even his own memories through his actions and the way he speaks to the other characters, we are regardless forced to ask ourselves about the kind of extreme pain a man must endure to become what he has. How we are faced with the very true fact that at the end of it all, after shooting Barbara, and torturing the commissioner, after all that he's done he is still a person, and he was just like any one of us at one time. He was at one time just like any of the other characters, just a normal guy who had a rough time and the desire to do the right thing for the ones that he loves. How any number of terrible things could happen to any one of us, and how hard it might be to stay sane. Does it take a super hero mentality, and an almost super human strength of will to keep those desires within us, or are we all just one bad day from the edge. 

The aspect of the text that I connected with the most was the idea of the bad day, and fighting through the hurt. All people experience heart ache in one form or another, part of that heart ache is what I believe can bring us closer together, but what differentiates us from one another is how we cope and process our pain. Do we allow it to consume us and drive us mad, the way the Joker did, or do we allow it to make us stronger, and better than we were before our hurt, the way that the Batman has. The Joker allowed himself to see only futility and allowed that idea to consume his mind and drive him over the edge. Deeply seeded within him is an idea that the world is filled only with heart break and corruption of the soul, and that eventually everyone, in one way or another will be driven to the same point that he has. In a way he seeks primarily to be understood through his actions. His deeds, though horrifying, to him are a means of communication, of opening the eyes of the Batman and Gordon to his reality, the reality he exists in every moment of his life, of memories from before he was the Joker, and of what drove him to this point. As artists I suppose our goals are similar to his own. To be understood and to teach others the way we perceive our own worlds. We seek to help others reach a higher form of understanding through our stories or our work, though our efforts often lie more in line with that of the Batman, as a way to help save others from their own pain and situations.

This story would be best told through an animated medium. While the story itself is inherently human the live action form can often lose some of the over the top aspect and grit of the Joker and his work. Through the animated form the movements and twisted, at times inhuman portrayal of the Joker is much more suited for this field. While the characters themselves may be more believable as animated characters there are moments that may be lost in translation. Such as the tunnel scene where Gordon goes through and sees Barbara, this scene would likely have to be elongated to satisfy the animated form. Other scenes would also have to me modified and larger choices about the commissioners character, along with Batman would have to be made. While the two can be played primarily between the lines in the graphic medium, when putting them in motion and giving them a true voice, dramatic changes can be made in regards to how an audience views them. 

Women in Comics

The plight of women in the comic industry directly reflects that of the working woman in modern society, and her history of neglect and often mistreatment. As women began inundating themselves into the comic world there was a perception that the only stories that could be told by a female voice were that of a domestic variety. Often the comics women were asked to write were stories about a homemaker or children, having many of the most famous female illustrators of the early comics era drawing primarily children and cherubs with butterfly wings.  The misconception that these are the only stories women will relate to were a direct influence on what comics women were allowed to create, perpetuating the idea of the house wife and further derailing the desire to work for the modern women. While our society has progressed much farther than these ideas the fact still remains that many women are kept at a distance from the comic world, and while there are more female super heroes and artists they are often met with opposition or even violence. While the new Iron Man is a young black woman and the new Thor (wielder of Mjolnir) is a woman with cancer both characters were met with backlash from the comic community for the mere fact that they were women. Often the male audience neglects the very real fact that women comprise at least of not more than 50% of the current comic reading population, and we want stories that we can relate to, and not just "domestic" tales. The comics industry is and has always been a boys club, but as more and more women join the workforce they cannot be simply over looked and cast aside, if the comic industry cannot continue to accurately reflect the times as they are, many of the popular story arches and characters will be replaced with new ones, ones who had the chance to have a feminine voice and assistance. Comics have always been one step ahead of society, developing and shaping the world as we see it, as the comics artists reflected it, hopefully they continue to do so. As in the Diary of a Dominatrix I believe a woman's reality often differs from a mans fantasy.

The Graphic Novel as Literature

The concept of using animation and comics as a method to tell a historic or literary story is an incredible convention for these methods of storytelling. Such as in Asterios Polyp many of the techniques, such as the use of color and the way the design is able to convey a deeper meaning for the interaction of the characters. When Asterios and his wife first meet their colors are entirely separate, and they exist within different worlds, while as they come to know one another better, and they slowly form into one, their world develops into purple. While this could have been done in a conventional novel I believe it's more effectively displayed when using the graphic medium as opposed to a purely verbal one. The strong ideas, and deeper meanings that animation and comics is able to convey to the reader makes them an entirely viable, and in some cases even more effective method of storytelling than more traditional mediums. Using animation as a way to tell a documentary, such as Barefoot Gen, can be a means of conveying horrifying, and critically important aspects of our histories that may lose some of this gravity when presented in a traditional film making way. The idea of all aspects of learning, the visual, and the verbal coming together in one form to tell stories and show the reader a new way of thinking are impeccable. Comics and animation have never been, and should not become, just a thing for children. Even the most popular children's comics can still teach adults valuable things about themselves and the world around us. Animation and comics are a crucial building block in our society, and I hope that we can continue to use, and develop these mediums even more in the years to come.

Manga and Anime

In the animation field today it can be extraordinarily difficult to find an artist or animation house that wasn't, at least in one way or another, shaped by Manga or anime. The stylization and complexity of movements have both eased their way into our media. Looking at the styles companies like Disney and DreamWorks use there is a distinctly Manga inspiration behind the design of the eyes, and the exaggerated ways that characters move and interact with one another. Perhaps the reason these styles are so effective for children's movies and the often outlandish plot lines of manga is the simplified form allows for a heightened suspension of disbelief. Considering the popularization of manga in Japan came post World War 2 the assumption can likely be made that a great portion of the population would be looking to escape from their own realities and experience another, one that they could easily insert themselves and leave everything else behind. The style and archetypes present in most manga lend itself greatly to this use. The main characters often being not as complex and even sometimes bland, allowing for those reading them to easily substitute themselves for the main character. This idea coupled with the accessibility of early manga, and a societal norm for both children and adults to enjoy it could explain why manga has persisted as the wildly popular medium it is. As opposed to the United States where comics are often considered something that kids read, or that "nerds" only enjoy, the normalization of manga allows for it to be a much more diverse and successful field. Another aspect which makes anime and manga perhaps more desirable than American Comics is the concept that not only a small group of Mutated or Super-humans matter, but that all people matter. In manga one of the reasons many main characters are so bland is to highlight the notion that all people have value, all people have something to offer and contribute, no matter how small or menial their lives appear to those on outside. All people have a talent and place, and we all simply need to find ours, and accept that.

European Comics and Animation

I was incredibly drawn to the idea of caricature in French animation especially. The Triplets of Belleville being among the most visually stunning movies that I've been exposed to in quite a long time. What French animation seems to do, which I've also seen in the Little Prince, was an absence of fear when designing characters. There was no set design, there are no two characters that look entirely alike. The idea of pushing a character to the extremes of their visual appearances and allowing those ideas and actions to speak for themselves. There was no trepidation in allowing the artists and designers to fully express their stories through all aspects of the animated medium. While the Little Prince is heavy with dialogue The Triplets of Belleville really struck me as a story anyone could grasp easily. Not only due to the caricature but the fact that it was for the most part an entirely silent feature. A person across the world who's never even heard of France could see this and understand it as perfectly as a born and raised Parisian. The way that comics and film can transcend geographic, cultural, and lingual barriers astounds me.
The stories that we tell as humans are universal ones. No matter age, ethnicity, location, or language, our stories are our own and they are human ones, and all people should have access to these ideas and works of art. The concept of a company or group of people having dominion or control over these stories and essentially childhood is detrimental to the growth and production of these mediums, and in my opinion to the development of humans themselves. Everyone has a story, and everyone should have the chance to tell their story in whatever way they believe will best represent themselves and their vision.

Stereotyping and Cliché in the Comic Book

The most interesting aspect of the comic book and graphic medium to me is the way that it seeks to reflect the social climate of our reality as it is in any particular moment. The monkey characters in old Mickey Mouse comics, the sexualization of women in many comics, and the way the hero is almost always white. Stereotypes, which is nothing more than a fancy way of saying clipart, generally attempt nothing more than to coddle the reader into believing that the way they see the world through their own warped eyes is okay, and accepted. Rarely is it the case that a stereotype of an entire group of people is accurate, flattering, or even researched very thoroughly before having it illustrated, printed, and published. This issue of proper representation has always been crucial, but as our society develops to a place where it is increasingly more accepting, in theory, of women or people of color to have the same jobs, homes, lives, and salaries as the traditional white man this issue of representation is brought more the forefront. When a comic book, video game or movie is misrepresenting an entire subsection of their audience it is not only a bad business plan, which we all know can be a death sentence in our economy, but blatantly ignoring the woes and plights of (in some cases more than half) of their entire fanbase. We see these issues of misrepresentation and the harmful aspects of stereotyping constantly in the news. The young unarmed black man who's shot down for little more than walking down the street, and the privileged white male college swimmer who can sexually assault a woman with little more than a tap on the wrist.
The argument that a stereotype and clichés are crucial to story telling is not only misguided but harmful to the medium. It forces us back in time and makes accepting the changes of our society and reality as it is that much more difficult. Rarely is it the truth that stereotypes change as society does, and generally when they do it remains only to tell the more ignorant of us that their uninformed, and often fear driven opinions are correct, and that they shouldn't feel anything but alright for having them, when in fact they are incredibly detrimental to human growth. Especially if you are a member of one or often the case may be more than one of the marginalized people. Representation from observation will always be a more powerful, more accurate, and more interesting form of storytelling, and to believe otherwise is to have your head in the past.