Underground Comics

Once the comic industry had taken off, many of the artists who wished to publish their works could only do so through a monopoly of publishers. Because of this the work became censored and less diverse. The publishers were only concerned with what will sell and not about the quality or subject matter of the content. As a result of this, many artists chose to go underground to publish their works, since there were no censors in place to stop them. A good majority of the work published deals with adult themes and situations. For example, sex, drugs and violence. There is no filter in the underground so that means anything can get published.

I read the “Tijuana Bibles” for this week. Let’s just say that this is straight pornography with no real plot what so ever. This was a little uncomfortable to read but I guess that was the point of it. This was targeted towards a specific audience and I guess I’m not a part of that audience.

The art style bothered me as to how little detail was put into it. It reminded me of Japanese woodcuts because of the thick lines and linear shading. But for the budget that it had I guess the style is appropriate for the content. A crude style for crude subjects.

Will Eisner

Will Eisner’s “The Spirit” is one of the first quality comics involving a masked hero next to Batman and Superman. The Spirit is a detective story, similar to that of Batman. The similarities between Batman and the spirit stem from the competition at the time. The desire for a masked detective was very popular during the time so many comic creators sought to create just that.

Will Eisner drew inspiration from the film noir genre and cashed in on the popularity of it. This made his work stand out both in content and in style. I read the first issue and picked up on this right away within the first few pages. The slightly fantastical nature of the comics added a sense of excitement and helped keep the story from being the stereotypical hero vigilante story.

Will’s other work, “A Contract With God” is considered one of the first graphic novels to be published by a major company. Although I never had the chance to read this I have heard how it deals with realistic and difficult subjects in a way that was never done before.

The difficulty to get his work published spoke to the censorship of comics at the time. Even today, the media still seeks to censor some works. The public was conditioned to think that comics were pure and innocent and for kids, but through his graphic novel, Eisner pushed through and set off the movement of adult topics in the graphic narrative.

Carl Barks

Carl Barks is famous for his work at Disney on the Donald Duck comics. For the better half of his career, he remained anonymous as an artist for Disney. Many artists that worked for Disney remained anonymous during their time at the company. They mostly did all the work and Disney took all the credit. For the longest time while he did remain anonymous, he signed his work with a signature barking dog so that it was known that it was his work. He was given the name “Good Duck Artist” after he was no longer anonymous.

The issue that I read was “The Beauty Business”. This issue focused on Donald running a beauty parlor and evidently giving Daisy a makeover.

This issue speaks to the self image that women have and how even in children’s comics this issue of beauty is engrained into the minds of the audience. Throughout the issue, Daisy’s Niece’s seek to sabotage Donald’s efforts to help Daisy. This undermines her self confidence and only further leads to the moral of the story. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that one shouldn’t put so much effort into what other people think.

This is good for the younger audience reading this because it teaches them of society’s messed up expectations of beauty.

The style that Barks chose to use for this is exaggerated and over the top. He uses bright color and expressive lines to give a hint at the ridiculousness of the topic.

"Little Nemo"

“Little Nemo in Slumberland” by Winsor McCay is one of the first well known weekly comic strips of the time. It tells of the adventures of a little boy named Nemo embarking on grand adventures in his dreams. The comic always begins with Nemo in his bed where he meets a character from one of his dreams. That character then whisks him away in some magical form. After his grand adventure, he ends up back in his bed. After this adventure, he fell out of bed at the end of the strip.

This speaks to the psyche of the child and how they fall back to their imaginations; especially during times of distress or change. The comic was created and ran before, during and after WW1. This was a time where instability reigned over the world and everyone was unsure of the future. Many people turned to comics and art during this time which provided a sense of escape for those affected. This goes for Nemo as well. He escapes into the world of dreams to avoid the reality that is all around him.

The overall feel of the comic is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz. Both of which came into being during times of conflict and instability. People needed a little fantasy in their lives and these creators took advantage of this.

The art style is very colorful and well drawn. The style is distinct enough to set it apart from other comic works of the time.

"Understanding Comics"

In Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, the thing that struck me the most is how we recognize things. We don’t see things as objects or words, instead the are actually icons. We just associate them as something more than they actually are. I had never thought about this before I read the graphic novel.

Another thing that it put into perspective for me is the difference in styles and storytelling in different geographical regions of the world. For example, Eastern vs. Western comics. Eastern comics tend to focus more on details only after something is mentioned or brought up. Western comics tend to be consistent in this and details throughout the works.

The differences in stylization are also apparent. Some comic artists favor realistic scenarios, ideas and styles, while others tend to go more stylized and surreal. It is mentioned that the more stylized something is the more iconic it becomes. This goes along with the idea of icons and symbols and how the brain recognizes them. The same goes for the types of words used in the graphic novel as well. The ones with more actions rather than words get their ideas across faster than those that use an obscene amount of words just to explain such a small detail.

In the end it comes down to the author and their vision in how they want to get their point across. We as readers can only hope that they understand enough about comics to engage us in the right way.