I could quote a series of intellectual elites that have seen the value of the sequential artform that has come to be known as comics, but the fact of the matter is, the biggest obstacle to the matter is also the solution. Superheroes. With the recent DC initiative called We can be Heroes, the company is discussing providing aid to the ailing.
So what is a superhero? Heroes arise from the humblest men. Superheroics has been thoroughly dissassembled since Alan Moore's Watchmen. Is Nietzsche's overman what comes to mind, perhaps? The superhuman passes a moral tipping point at some point in every universe they manifest in, because they are no longer truly human. Laws of physics sometimes don't apply to them, so how could rule of law? The matter of caste system immediately arises if the superhuman becomes a certain percentage of the population. This antagony arising from "You think you're better than me?" arguments arises on media and over the dinner table. Buzzwords infiltrate conversation. Internet slang proliferates. The future becomes the now, and tomorrow becomes today. We design edifices of acronyms and false equivalencies, hoping that the next step will bring greater understanding.
But this is all tangential to the nature of comics the medium, infiltrating all media, potentially the freest artform in and of itself, and most of all the univerality that arises from comics. Perhaps you'd be best served calling the subject bande dessinee, or drawn strips? Pull forth from the froth of those that came before, the Winsor McCays and Krazy Kat Ignatz genuises that designed and delineated our time in the first place. The genius of the medium itself lends us to new innovations, always. Superheroes and comic books are complimentary because the comic book medium is the most superior and yet juvenile form of art in existence, the optimistic young go-getter with potential as-yet untapped.
In the end the best comic is one you can put on your shelves and be satisfied with. But a book is merely bound sheets of paper. Strips of glyphs.
So what is a superhero? Heroes arise from the humblest men. Superheroics has been thoroughly dissassembled since Alan Moore's Watchmen. Is Nietzsche's overman what comes to mind, perhaps? The superhuman passes a moral tipping point at some point in every universe they manifest in, because they are no longer truly human. Laws of physics sometimes don't apply to them, so how could rule of law? The matter of caste system immediately arises if the superhuman becomes a certain percentage of the population. This antagony arising from "You think you're better than me?" arguments arises on media and over the dinner table. Buzzwords infiltrate conversation. Internet slang proliferates. The future becomes the now, and tomorrow becomes today. We design edifices of acronyms and false equivalencies, hoping that the next step will bring greater understanding.
But this is all tangential to the nature of comics the medium, infiltrating all media, potentially the freest artform in and of itself, and most of all the univerality that arises from comics. Perhaps you'd be best served calling the subject bande dessinee, or drawn strips? Pull forth from the froth of those that came before, the Winsor McCays and Krazy Kat Ignatz genuises that designed and delineated our time in the first place. The genius of the medium itself lends us to new innovations, always. Superheroes and comic books are complimentary because the comic book medium is the most superior and yet juvenile form of art in existence, the optimistic young go-getter with potential as-yet untapped.
In the end the best comic is one you can put on your shelves and be satisfied with. But a book is merely bound sheets of paper. Strips of glyphs.
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