Underground Comics and then some.

Unfortunately for this week's reading I was unable to get the Crumb comics to work for me. I did take a look at the Air Pirates Funnies, the "Four Sketchbooks", and the Zap Comics 0-5. In class I also looked at the posted Tijuana Bibles and the Bizarre Sex comic.

I was really shocked at how wonderful the artwork was presented in these comics. I was expecting the artwork to be just as trashy as the subject matter but really, some of it was incredibly detailed and well thought out. It was something that made looking at this stuff more enjoyable. Its not anything that really shocked me, but I definitely found it all really amusing in a hilarious sort of way.

I think that seeing the Four Sketchbooks before looking at anything else really helped me to appreciate these types of comics even more. Getting a little insight to some of these artists when they're not illustrating for a story, but rather just doing their thing and playing with random styles shows just how versatile they can be. I was particularly intrigued with Art Spiegelman's portion. I love the fluidity that his figures take on. His style varies so radically and he doesn't try to make his sketches polished and beautiful which throws in so much personality and really makes these drawings unique.

The Air Pirates comic was very funny. Some of the subject matter was a bit shocking but overall I just had a few good laughs. It was strange for me to see Disney-esque characters in all these sexually explicit scenarios. Let me just say, that never in my life did I think I'd see Mickey Mouse going to town on Minnie in such an explicit manner. I didn't offend me, but I grew up with Mickey so when I saw that I was like just thinking in my head, "Mickey! What are you doing!?" That just gave me a good laugh.

The Tijuana Bibles were interesting to say the least. But unlike the other underground comics, the art was incredibly poor. The anatomy in all the figures was so far off that the subject matter was less of a shock than the way some of the hands were drawn. But I suppose that for somebody who isn't trained in the arts, the books serve their 'purposes' just fine.

The Bizarre Sex comic was something that I enjoyed reading. Just like the Air Pirates, it was a compilation of work from various artists. The stories were definitely bizarre. The opening short was about a werewolf that decided to go fishing, used a severed penis as bait to catch a mermaid. He finally hooks one in through her mouth and out through the center of her forehead. He then proceeds to pull her up on the dock and brutally hack her to pieces, walking away with his prize catch. After reading it I could only think, "What a way to start a book!!"

All the reading for this week was very entertaining. Really opened my eyes to another facet in the comics industry that formerly, I never had an opportunity to appreciate.

Will Eisner's Contract With God

Before this week's scheduled reading, I had never read any of Eisner's work. I had heard a lot about him, and I knew what his style looked like but didn't know that he also wrote his own stories. I really enjoyed the way he organizes his pages. You can really tell that everything in each image is incredibly well thought out in such a way that the story is easiest to follow. He takes special care to make it so every little detail in the image has a purpose, there are no accidents in his work. I like that he doesn't set his pages up in the traditional panel to panel format. His illustrations are contained, but within the border of the page rather than a series of small boxes. I thought that it made reading this novel more enjoyable because it flowed more freely rather than having a staccato-type movement that for me is typical of traditional panel to panel comics.

Something else that I found very compelling about this work was the story line. I had never read or even heard of a religiously-based comic and I think its very interesting that he chose to address that topic. Something that tends to be very controversial and debatable among groups of people. Particularly the stance that he chose to take with religion, which really isn't a glamorous, innocent, happy one. The people involved in the stories are by no means "heavenly". The fact that Frimme Hirsch (one of the main charaters) is losing his faith, and questioning god's ways is something I think many people can relate to. I personally am not a religious person, but I know what it feels like to lose faith in something/somebody that you've dedicated yourself to. I love that this topic was addressed. The way it was presented really makes you question the ways of this man's God. You start to feel for Frimme. After signing a contract to be dedicated to God and serving him for his life, it makes you wonder what he did to deserve having his daughter taken from him. If I were in Frimme's position, I would probably react in the same way, debating the true nature of God and whether or not he truly exists.

I thought that the other stories were also compelling but after the first one, didn't pack the same punch. One common theme that's within all of the stories is that there's no clear protagonists or antagonists. Every single person in each story has their flaws. You may begin to think that somebody in one of the stories is not all that bad, but then Eisner comes around and hits you with this real dark side to the character. I love his plays with duality, it definitely adds a fantastic dimension to his story telling.

After reading this piece, I can certainly understand and respect why Scott McCloud spoke so highly of Eisner in Understanding Comics. Eisner receives a lot of praise from McCloud and now I see that it is very well deserved.