Underground Comics

Straightforward, crack-tastic, disturbing, disgusting, sexist, racist and yet witty…these were all of my initial impressions while reading some of the 1960 underground comics.  To be entirely honest, I had no idea what to feel while reading these.  My sense of decorum really wanted me to stop after the second page of Cheech Wizard and I could feel myself blushing up a storm when it got to all of the sexual themes.  It really was like looking into the mind of a hormonal 13-year-old boy, with the blatant want for nothing but sex and the over-exaggeration of the women figure to be even more “fertile”, which I guess was the point to some extent.  The whole purpose of creating the underground comic industry (if you could call it that) was to take the comic to a whole new arena where anything goes.  In fact, it wouldn’t succeed in this industry if it didn’t try to offend at least someone (preferably someone of higher status that just wouldn’t get their humor…it’s too below them). 

However, I will say that I was impressed with how in-tune some of the writers were to social constructs and political topics that the racism and lack of tact with some characters was in some way valid.  They were trying to make a satirical point while at the same time just being a grotesque comic.  It’s like saying to the rest of the world “your concerns are silly because the things you are concerned about are silly here look how silly they are”.  I also liked the style that this genre seemed to inherit which is this super clean and simple doodle that get’s right to the point.  Blocky lines, minimalist backgrounds and very few distinguishable characters seem to be just what these comics need to get the message of the story across. 

These were those kind of comics that if you could submerse yourself to that level…putting all of your dignity and good upbringing aside…then they are actually quite funny and enjoyable to read.  In a way, I found myself relaxing while going through comics like Cheech Wizard and Zap Comics because I wasn’t worrying about social norms or rules.  It was like being a rebellious teenager again and that’s exactly how I feel these comics are.  They are those sex driven, rebel building, and “no one understands me” awkward years of being a pubescent teenager without having to relive the awful acne.  I did feel like I was reading porn in some way, though, and after a bit I had to put them down.  I am glad that they existed because I can see how they would influence the creators of comics today since they grew up with these around.  

Will Eisner and Craig Thompson

When Will Eisner started producing comics, I feel as if someone finally understood what potential comics had as an art form.  Here was a way to make people read good stories that they wouldn’t necessarily read if they were just in text form.  Also, he was the first to realize that the text could also be incorporated into the visual to make each page that much more dynamic.  There isn’t one instance I believe that Eisner didn’t fully layout how the writing was going to be incorporated into the overall design and how it could reiterate the feeling of the scene.  I think this might be side effect from working with Disney that he must make everything tie together and allude to the atmospheric feeling of each moment.  However, by producing his own work, he can now create such atmospheres but with much darker themes.

And how dark those themes would get.  Despair, depression, loneliness, betrayal, and death were in each and every story within A Contract with God.  It was a little hard to get through because it’s very easy to connect with these characters.  They are everyday sinners just like us that either make their own deathbed or are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.  They are human, we are human, and we can connect to their pain on some level allowing these particular comics to lead us on quite the emotional roller coaster.  In fact, some of our students said that it was hard to get through the whole thing because nothing ever gets better. 

I will say that despite the rather gruesome stories, the comic itself was enjoyable to look at.  It was an interesting experience, for me at least, because I was spending a lot of time conflicted at fawning over the artwork and investing myself in the storytelling…both of which are expertly done.  The amount of time Eisner put into making very dynamic compositions and shots while also maintaining a sense of austerity in the lines and characters themselves is nothing short of amazing.  There are also minute details such as a cross necklace on an adulterer that put a touch of sick humor on the whole situation.  The clear mix of complexity with simplicity reflects well on the stories themselves. 

Craig Thompson does very much the same thing but isn’t nearly as detailed in the drawings as Eisner is.  That isn’t a fault, either.  Thompson uses his skill in a very graphic style that allows the audience to read the story quick and easy.  In fact, it’s easy to imagine him drawing the pictures just as fast as the lines suggest.  It’s funny because the simplified characters and bulky lines gives everything in his drawn world a layer of cuteness that surrounds them…and the themes within his comics are not cute within the least.  I would even say they lie along the lines of depressing and grotesque.

I’m really interested in the way that he plays with the panels and registers, though.  The registers alone are what lead the viewer’s eyes from one action to the other, not what is within the panels, which I consider unique.  The only other time I’ve seen the registers take the main focus in story telling was in Arkham Asylum the hardcover comic books where the registers would break and veer off worse and worse in accordance to the Joker’s madness.  Something about the panels isn’t exactly normal either with the way they are shaped and cut off.  I can easily see why Eisner and Thompson were grouped together this week.

The Comic Book

I can full-heartedly understand how people considered the comic book as unsophisticated…you can see it after reading the first page of any of the early Superman comics.  Honestly, it was really hard for me to even get through the first two pages or so.  I could the same as Little Nemo but after a bit I could get used to it and submerse myself in that weird world.  Superman was an entirely different story.  I never got into the groove of things and I found myself spending more time laughing at how horrible the writing AND visuals were rather than being invested in the story.  In fact, I couldn’t tell you one thing from the story I read. 

I will say that The Adventures of Tin Tin were a little better but I think it was the shining gem in it’s day and age only because it was a little more simplified than the failed attempted realism the other action comics tended to adopt.  The early Batman and Captain America comics were just as cheesy and poorly done as the Superman were.  We have come to hold them dear now however that is purely because this genre got better over time when artist had a better idea of how to improve the quality. 

They served their purpose, though, so I guess one could consider the early comic books as successful.  They were easy to access and affordable entertainment to treat the kids that were silly enough to be passed off as safe for the youth.  It also gave the children role models to aspire to.  Therefore, the comic book produced some really good characters that were later expanded upon to really make them timeless.  It really is amazing to think about how long characters like Batman and Captain America have been around and yet they have kept their popularity among the masses.  Even if one doesn’t know the characters exactly they have heard of them.

Art wise I think these early versions of the comic book were those awkward in-betweens an artist has when trying to figure out a new style.  They pass but they aren’t realized yet.  I’m grateful that over time artists figured out how to simplify the shapes better to make more dynamic compositions as well as get separate writers to work on the story and really expand upon them.  No longer is it just “beat up the bad guy because he’s evil”.  Also, puns now play a less obvious role in the dialogue for which we should all be thankful.  

The Comic Strip

The comic strip has long been integrated into our everyday lives and yet it is considered one of the lowest levels of art.  Just the other day, my friend who works at one of our Ringling galleries over heard someone denouncing one of the Illustration faculties work because it was entirely Garfield comics.  However, of all of the other professors, he had procured the most work with some very witty stories.  To us in the art field, being in the comic business is considered one of the hardest jobs because of the quality expected with a very fast turn out rate while being paid minimal wages.  I think the general public underestimates how much the comic strip has shaped our lives, personally.

I didn’t even realize that a lot of humor came from the newspaper comics I would read as a kid until I reread some Calvin and Hobbes.  Even then, I only primarily remember Peanuts comics and Garfield.  That being said, there is an overlying sense of humor that all of them share where it’s kind of okay to make fun of society for it’s major faults.  They blatantly refer to our lack of tack and sensibility with issues we don’t care for along with our innate laziness.  They also play upon childlike innocence to point out what is truly silly but inevitably true about some of our cultural norms.  All in all, the comic strip pushes at boundaries and I fully believe it’s one of the few mediums that can get away with it and yet be beloved by all (unlike other mediums such as fine art whose meaning often is lost on the majority).

After Winsor McKay’s Little Nemo I realized that a lot of the popular comics we love now such as the one’s I listed above play off of McKay’s work.  McKay was one of the original founders of the format that we have grown used to today where every panel greatly enforces the actions of the scene in the now.  Some would even consider it very slow paced.  In fact, nothing greatly happens in each scene depicted but together they work to create a good story even if it’s simple.  Just think about those four panel comics of Calvin and Hobbes. 

He also set in stone that even “weird shit” topics as well as satire on societal concerns such as racist characters are okay to use for humor.  That might be a harsh way of putting it but I actually quite appreciate how far McKay would take his stories.  If that didn’t become accepted then we wouldn’t have the lovely comics we have today.  That being said…I am thankful that comic artist today rely more on the visual to tell the story rather than words like McKay did.  As wonder as an artist he was, all I could see while reading his work was wall of text and it became very distracting.  It was also unnecessary but there is only so much he could do while figuring out this new medium.