 |
| The Comics Journal #38 (February 1977) Art by Gil Kane |
(from Swords Of Cerebus Vol 2, 1981)
...it was the Gil Kane interview in Comics Journal No 38 that had started me
re-thinking the whole approach I was taking to doing my own comic book.
The particular quote that influenced me was:
"The difference between a comic book and a novel is not labor, not effort, it's the values. In other words, there are no meaningful values in a comic book. The people in comics books are two dimensional people going through the most elementary kind of situations, not enough to sustain anybody's interest beyond an adolescent. A novel has characterization, it has suspense, it has a structured situation full of substantial values that will hold the interest of an intelligent person. That's what I mean. Those values, if they're properly translated -- Harvey Kurtzman translated them into comics. His comics were literate, they were intelligent, they were humane, they were interesting, they were funny, they were everything.""For instance, political cartoons, humor strips in newspapers are written in an infinitely more adult way: they're more intelligent, they're written for adults by adults with adult humor. They're really clever, and they represent adult values and that's why adults read them. Adults read them because, regardless of the fact that they're comics, they're dealing with adult frames of reference. And comic books don't have those frames of reference."
After I finished the fifth issue I embarked on an extremely
lengthy process of applying adult sensibilities to each issue of
Cerebus, trying to approach every plot problem on as mature a level of
communication as I could. It was not easy, and still isn't. But at the
very least, I wanted to feel that each issue of Cerebus advanced our
cause just that much more than the issue that preceded it. Fortunately,
fan reviewers, editors, columnists and letter-writers have an uncanny
knack for recognizing an issue that pulls sideways instead of forwards. I
knew they were good for something.
4 comments:
Back to the idea of doing a high-quality reprint of some early Cerebus material, rather than doing 186, it would be great to see reprints of the Cerebus Jam issue and one off stories. Bill Siekiewicz cover art and a collaboration with Will Eisner. There's also a good Cerebus Jam backup story with Colleen Doran. I think Cerebus was in one of the AV in 3D stories too. These one-off stories would be a lot of fun to see in high-quality reprint.
-Reginald P
This is a [i]much[/i[ better idea than a high-quality No. 186. Standalone stories, not available elsewhere, interesting collaborations with other creators -- what's not to like?
-- Damian T. Lloyd
FYI - Reginald's comment is referring to a recent idea suggested by Dave Sim to produce high-quality reprints:
I know that a full-sized photocopy on glossy stock is the best reproduction you are GUARANTEED to get. Every pen line, all the nuances in the ink. So, I thought, "What about a 20th Anniversary boxed set of issue 186?" The photocopies on 80 pound glossy stock in a box.
http://bit.ly/1hcfDdq
Oh yeah, and Dave illustrated a story by Jerry Siegel! Jerry Siegel! That would really be something special if that could be included too.
-Reginald P
Post a Comment