What a Wonderful...

...country we live in. It is the most beautiful and diverse land I have ever seen yet is scene to some of the weirdest instances of the political human. Our political life reminds one of a coffeehouse, or a zoo; however at the same time it displays the fragility of humanity and trains us to be less susceptible to the allure of suits and manners. The state exists for its own good which is disheartening when raising a family, however, this absent existence also gives us the thrill of being alive, by constantly bringing up new obstacles, generated spontaneously by humans placed in a lawful world where no law really works, as law is, by nature not like jelly, as it is here. With luck and street-wisdom you can be extremely rich in a very short time, but lose it all overnight as the stock markets crumbles, yet again, because some childlike adult representative throws something to another. It shows you that money rules supreme, yet also displays how huge numbers of humans can live, work, bring up families, with an amount of peanuts for money
It teaches you to despise disorder, only to find that once it's absent (say in a wonderfully ordered European town), disorder is what kept you groping for life. Without it you survive, but there always remains a sense of timelessness that un-safety and un-order brings, which is akin to what happens when one is happy. Lessons of life here are taught in contingent mysteries, and no one can guarantee what the next mystery will bring... Strange country... Really strange...

Comix and Today's Myths

It seems to me that the comics form or the graphic novel as it is called is becoming more powerful by the day. There are several reasons for this, some of which I will highlight for my own use:
1. Graphic Novels swing between reading habits by never leaving the literary completely but also relying heavily on visual habits, therefore allowing more access to readers of literary or visually oriented alike. True, this at times makes comics more superficial in theme and story but there are exceptions that challenge this and will continue to do so as the form flourishes.
2. Comix are truly a collaborative effort which pulls together various individuals that are experts in their field, which creates a true synergy. Although these days, artists and writers do get to be more in the spotlight (a remnance of our romantic heritage. cf. The Author-Function, M. Foucault), none can deny that the wrong lettering or coloring can really ruin a reading experience. This collaborative effort renders each work an ongoing process whose outcome can never be fully determined, no matter what the editor plans. In this sense, it is spontaneous, non-hierachical, experimental, anarchistic and self-reflective.
3. Most importantly I believe, is that comix tap into a collective memory that our culture desperately tries to stifle, and that is the creation or revival of myths. I cannot go into a much-needed long definition of what I mean by myth due to space and time, however suffice it to say that I think myth in terms of Jung, Bachelard and Barthes. An analogy like this may also clarify. If myths are reflections of the human psyche, one which all of us indiscriminately partake in, then myth is timeless though it alters shape and challenges rational, materialistic thought through elements of magic, such as psychic projection, belief and archetypes. Nevertheless, comix release, through its octopus-like creation, archetypes into our narrative-driven minds, that have been used and re-used all through human history. The stories they tell are no longer pigeonholed as high art or low art as they transcend these categories and stimulate psychic imaginative powers to the point of making the reader believe in them. How many Spider-Man kids do you know who aren't enslaved by their hero? Do they really care if the story is good by today's literary standards.
Now you may say, well that is what good stories do, no matter what medium. However, aiming at a totally amorphous mass of readers, this medium, more than any, balances out the literary and visuals to form a whole set of signification that neither leaves it all for the readers imagination, nor does it stifle it with its own set of visual signs a la film. This requires longer and further study of course; this is just a preliminary expression of thought, however I feel there is something in this new medium that befits the age, that reflects it and more, has a power to transform its artistic and existential sensibilities, just like earlier forms that preceded it.
I have been an addict to comics ever since I learned to make sense of art and there has never been a house I have lived in which didn't have a shelf of comics. I used to sneak them in because my mom had had enough of me, or cut class (in primary school), go to a park and sit for hours, reading every line, every shadow, every speech bubble. What it left me, and leaves me with still, is a space in my mind (as bob marley said) where mythical humans or creatures do not have to live the dreary modern day-to-day reality we have created for ourselves, do not even have to go to the bathroom, in short a space of archaic feelings and joys that can be lived on end without restraint.