God, I love comics

Well, it turns out that Pappy Overlord won't be coming out to help with the plumbing until Saturday, but I'll still be taking tomorrow afternoon off to get the house cleaned up and other such stuff, so still no post tomorrow.

Ever since I posted all those links to the web comics yesterday, I've been spending time going back over them and rereading some of my favorites. As many of you have realized by now, I'm a sucker for web comics, and for comics in general. Much like their cousin, the animated cartoon, comic books and comic strips have often been viewed by the masses as being the exclusive territory of young kids or escapist geeks who have no grounding in reality, and that view of the medium has always saddened me a little bit.

Comic books that appeal to grown ups have been around for many decades now, from the underground pornographic "Tijuana bibles" of the early twentieth century to the alternative titles of today like Sandman and Transmetropolitan. In many ways, comics and graphic novels (I find the two terms to be mostly interchangeable, although many people would want my head on a stake for saying that) are just as expressive, profound, and respectable as similar works in mainstream books and art, if not more so.

True, the worst comics can be nothing more than badly written word bubbles pasted on disproportionate anatomical monstrosities, and in fact, many of the more popular superhero comics tend to fall into this unfortunate quagmire (although their has been a recent trend in superhero comics to move away from this sad state of affairs, and many titles like Runaways, The Ultimates, and many others have begun to drag superhero comics kicking and screaming back into respectability). The best comics, however, can be flights of literary excellence unrivaled by any other modern literature. Comics like V for Vendetta (now an unfortunate motion picture bearing only passing resemblance to the book), Preacher, and the aforementioned Sandman and Transmetropolitan, are among my favorite literary works in any medium, and I feel they have every right to be ranked with the classics of modern literature.

And let's not forget the younger, sleeker, more tech savvy cousin of the tradition comic book: web comics. Ever since the advent of internet and scanning technology, budding artists and writers have found that self-publishing their work is much easier, and in many ways more rewarding, than traditional publishing methods. Now that the world of graphic arts has been opened to the masses, anyone with a good idea and some talent can create works of art that can be instantly accessed by millions of viewers. This has created a virtual renaissance of comic strips in a brand new medium. Of course, this easy access to publishing has also created an incredible amount of bad material as well, but it's usually easy enough to sift through the muck and mire to find the occasional gems like those I posted yesterday that make it all worthwhile.

Those who would like to learn more about the wonderful medium of comic books and comic strips should check out Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud, the quintessential guide to the comic book genre. The book is something of a bible among comic book enthusiasts and goes into great detail on the inner workings of the comic medium. It explains in far more detail and clarity than I ever could why comics and graphic novels are not just a respectable form of entertainment, but why they may actually be the pinnacle of modern art and literature.

And for those who also appreciate how horribly bad comic books can be at times, check out the image galleries on Superdickery.com. I promise, you'll be laughing for weeks.


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New Reading Material Update:

Dr. McNinja - I can't believe I left this one off the list yesterday. This is an absurdly nonsensical comic about a scottish ninja doctor with a mexican bandito sidekick and a gorilla receptionist. And those are among the more logical parts of the story. This one is laugh-out-loud funny in ways that don't even begin to make sense, but just loosen up and roll with it; it's worth it.