Comics as Contemporary Literature

Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library contains a lot of the visual language of the old comic strip. A first I thought it was a satire of old comic tropes, but the more I read I couldn't figure out what it was. Vulgar fast paced strips contrasted with slow, beautiful environments. I eventually realized that the same character, Jimmy, was the star of all the stories but just at different points in his life. Some of the most fascinating points in the comic were these wordless, map-like spreads. It took me several readings of the page to really take in what this visual, emotional map was saying. A couple dozen panels that expressed minute details down to the buzz of a hearing aid were all conveying a husband calling his wife.

I am familiar with Danial Clowes, but hadn't read Eightball yet. You were immediately thrown into a surreal, sexually charged world. It was from a masculine perspective. Even though some stories center around women, it had a distant, harsh view of its characters. Most women were stupid addicts or sexual objects. Not to say that their weren't a lot of idiotic or unlikable male characters, but there were some you could relate to more. It really embraced stereotypes and were satiring them. Cops were brute assholes. Satanists shot herion and partied while listening to heavy metal. The interest came when a person chose to step out of their role. A coke whore satanist tripped so hard she saw jesus and became an evangelist. A normal man became entirely obsessed with a fetish porn movie. And my favorite was probably the circular story of the Laffin Spittin Man.

The common elements of all of them were few but present. They all followed a narrative, and they all were unapologetically for adults. I like this lack of consistency is a good thing. It means that creators are free to explore all manners of themes and styles because they know there is a market for it.