Monthly Archives: January 2011

Loveless Ink

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This is an exploration of how Kouga’s inks and composition show character and mood in the first volume of Loveless.  The art style shifts with point of view and interactions, building into a powerful visual language.

I have mixed feelings about Loveless. It’s a hot mess in a lot of ways. The story contains horrible child abuse of various kinds, including some that is institutionalized and some that is family, various reprehensible relationships, some seriously broken people, a couple of sociopaths, BDSM themes (both consensual and not), dubious portayals of motives of people who ought to be villains but might not be, amnesia, innapropriate information about sexuality, and some of the most heartbreaking and beautiful characters I’ve ever read.

All this in a cat boy story about preteens.  Oh, manga.
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Best Online Comics Criticism 2010: Kibbitzing

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I had no involvement in the selection of this year’s Best Online Comics Criticism. And I don’t plan to talk directly about the list here. Except to point out that it is fatally flawed. Because I’m not on it, damn it.

I did think I’d take this opportunity, though, to talk about two of my own favorite pieces of comics criticism from last year.

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Bill Randall’s List: Best Online Comics Criticism 2010

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Critic and one-time HU writer Bill Randall was one of the judges for this year’s Best Online Comics Criticism. He asked to run his essay about the selection process here — and we’re very pleased to have him back under the Hood, however briefly.
__________________________

by Bill Randall

How did he know?

Real critics are as pure as new snow, with eyes of a child yet minds learned like the eldest philosopher. They castrate their creativity to write from the place of total mental stillness. Able to see through all walls of personal agenda. They use their pen of young lamb to judge what’s best not for themselves, but for all humanity. Such is the powerful power, the terrible responsibility of the true critic.

I have fasted for three centuries, nailed myself upside down to the Tree of Woe, drained my body of every ounce of blood and replaced it with the freshest plastic-bottled spring water. …I am ready to speak of comics with the furiously unpoliticized gaze of the Real Critic.

Spot on, B.C., as I’ve spent a meditative month staring down Phyllis Hodgson’s 1944 critical text of Þe Clowde of Vnknowyng, in þe whiche a soule is onyd wiþ God, by the unknown author of the Cloud of Unknowing, good for inspiration and revelation as I selected my Best Comics Criticism 2010 votes. Prophetic, you prophet! as I like you and all true critics strive ascetic to write apophatic– kenotic– apocatastatic words, good for instruction and reflection, more sacred than the sacred texts of “Maggots,” “If’n Oof,” and “Þe Book of Priue Counseling.” Words of Groth in red, and remember the worst a comics critic can do is hurt some feelings. It’s not like we excommunicate, move product, make reputations, or stand at the kitchen gallery door with Hans Ulrich Obrist and his flaming sword. I can’t even resurrect the dead, may my essay on Kamimura Kazuo burn in hellfire for all eternity while A Drifting Life glows transfigured on your bookshelf.

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Best Online Comics Criticism 2010: The Final List

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For an introduction to this voting exercise, please see the article posted yesterday. The jurors were Derik Badman, Melinda Beasi, Johanna Draper Carlson, Shaenon K. Garrity, Tim Hodler, Chris Mautner and Bill Randall. They have been encouraged to post their personal choices (with accompanying remarks) on their own websites.

SIX VOTES

(1) Jason Thompson: The Other Love that Dare Not Speak Its Name (and other articles)

The jurors agreed to consolidate their votes into a single article. Other articles by Thompson which received interest were his pieces on Morality in Action Comics, Ceres: Celestial Legend and Happy Mania. His articles appear regularly at Anime News Network where his column “House of 1000 Manga” is published weekly. At least one of the jurors considers him the best writer on manga today. Voice your assent (or dissent for that matter) here.

FIVE VOTES

(1)  Katherine Dacey on Ayako

Dacey is a mainstay of the manga blogosphere. Once again, the jurors decided to consolidate their votes into a single piece. The other article which received favorable attention was Dacey’s review of  Sexy Voice and Robo & Harriet the Spy. Let her know which one you prefer.

(2)  Joe McCulloch: Essay on Thought Balloons (The Problem with American Vampires is that Just Don’t Think”)

This is Jog’s second year on this list. The bulk of Jog’s writing is for the web and this appears to be both a conscious decision and a sign of the times. Now writing at Comics Comics, his output has slowed if compared to his days at Jog the Blog. This article was a strong early contender for the final list. Other articles of note in 2010 include his review of Alan Moore’s Neonomicon and his survey of the “comics” of Peter Greenaway. There can be little doubt that he is one of the most popular writers on comics working today.

FOUR VOTES

(1)   Craig Fischer on David Mazzucchelli (Born Again Again).

Fischer is an Associate Professor of English at Appalachian State University. He also writes frequently about comics and film for academic venues. Does this mean he was slumming when he decided to write this piece on Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp for this blog? Perish the thought!

THREE VOTES

(1)  David Bordwell on Hergé (Tintinopolis)

Judging by the frequency with which his blog is linked to by various comics bloggers, Bordwell would appear to be a favorite for his thoughts on film and criticism in general.

(2)  Dirk Deppey: The Mirror of Male-Love Love

This is Deppey’s second time on the list. He got on the list last year for his editorial on Paul Levitz which would be more accurately labeled as industry commentary.  There’s no mistaking this year’s entry which may well be his most memorable article on comics in recent memory.

(3)  Ken Parille: Casper, Formalism, and the ‘Great’ Search Party

Parille is an Assistant Professor of English at East Carolina University and is considered by some to be the foremost expert on the comics of Dan Clowes. No one practices the art of comics close reading as assiduously as Parille. The vote was initially split between Parille’s Casper piece and his review of Charles Burns’ X’ed Out. My personal preference is for the “losing” piece which at this point in time appears to be one of the few substantial reviews of Burns’ comic out there.

LINKS

(1) Derik Badman’s personal choices

(2) Melinda Beasi on the list and her choices

(3) Johanna Draper Carlson on the list and her choices

(4) Shaenon Garrity on the list and her choices

(5) Tim Hodler on the list and his choices

(6) Chris Mautner on the list and his choices

(7) Bill Randall on the list and his choices


Best Online Comics Criticism 2010: Introduction and Runners-Up

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It’s that time of the year again and here at HU we’re looking back on the year in online comics criticism.

The choices made by our panel of judges will be revealed tomorrow. Today, I’m taking a look at some of the reviews and essays which, for one reason or another, didn’t make the cut. I should add that this has no bearing on the actual quality of the articles in question. The important thing to remember is that the process was “democratic”. In other words, if you’re lucky you just might get Abraham Lincoln. If not, you might have to settle for George W. Bush (who was indeed loved and remains loved by many Americans).

The 7 articles which did make the final list represent a compromise arrived at by the imperfect tastes of 7 judges. The most interesting thing about such lists is how often they get it completely wrong, the bastard child of individual purity and the god damned evils of collective reasoning.

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Manga! Manga! And then more Manga!

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More than thirty years ago, Frederik Schodt began laying the ground work for a book that would become the first real information in English on the phenomenon of Japanese comics- Manga! Manga! the World of Japanese Comics. It’s rare that a seminal work should be the most comprehensive as well—and yet, twenty-eight years after its initial publication, it remains the best historical survey of manga available in English. I first encountered the book almost eighteen years ago, on a crammed shelf at the downtown Orlando library. At the time it seemed like a portal to an alien world, full of glimpses into exotic styles and genres and storytelling techniques. Two decades since that first encounter, I thought I’d take a look back at the book and interview its creator, with an eye on what’s changed since its initial publication.

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