House of Mystery issue #17 by Vertigo comics (subsidiary of DC), full color, non-glossed, $2.99 per issue.
As to be expected, I initially picked this up because the cover art peaked my interest. It is non-iconic in style, impressionistic, and in favor of a muted color palate. The subject is a close up of a man lying on a stage bleeding to death, or already dead, his blood forming a heart icon in front of him. I've always had a soft spot for the morose and dramatic.
The issue contains four different stories interrupting each other. They explore concepts of parallel existences and an awareness of traversing them. All of the stories touch on love in various forms, though there's not so much romance as there is treachery or danger. It is set in fantasy environments, and highly surreal. Even though I've picked it up in the middle of a plot, it wasn't too hard to follow. I will be looking for the preceding issues.
As for form and style, each substory sports a varied illustration style from the others, and a drastically different color range in harmony with the mood of each. The character styling veers away from realism, forms and use of value are fairly simple; there is, however, an occasional thick use of texture in some parts that favors observance of the story over connecting. The panels are for the most part rectangular, but will sometimes run off page to enhance effect. The gutter is used mostly for moment-to-moment and action-to-action transitions, very uniform in spacing, and occasionally breached by panels for effect. There isn't too much visual abstraction, though it is occasionally present for high drama; emotions are largely maintained by plot and character.
If you enjoy contemporary gothic romance, this is certainly worth while.
Ref -----
1. Vertigo Comics
2. House of Mystery issue #17 - Sturges, Dell'edera, Davison, Marzan
3. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art - Scott McCloud
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Manga vs. Comics
I must admit that I developed a stigma against comics growing up. No, not the stereotypical 'kid's stuff' one, I have always known that you can convey any message with any medium. My stigma was against the whole 'super human' gag. I can't place why, nor will I try to at this moment, but I never enjoyed stories about one extraodinarily gifted person being the saving grace for a populus.
Like many an American geek, however, I took to manga and anime. I felt the characters were easier to relate to -not on such an offset plane as super heroes were to me- the stories flowed smoother, and further more the visual styles always held more appeal. I had always been aware of the use of the valley of uncanny for emphasis on not only people, but objects; to separate important objects, and -as McCloud pointed out- to separate the characters that the reader identifies with from the others. There are other techniques which I had been aware of, but I had never isolated from the works as a whole.
Scott McCloud has also put terminology to these: the balance of "action-to-action," "subject-to-subject," and "aspect-to-aspect" transitions that western comics don't use so much, especially of "aspect-to-aspect" in making sure the reader connects with the setting; the use of balance between positive and negative space over the use of subjects inherant from a long history of fine art; the portrayal of emotions using abstract forms in negative space around the subject, and in using common icons; and subjective motion1. These techniques have supported each other in such beautiful ways that make Japanese comics a different creature than western comics.
Ref -----
1. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art - Scott McCloud
Like many an American geek, however, I took to manga and anime. I felt the characters were easier to relate to -not on such an offset plane as super heroes were to me- the stories flowed smoother, and further more the visual styles always held more appeal. I had always been aware of the use of the valley of uncanny for emphasis on not only people, but objects; to separate important objects, and -as McCloud pointed out- to separate the characters that the reader identifies with from the others. There are other techniques which I had been aware of, but I had never isolated from the works as a whole.
Scott McCloud has also put terminology to these: the balance of "action-to-action," "subject-to-subject," and "aspect-to-aspect" transitions that western comics don't use so much, especially of "aspect-to-aspect" in making sure the reader connects with the setting; the use of balance between positive and negative space over the use of subjects inherant from a long history of fine art; the portrayal of emotions using abstract forms in negative space around the subject, and in using common icons; and subjective motion1. These techniques have supported each other in such beautiful ways that make Japanese comics a different creature than western comics.
Ref -----
1. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art - Scott McCloud
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