Serendipity and Comics: Teen Titans Lost Annual #1, A New Historicist Perspective

"[T]he great justification for a historical approach to literature and criticism is that we must know everything--the life, the times, the intricate internal argument, the shape of the language. When a subject truly engages us, every detail is precious, every shred of evidence is worth considering"- Morris Dickstein (as cited in Latrobe and Drury, 2009). 


Sometimes it is strange how the universe is serendipitous when your mind has become pre-occupied with other things. In the last few weeks, I had become a bit bummed because of the continued failure of the American government to work things out with the debt ceiling and....well about a million other things. While I have no political party allegiance ( I prefer to always listen to the candidates and do my homework before voting), I can honestly say that recent events has made me reflect a bit on the years between 2000-2008, when the country was not exactly running as quite I hoped as a citizen and voter. It was a bad time to be a mid-twenties, educated, lower middle class public school teacher (and comics fan) trying to make a difference. Cynicism was in the air and it was blossoming in many arms of the arts, more so than it had seemed previously (for example, No Country For Old Men and  There Will Be Blood were two of the most popular films at the end of the middle point of the decade! Talk about a darkness).

Even my cherished comic book heroes and heroines were struggling to re-connect to a former glimmer of the idealism and heroics I had fallen in love with as a youngster. DC comics, whom I have always had the strongest allegiance to, was mired for most of the decade in a cycle of crisis (Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis), and the whole comics industry seemed to still be in the shadow of the realistic, violent, and gritty stories and characterizations that had emerged almost twenty years previously.  With all that, however, there were some glimmering moments that I was aware of for DC Comics (and yes, I am aware of Johnny DC and the all ages tag, but I want to focus on my age demographic) in the darkness of the first decade of a new century; one major one and one minor one (that I had not been aware of) I just recently came across. The major one was  Darwyn Cooke's 2003-2004 The New Frontier, a story about the dawn of our superheroes at the cusp of a new age (the comics categorized Silver Age ), that Cooke parallels to the cold war and optimism of the John F. Kennedy presidential administration.

The second moment came as I was going through my LCS pull box this past week and I found DC Comics Presents: Teen Titans 100-Page Spectacular was sitting at the very bottom. It was odd because I didn't order it, and I was just about to tell the owner to put it on the rack until I looked closer at it. There, on the cover, was the name of Michael Allred. This was enough for me to not only buy it, but to start reading it as soon as I got home, bumping back the more high profile Daredevil and Flashpoint titles. (Later, I would look up Jay Stephens, who is the actual artist on the book, and my jaw dropped at how I didn't realize who he was!). Coming to the end of the story (this particular issue includes some other work than just the Titans story I am examining) my mind started to do that magic work of moving the furniture around upstairs in that way in which one notices a change within themselves or ones thinking/perceptions (thank you Neil Gaiman) as it came apparent to me that this story, this particular work of art was a wonderful example of how the comics medium explores, in some stories, our own constructed history and alters it just slightly in a positive, inventive, and optimistic way to make one feel...well... better. So off my mind went, as it so often will in such situations, and it led me to historical criticism that is often utilized in literary studies.

Applying New Historicism To Comics
So having decided that historical criticism would do the job, I went back and looked at Teen Titans Lost Annual #1 through my own interpretation of a branch of that type of criticism, specifically New Historical criticism. There are two things I decided to focus on. First, using the definition of new historicism put forth by Murfin and Ray (2003) , I looked at the story as both having "[...]influence and [being] influenced by historical reality"(p. 295). Basically, I think that Haney, Stephens and Allred are creating what the comics industry excels at like no other medium of communication- a hybrid intertextuality that co-mingles word, image, idea, and discourse on a multiplicity of levels (in this case a specific historical persona and time period) to be interpreted and understood by a wide demographic range. But that was a bit too broad you see, so I needed to whittle it down some more, so,  to further investigate my ideas I sent my brain off to those other places and it came back with a specific analytic tool associated with new historicism-- evaluating a text through the context and milieu.

The Context and Milieu
For this I used Latrobe and Drury (2009), who suggest when examining work through a historical criticism lens, one should consider the context and milieu by asking: "What is the setting; what are the principle characteristics of time/place/circumstance?; What historical aspects (e.g., political, social, cultural, economic) does the work portray?; Verisimilitude: In considering elements of the work's context, did the author take liberties (e.g., omitting the impact of significant historical events)? If so, why might the author have taken such liberties?" (p. 174). These questions felt satisfactory in my need to dig a bit deeper at why an artifact like Teen Titans Lost Annual #1 had me feeling better, and moreover, why I feel like such a title can contribute to a larger discussion about comics from a different perspective (which, if you read this blog often, you know I am always digging at).

1) What is the setting; what are the principle characteristics of time/place/circumstance? The story is a reflection of silver age optimism and, in the resolution, ultimate fantasy for an entire baby-boomer generation. The story is about Robin, the Boy Wonder (Dick Grayson), witnessing President Kennedy being abducted by ultra-mod looking aliens known as Ullustrians, who replace him with a look-a-like clone (fig. 1).

(fig.1)

Robin alerts the Titans to the situation and they soon are teleported off to the planet of Ullustro, where President Kennedy has been brainwashed to command the armies of the Ullustrians in an ongoing war with eerie similarities to all conflict that has occurred within the timeframe of the 20th century. There were times while reading, I must confess,  that these artists attempts at creating a sense of time and place with a real historical figure (Kennedy), mixed with the fictional Teen Titans, felt like an overwhelmingly surreal experience (which in some cases is not always a bad thing). To add to the illusion of reality within the time period of a mixed reality 60's with the silver age, dialogue is peppered with slang and (now) anachronisms being spoken by our young heroes and heroine: Using the term "twist" to describe girls; "blowing ones stack" to describe losing ones mind; "Lover" as a term of affection; and even "Ka-Powing" as a verb!

2)What historical aspects (e.g., political, social, cultural, economic) does the work portray? As discussed above, the artists here use a mix of allegory (war ,conflict, tragedy), historical record (Kennedy), and pop culture (comic book characters in silver age guise) to tell a story that has an appeal that perhaps is due to a mix of modern and postmodern artistic sensibility. What gives comics that extra something is of course the use of the art! Jay Stephens (and Mike Allred, when not inking) have been described as using pop art sensibilities and the utilization of mid-60's futuristic modernism in the work they produce (see fig.2 and fig. 3). To tell a silver age tale, this type of art makes the most sense. Darwyn Cooke's line work can also be considered pop art or even retro, but his style seems to be much closer to golden age than mod-60's sensibility (however, it is all beautiful to me).

(fig. 2)

(fig. 3)

3) Verisimilitude. It is hard to discuss this without giving away the ending, but it is the lynchpin to the story so....Upon rescuing President Kennedy, the Titans return to Earth only to find out that Kennedy's clone has been assassinated. Kennedy, realizing that he can still make a difference on Ullustro, opts to return there and makes the Titans swear to never reveal the truth to the world. This means that somewhere in the universe, Kennedy is still alive and helping cultures to see his vision of what is just and right (fig. 4).

(fig. 4)

This is a lovely sentiment , and one that is often avoided in tales of the future, as it is easy to dismiss it as a narrative choice that is to close to sappy sentimentalism. The ending though, and the story as a whole, is open, as it will effect the reader depending upon the age of the reader or the knowledge they possess of history, both not only in terms of our own recorded textbook history, but the history of the  fictional characters (DC Comics is over 75 years old), the art style (how many people stop to think about pop art vs. modern?), and so forth. The openness in this instance is the beauty for the medium of comics...it is as deep and multi-layered as our own knowledge can allow it to be. That alone makes me happy...the idea that a story, a small story, has such a toolbox full of possible uses attached to it and it is just waiting for people to pick it up.

I'm not a baby boomer, nor a Gen X'er, nor a Millennial. I'm the one in-between the cracks, culturally and politically. Somehow, the lows have been incredibly low in my demographic. But coming across this story by these artists this week and applying the above critical analysis, I found myself smiling again, reminding myself and remembering that our stories, our dreams, have so many avenues that are still open to go down, even if we have to go backwards to do so. That kind of optimism, the openness, is the one that comics constantly gives me. Also, I invite anyone who reads this to explore historical, or new historical, criticism in evaluating comics (especially the things I didn't get to in this story alone, and there are loads I am sure!). By applying avenues of criticism usually reserved for other disciplines, you will be surprised how well they translate. As always, please share your thoughts, opinions, questions and ideas in the comments section.

All images are copyright DC Comics, 2011, and were purchased by the author. These images are intended for scholarly use and debate only. 

References
Latrobe, K.H., Drury, J. (2009). Critical Approaches to Young Adult Literature. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers. 
Murfin, R., Suprya, R.M. (2003). The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, 2nd ed. New York: Bedford St. Martins. 

A Third Viewpoint IS Always Needed: Hickman's S.H.I.E.L.D. and Debating Power Structures

Part of the fun of writer/artist Jonathan Hickman's S.H.I.E.L.D series is the commitment to, in one of the Marvel universes, a revisionist history to fit the fictional constructs that he and other writers and artists have created. As I discussed previously about the attributes of magical realism in the medium of comics, Marvel has a history of crafting stories for readers that have them accept the world that Marvel creates as merely a degree or two off from their own, thereby creating connections/context for those that wish to follow that line. With that in mind, it is easy (and fun) to accept the fact that some of the world's greatest thinkers, scientists, philosophers, revolutionaries, etc. have worked for the secret protective society of S.H.I.E.L.D under some sort of auspice that man must be allowed to become that which he is destined to evolve into. However, as a student of critical thought and ideologies, it is fascinating to me that Hickman explores in this series (so far) how one form of a well developed and/or constructed hegemony (held by Isaac Newton) over many has a dialectical opposite (held by Leonardo Da Vinci) that can cause destructive schisms. Thus, one avenue of exploration that this opens is the mirroring of a study of power, politics, and the sticky socio-philospohical problem of mediation.

The Politics Of The Binary
S.H.I.E.L.D is a multi-layerded and de-constructed comic narrative that is a whirl-wind of image, idea, and story (many critics on the web have found connections with the series hard for this reason). While I am sure that when Hickman wraps up this narrative in the near future many critics and scholars in not only the comics medium, but in other academic disciplines, will be able to reflect upon it and take apart the series in a multiplicity of ways that relate to the topics/ideas/questions about knowledge, power, and reality. What has, for me, been one of the most fascinating problems presented so far in re-reading all nine issues is the stirring inner-conflict of control that is tearing the organization apart, namely, in the struggle for control of establishing a dominant ideology.
Here are the positions as presented in the narrative:
(a) Isaac Newton: Believes as a leader that he has scientifically proven that the end of man will come, therefore, everything is predetermined and we should all march on valiantly to the prescribed end. Newton's own physics discoveries are also flowing through the narrative as a deterministic viewpoint of reality.
(b) Leonardo Da Vinci: Believes that man is in control, thereby acknowledging that fate exists outside of scientific certainty and one shapes ones own role in the universe. Hickman has Da Vinci aligned more with the thought of free will and quantum mechanics (which is actually introduced by Michelangelo in the series), which simple challenges much of what Newtonian physics has "proven" about reality and knowledge.

Like all systems, Newton and Da Vinci represent a binary. Binaries exist in many ways-- from being created artificially (e.g. democrat/republican) or even naturally (e.g. predator/prey). The binary is one of the oldest necessities and problems in socio-cultral and philosophical investigations. What often can be concluded though is that often two viewpoints require a third to clarify. So the question is for the third party: Who is right and can ultimately make decisions that impact many?

Can A Third Provide Hope?
So the problem presented in this narrative is one of two powerful men, both guided by wanting to be the dominant knowledge, left struggling with the fact that this is a battle over moral/ethical relativistic viewpoints. Relativism is a viewpoint that basically states that one will believe what one will believe based on the systems/communities they are within. Hickman arrives at the conclusion that many come to-- That there is always a third party needed to mediate the arguments to help others come to conclusions about the moral/ethical direction that a compass should either take (if your Newtonian), or at least given the chance of such an occurrence to happen (if your more from the Da Vinci camp).

Hickman takes the time in the 8th issue (which is actually listed as the first issue of the second volume), to let the reader know that two points of view always needs a third. Here, as the two armies of Newton and Da Vinci clash, Michelangelo points out to the character Leonid (an as yet to be determined main catalyst for the story in the big picture), who is stuck with the reader in the impossible ideological quagmire of Newton and Da Vinci: " The battle being fought is between men who believe that they can choose their future and those who believe they cannot./ [...]And it's time you learned Da Vinci and Newton are both wrong./ It's time you learned they are both right (p.18*). This is not some type of inverted pop philosophy, rather, the reader is presented with the rather serious viewpoint that one must learn to step outside of dominant ideologies in conflict to question both factions critically and with as much a degree of objectivity as is possible. The end result of such endeavors is to come to some sort of understanding in which it is hopeful that a new system can be developed to benefit all (which may be the denouement for this series soon). Isn't that really, ostensibly, the basis of all democracy? While that is the question that I arrive at, I know that others will arrive at others as they read and think about some of the wonderful questions that Hickman gives us to ponder (and please feel free to leave them in the comments section!). It is definitely something to stop and think about.

*note: page numbers are counted by the actual pages of content in the issue, not the ads or fill-ins.

Jacques Tardi In The English Classroom: Pairing Graphic Narratives, Novels and Historical Criticism

Alternative Perspectives in Young Adult Literature: Implementing Historical Criticism and Graphic Narratives into the English Classroom. 

Why It Is Not As Scary As It Sounds
In presenting a discussion of war and its subsequent themes as they appear in literature an English educator must remain neutral. This neutrality comes by being a facilitator of interpretations and discussion that grows from the viewpoints of the text. In our highly charged national climate due to so many men and women serving overseas facing conflict, it is best to understand that the discussions surrounding conflict are not necessarily meant to change opinion or belief, but rather to present viewpoints that may be antithetical to what is being held by the majority.


To develop those viewpoints in engaging literature that reflects war English educators need to consider introducing students to the methodology of historical criticism. What best serves historical criticism in the English classroom is in fact the availability of a diverse body of work concerning war and conflict. Translations abound from numerous authors of varying backgrounds and nationalities, and with multi-media capabilities, the English classroom can provide a place for students to enter a conversation on the perplexing nature of warfare and how it affects them and their fellow human beings. We, as educators, must create an environment that is safe to open those avenues of conversations. Also, the texts that are presented must accommodate a diverse variety of learners and readers. That is why I purpose to use a combination of graphic narratives with traditional canonical texts. For this example, I will combine Jacques Tardi’s (2010) It Was The War of The Trenches  in tandem with the more traditional All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (1987). In using these pieces of historical fiction students can enter the conversation of conflict guided by a deeply caring, pedagogical approach of sharing and listening. Also, by combining two challenging and diverse viewpoints of war that will ultimately sharpen students’ analytical and critical abilities the dialogue developed will in turn address common themes that are hallmarks of Young Adult literature and appeal to the maturing adolescent.

Historical Fiction and Graphic Narratives as Young Adult Literature
First, in dealing with factual or foundationalist viewpoint history in the English classroom, we are not performing the job of historians or even infringing upon the history teachers area of expertise. We are merely using the historical narrative as our way of having students enter the conversation concerning conflict. These historical novels are, as Dickinson defines them, “a fictional narrative in which there is an identifiable time, place, and historical agent, written sometime after the event or period depicted” (as cited  in Drury & Latrobe, 2009, p.74). Historical novels serve English educators with the possibility of being able to not only continue the development of students abilities in classic literary analysis (e.g. determining style, language, themes), but to broaden their perspectives upon engaging in conversations regarding war, politics and social justice in their other disciplinary coursework and real world conversations. Ultimately, historical fiction serves the justifiable ends of any fiction studied or read for pleasure- it allows us to find similarities in our views, beliefs and feelings in regards to the experience of being alive.

Second, the more difficult to define genre within the medium of comics-graphic narratives, or graphic novels. Young adults, and readers of any age for that matter, can find connections in this genre of storytelling. While many still only think of the graphic narrative as a “comic”, many have argued for the applicability of them. For example Mila Bongco (2000) believes:

While comicbooks themselves may be ephemeral ,the medium and the
form are not… Many mythologies, characters, anecdotes and forms of
humor which originated in comics are deeply ingrained not only in
American consciousness but have found their way into a world-wide
system of reference. The language, characters and narratives in comics do
not exist devoid of ideologies, doctrines, and biases. Given the ubiquity of
 the medium and its influence on a large portion of the population, it is
difficult to imagine that sequential art [does] not, in an enduring way,
participate in or contribute to the cultural debates or struggles of the
medium’s surrounding social environment.  (p. 24-25).

Bongco (2000) sees the intertextual possibilities of using graphic narratives, one that I also believe exists in presenting subject matter such as war to Young Adult audiences that are looking for connections of some type.  In using the graphic narrative for such purposes, it is, as educator and writer Rocco Versaci (2007) points out, a medium that provides another important contrast towards “ a common thread: however beautifully or ineptly or movingly or lifelessly conveyed, these works are someone’s interpretation of how the world in which we live either is or was or should be or might be or might have been” (p.5). It is the interpretation that is the conversation that we need the students to come into, and if a graphic narrative can provide a part of that common thread, it needs to be utilized.
So English educators should not be worried about the validity of the form of graphic narratives, for just as the classroom teacher is in the infancy of their relationship with technology, perceptions concerning use of visuals need to be evaluated differently. I do not wish to make this an argument for the use of alternative mediums in the classroom, as I believe that the preceding points should be sufficient, and I have discussed it at length in a pervious paper on teaching visual rhetoric with graphic narratives.

Historical Criticism and Critical Inquiry
Critical inquiry in our schools should be beyond the nascent teachings of who, what , where , when, why and how as main questions. Today’s student is one that faces an increasing multi-mediated culture, with untold stores of knowledge presented everyday. Critical inquiry built through historical criticism allows for teachers to engage students in questions of social justice, and individual experience,  as both are needed in shaping a more democratic environment to be shared.
The historical criticism I am drawing from comes from Drury and Latrobe’s (2009) book Critical Approaches to Young Adult Literature. In it, basic outlines of the types of historical criticism that exist are folded into a malleable set of guiding questions concerning different areas of inquiry.

The Historical Lens and a Democratic Pedagogy
The lens I feel is best to use in engaging students concerning war is that of historical criticism. Drury and Latrobe (2009), in their survey of literary criticisms in Critical Approaches to Young Adult Literature, believe that “Historical criticism illuminates the basics of text, author, reader, and context”, while also “researching a literary work for its historical context requires critical consideration of the inherent problem that any scientist, teacher, or lawyer approaches with caution: the problem of making assumptions” (p. 171). For our purposes, in examining how war affects the lives of so many, the assumptions being struck at for discourse concern an unmasking of  society on both sides in an attempt to find valid reasoning. It is in those assumptions that the greatest care must be taken.

The modern classroom is diverse, not only in culture but also in belief, attitude and any other strands of sociological/psychological importance that help shape an individual into who they are. This is why a very open approach to teaching this material must be made so as to bring the assumptions of all to the forefront because it is assumption that leads to roadblocks. In combating those assumptions, we must engage in what Paulo Freire (1993) insists is a problem-posing education. According to Freire (1993) “Problem-posing education affirms men and women as beings in the process of becoming [author emphasis] –as unfinished, uncompleted beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality.” (p.84). In establishing such a method, we then lead towards practicing a shared dialogue about these subjects ( in our case war and the effects of it upon all people involved) as we tumble towards understanding our reality, the individuals place in the world and how it can function. In doing so, the classroom moves closer towards the realization that “Teacher and students (leadership and people), co-intent on reality, are both Subjects, not only in the task of unveiling that reality, and thereby coming to know it critically, but in the task of re-creating that knowledge” ( Freire, 1993, p.69). We extend the conversation of conflict by using problem-posing education in tandem with historical criticism. The seeds of a fuller democratic education are also beginning to happen in this process.

In using a text like It Was The War Of  The Trenches, democratic education is being practiced. It is not just because of how the book is constructed visually; we must look at it also as an artifact of importance in presenting how another culture views historical events-how those events may or may not have affected the lives of others we do not think of in the rush of war and the aftermaths that follow as we choose what is important in history and what is not. Such a text as Tardi (2010), and Remarque (1987) as well, is giving us is a window in to human nature and the relatable question that every young person thinks- Why are we doing these things and are they necessary?

Historical Criticism and the Politics of Social Justice
In his introduction to It Was The War Of The Trenches, Jacques Tardi (2010) insists that in examining the effects of war “There are no “heroes”, there is no “protagonist” in this awful collective “adventure” that is war. Nothing but a gigantic, anonymous scream of agony” (Foreword). Such a quote given by Tardi (2010) allows for student and teacher alike to begin questioning right away the time, place and circumstances of such combat. While our textbooks have historically pointed out the statistical information of time and place, our examination becomes one of circumstance. Is it as simple as an assassination to send so many men of such diverse backgrounds to their deaths? Do the texts we are examining give us a better or more accurate depiction due to being composed by foreign authors? We must point out immediately that with these two artifacts that we are seeing the “winning” and “losing” sides of the war, and can possibly debate the qualifications of such statements.

Such a dialogue leans also into questioning who goes to war and why? Tardi (2010) and Remarque (1987) make the point that it is the common man, infused with and manipulated by feelings of national pride, who runs headlong into conflict that perhaps they are not in full understanding of. Here we come to an important part of the discussion with students who may have a long history of military service or who have recently been moved to join. The important aspect of problem-posing dialogue within a Socratic seminar model is that we are not necessarily arguing that Tardi (2010) and Remarque’s(1987) viewpoint is right. Rather, that these authors are both exhibiting the critical awareness of questioning motives associated with war and its meaning at large. Even Tardi (2010) concedes that he is really giving his own interpretation of the war based on the stories of his grandfather and existing artifacts dealing with the conflict ( including All Quiet on the Western Front!). This is interesting on many levels, and perhaps inquiry and discussion should be guided around examining all the possible avenues of bias that Tardi (2010) is demonstrating in his work. However, it should be tempered with other examinations of parties involved in the conflict, including the interests of our own country.

Historical Criticism and the Individual Experience
Do we understand or empathize with Tardi’s (2010) interest in “man and his suffering” because it “fills him with rage” (Foreword)?  As a discipline of the humanities the individual experience as it relates to the world at large is imperative to our coursework. What Tardi (2010) is offering in his work, not only a different perspective from a different nationality, but constructing the perspective of people who are put into a situation completely out of their control. Young Adults gravitate to such stories, as often they themselves feel as if their life is out of control. This is healthy, and such discussions within a serious topic such as world war helps to alleviate the gravity of such thought provoking topics.

Tardi’s (2010) account is an amalgamation of French experience while Remarque’s (1987) is German. The individual experiences communicated by both are harrowing. Tardi’s (2010) work is constructed as vignettes of experience, allowing really for the reader to jump around. This departure from traditional linear narrative as found in all Quiet on the Western Front allows for some longitude with the work. As you mine the narrative depths of encounters given by Remarque (1987), Tardi (2010) can serve as that supplemental punch, highlighting the possible similarities and viewpoints of contention.

Both works also give us the gamut of experiences to parallel. Perhaps Remarque’s (1987) protagonist being stuck in a shell hole with a dead body with Tardi’s (2010) soldier seeking out  dead comrade in no man’s land? How about the shared cynicism of individuals’ feelings of national pride at what their countries are trying to accomplish that is used throughout both narratives? These are but a few examples, and the discovery of many points that can be made with students is only as limited as the time that can be put into it.

Conclusion
The English classroom provides a great place to discuss difficult subject matter. The human experience in times of joy and sorrow are hallmarks of great literature, and it is our job to introduce, facilitate and co-operate in the process of helping students discover their viewpoints on such subject matter. The role that an English educator must take in approaching a text or group of texts needs to work not only as an exercise in analyzing literary elements, but also needs to serve as a doorway into a wide variety of lenses that can develop critical abilities that are of an ever-growing importance in the twenty-first century classroom.

References
Bongco, M. (2000). Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the
      Superhero in Comic Books. New York, NY: Garland.
Drury, J., & K. H. Latrobe. (2009). Critical Approaches to Young Adult Literature. New
     York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.
Freire, P.(1993/2000) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Remarque, Erich Maria. (1987). All Quiet on the Western Front. New York, NY:
     Random House Publishing.
Tardi, Jacques. (2010). It Was The War of The Trenches. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics.
Versaci, Rocco. (2007). This Book Contains Graphic Language: Comics as Literature.
     New York, NY: Continuum.

"We are all in this together": Some great societal/cultural questions in comics this week

Having just finished the recent week in Flashpoint, there were two specific scenes that stood out to me that I feel also fold in nicely with discussions concerning the recent announcements of a new Spider-Man and a resurrected Ryan Choi as The Atom over at DC comics.

Flashpoint #4
The most curious thing about the main Flashpoint title, written by Geoff Johns, is that it is really a centerpiece that focuses more on the characters than the action. This is interesting because it allows for bigger themes and ideas to emerge. One that had been sort of bubbling under the surface but came out in full this week is in a scene with the children who comprise the Shazam-tastic Captain Marvel ( aka Captain Thunder in this timeline) in a conversation with Barry Allen, Cyborg, Batman, and Element Woman. The Flashpoint world is on the brink of destruction and heroes are in short supply to go to the front lines to help. As the rambling and disjointed heroes have come to a house for help, it is Billy Batson, a mere boy granted magical powers, who has watched the world begin to disintegrate from war and hatred in front of his eyes on television, fully capable but much like everyone else scared, who has the following exchange with Barry Allen/The Flash:

Billy: We'll come with you./ We have to, guys. Even if it's only The Flash and us. We can't sit inside and watch TV and hope something good is going to happen./ We have to make it happen.

The Flash: No, No, it's too dangerous for kids.

Billy: It's dangerous for everyone, Flash.

Such discourse in comics is common, but, often it is overlooked as just another component of writing for the superhero/heroine genre: the good guys must rally and someone must give the version of the rally round the flag speech. However, let's take a moment to approach what is perhaps being said here on another level. This is the call to action-- social action and/or social justice. Here, in this "comics summer event", we have substance over style as the characters and situation being faced mirrors our own society yet again (which, I might add, all great literature does). Generations (especially young people) who read this will be faced with the question of whether they themselves are active or passive citizens within their own culture and society and what that may mean. As an adult who teaches, this is one of the most important things I try to impart to students--that transformative social change begins with questioning (born from reading and/or discussion) enough that it moves you to action of some kind.

The World of Flashpoint #3
As one of the ancillary titles, I am sure not everyone who is reading the main event book may be getting this one. While it is not a perfect side story (as some of the side ones are not), there is a very important point about cultural beliefs when the character Traci 13, in a dramatic moment of trying to find clarity for her father, thinks:

Traci: All these champions, both good and bad, are all driven by their selfish motives. Each is caught up in his or her own little drama. / And each of them wants nothing more than to mold this world into the image of what they consider right. / But who is truly right? It's all a matter of perspective...

On the next splash page, she imparts to him (along with psychic imagery):

Traci: The world can be a terrible place, dad./ But it can be a beautiful one. It's a place where people try to make it better./ Each in their own way./ Trying to solve the world's problems, one step at a time./ There are no easy solutions. Sometimes you just have to let go.../...and hope.

Traci's call for understanding perspective in a diverse world is punctuated by the two page splash image of man, woman, alien, cyborg, machine, element, meta-human etc. all wanting to make a change for "A" better. The point Tracy is making, I believe, as many philosophers, educators, anthropologists and social theorists have also discussed the last hundred years, is that the first step in understanding culture is to understand that unity can exist even when it is understood differently based on ones upbringing and moral code. With respect for another cultures perspective, respect for views can become shared via reciprocity, and suddenly light is shed upon that most of what everyone wants, regardless of place on the planet, is basically the same: To live a healthy life with opportunity and chance for themselves and those around them; To be free of war and pestilence and hunger and death; To unshackle those that are oppressed and put in danger by those that only want power; To be educated; To be heroes for one another when the time comes.

Faces of Diversity
So I found it rather wonderful that these themes emerged in a high profile series like Flashpoint as announcements concerning the new Ultimate Universe Spider-Man were made. Marvel revealed that the Spider-Man of that universe would be a young man of mixed race background. While the voices of hatred have emerged( as they always do), there was a very nice post over at DC Women Kicking Ass who gave perhaps the best perspective on why it is important that Spider-Man has changed, and also on DC comics continuing struggles towards diversity in characters with the resurrection of Ryan Choi.  Just click on the linked name for DCWKA and please read, share, respond, and by all means continue the conversation.

Refashioning the Gothic for a Final Crisis

"We took the breakdown of the rational enlightenment story of progress and development as it succumbed to a horror tale of failure, guilt, and submission to blind authority"- Grant Morrison, Supergods, p. 36

Prometheus Bound by Scott Eaton (2006)

No matter the culture, we take the stories that have been passed to us and read, listen, and/or see them in the moment, the historical epoch to which we belong. In doing so we take old stories, stories of adventure, romance, good and evil, and re-fit them to fit our needs, our temperments, our desires and dreams. This is the purpose of story-it is what stories do, and have been doing for thousands of years. The messages of the medium are really never new, just slightly tweeked.

The myth of the American comics hero/heroine has so often struggled with this, as the nature of the myth of the good versus the evil ends with good triumphant.So how could a writer working in the genre of  comics heroism tweek the story enough to actually make good lose and evil win, with only a slight reprieve at the end?  It would take a combination of two elements. First, a deconstructed and fragmented post-modern narrative structure to cause oft times confusion and dread in the reader. Second, utilizing a type of literary genre or even motif that can support such a story.  I believe that comics writer/artist Grant Morrison does both in his often maligned multiverse epic Final Crisis as he approaches it as a modern re-fashioning of the gothic literature genre and sensibility to fit the comics medium in a major event.

The primary definition I used for looking at Final Crisis as a Gothic story comes as a bit of cross-pollination between traditional mythology, art studies and literature. Much of what I was looking for was, according to Murfin and Ray (2003), the gothic genre as "characterized by a general mood of decay, action that is dramatic and generally violent and otherwise disturbing, loves that are destructively passionate, and settings that are grandios, if gloomy or bleak" (p. 191).
A General Mood of Decay
The story of Prometheus is one of the oldest myths. As it has been passed down it has endured cultural changes and numerous new breakthroughs in mediums of communication. But yet, it still has resonance due to very primal ideas of fire, creation, power and knowledge. Many of us are first exposed to the idea of Prometheus through various literary allusions, most notably via Mary Shelley's romantic/gothic masterpiece Frankenstein, it being sub-titled "the modern prometheus".

As noted in the above quote from Morrison's talk about Final Crisis in his book Supergods (2011), he was aiming for a sense of failure. The DCU of this story is one beset by red skies and darkness with only brief glimpses of the light. Light itself, fire, that power stolen by Prometheus from the gods to bestow upon man, is the central metaphor/allusion used in great detail by Morrison to establish the duality of it as both as a bringer of knowledge and element of power. Fire is utilized in the very first issue of the series in a number of ways: The god/spirit Metron presenting fire to neanderathal man as knowledge; Fire as a harbinger of self-defeat and excess when Dan Turpin comments on lighting his cigarette; Fire as the weapon of gods to strike down the powerful and good as when Martian Manhunter is struck down by Libra while a ragtag quasi- Legion of Doom looks on in shock (which is also a prime example of the disturbing, dramatic violence of the gothic sensibility). It takes Morrison and artists J.G. Jones a handful of pages in the first issue to communicate a darkness, both environmental and embedded in character motivation and demeanor that will not break until the very end of the series, with a very important fire shedding light for a very important person.
Love In The Time Of Apocalypse
Often overlooked in Final Crisis is the subtle parallel narrative of the love of the monitors Weeja Dell and the exiled Nix Uotan. What makes the love destructive (and powerful), is they had never felt love before encountering the stories of the multiverse. Love as a destructive and powerful force is a popular sentiment of the romantic/gothic period. This discovery of love (and subsequently knowledge and emotions) by the monitors is also much like a major point that Shelley communicates about the creature in her story-- it also knows so little until it observes and learns while in exile about feelings and emotions in what it begins to percieve what it is to be human or alive.  Knowledge (in the form of a name, as mythical powers are often bestowed) will help to save us and re-unite the lovers, albeit it after so many have fallen and even, like Bruce Wayne, been lost to time. Love from beings who have just realized its beauty, and one simple harmony from our greatest comic creation, in the end gives the DCU a chance to live again.
Grandiose Settings
In fashioning this story as having a visual aesthetic sense of the gothic, Morrison and the artists of the series create the environment of gloom and doom effectively with buildings associated with gothic architecture (especially in writer Greg Rucka and artist Phillip Tan's Final Crisis: Revelations arc). It's not just red skies and raining blood that are enough (and it does happen near the end). A few examples are:

1) The stronghold of the heroes are castles, watchtowers, and churches/cathedrals.

2) The monitors multiversal orrey, which contains not only the bleed (lifeblood) of the multiverse, is fashioned by artist J.G. Jones as a giant gothic test tube.

3) Superman in Limbo is surrounded by the desolate, the trash of ideas and debris of that which is long forgotten. The book of the multiverse stands in the middle of a library of limbo, a non-centralized structure of tall spires and arches.

What I have talked about above is just a few bits I observed while re-reading Final Crisis recently as an attempt at the gothic archetype for the comics medium. Upon completing the cycle this time (which was, I think  my fifth time), I uncovered many more layers, but I leave those up to all who read this to post below in the comments section (or on your own blogs and wikis of course!) about what they perceive about the story through the lenses/experiences that they have with it. As part of my own belief that fans of comics need to continue to push for more wide-ranging criticisms from diverse cultures and fields, I always try to encourage healthy outlooks and avenues of discussion. After all, it is the greatest thing we can give to stories (and that they give to us)--keep them alive with our own "music" for others to engage in discussions about.

References

Morrison, G. (2011). Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, And A Sun God From Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human. New York: Spiegel & Grau

Murfin, R. & Ray, S.M. (2003). The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, 2nd ed. Bedford St. Martin's: New York.