Why go to the shop?

Perhaps I just don't pay attention that much, but today I noticed something I had not in the last few years in attending free comic book day at my local shop (LCS).  It wasn't that the shop was full, that is a given on the busiest shopping day of the year for comics, rather, the place was full of happy, smiling, laughing, talking people, mixed in age, gender and ethnicity. It doesn't necessarily matter that they were talking about comics (as one would in a comic shop) and all the stuff around the shop, it was the fact this this social interaction was occurring, and that it was so full of positivity that it actually forced you to walk around with a grin on your face and make you want to join the conversation.

I could easily buy everything I bought today on Amazon, or Ebay, or even be one of those people who download illegally. But I don't, and being in that shop today proved to me yet again that the LCS isn't ready to go down without a fight precisely because of what it, and local small business, can deliver outside of the material itself-- namely an aesthetic, social, communal experience. The LCS is not a den of negative fanboy scary as portrayed in movies and (as of late) reality television. Rather, the LCS can be that kind of place you heard your grandparents talk about, that place where people went and had coffee and read the paper and chatted. And no, the Starbucks in the B&N does not offer this, and I have been in many around the southeast and people aren't sitting around reading the latest issue of Newsweek chatting about the articles. You go there for the free wi-fi that only costs you as much as the cheapest cup of whatever.

The point here I am dancing around is this: support local business as they can still be hubs of healthy social discourse and interaction. Maybe my LCS is an exception or something, I can only speak from my own experiences, however, I know that generally when I go to a locally owned place to eat, or get coffee, people are generally more in tune with each other. By all means conduct your own social experiment as I have and next time you go out hit up these places that are being swallowed by all that is convenient or one-click away and just sort of soak in what is going on. Or, even if your bold, strike up a conversation.  If you can strike up a conversation with a complete stranger in a bar you can do it here, ok?

Why myth not caring makes Flex Mentallo important

Strap yourselves in. Brace yourselves. Prepare to become fictional- from the collected deluxe edition of Flex Mentallo Man of Muscle Mystery by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly. 


Myth does not care. Myth has no concerns for money. Myth has no concerns about spatial or temporal dimensions that society struggles with. Myth pre-supposes all such material and even non-material concerns; It is not just the DNA of things, it is the actual ephemeral. Myth seemingly composes the structures of our stories and by extension the way in which we can or should interact in our cultures and individual lives.

Metis and the idea of a cultural intelligence

Detienne and Vernant (1978), writing on greek myth and culture, define metis in two ways-- "as a common noun, [metis] refers to a particular type of intelligence, an informed prudence; as a proper name it refers to a female deity, the daughter of Ocean" (p. 11). While the secondary definition frames much of what the authors discuss in their work, I want to focus on the former part of the definition about the phrase informed prudence. I believe this to describe myth as a discretionary that pre-supposes actions undertaken; therefore myth has the ability through allegory/metaphor (or story) to advise, inform, entertain, or even caution about situations that can or will inevitably occur within the course of a life lived within a societal structure. This idea is what Grant Morrison seems to be having his crisis about in Flex Mentallo. 


"I mean, when you think about it...they're like archetypal...they come right up from the depths, those things...how can they say that stuff's stupid?...Why do people get so ashamed of things? ...I mean, I really love those comics..." from Flex Mentallo, issue # 1. 


Morrison has basically spent the part of his career post-Mentallo living the life on paper of his magical word, "Shaman". Spinning out of his own existential and drug fueled trips that took him to places such as the far east (which have been well documented in interviews as well as in his book Supergods and the recent film-opic Talking with Gods), the time spent seemed to allow Morrison to reflect, and in some spiritual way interact, with the stories of heroes that so shaped and molded his writing sensibilities, although at some great pain as on display in the pages of Flex Mentallo. By believing in that he acts as a shaman medium so that myth and story may emerge from the fictional ether into a more substantial reality, Morrison legitimizes his own spiritual beliefs and perhaps even salvation. Honestly it is no different than any other religion or individual treatise on faith that people make in search of a centering in the reality that everyday life has constructed. Morrison has chosen the "fictional" (and I use quotations here to connote fiction as it is understood as a normative cultural operation which many would view Morrison's choice to be), to plant his flag in the ground.

Essentially, Flex Mentallo is Morrison fully realizing for the first time in his writing the greek idea of metis. For Morrison, the heroes and heroines of the golden age can bring to society and pop culture the values of a seemingly good moral citizenship/optimism (an interesting ethical argument I believe for utilitarianism on Morrison's part), which seem to have a quality that is ageless and timeless. It is such reasoning that I believe then that Flex Mentallo stands as a modern day treatise on the power of metis as I described above, and has lead Morrison to write from that standpoint in some of his major works in the last decade, e.g., All-Star Superman, Final Crisis, Joe the Barbarian. For Morrison it comes down to the simple idea that these fictions/stories can save us. 

Myth does not care because it exists forever in waiting for culture to utilize it. While the power of myth through the skills of oration are not once at the power the were due to the paradigm shift in western society to symbolizing/communicating through pen to paper, and now 0 to 1's, myth is very much woven into the fabrics of countless cultures. Simply, as Morrison discovered in his own way, we need myth to give us hope, and to let us appreciate what came before us, and expect the best that is yet to come, even if sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle for a little while. This is not a  new idea, as the greek concept of metis should demonstrate, but in this modern society, as Morrison believes, the concepts get corrupted and misused, turned out from the intention of showing perhaps a way of life that is more communal and egalitarian if society can accept its own possibility. So bring on the heroes and heroines, and let them shine a little light into our lives.




References 


Detienne, M., & Vernant, J.P. (1978). Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture & Society. Sussex, UK. The Harvester Press. 

Why Old Friends Are A Good Thing

(image from Kaboom studios website)


In Roger Langridge's Snarked #4, we are left with a moment of reflection by one of the oldest literary creations ever-- that dreamer, that man of La Mancha, the wise, mad, beautiful romantic Don Quixote.

As Wilburforce J. Walrus and Company dash off, after being assisted by the old knight, whom one presumed to be the white knight of the gate (i.e., from the Looking Glass story) from an earlier issue, we are left with a surprising commentary on the concluding panels:

Walrus: Many thanks Whitey--you're a gentlemen and a scholar.

Knight: (smiling) They ALL say that!

Knight: ( now alone on an empty street at night, standing next to a rather wearied looking horse and he himself drops into an expression of a sad understanding) Yep--they all say that. Then they grow up....and they do. / Ah, well. S'pose it's for the best. Come, Rocinante...Let's get some hot cocoa.

(The final panel shows them ambling off into the night, with  the cheshire cat watching them).

 While Snarked has been a showcase of Langridge's love of Caroll (through a really solid character building by the way), this nod to Cervantes and one of the most famous imaginative creations in literary history is presented in a quite frankly moving moment. I have no idea if Langridge plans on bringing back the impossible dreamer and his trusty steed (maybe some Sancho Panza action as well??), but for now its always nice that some of our old literary friends remind us that they are still around if we need them to save the day or make us smile for a moment even if we have grown up.

Snarked issues 1-5 are out in your local comic store now, or possibly available online. It is published by Kaboom!. You can also visit the webpage built by Langridge snarkisland.com 

Educational questions around comics

Well it has been a while since I posted here, but that's the life of working on your doctorate...time just gets away from you and your writing and teaching commitments become multiplied in a hurry. I just wanted to pause here at this point in the semester to think some more about why comics, or, why graphic narratives, or why sequential art? What is the appeal and why do I have this need to push it as a valid and real form of creativity, communication, and scholarship that can be used in isolation, but , rather, in my argument, in constant use with other types of media in order to create wider contexts for learners.

I am preparing soon to teach another day on comics in the classroom in a little over a month, and I am in my usual planing stages. This time, however, it just feels like this go around needs to be just as dynamic as the work being discussed. But how? That is where I am currently stuck...what is the pedagogy and theory to augment the intended practices, not only in my execution of the presentation and subsequent discussions, but also in how I can present possibilities for these pre-service teachers to actually see that it is a very real possibility of using this medium in the classroom. These questions are weighing heavily on me also as I recently have started discussions with others about the possibility of my dissertation actually being a graphic narrative. It is elating, but also scary as shit.

Next time, more about this plus actually getting back to writing about comics again, if but for a brief time.