The Damned Coolest

     I have students (from four-year-old to graduate) ask me all the time, as well as friends, seminar attendees and fellow comic appreciators, what my favorite piece of comic art is.  What they seem to mean is, not for craftsmanship or invention or draftsmanship, but for pure superhero-loving impact of image, what is the damned coolest piece of art I've seen in a comic.
     Well, if we're talking about artists overall, I have to go with the great John Romita, Sr., who brought a sense of clean action and clarity of narrative like no one else, mainly through his work on Amazing Spider-Man.  But as a single image, it's got to be this one by George Perez, the cover of JLA/Avengers 4:

     Hopefully, this image speaks for itself.

Humanitechnology

     In the February 4, 2014 issue of the New York Times, David Brooks wrote about technology and people in a particularly illuminating way.  Recognizing that there are things that machines can and can't do and that there are things humans can and can't do and, most importantly, there is no stopping technological progress (even if you wanted to), Mr. Brooks discusses what human traits are becoming increasingly important in a cultural delineated by technology.  Have a look for yourself right here. 

Daily Battlefields

A Hard Day's Work by Steve Huston

     Somewhat apropos to the thoughts from last week's post, Robert Louis Stevenson, writer of -- among other things -- Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, had this to say: "And yours is not the less noble because no drum beats before you when you go out to your daily battlefields, and no crowds shout your coming when you return from your daily victory and defeat."
     Everyone needs a little bit of heroism to make it through the day, sometimes, and all the more so to make the world work in little ways.  This sort of heroism is often invisible, something I'm reminded of frequently, as I work with teachers and watch them struggle toward their daily victories (and defeats).
     

No Moaning

     Re-watching the TV series Quantum Leap recently made me realize how few straight up heroes there are in TV shows anymore.  Modern TV protagonists tend to straddle the line between hero and and villain, if they're not flat out on the far side of it.  Scott Bakula's character Sam Beckett, a scientist caught in a time travel experiment gone wrong and now leaping through time and "striving to put right what once went wrong," tread no such line.  He didn't lack complexity, it's just that his complexity didn't come from his doubts about himself, his mission or the world.  Despite what you hear about how so many writers and actors much prefer to take on villains because they're so much more interesting, heroes don't have to lack complexity. 
     In the February 2014 issue of Empire, the actor Chris Evans comments on playing the role of Captain America, a straight up hero if ever there was one.  When discussing the idea that Captain America doesn't seem to have a standard character arc (he starts out one kind of person and he basically stays that same person), he says, in part "to be a good man is difficult.  To be the best man you can be is even harder.  Even though he doesn't choose to wear his baggage on his sleeve, I think that's his skill set.  He doesn't moan.  There is a depth to him."  Mixed metaphors notwithstanding, Mr. Evans reiterates the point that it's the struggle and how he or she deals with it that can give a character both heroism and an interesting and engaging depth.

Oregon Book Awards

     The finalists for the Oregon Book Awards were recently announced.  Your truly served as judge for the Graphic Literature category.  All submissions were produced by local Oregonians and this was by no means left a shortage of fine material to choose from, as the state (and Portland in particular) has become a veritable center for alternative comic book creation.  Have a look at the finalists here.