Monday, February 27, 2006

Call Me Stupid

Well, no don't do that, but this little story does demonstrate my uncanny grasp of the obvious.
I read Bananafish book 1 the other day and at the end of the book it occurred to me that what I read was the first "issue" of the story. These fat little manga books aren't collections of single issues like the American Trade Paperback, this is the first issue. That's a big difference in how the story is paced, plotted, and executed. Somebody tell me, because I'm too lazy to look it up, how many pages are in those things? I can't imagine having that much space to write a single issue of a story. But all this time I've looked at Manga and, while I knew that these were single issues, I didn't get that they were single issues until just the other day. I've gotta admit, I've got a whole new respect for the format.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

I love you, I love you not

I was reading Tom Strong the other day (I checked it from the Library) and was thinking how much of an action story it is. It and Top 10 and Planetary are still very much in this action/adventure type genre. So why do I feel that Battle Royal MX is too much of a genre story? Is it that I can't be objective about my own work? Is it that I spend too much time introducing characters and not enough time telling a story? I think about doing another installment soon, this year hopefully, and probably drawing it (somehow) myself. I'm not sure if I should take the imagery of the standard four color book, which is what I did in issue 1, and tell a more complex story with it, or depart from the premise of a four color world and go into uncharted territory. Of course this conundrum will no doubt generate a host of pithy answers that while ideally true lack any concrete solutions to my specific dilemma.
I think this ties back the situation I had at the comic store the other day, feeling guilty for liking the Four Color books so much. I like what I like and I like the fun wild stuff. I like Star Trek and Doctor Who because they are science fiction, not despite the fact, etc. etc. I have lots of different angles and takes on Battle Royal MX specifically as a setting in the Millenials and can do each of them in turn with no problem, but I think what I am most concerned about now, and justifiably so, is telling a good story. I know that phrase has been used to the point of being hollow, so I'll define what I mean by good story. Actually, good story isn't so much the case as STORY. Issue one of Battle Royal MX suffers most because it's not really a story. It's a pastiche, a tableau, a 20 something page set up for a story, but not, I think, much of a story itself. I'm stepping back from the thematic level of the tale and working more with the minutiae of it. The micro not the macro as James always says.
I'm just not entirely sure what that might look like. I introduced some 12 or 14 characters in issue one of BRMX, each of them with their own story to tell. Where to start?
I'd like to have issue two be the issue two it was always meant to be. Tiger meets Anthem and they coffee and they flirt. Again I run the risk of not telling a STORY but I do get to have people in a very human situation dropping the metaperson facade and being meek and curious with each other. Plus, from a technical standpoint, it allows me to fill in back story. And it does have it's place in the grand scheme of things, it just might not be apparent at first. I've written the scene several times and have always loved it. Unfortunately, the last and best version was lost in the crash of '04. That's okay. I did it before I can do it again. And I need to change the ending anyway. I'm not sure how to end it, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Megabuck$

I went to the comic shop Saturday. I hadn't been in a while. Thought I'd spend a little of my tips on a book, just one book. Of course I found several books that wanted and need for my collection. However, I found myself feeling guilty about the choices I was making. Was I really supporting the expansion of the medium and the elevation of the market out of the genre rut by purchasing Tom Strong or Top 10 or even Planetary? Weren't these still "merely" action stories building on an adolescent imagination? Isn't the medium better exemplified by radical innovators like Gary Panter, Robert Crumb, Chris Ware, and Tony Millionaire? Shouldn't I buy these more "literate" or rather more "artistic" books, both to confirm to myself that I have "outgrown" the "mere thrills" of my latent adolescence?
AAARRRGGHHH!! I know it's one book, but we do vote with out dollars. The industry goes where the money is and if I add fuel to the capitalist fire, then I have done little to change the face of the comic market.
Of course, at question here is whether or not these books are "mere genre" stories built upon an "adolescent imagination". Greater voices than mine have debated that question and the answer will most likely always be subjective anyway. In the end I went with what I like, what thrilled me the most, and which artist/title had the biggest hole in my collection.
But it did get me thinking about the "politicized" nature of the medium. Hell, this same issue could apply to any type of art. I could just as easily be talking about movies or novels or even sculpture or painting. The truth is as much as I love Panter and Crumb and a great many other artists and writers who do some truly incredible things with out beloved art form, as I said before on this very blog I love the action stories best. I love the thrills, the chills, the heroism, the tragedy, the humor, and the sheer imaginative grandeur.
That I knew already. What I hadn't thought about in a while (since I hadn't bought a book in a while) was the question about where my money went. What aspect of the market gets my support the most? What messages do I send with my purchasing power? Such things should drive my decisions (I should buy books I don't want just to make a political or aesthetic point) nor should they trouble me to the point of neurosis, but I do think they are valid questions to consider. I do think we should examine our spending habits and attempt to make those habits into conscious choices.
I continued the buy the same mainstream genre books fro years after I had fallen out of love with them. I just couldn't seem to break my old cycles. I wanted to see where the plot was going to end up (answer: Nowhere good) or what happened to the latest love triangle (answer: it's the same old triangle it always was).