Unless I am an idiot, this is the posting that is due correct? I got a bit confused....
Anyway. The Batman reading from week three was a strange experience for me. I am used, as someone born in 1990, to Batman being much different, as a character and as stories. The development of the character and those working on him is now visceral to me; At least the end points are. He is driven solely by vengeance, seemingly. He doesn't seem to have rules or care about scaring the shit out of innocent monocled by-standers. It is interesting to view this from my perspective; My first Batman was Bruce Timm's Batman, so the contrast is very telling.
Another shocking thing was the quality of the comic itself. So different from today's (superhero or otherwise), especially from a storytelling standpoint. I don't want to say its bad, because that is untrue, but I do want to say that it is worlds apart, and hard to enjoy. Also, of course, there is the tinge of early 20th century racism.
Overall I learned a lot just from contrast, or maybe I just noticed things I took for granted more in modern comics? I think thats it.
Oh! Also the court reading and POWER NELSON.
ReplyDeleteSo the court readings where (unsurprisingly) rather dull. However, I was interested in the dynamic of Will Eisner being not-so-honest even though he is seen as the granddaddy of comics in a way. Also it is just important to have a historical context on comics-based lawsuits, which is a BIG DEAL.
I found the Prize Comics readings to be summarily hilarious. In particular POWER NELSON cracked me up. I mean, power is in his name! How ridiculous can you get, right? But yeah, also very telling; The quality of storytelling, dialogue, and racism all add up to paint a picture of a different time. Its just hard for me to imagine people actually enjoying this (in a non-humorous way) ever, even back in the super-racist day.