Week Six, Or How I Learned to Love the Camp

(Ooops, typed this out last night but forgot to post it!)

The readings this week were very enjoyable, for various reasons, and also very important for various reasons.

Let's start with MAD. I find it interesting to put these MAD comics in context of the Lawsuit readings from earlier on. Obviously this is not the same thing, but the comparison is interesting. I mean, they are lampooning the TOP DOG comic characters of the time, and perhaps of all time. They made a point many times to assure you this was a lampoon (not a spitoon!), as if that was ever unclear? Apparently there was never any legal issue, as parody is a different ballgame. All that being said, I found them to be pretty funny some of the time, but it was maybe like 1 in 5 jokes that worked for me. I laughed every time BatBoy deftly missed with the lasso.

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOOOOWNNNNN!!
So. Challengers of the unknown is super campy. At first I just thought it was really bad. But then! I was won over somewhere in the ULTIVAC story. Maybe it's just that I love stories about living machines, or giant robots? I don't know. I mean, the writing was really bad. Like, really really. I don't think I have seen more plot holes ever. BUT! That's okay, because it is amusing and funny. Further than that though: Why is this reading important? Well, I think that it typifies a certain kind of story popular at the time. Or at least runs along many currents that were a hit back then. In any regard I went from being repulsed by this to finding it very amusing (Probably not for the reasons it was intended.) Also, Jack Kirby is the King of Comics.

Robin Dies at Dawn! This was bizarre. Also, it was interesting in the context of seduction of the innocent. I hope I'm not stretching here? I mean, as far as 'evidence' the Robin/Batman gay thing. I mean, Batman is so broken up by the fact that he could MAYBE cause robins death, he breaks the vow he gave over his dead parents? Instead of just letting Robin not be in harms way at all? And continue crime fighting himself? Also there was the whole tentacle monster thing, and Robin comes to his rescue, just as he had hoped (I hope I'm not reading too much into these.) Regardless, there were also parts of this that were very funny (read: We're gonna kill you by strapping you to a balloon!) At any rate, it was a good story to read as a barometer of the time; It certainly shows off the storytelling trends, wants, and fears of the time just via contrast.

KONA: I may be alone in not finding Kona that enjoyable. I think we all know that it was poorly written, but I may be alone in thinking the visual beauty didn't make up for it. You all seemed pretty stricken. I mean, yeah it's beautiful, but who cares? I have no idea what is going on in this and it seems pretty boneheaded (I don't mean to be rude.) It is similar to CHALLENGERS, in that it has that pseudo science thing going, along with the supermasculine hero who fixes major problems, etc. But! It is written even more poorly. So why bother? Maybe I'm being very harsh. Either way I was not fond of this, but I know it is important because there were many stories like this popular at the time.

War Comics: These were interesting for several reasons. One, they were very down to earth in a way these other stories were not; they're very realistic. Two, there are similarly very much darker than these other stories. People have drawn comparison to the EC stories, in particular with Souvenirs, which I think is fair. Souvenirs tries to teach a moral lesson in the EC way, that is, for an example of the wrong to get it's just desserts. The dogfight comic was different. It was more a commentary, in the end, of the mindlessness of war and the inherent atrocities and, perhaps, the worthlessness of valor. Or at least, it felt that way to me. Also the art on both of these was very good.

I give my vote for WAR COMICS to be the reading other groups have to read.