The Spirit Leaves Me Cold.

I spent the evening watching the movie The Spirit.  It is a Frank Miller film based on Will Eisner’s comic book of the same name.  I have to say that I am not impressed.  It does have some really good points.  I love the cinematography.  In one of the readings from class, I don’t remember which one at this time, talked about the comic book artists framed their panels as if they were filming the scene.  But it seems more like many movies and TV shows now film their scenes as if it was a comic book.  The cast is filled with many actors and actresses I like.  But the film feels like it has no heart.

It feels as though they don’t know how they want this movie to feel like.  They jump from film noir to camp to comedy and back again.  And what is with Samuel L. Jackson in a Nazi uniform?  The film does seem to keep true to the comic books in some ways.  The Spirit still has a thing for Sand Saref and the Commissioner and his daughter are still his allies.  I haven’t read the comic books but I am pretty sure I would like them more then I like this movie.  But not every comic book movie can be Iron Man.

The Golden Rule : Those With The Gold Make The Rules.

While Arie Kaplan’s book, From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books is not a comic book, it does offer a lot of great illustrations throughout.  These visuals really help a person get a feel for the kind of comic book art that was occurring during the Golden Age of comic books.  For that reason, this book is an interesting history of comic books.  And while it gives some perspective on the beginnings of comic books in the 1930s, it also left me with some questions unanswered. 

          Kaplan offers a sort of cautionary tale of three young comic book artists/writers who were the geniuses behind two legendary superheroes, Batman and Superman.  While Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman, arguable the most recognized comic book superhero ever, it was only much later in their lives when they get the credit they deserve for influencing pop culture for decades.  The comic book system from the 1930s to the 1950s did not recognize the individual artists for their work nor where they properly compensated for the work they did for the comic book publishers.  Most of the illustrators and writers did not share in the profits that their work generated for their publishers.   While most of the artists were denied credit by their employers, some had credit for their work stolen by a fellow comic artist.  Bill Finger is one such example of this.   Bill Finger came up with many of the ideas that have become part of Batman’s mystique, including the memorable villain, The Joker.  Yet it is Bob Kane who claims the credit for all things Batman.  These are just a few examples of this kind of treatment in the comic book industry. Why was this allowed to happen?

          The early part of the 20^th century was known for discussion and protest over many social causes, the issue of worker’s rights and unions being just one of them, and many Jews were a part of those causes.  So, why wasn’t there more protest about the exploitation of the young Jewish men that worked in the comic book industry?  Yes, this was happening during the Great Depression when many people were out of work.  But, many workers in other industries during this time were going on strike for better wages and working conditions.  Why were these men willing to take such exploitation when many of them would have been willing to jump at helping change other social injustices?

Comix: Not Just For Geeks Anymore.

In the forward to The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches edited by Samantha Baskind and Ranen Omer-Sherman, J.T. Waldman asks, “Why are so many Jewish imaginations attracted to the medium of comix?  Is there something particularly Jewish about comix?  Does this outsider art form embody the essence of an outsider culture? (Baskind and Omer-Sherman, xii) While Jews may have been present in large numbers at the birth of the comic book and continue to be influential presence in the world of comic books and graphic novels,  comix are no longer the outsider art form they used to be. 

          Comix, comic books and graphic novels are popping up everywhere.  So many art forms are influenced by comic art.  Many comic book superheroes have appeared on the silver screen and Saturday morning’s TV screen.  Comic books have also been made into live action TV shows for the adult television audience.  AMC, home of Mad Men, will be premiering Walking Dead, based on the comic book by Robert Kirkman, on Halloween night. Another underappreciated example is the live action version of The Tick.  Comic books have influence literary works such as Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.  The New York Times even has a best-sellers list made up of only graphic novels.  Comic book artists have returned the favor by turning novels into graphic novels.  One example of this is the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.   And lest we forget, even famous artists, such as Roy Lichtenstein, have been influenced by comic books.

          While not everyone spends their weekends at comic book shops, a person would hard pressed to escape comix influence on our day to day culture.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

As a fan of graphic novels, there are several graphic novels either on the booklist for my Religious Studies class or mentioned in the introduction of the book The Jewish Graphic Novel that I either own or have read previously.  Maus, Volume I and II and Miriam Katin’s We Are On Our Own.  But before this class I had never read A Contract With God or heard of Will Eisner.  To be honest, my first thought was “I wonder if he is related to the guy that used to run Disney.”  So I was not sure what I would think of this graphic novel.

Upon reading it, I have to say that “I love this book.”  There are few books that I get a truly emotional response from.  I may think a book is well written but can put it out of my head soon after I read it.  A Contract With God is not one of those books.  The stories in this book that really hit me were A Contract With God and The Super.  They both evoke an emotional response from me but for different reasons. 

          As a formerly religious person, I can say I have had my own “Contract with God” moment when I was still in high school.  So, I can really feel for Frimme Hersh’s pain when his daughter dies.

          The story The Super is an entirely different case.  I actually feel guilty for feeling for the super in the story.   Is he a pedophile or someone that was unable to resist a temptation?  I don’t know.  But it does seem like he was a lonely man whose only constant companion was his dog.  The young girl with the innocent veneer takes advantage of this loneliness and the natural hatred of the super by the residents of the tenement for her own benefit.  It shows even the most innocent looking can be evil on inside.   This made me think about the term the “banality of evil.”

          The entire graphic novel seems to be a chronicle of broken dreams and frustrations by the tenants of 55 Dropsie Avenue.  Although sad, they all continue to hope for better.