Comics for Thought: Why?

Comics for Thought: Why?
By: Damien Wood

The intended purpose of Comics for Thought is to bring up and (hopefully) spark discussion on the various problems with the comic industry as it currently stands, from the reader’s perspective. To increase awareness and get people thinking about how to better the artform they all adore. I see the comic book as one of the last few truly unique forms of expression left, and I believe that the potential to lose comics is the potential to lose something that is and almost always has been very, very important.

Sure, the image of comics has gone through some rather questionable times – particularly during the nineties, which left a bitter taste in all our mouths. It was ridiculous when people bought every title in sight, along with several extra glossy, holographic, glow in the dark, swiss army variant covers for each – only to wrap them in more plastic than their grandmothers’ furniture and never look at them again. It was even worse when they stopped overnight and the actual supply started to outweigh the assumed demand, leaving even the wealthiest publishers under the threat of bankruptcy and trying to move comics that had little to no substance between their gimmick covers.

Yeah, that wasn’t exactly the comic book’s finest moment. We’re all still gargling on our mouthwash. The aftertaste of times like that aside though, comics in general have always found their way back to the high level of expectation we’ve held them to for the better part of a century. We’re back to solid creative minds working solid concepts. We’re back to comics as reading material, and there are so many out there that are worth the read.

Comics once again carry with them a near-endless versatility in storytelling that allows them to give us what other mediums of entertainment can’t, as well as anything those other mediums can (and often better). It’s the reason that many comics can’t be translated into movies so easily (Schumacher, Batman and the bat-nipples, anyone?), yet often times movies can be flawlessly translated into comics (an action flick done on paper such as The Couriers, for instance). Any genre. Any Concept. Any Subject matter. When done right, comic books can tell any story for any age of reader with any range of tastes.

When done right, comics cease to be the mere “funny books” that the misinformed majority tends to brush off as something to amuse a child and become an artform – the fluidic union of visuals and the written word. They entertain. They enlighten. Some more than others, of course, but it isn’t terribly difficult for those who look to find a comic book that carries relevance with them. There’s something for everybody. It’s why I started reading comics. It’s why I keep reading comics.

Next Friday: The Anthology

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The opinions expressed in the above piece are those of the writer, and are not necessarily representative of TNI.

When not enlightening the masses and saving the world in service of TNI, the entity known as NmX attempts to carry out a semi-normal life as a writer and a student of journalism under his not so secret identity, Damien Wood.

Look for his online projects "I Will Speak. You Will Listen." and "Mental Puppetry" sometime in the near future.