The Power of a Comic Book -- Ghost in the Shell Blog in Vogue

The Power of the Comic Book

JFM

There truly is a power to a comic book. Collecting and writing comic books is sometimes about making money, and sometimes about the addiction. Reading them is a different story; like reading a novel, we want to be enthralled by the pages. The power found in a comic book can be found in the stories of heroes or anti-heroes they tell, the escapism reading allows, and discovering the art in the combination of images and words.

Comic books are rarely boring. There is argument here: comics can suck. There is counter here: comics can be better than some of the best novels.

The power can be found in the super hero and the villain; this battle between good and evil found its way on the printed page in an interesting way. The early issues were pulp tales of crime fighters and men shooting nazis, Japanese bosses, and communist killers.

Comic books had been around for some time, but comic books found a niche during the 1930s. Some say Superman started the revolution. I say there were many prototypes to each character: comics evolved for Superman, Batman, The Human Torch, Captain America, and the Sub Mariner.

When the two signature comic book heroes were created, Batman and Superman, it set the stage for later heroes like Human Torch and Sub Mariner to make a mark.

The hero story is often different in comic books. When Batman fought The Joker, or Superman battled Lex Luthor, it became apparent the comic book villain was different. Often the origin stories are told, but many hero tales began with the birth of a child or a coming of age storyline. The first appearances of heroes in comic books alter this: Batman started out as a crime fighter whose origins appeared later, and even the famous story of a child coming from Krypton began first with a story of a grown up hero.

The anti hero works in a different way in comic books. It is the reason many people keep buying them; they find that the reasoning process for an anti-hero, one who works in a different way, can be more true to life. There are few super heroes in the real world, but many anti-heroes. Even though there are few men like Punisher who cut down the numbers of drug dealers, there are kinds in other art pieces like films (consider Han Solo from “Star Wars”).

The basic conflicts involving these heroes, anti-heroes, and villains provide the escapism that comic books have. The comic book story works because of its differences in the novel: The pictures are foremost, the super hero stories an addition, and the battles between good and evil the core. This is why comic books can be an escape. And there is so much there to explore in a comic book. If you want a deep literary story try the works of Alan Moore, most importantly “Watchmen,” and “The Dark Knight Returns” by Frank Miller. On the other hand sometimes a deep literary story may not be what you are looking for. Try a basic comic book story, most notably Spider Man, and you will find a story does not have to transcend the medium to be enjoyable. Comic books can provide an escape even without super heroes. Some of the finer tales ever told, like “Maus”, work because they move away from the super hero genre.

Combine an intricate drawing of characters with the a taut story and you have a comic book story. The power is here; Images can provide much to a story. What cannot be said on the printed page of a novel, or a picture that would take a 1,000 words, can be done in one or two panels of a comic book. Comic book are not necessarily superior the novel, but both have a power.

In the end the comic book heroes like Batman and Spider Man are only the beginning of the power of a comic book. It may never end in a sense because comic books have this ability and force to work because it’s a medium full of talent.