(FYI, it's not that formalism is intrinsically not fun, it's just that it's formalism)
So Brandon Graham posted a link to the torrent of his recently-concluded comic series King City from Image. It's really good and has been written about by plenty of people better than me. There are plenty of memorable moments, but the one that stuck with me the most was from a backup story in the second issue. Check out these first two panels.
So Brandon Graham posted a link to the torrent of his recently-concluded comic series King City from Image. It's really good and has been written about by plenty of people better than me. There are plenty of memorable moments, but the one that stuck with me the most was from a backup story in the second issue. Check out these first two panels.
They knocked me on my ass. Formalism is a slippery slope. I remember the sequences from Asterios Polyp where Mazzucchelli was screaming COMICS on the page so loud that sometimes I just wanted to tune him out, despite the mastery on display. Graham substitutes screaming with subdued effortlessness. While Mazzucchelli wanted to make sure you knew about all the tricks the medium was capable of, Graham cares only about using those tricks to do cool shit. When I read this sequence, it took me straight out of the flow of the story and the panels, just like when I read the Asterios Poly sequences, except the above gave me a huge grin, while Asterios Polyp left me staring at the page. Both are showing off in a sense, but Graham comes off like a guy you could talk to about ridiculous comics stuff all day, while Mazzucchelli would be too busy presenting a research paper at an academic conference.
Is there anyone out there making comics having more fun than Brandon Graham? If you're up for a fool's chase, start looking.
