Huh. Interesting.

[lithera]

So, CNN put up a story about comics and hard times and how usually comics do better in ahrd times. There are a lot of things I can nitpick about the article but I can usually do that when any major news outlet writes about comic books in general. There have been a lot of responses to this article, though. And one of them is from James McPherson. He is an author and a blogger and a college professor. His blog is here: http://jmcpherson.wordpress.com/

The article that got my attention was the one titled: "Can a Christian lesbian Latina superhero save us?"

My first reaction, to the title was, "Well, if Montoya wants to save me from something, with or without her face, I'd be more than happy to let her." Because, well, there you have it.

I was annoyed, though, by "On the other hand, maybe the misadventures of the Bush administration should have taught us that traditional superheroes can’t always save us, that might can’t always make right, and that it’s time for us to put away the comic books and grow up." Most of the time, I come to grips with the idea that a lot of people have a hard time taking comics seriously and that there is certainly enough fodder for people to think of them as popcorn fiction.

Then again, there is Maus. And Pride of Baghdad. And a ton of other examples I could pull out that deal with serious issues and are fantastic works of fiction. It is all about what you put into it and what you want to get out.

And I really need to improve that icon.

Comments

[skidspoppe.livejournal.com]

One slight correction... Maus isn't a work of fiction (at least no more so than any other memoir style narrative) - but yes, I agree with you. Comics are just another form in which to tell a good story. It's just the delivery system and doesn't dictate the message

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Far enough, I can accept the correction. Had I thought about it longer, I'd likely have changed my choices but there is a lot out there.