Those Darn Funny Books

In an age where comic books have been relegated to the plastic sleeves of obscure hobby shops and the end cards of fan-favourite films, how can we reconcile this modern medium with the post-modern world? Shadowed by dominant media of the 21st century, comic book sales are on the decline. Though the film industry emerged just decades before the comic book, almost 100 years later, their disparities could not be more pronounced: while the film industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise, no one is lining up at midnight for the latest comic book release. Every few years, modern technology threatens to reinvent the film industry yet again. In the content-saturated world of the free Internet, there can be hardly anything left to justify the production of comic books. The comic book was moulded by its insufficiencies; for example, the socalled ‘comic book font’ developed from the cost-effective tracing of typescript onto its flimsy pages. Its rise into mainstream consciousness is attributed to the allure of superheroes, enticing readers to spend a few extra dollars and encouraging growth in its own production value.

These surreal landscapes eventually ‘ran out of page,’ as the industry crashed when it failed to compete with film technology in the 1990s— at this point, the two mediums were telling the same stories. Since the 1950s, comic book superheroes have been refurbished for the big screen. Superman was the first in a long— and continuing—line of adaptations, drawing the staples of the comic book industry into new territories without the restriction of theprint medium. The critical trend that was only emerging then is fully formed today in the blockbuster Marvel and DC films that consistently draw in a larger profit than their comic book antecedents; it appears film can do ‘comic book’ better than the comic book itself. Marvel’s Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verseuses the comic book’s distinct style alongside its Marvel-sized budget to capture what the comic book has marketed for decades. It indulges in text bubbles and panelling to emphasize particular shots and integrate movement into an otherwise static form. Beyond gimmicky additions, this film renders the signaturered and blue 3D glasses effect on screen, without the 3D. The tinted images are placed side-by-side—not overlaid— to produce a vibrant and nostalgic design, reminiscent of those quirks still associated with the comic book form. Although the film industry has proved its ability to perform the comic book style on screen, the ‘medium specificity’ of the actual comic book prevails. Comic bookscraft stories to utilize their form, rather than to compensate for it. In Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (New 52), as Batman loses his sanity, readers are compelled to slowly turn the page upside-down in order to read the dialogue, thereby appearing insane themselves. Partially, however, what still drives consumers to spend probably too much on comics is that same thing which incites us to brush the dust off our parents’ record players. It’s a nostalgia for a time few are old enough to remember, or have even ever lived through; it’s a mentality that imagines a parental figure leaning in, and badgering us to stop reading those darn funny books.

by Samantha Stellato