Buy this work. That's all that need be said. Nothing will bring you closer to experiencing an event than the raw recollection as told by someone who survived it. I'm sure Spiegelman's tolerance for pain is through the roof, being able to sit there and listen to this inane ranting. Despite that, I can see that he learned much of it.
Something I believe is that there is no better training than fighting to survive, so when it was mentioned in class today that survivors of such atrocities as Auschwitz and the Holocaust are typically cold and unwelcoming in the extreme, I'm not so quick to render judgement. I don't know what such horrors are truly like, and hopefully I never will, but I can imagine what they're like, and Art does a spectacular job painting that image for us.
His use of animals to represent different ethnic groups is a welcome change from what I'm used to. It forced me to try and feel things from another perspective, which is exactly what Art had to do when he interviewed his father. Maybe Vladek sounded like a cat when he poured out so much information. It's entirely possible that such vivid and horrifying memories were too much to take in all at once, so it was bound to sound like incoherent babbling sometimes. Not to mention the raw emotional effect it might have had, hence the name of the first volume: "My Father Bleeds History." It's truly a powerful thing. I believe it deserved the Pulitzer Prize.
When you've found yourself in a hell such as the Nazi genocidal crusade, you'll learn things that you never expected to. This raw pragmatism that Vladek was venting is only the aftereffect of what he had to become in order to survive the deadly conditions of his internment. I don't blame him at all for his behaviour. I hope he finds his peace at long last.
Hopefully works such as this will serve as a reminder to mankind and hopefully such terrible events won't ever blight the world again. Despite this, we do live in a world where it's profit against humanity, and all I can ask is: what side are you on?
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Rogue Trooper - My Personal Anthology
Science Fiction is my lifesblood, pure and simple. A nice futuristic setting where anything goes is right where I'll be, and 2000AD has never disappointed. For the last thirty-five years, they have provided thrills and more. Rogue Trooper was my personal favourite.
Set in the fictional death-world of Nu-Earth, an entire planet lain waste by nuclear and chemical weapons, two political factions known across the stars as the Norts (reminiscent of Nazis) and the Southers (the alleged good guys) wage and endless war for supremacy. Nu-Earth is located just outside a black-hole, which is able to transport ships from one part of the galaxy to another, and because of this, the world is strategically essential to both sides. Unfortunately, due to the incessant warfare, the air is a poisonous fume, the waters are now corrosive chemicals and save for a few dome-cities, the landscape rendered desert stretching as far as the eye can see. Under these conditions the forces of both sides are forced to fight wearing environment suits to survive. Air and replacement filters can safely be added to the tally of things on supply lists.
However, the Southers have developed a way to turn the tide of the war in their favour. Their scientists have created the Genetic Infantrymen, or G.I.s. These genetically engineered super-soldiers were developed to survive the hellish conditions brought about by the war. These shirtless, blue-skinned men and women were supposed to win the war, but this was not to be.
One of the Souther generals had other plans and sought personal gain by selling crucial information to the Norts. Aptly named the Traitor General, he grants the Norts knowledge of the G.I. regimental deployment. This allows the Norts to set up an ambush.
In the ensuing massacre every G.I. is killed except for one, the eponymous Rogue, who has managed to escape the fight and collect the data chips from three of his comrades and installed these chips into the various items he carries. One is interred within his helmet, dubbed "Helm." Another in his rifle, named "Gunnar." And the last in his multipurpose backpack, called "Bagman." Together, this four-in-one squad must seek out revenge against the Traitor General who sold them out. To accomplish this goal, however, they must undertake their own way, thus earning Rogue his name. Along the way they thwart many Nort schemes and learn how to deal with the hellish world that the must call home.
Rogue Trooper is without question my favourite comic to date. It's simplicity and flavour is gritty and dirty, but not so much so that it loses all semblance of reality. The comic takes many turns toward humour and revels in it. New characters are introduced. Some live, and some die. Rogue and the gang are there for all of it, and they must cope with the reality from which the cannot escape, no matter how much they want to.
Something that makes me laugh a little is that Rogue earns his name before the massacre that nets him his soloist reputation. Nonetheless the comic is a lot of fun to read and if you can hunt down the trade paperbacks, I recommend it if your into science fiction. Though this comic is certainly not for everyone, as it can drone a little. Sometimes the buildup can take a long time, and even for me that is a lot to buy. No pun intended.
Set in the fictional death-world of Nu-Earth, an entire planet lain waste by nuclear and chemical weapons, two political factions known across the stars as the Norts (reminiscent of Nazis) and the Southers (the alleged good guys) wage and endless war for supremacy. Nu-Earth is located just outside a black-hole, which is able to transport ships from one part of the galaxy to another, and because of this, the world is strategically essential to both sides. Unfortunately, due to the incessant warfare, the air is a poisonous fume, the waters are now corrosive chemicals and save for a few dome-cities, the landscape rendered desert stretching as far as the eye can see. Under these conditions the forces of both sides are forced to fight wearing environment suits to survive. Air and replacement filters can safely be added to the tally of things on supply lists.
However, the Southers have developed a way to turn the tide of the war in their favour. Their scientists have created the Genetic Infantrymen, or G.I.s. These genetically engineered super-soldiers were developed to survive the hellish conditions brought about by the war. These shirtless, blue-skinned men and women were supposed to win the war, but this was not to be.
One of the Souther generals had other plans and sought personal gain by selling crucial information to the Norts. Aptly named the Traitor General, he grants the Norts knowledge of the G.I. regimental deployment. This allows the Norts to set up an ambush.
In the ensuing massacre every G.I. is killed except for one, the eponymous Rogue, who has managed to escape the fight and collect the data chips from three of his comrades and installed these chips into the various items he carries. One is interred within his helmet, dubbed "Helm." Another in his rifle, named "Gunnar." And the last in his multipurpose backpack, called "Bagman." Together, this four-in-one squad must seek out revenge against the Traitor General who sold them out. To accomplish this goal, however, they must undertake their own way, thus earning Rogue his name. Along the way they thwart many Nort schemes and learn how to deal with the hellish world that the must call home.
Rogue Trooper is without question my favourite comic to date. It's simplicity and flavour is gritty and dirty, but not so much so that it loses all semblance of reality. The comic takes many turns toward humour and revels in it. New characters are introduced. Some live, and some die. Rogue and the gang are there for all of it, and they must cope with the reality from which the cannot escape, no matter how much they want to.
Something that makes me laugh a little is that Rogue earns his name before the massacre that nets him his soloist reputation. Nonetheless the comic is a lot of fun to read and if you can hunt down the trade paperbacks, I recommend it if your into science fiction. Though this comic is certainly not for everyone, as it can drone a little. Sometimes the buildup can take a long time, and even for me that is a lot to buy. No pun intended.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Underground Comics
This day the first page of an underground comic featured two grotesquely disproportionate people fucking. Immediately I knew this comic didn't care about my feelings toward certain subjects. I don't care either. These creators don't know who I am, they're just in a pure, untainted creative reverie.
Much of the illustrations are crude, but also brutally honest in their conviction. They tell it like it is, which is rare these days. All of the sugarcoated shit is completely unnecessary. Robert Crumb's work was quite enjoyable to see as I'm not easily offended by sexual content or inappropriate dialogue (not that there was much anyway). I welcome the nice change from the norm of reality. I certainly hope there's more to come.
What I've read so far is great stuff! Take it all and rub it in their faces!
Much of the illustrations are crude, but also brutally honest in their conviction. They tell it like it is, which is rare these days. All of the sugarcoated shit is completely unnecessary. Robert Crumb's work was quite enjoyable to see as I'm not easily offended by sexual content or inappropriate dialogue (not that there was much anyway). I welcome the nice change from the norm of reality. I certainly hope there's more to come.
What I've read so far is great stuff! Take it all and rub it in their faces!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Blankets, Contracts and Relations
Philosophy has always been a strong part of my life, even before I knew what it truly was. Craig Thompson's vivid and brutally honest recollection of his own beliefs and the secession with a way of thinking he had been borne into really captured a similar experience of my own.
I was raised into a way of thinking that I initially had no say in. Recent years have really gotten me thinking about whether or not it was truly right for me. Eventually, after much reasoning and self-reflection, I had decided that way of life was not for me. My parents were less than pleased. It took much courage and determination to convince them that I was not willing to accept their way of thinking in certain ways, and eventually they accepted my philosophical stance.
Raising someone to believe a certain thing about life or death before they ever have a chance to analyze it for themselves is no way to teach someone. Such a method implicates fear, and I have no room for fear, not anymore.
I can say without question that this exclusion was the most difficult decision I have ever made, though I made it wholeheartedly and truthfully. I do not regret my decision, and I feel like a much happier person and a more resilient one at that.
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