Indian Comics Irregular #44

A few thoughts after looking through a Japanese manga comic recently:

What I like about manga is the technically precise rendering in most
stories, especially in the backgrounds. Some of the backgrounds look
almost photo-realistic. I'd love to see that kind of rendering in
our comics.

What I dislike is the wide-eyed, infantile appearance of the
characters. And the way they're usually shown straight-on with
little variation, like talking heads. People claim you should be
able to follow comic book stories without words, but you can't follow
these stories.

One could do a whole analysis of what comics reveal about culture.
Strong, detailed backgrounds and weak, undeveloped foregrounds
suggest how society is more important than people in Japan. The
opposite is true in the US. Our comics have robust, distinctive
characters but nondescript, even blank backgrounds. That suggests
how central the individual is to our culture.

We can see this difference in other areas as well. In sports, most
of the world plays soccer, where teams try to finesse the ball around
the opposition. Americans prefer football, where a quarterback
commands his troops to smash the ball through the enemy line. In
politics, other countries allow their leaders to have human foibles
like everyone else, while we expect our leaders to be like John Wayne
or Mother Teresa.

Speaking of the Duke...

"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from
them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and
the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."

Marion "John Wayne" Morrison

Comment: Those darn Indians. They selfishly tried to keep
themselves alive while the US selflessly tried to exterminate them.
The nerve of some people!

I guess this quote explains why John Wayne is the most admired movie
star of all time, ranking first in popularity several years after his
death. I guess that's why many people consider him the prototypical
American: rugged, freedom-loving, patriotic...and cruel,
self-serving, heedless of history. I guess that's why many Indians
consider John Wayne Public Enemy No. 1.

More Comedic Comments

From the "Archie Learns His Lesson" episode of "All in the Family,"
which aired March 10, 1973:

Mike Stivic: "Let me tell you something about this country and the
American Indians and all we've done for them. We lied to them, we
cheated them, and then we drove them off their land without paying
for it."

Archie Bunker: "What are you talking about, 'their land'? They
never had no land. They couldn't read or write. How could Sitting
Bull sign a lease?"

Searching for Results

New to the PEACE PARTY website are the following features:

· A search prompt. Enter a word or phrase and discover which
pages contain it. Find out how often the site mentions such icons of
white America as Christopher Columbus, Ronald Reagan, and Superman.

· A "Contact the Distributor" contest
(http://members.xoom.com/peaceparty/contest1.htm). We're pushing to
get distributors to carry PEACE PARTY, so we're offering prizes such
as a Keith Secola CD. All you have to do is send an e-mail to
qualify.

· More political cartoons
(http://members.xoom.com/peaceparty/toons00.htm). What a race!
Learn what Billy and Drew think about the Y2K elections.

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics