Comic Books, an art form, a recreational activity and to some poor suckers a life affirming reason to exist in a world of stories, a world of black and white pulp and resolution... closure.
Thanks to recent events I've had to try to relocate all the things that made it ok to be alone, to be by myself and still have faith in the world of man, having faith in God is easy, Prayer is easy, believing humanity has the potential to respond to those things can get hard. I know its a bit random to connect comic books and pop culture to religion and faith, but hey, I'm a random dude.
I started by going home, to spider-man and the fantastic 4 and X-men, and Chris Claremont and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and Todd Mcfarlane and for some unknown reason Rob Liefield, and felt instantly the thrill of the story.
I should explain a little at this point. I'm deeply interested in pop history, the history of the stories, the heroes and villians of the 20th century, the interplay of charachters whose realms never crossed, whose creators never met but who inspired each other across space and time. I'm inspired by the "degrees of seperation" between H.P. Lovecroft and Warren Ellis, between George Orwell and Stan Lee, between Arthur Connan Doyle and Frank Miller. I'm intrigued by the subtle pull and push of popular subconcious, and what makes that subconcious, what informs it. And I also get a giddy and arrogant little thrill from knowing what inspired who and from seeing the "Big Joke" that nerds have been playing on the world since well before the slur/badge of honour existed.
References. It always comes back to references, in the wide world we quote or reference scrubs, and before that friends and before that a myriad othere T.V. shows and Movies and Talkies and Silent Films, and Radio Plays and Magazines and Books, and Scrolls and so on until you end up with two cave dudes laughing because of some cave painting they both saw and it moved them to laugh or cry or think or what ever. We now float on a sea of those references, on a platform made from the bits and pieces, some big, some small, of the stories that mattered, that were worth enough to have an effect on the world that most of us don't really see.
An exapmle? I hear your brows furrough in collective confused annoyance, I know I'm supposed to be funnier than I have been in the last few posts, OK. How many people these days, between the ages of 13 and 21, those most directly affected by pop culture, know what Blade Runner is? Fewer still is the Number of people who know that its based on a story called "Do Androids dream of electronic sheep?" by Phillip K. Dick? Being unaware of this, how can anyone be aware of the impact of that film on film today? I mean I'm not saying its bad that some people think that the Matrix was the first film to deal with a fear of our creations over taking us, its just not correct, its not the end of the story.Personally I think the visuals in the 5th Element, and the new Star Wars triolgy and most of the other "new" science fiction films are made all the more beautiful by the fact that they are inspired by someone elses work. That one human being created something that caused the creation and expression of something else, by someone else. I'm not saying Blade Runner was a bagining in itself, but I get giddy when Asimov comes up in conversation.
There are exceptions to this, Janet Jackson sampling Ventura Highway by America is a prime example of things that should not have happened, but is the rule not proven by its exceptions?
I'm not writing this as simple waffle... well I am because its a blog, an excuse to monlouge and see what happens, but I'm writing this because this blog is only read by people I love, and I want to share this with them, I want to highlight the story behind the stories, the impact comic books have had on pop culture, outside of the movie industry, the impact science fiction had on fashion out side of the 5th element, the impact star trek had on religion outside of the stupid nut bags who insist on ruining things for the rest of us. Fucking... sorry they just get to me. They make me stupid by association.
There is a communal spring of stories out there, of our stories. We didn't write them, they were written for us, but they are ours, and in a sense we are thiers, they mould the thought that moulds us. I think sometimes we discount the validity of these tails because of all the filth ad grime we see in the world around us, and yes, sometimes it can be said that its the fault of certain of these stories, but more often, I think, its our fault for not seeing the whole story, for not acctually looking at the Brownian motion of human thought, as much of the pattern as we can see anyway, and putting it in the context of our lost society and our potential to get where God wants us to get to that is at fault.
Its out there and its interesting is all I'm sayin', Geez there's no need to look at me like that.
P.S. My band released a single, and It's at number 3 in the Irish music download chart, not as big a deal as it sounds but nice none the less.
P.P.S. If you don't know who Asimove is Find out. Ergo sum victor!!