The past week I started my readings with Art Spiegelman's essay about Jack Cole and Plastic Man. The best part of that book was the fact that huge portions were devoted to the source material of plastic man, so one could familiarize themselves with the subject matter while reading, should they not have had any prior exposure to it. Plastic Man really took me by surprise given the lurid and often violent nature of the comic, coupled with the era in which it was produced. I had always believed that the further back in time a comic began, the more censored it was, however that was not the case with Plastic Man. It was a mashup of gag humor with the most unlikely of heros painted in vivid color, incorporated into violent themes with sexual overtones. The stories often seemed as though they were being written on the spot and never revised, or rather revised on the spot by dedicating a panel or two to explain away an inconsistency and then pushing onward with the story. Having read about the comic code that was introduced in the 1950s I could see why I had this preconceived notion that comics became more 'watered down' the further they go backwards in time, but I guess I had just never taken the opportunity to read some as far back as the 1930s and 40s. I felt the essay was a very concise tale of Jack Cole's legacy that really introduced me to the realities of comic history.
I made an effort to read some TinTin, but I fear I'm too much a product of my time, craving fast paced stories with a lot of energy. TinTin for me was a little boring and the humor often was too flat to carry me onward. I was surprised to see that some of the TinTin books were 80+ pages and ultimately felt that the pacing was just too slow for me to get involved. TinTin himself seemed a bit too generic and wholesome for me to find interest in him, however I did enjoy some of the captain's antics as well as the professor. It may have been that I wasn't in a proper mood or place to be reading it and I might return to it someday and give it a try, but my first impression left me feeling as though it just wasn't my style. I will say that the art style was pleasing and very well done.
So my favorite of the readings I did was Carl Barks' Donald Duck Disney Comics. I was first introduced to Duckburg when I was a child watching the DuckTales cartoon show, so I was pretty sure I knew what I was getting into when I started reading Barks' work. I will say that Barks' work is a bit more sophisticated than the TV show ever was, while maintaining an appeal for all ages. I am a big fan of stories that have broad character bases where each character has his or her own subplot and relation to the others, so these comics I found very satisfying. Who knew that a world full of ducks could be so compelling? Barks' work had a lot going for it with the familiarity of Disney and the new yet separate world of Duckburg. In a way, a lot of what drew me to Barks was the nostalgic value of the characters, but I could see that despite all that, the work was very well composed and directed. The Ducks are just all around fun to read and I hope to one day own a collection of Barks' work.
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