Illustrated Myth: Culture & Meaning Through Graphic
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ILLUSTRATED MYTH: CULTURE & MEANING THROUGH GRAPHIC NOVELS A Thesis Presented to the Honors Tutorial College, Ohio University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Media Arts & Studies Haley Alishusky. May 2018. INTRODUCTION Exploring stories visually is by no means a new concept. Artwork, both stationary and moving, is something that has been a part of human history for millennia. The ancient Greeks illustrated their stories on pots, in wall paintings, and carved massive stories on the pediments of their temples. Depicting cultural figures, stories, and gods is something that has perpetuated even to this day as a major means of communicating with others. In my creative project, I wanted to combine this history of meaningful image with the stories that cultures told hundreds or thousands of years ago by adapting them into visual novels and telling these stories as comics. This method allowed me to combine both my love of graphic storytelling, something I’ve enjoyed in the form of comic books and graphic novels for years, and my love of mythology into a project that explored both. By including both of these topics into a creative project, I was able to take things I learned in both my major and my minor, utilizing resources from both the Classics department and the Scripps College of Communication. RESEARCH The first and original research topic for this project was how to make comics. I had no idea how to make a comic when I was going into the tutorial for Icarus. I had read webcomics and graphic novels in the past, but rarely made anything even remotely similar myself. I had a handful of very simple comic strips, but nothing with the dynamic layouts of modern graphic storytelling. The term ‘graphic novel’ was not something that existed before about fifty years ago. The term was first used by Richard Kyle in 1964 in an essay published in the comic fan magazine Capa-Alpha. The graphic novel became popularized and the term more widely used after the publication of Will Eisner’s A Contract With God in 19781. Over the course of the next decade or so, Marvel, DC, and other major names in the comic industry gave the graphic novel the wide attention it deserved. Merriam-Webster defines graphic novel as ‘a story that is presented in comic-strip format and published as a book.’2 This definition is fairly broad, but does have restrictions. A graphic novel is something that would not be considered a full story if published as a standard novel; usually these stories are shorter and accommodate a much more visual telling of the novel. A graphic novel is not a compendium of miscellaneous comics, nor an anthology. This is a story that is encompassed usually within one book and is a continuous story, though it is possible for the story to be split between several physical novels. The earliest recognized American graphic novel is titled The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, written and drawn by Rodolphe Töpffer and published in America in 1842. Another early example of books being visual includes the 1897 Richard Outcault collection of The Yellow Kid, a collection of the artist’s previously published comic strips.3 1 Schelly, Bill (2010) 2 Merriam-Webster.com 3 Beerbohm, Robert (2008) In the 1940s, the launching of Classics Illustrated gave classic literature a completely different spin by turning them into graphic novels suitable for younger audiences. From then onward, many graphic novels put out by Marvel Comics and Stan Lee were compendiums of lengthy story arcs of characters like Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and the Black Panther. However, it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that novels began to self-describe themselves as graphic novels. The first notable few are Bloodstar by Richard Corben, Beyond Time and Again by George Metzger, and Chandler: Red Tide by Jim Steranko. All three of these comics advertised themselves as ‘graphic novels’ either on their covers, dust jackets, inside covers, or introductions. Will Eisner’s A Contract With God was immensely successful both commercially and critically; it allowed for the term ‘graphic novel’ to become more widely used and familiarized the public to the phrase. However, Eisner takes no credit for coining the term nor for creating the first graphic book. 4 Modern graphic novels vary widely in both style and format. While all tell their stories visually, the themes, content, and target audiences can be very different from one to the next. While graphic novels may appeal visually to younger readers, there are many that have been published recently meant for more mature audiences as authors and publishers alike have realized that adults want to see visual works as well. These more mature graphic novels usually bear darker themes, art styles, and content than those aimed at younger readers. There is also 4 Arnold, Andrew D. (2003) the subgenre of graphic novels that are specific adaptations of previously written works from both classic literature and modern stories told within the last few decades. As an art form, the graphic novel and comic have expanded beyond the physical world of publication. While bookstores will carry entire sections of visual novels and comic books, there are thousands of artists whose entire audiences exist virtually. These artists draw and share their comics over social media to the following of dozens to thousands of dedicated fans who consume their content for free. Sites like Patreon and Ko.Fi are benefitting these creators, giving the fans of these artists the opportunity to support them financially for rewards such as early access to content, bonus physical content, and tutorials written by the creators themselves. This system is fairly new and began within the past few years, but there are already thousands of online artists able to both reach massive fanbases and to profit off of their dedication to their craft without ever needing to speak to a publisher. The graphic novel has evolved over its near-200 year history, though it remains the same at its core: a story, available to the public via a variety of means, told using art and images and the outpouring of the souls of the artists themselves. Mythology is something that exists as something so much more than fiction. While it can be widely accepted today as a form of folklore, when the stories were told they meant so much to the cultures that told them. They were religious stories, tales of old gods and their victories and losses, of their children and the havoc or peace they gave the world. These stories told of how one should behave and how one should never behave, often leaving an easy-to- follow guideline for how to live a life. Mythology should not be regarded solely as fiction. These stories were and continue to be important to the cultures that created them. Some cultures still follow the beliefs and guidelines laid out for them centuries earlier and their legends and stories should not be thought of as something that is incorrect or wrong. However, the studies of these stories and what they mean to people both past and present is vital to the continuation of the messages these stories are meant to convey. While some may not carry meaning that is valid in the modern day, the fact that a culture thought it to be important enough to keep track of is a perfectly good reason for researchers nowadays to make sure that the stories are perpetuated. These stories were often meant to explain natural phenomenon. Zeus is the king of the gods and the god of lightning. Storms and thunder were his domain, and the ancient Greeks used him as a reason to explain those things happening in the natural world. If a dangerous storm ravaged a fleet of ships and men were killed at sea, they believed someone had angered Poseidon and the storm was his wrath. While we have scientific reasoning for these phenomena, one must understand that the Greeks did not. They wanted to understand what was happening, and assigning these domains to certain deities helped them do so. When bad things happened, they could blame the gods and try to make themselves better people in an attempt to please the Olympians and stop whatever punishment they may be receiving. Often this included more intensive rituals at the temples to the gods, better offerings, and the listening of many to the lessons taught to them by the stories people told of the gods. Icarus, in particular, is a good example of a story that gave ancient Greeks a guideline for how to behave. Both Icarus and his father Daedalus exhibit hubris; they think of themselves as equal to, or better than, the gods themselves. Daedalus proves this by asserting that he is one of the smartest, most ingenuous men in Greece. He attempts to prove this by murdering his nephew, Perdix, when he begins to show promise as a scholar and inventor. Icarus shows his hubris by flying too close to the sun on his wings of wax. He rose too close to the gods, and the sun god Helios shot him down. Both of these characters, inherently, are not bad. They are not meant to be villains in their story. However, they both behave in a way that the gods deemed unacceptable, and were punished for it. Their story lives on until today, referenced in media such as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, and its longevity proves to modern scholars that its meaning meant a lot to the Greeks.