HELLo all! Charismatic Mexi-CAN cartoonist extraordinaire GELADAA here hoping you´re having a good one.
I... want to talk to you today about what I believe to be a topic of central importance to comics and culture in general. This blog-post will be about the idea of "active enjoyment" and showcase art from the first and the (upcoming) second chapter of my grand fantasy epic: IN HELL.
Passive enjoyment vs active enjoyment of fiction... It´s very much like passive/active enjoyment of SEX.
While it can be pleasant to be... inert and let one´s partner pamper us to heaven, the reality is even if one doesn´t move, an idea, an image of some sort, a description of the events is necessary to "rise" to the occasion. You can´t remain passive in both body AND mind.
Now, when you have two people making an effort to come together and BUILD a proper moment together, THEN you can have sparks fly, then you just might get something magical out of the evening.
Fiction and culture in general are the same; if you just sit back and "shut your brain off" as they say, expecting to be forcefully hypnotized by a film, well, you´re not going to enjoy it as much as someone that makes an effort to engage with it.
What does "engaging with it" mean then? In the context of comics. Well, comics are blessed medium, as they REQUIRE a minimum of reader activity to even "work". While a film is a mechanical device that runs by itself, a comic-book, just like a regular book, needs someone to read it in order to come alive. The pages won´t turn themselves.
A parenthesis: videogames, which one would imagine then to be the most active medium, actually tend dull the player´s sensitivity to their art (after some time playing has elapsed) by making them fall into a sort of "mechanical trance" (as opposed to an artistic one).
You start focusing on the game-game instead of the artistic vision the game-game (meaning the interactive portion of if) is meant to serve as a conduit for. After some time, you´re not swinging a sword anymore, but merely pressing a button (this is why I limit the time I spend "gaming"... to remain engaged with the "dream" part of beautiful videogames).
Anyway.
How to consume in an active fashion then? As an anthropologist would, as a connaisseur would? That we may truly experience the peaks of art, which, being jewel of condensed, distilled experience, may very well be the peaks of life?
It´s pretty difficult nowadays.
We live in an age of extreme cognitive decline, where Marxist "education/indoctrination", information overload, stimuli overload and an endless onslaught of sedatives/entertainment have lulled and gnawed and eroded away the minds of most to MUSH. A lack of knowledge is one thing, but a lack of curiosity, a lack of attention, and above all a lack of cognitive ambition... those are even trickier obstacles to overcome.
Most nowadays are, on top of everything else, extremely defensive; they think that to be unimpressed is "cool". They don´t want to be "fooled" by "magic tricks", they dare not love, dare not believe.
To be on impressed is, more often than not, to be merely obtuse/numb. To have wonder after wonder go thru your mind without making any waves... now THAT is a sad thing... and... a sadly common thing.
The goal of art is, among other things, to extend one´s "Random Access Memory" and hold within you mind, all at the same time, a great deal of things. It is very similar to climbing up a hill, or to peeking thru a microscope, seeking a view. Fiction/art condenses the experiences of years into dense little morsels of concentrated FEELS, concentrated insight. If you don´t make an effort to carefully savor what you eat, and allow your full attention to dwell on it and expect it to JERK YOU OFF, then... you´re not going too great a time.
On to the art then. Art that comes accompanied NOT with an "explanation" or a "correct interpretation" but with a map of sorts rather, a small text that points to some of its features, in an effort to make you sensitive to it, to convince you to extend to the piece, the all-too-important BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.
"Might this be important?"
"Might this be worth paying proper attention to?" "Might there be a secret lurking in it, waiting to reward inquisitive readers?"
...
First, a spread from the first chapter of IN HELL:
And a description of the events taking place in it:
"Dead Arthur, offended by Johnny´s vile deeds, RESUSCITATES, and by removing the fiend´s dagger from his heart TRANSFORMS into R-2R; knight of the holy void! Appropriating the weapon that killed him and triumphantly thrusting it into the sky as it too, transforms, growing into a mighty sword..."
A mouthful huh? And a full plate!
The flat facts about a piece are often the first thing people fail to notice. Most people don´t even realize that Godzilla is a fire-breathing dragon (since he´s never been presented as such)... They´re too busy trying to decide whether or not "the CG looks 2023 good". They cut themselves off from the accumulated wisdom and PATHOS of our world, our history... focused with all their might in playing the latest silly social game... Finding something mildly amusing to say about it.
Allow yourself to ponder ARTHUR, that most fabulous of legends... straddling so many worlds, so many cultures and perspectives. Consider what a "holy void" is... what proper NIHILISM (the worship of the void) entails. If nature is evil (one of Christianity´s core tenets) then only nothingness can be good... If this world is bad, tainted forever by original sin, a mere sad shadow of the true world beyond... then only nothingness can be good. Is that why Christian heroes are typically dead? Living dead? Martyred dead? Is God the father an infinite void?
Or how about.... The lineage of metal, from weapons to armored knights to tanks to robots... Is that worth thinking about? What about the letter "G" (conspiracy people might know a bit about that one) or the colors of the UK/USA flag?...
How about St Peter´s cross (the Cross of Saint Peter, also known as the Petrine Cross, is an inverted Latin cross traditionally used as a Christian symbol, but in recent times, it has also been used as an anti-Christian and Satanic symbol. In Christianity, it is associated with the martyrdom of Peter the Apostle. The symbol originates from the Catholic tradition that when sentenced to death, Peter requested that his cross be upside down, as he felt unworthy of being crucified in the same manner as Jesus). Does it express sincere deference to Christ, or rather a desire to OUTDO the messiah at its own game? Did Peter sought to prove he could bear even greater pain and humiliation, in a system of values where victimhood is a badge of honor?
Arthur inherits/appropriates the weapon that killed him... And the wound said weapon left behind becomes his new heart. What is it, if anything, THAT mirrors?
...
Right?
You know what I mean I´m sure.
And now that I´ve set up a context, let me share, at last, a NEW AND EXCLUSIVE PEEK at IN HELL´s second chapter... HERE.
Yes. Yes I know... I can imagine what you are thinking, but hear me out.
I know you want to see biceps and tits and guns and all that stuff I DO AS WELL FUCKING HELL I DO! You want to know what is REALLY violent though? Really Sexy... E=MC2.
You know about that? Do kids know about such things nowadays? The equivalence between matter and energy? The seed of the atomic/hydrogen bomb? Einstein´s famous equation?
Now THAT is a new world, a new power, a real power, to have, to marvel at. Art can be just like that. And, just like that, the point need not be about manipulative illusion or "technique", but rather art-art as in, a statement to move forward COGNITIVELY.
I just want to have it all. ART and proper power AND you know, tits and biceps and guns and fantasy and the works. We can have both! We can aspire to COGNITIVE GROWTH and truly develop ourselves as we consume fictional adventures, we can, but only as active readers.
In any case, encased within this small tidbit of the upcoming second chapter of IN HELL, lies the heart of my work. Let me ask you to notice the strange inverted relationship between object and shadow in it, and let me share as well the text the ASTERISK directs to:
I wonder what Google might have to say about that quote?
Notice the chain interweaving with the text please (that´s more of a joke, but still holds, I believe, a very powerful message within, about the relationship between form and content).
I can say that this slice (the asterisk dialog, emerging clown nose (that´s what that is) and referenced dialog... continues on the traditions of works like these:
The work I just shared is similar BUT offers a radically new perspective, one that I believe will conquer the world, in time, and define a new era I very much hope to witness. I so want to make you all priviledged early adopters of that new perspective.
IN ANY CASE, having shared something that just might be the thing I´m most proud of artistically, but has no chance in HELL of being understood in this context, I will bid you all "adieu" for awhile. Works goes on in the second chapter, which I hope to share with you all soon, while asking for funds for the third chapter. Beyond the artsy stuff that snobs enjoy, there will be tons of tits and gore and fantasy in the upcoming chapters, rest assured.
Have a happy new year, take care, good luck, have fun.
You friend, Geladaa.