The 40 Years of Comics Project Friday Magazine 29: Eerie #109, February 1980

Since I've been doing some investigation of pre-Code horror, I thought I'd have a look at some of the horror magazine I picked up back when I got my Heavy Metal collection. At the time I thought that the HMs and the undergrounds in that purchase were the real treasures, and treasures they certainly are. But my unfamiliarity with the Warren magazines led me to overlook them, and that's a mistake.

When thinking about the tradition of EC horror comics, it is a tradition on two fronts. The first, of course, is the stories. They are, for the most part, amazing - artists and writers at the top of their games. The second front is the role it played in the crackdowns on comics in the 50s - EC becomes a metonym for the lost potential of the genre after the creation of the Comics Code. When I read Bruce Jones' series Twisted Tales a while ago, I saw him as one carrying on the tradition of these experimental tales of fear. But I neglected to note at that time that the Warren magazines of the 60s and 70s were also bearers of that torch. Mr. Jones, of course, contributes to these magazines before taking his tales to Pacific. Though they lose something in the black and white format (I've never been one of those fans who prefers B&W over colour. They both have their pros and cons.), the style is there, as is the desire to shock and amuse.

This was one of the first Eeries I've ever read, and it was okay. None of the stories wowed me. But the quality was certainly high enough that I can see why these mags are so revered. One thing that they add to the tradition, and perhaps this is inherited by Bruce Jones' later series, is women in varying states of undress. The EC comics got away with a lot in terms of their portrayals of women, but at least the ladies were clothed. The Warren magazines seem to want to equate horror and nudity, which is a strange connection to make (Eros and Thanatos, perhaps?). The question, I suppose, is does the tradition benefit from this addition?

Onward.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 789: Killer Instinct Nintendo Power Exclusive #1, 1996

I'm always a bit thrilled when I find a comic that's not listed in the GCD. I feel like it's a special little part of the comics world that only I have access to.

It's just a pity when it turns out to not be actually the greatest part.

I don't know the Killer Instinct game franchise at all. I've never been a fan of fighting games. This one looks pretty typical. What I've often wondered about such franchises, though, is why introduce any kind of story element to the series. It's literally two sprites punching the crap out of one another - why muddle things with story. It's a bit like when a terrible porn film attempts to insert narrative. You just sit there wondering why that's something that needed to happen. But here's the thing: I tell my students that we narrativize everything - our lives, from the moment we get up to the moment we fall asleep, are narrativized. We can't help but tell stories, even if it's only to ourselves. So perhaps it's natural to put narrative into something that doesn't seem to benefit from narrative. In the case of Killer Instinct, the narrative provides reason and impetus for the fighting game - it's not just two sprites punching each other, it's a hero moving through a journey, even if that journey is basically virtual boxing with shiny sticks.

And it's becoming clear that I don't like fighting games, right?

Paul Gulacy's name is familiar to me, and a quick look through my database reveals a few other comics featuring his art. I found his work in today's comic okay, but occasionally a bit difficult to follow. What you need to know is that the whole comic is basically a fight between B. Orchid and Jago, the two "heroic" characters from the franchise. Choreographing a fight sequence in comics must be very difficult. You have to capture the speed and movement of a very rapid sequence of events in static images. To do this for an entire comic must be exhausting. There are some moments in today's comic where I'm not entirely certain what's just happened, but one character looks like they've moved, and one looks like they're falling over. And there's a fine line to be straddled in such depictions, in that you occasionally want this confusion to be there - fights can happen so quickly that it's sometimes difficult to figure out what just happened. But you don't want this too much, especially in a medium that relies on its visuals to tell a story, rather than just depict one.

More tomorrow. To be continued.