Artists and Critics Sometimes Know Each Other

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Noah Berlatsky

This first appeared on Splice Today.
______
As a critic, I not infrequently know the artists or writers whose work I write about.

If you’ve been following the #gamersgate controversy at all, you know that some people think that this is really wrong. “Journalistic ethics!” people shouted over and over on twitter. It wasn’t exactly clear what they meant by this, but critics knowing artists seemed to be at least one semi-inchoate focus of outrage.

To some degree, you can understand the concerns. There’s a vision of journalistic objectivity which involves a reviewer ruthlessly evaluating the work in front of him or her without any reference to, or knowledge of the creator. The critic, in this view, is supposed to be a completely impartial observer, affixing a stamp of quality or animadversion so that readers can know that they are spending their hard-earned dollars in the best of all possible ways.

The reality is a lot messier. In part, that’s because, if you review a work positively, one of the things that often happens is that the creator of the work gets in touch with you to say, hey, awesome, you liked my work! Often creators will write me just to say thank you (which is lovely). Sometimes, though, they’ll contact me in the hopes that I might review their next book or project, too.

So, is that unethical? Now that I’ve talked to them, am I supposed to never write about their work again? That seems silly; the only reason I know them, after all, is that I like their work. I guess you could argue for some sort of disclosure — but what would I say? “Fair warning: I really like this creator’s work; this creator likes that I like their work. Now on to the review, where I say I like their work!”

The thing is, when I do like somebody’s work, that can also open the way for other collaborations. Many writers and artists I admire, like Ariel Schrag, Edie Fake, and Stacey Donovan, have posted on my little, all volunteer blog at one point or another, because I love their work and when they appear in my inbox to say they liked a review, I’ll sometimes ask them if they would be interested in contributing. If you were determined to be offended by that sort of thing, you could argue it’s a quid pro quo, and that I’m receiving content (even if not money) for good reviews. Edie even designed the banner for my site (which I happily paid him for.) But again, the whole reason I find their contributions valuable is because I value their work — which is what I say whenever I write a review talking about how awesome Ariel Schrag and Edie Fake are.

The disconnect here isn’t just about ethics. It’s about the nature of criticism. A lot of the people posting to gamersgate seem to see reviews primarily as a way to make purchasing decisions. Reviews, from this perspective, are a buyer’s guide; it’s the equivalent of a consumer report. You don’t want the person who evaluates the gas mileage on your Prius to be buddies with the Prius manufacturers, because you’d worry that they might try to help their friend out by saying that the Prius gets better gas mileage than it does. You want an objective take on the value of that Prius.

But while objectivity makes sense as a goal in evaluating Priuses, it doesn’t as a goal for evaluating art. Criticism of art is always, by its nature subjective. And, at least for me, criticism tends to be less about saying, buy this or don’t buy this, and more about trying to engage with, and think about, what an artist is saying, or what a work is doing. A piece of criticism is as much about talking to, or with, the artist as it is providing a consumer report. On #gamersgate art is seen as a product, which is certainly one thing art can be. But art’s also a community. Which is why having actual conversations with the artist in question doesn’t seem like an ethical violation. Having conversations with the artist is my job.

The Atlanteans and the Middle Passage

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Jimmy Johnson

A detailed drawing of the inside of a slave ship, showing how close together the "cargo" was packed. --- Image by © Louie Psihoyos/Science Faction/Corbis

This essay first appeared on CiCo3. It was inspired by Nijla Mu’Min’s extraordinary film Deluge. Thanks to Amrah Salomon for feedback on the draft.
___________

Superheroes have celebrated origin stories. Gamma radiation gives rise to shapeshifting rage monsters. Extraterrestrial parentage provides biological powers. A magician’s curse or a nibble from a radioactive arachnid can turn one superpowered. The story of how one gets one’s powers is a defining part of superhero stories. It is, after all, the sine qua non of any superhero’s existence. But what about the universes in which the superheroes operate? Why don’t we look at their origin stories? And what can those origin stories tell us about the comics universes and popular discourse? What follows explores the origin stories of the DC and Marvel universes through their respective Atlantean populations, focusing on a missing narrative fundamental to the world in which virtually all stories in the DC and Marvel lines happen: African Slavery.

The Marvel and DC universes take place, with some exceptions, in the United States settler colony. The United States has two systemic structures without which it does not exist: African Slavery and Indian Removal (or at least it does not exist in anything remotely resembling its current form). These are the bedrocks of settler colonialism on the continent. The simultaneous destruction of the native world and construction of the anti-Black one define everything— from many colloquialisms in White American English, to property and land law, to policing, to the names of sports teams, to holidays. They comprise the preponderance of U.S. history, not to mention the country’s entire physical geography.

Can this be less true in the Marvel and DC universes? They both have Black characters, albeit relatively few and poorly drawn – often in both senses of the term. Black as an identity (or, per anti-Blackness, a site of capital accumulation and location for gratuitous violence) is tied to the legacy of settler colonialism’s African Slavery. If there was African Slavery then there was transport of enslaved peoples from Africa to colonized Turtle Island (North America). So where were the Atlanteans of the respective DC and Marvel universes during the Middle Passage? Where were Aquaman’s and Namor’s ancestors when the first rebelling or newborn enslaved Africans were tossed overboard to drown, be eaten by sharks, or drift slowly to the bottom of the Atlantic?

Exploring these ideas identifies dramatic narrative gaps in between the worlds where these stories purport to take place and the world in which they are told. That they are missing from the Marvel and DC universes exemplifies settler normativity, how the destruction of the native world and construction of the settlers’ anti-Black one is naturalized in and baselines politics and society. Settler colonialism is the organization of power that accomplishes this simultaneous destruction/construction. It is how native Turtle Island becomes the anti-Black North America for example.

It also creates a worldview for its inhabitants. In the same way that men struggle to see sexism, instead just seeing ‘normal’, settlers struggle to see settler colonialism. This settler normativity is one of our very frames of reference. It is basic to our understanding of the world. It is why when we hear about the 49ers we think about the football team or the miners of the gold rush, not the populist genocide the actual ‘fortyniners carried out, even though the depopulation of native California by far being their most enduring and impactful legacy. To question settler colonialism is to question the very world the settlers make. We don’t ask where Aquaman’s ancestors were during the Middle Passage because African Slavery is naturalized in society. It, like men not seeing sexism, is a level below the observable because it is the frame through which observations are made.

So where were Aquaman and Namor’s great-great-great grandparents when they first encountered African Slavery? What was their reaction? How would those reactions change the DC and Marvel universes? I explore some potential scenarios in the paragraphs that follow. Some of these fit inside the current DC and Marvel continuities, namely, the more horrible ones. Others disrupt the current continuities, including those that stop African Slavery in its infancy.

Scenario 1: Hotlantis

Those thrown overboard are rescued by Atlanteans and form an Afro-descendent Atlantean population or are assisted in returning home. This does not require significant adjustment of current continuities.

Scenario 2: Successful Anti-Slavery Intervention

The Atlanteans intervene against the slavers and prevent the Middle Passage from happening. Scenario five can work in conjunction with this. This is, in the DC universe term, an Elseworld and is irreconcilable with the current continuities. Scenarios 3 and 4 show why it is irreconcilable.

Scenario 3: Post-Intervention A

Superman’s rocket lands in Pawnee country since there is no Kansas in which to crash without African Slavery. Superman is now a Pawnee hero. This is irreconcilable with the current continuities.

Scenario 4: Post-Intervention B

Without African Slavery there is no such place as Gotham in which Thomas and Martha Wayne are shot to later be patrolled by their son Batman. They remain British aristocrats. If Bruce Wayne grows up to be a billionaire vigilante he does so in the UK. This is irreconcilable with the current continuities.

Scenario 5: No Response

The Atlanteans first encounter African Slavery through the at sea disposal of newborns or rebelling Africans and either react only to the drowned bodies and not to the act of drowning or simply go about their business. Here the Atlanteans would be concerned with whaling ships more than slave ships (though the ecological damage of African Slavery is in fact substantial!), to the degree they’re concerned with surface dwellers at all. This does not require adjustment of continuities.

Scenario 6: Unsuccessful Intervention

The Atlanteans attempt to intervene and fail and the Middle Passage continues. This is the basis for the Atlantean distance from the surface dweller world for the next four hundred years until the eras of Aquaman and Namor. This does not require significant adjustment of continuities.

Scenario 7: Complicity

Both Atlantean worlds are monarchies of one kind or another which suggests regressive politics. It is thus entirely feasible that Aquaman and Namor’s ancestors were complicit in the Middle Passage in some way. Was a tribute or toll paid to those who control the seas? Thus Atlanteans owe reparations of some kind and direct action at the Justice League headquarters is in order. This does not require significant adjustment of continuities.

Scenario 8: Opportunistic/Humanitarian Intervention

The history of humanitarian intervention is dominated by the interveners integrating a crisis or oppressive system into their own politics rather than ending the crisis or oppression. Alternately put, humanitarian intervention is with few exceptions a tool of empire. Entirely plausible in an intervention scenario is Atlanteans taking over the slave trade rather ending it. This does not require significant adjustment of current continuities.

___________
An honest account of U.S. history means dealing with the ugly truths of settler colonialism. Settler society cultural production helps avoid these ugly truths by producing myths. Not myths as in, superpowered beings in symbolic grand battles. But myths as in, the United States settler colony somehow being post-colonial. As it stands, the most implausible thing about comics is not that some beings can fly without apparent means of propulsion, but that they take place in a United States without Indian Removal and African Slavery. DC and Marvel comics are not imagining a utopia without colonialism even if they may think they are. Instead they imagine a world where colonialism doesn’t matter or doesn’t matter anymore, mountains of facts to the contrary be damned.

Comics can do better. Comics can narrate the colonial present and retcon their respective universes to where settler colonialism, including African Slavery and Indian Removal, happen and impact the universes accordingly. Elseworlds-style stories are one way of accomplishing this. For example there is the as-yet not made story Superman: Alien where the Man of Steel’s rocket is found by Mexican migrant workers on a Kansas farm. He then gets deported with his adoptive parents and grows up to be a Mexican superhero. That is at least as plausible as him being found by the white farm owners. This and the more tragic alternate visions offered above veer away from the current continuities in that they contextualize events as if they take place in the universes they purport to.

The question is one of decolonizing comics. Not as in, comics were colonized and must now be decolonized. That is silly. Nobody colonized comics books. To the contrary, comics in the United States are part of settler colonial cultural production. So in decolonizing comics we seek comics that are decolonizing acts; that are decolonizing narratives and, potentially, tools. Some indie comics and zines already explore this. Yet mainstream comics can too play a role in subverting settler normativity through dealing with the world settler colonialism made, the world in which the comics universes exist. One possible story to tell in this direction is the one that tells the story of the Atlanteans during the Middle Passage. Aquaman’s ancestors have some explaining to do.

The Good and Faithful Chester Brown (and the Parable of the Talents)

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Ng Suat Tong

If you’re wondering why you’re reading a bible study during this blog’s weekly schedule, you can blame Chester Brown for creating a commentary-entertainment on the role of prostitution in the Hebrew and Christian Bible.

For those who have spent the last few years living under a rock, let me begin by stating that the provision of professional sexual services has, in recent years, become of paramount importance in the artistic and political life of Chester Brown.

Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus is his hymn of praise and justification for a much maligned occupation. The Mary in question is Mary of Bethany from John Chapter 12, now conflated with the “sinful” woman of Luke Chapter 7:38 who wets Jesus’ feet with her tears. The cover to the new comic is as archly playful as Zaha Hadid’s vaginal design for the Al Wakrah stadium in Qatar. The image is a symbolic representation of female genitalia with Jesus’ feet acting as a symbolic penis and the Bible in the position of the clitoris.

It is an accurate representation of the comic itself—which is thoroughly unerotic and studious. Any ecstasies the reader might hope to derive from Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus will only be derived from a study of scripture.

The art mirrors the earnestness of the endeavor and seems ground down into uniform shapes with all gnarly edges removed. Which is not to say that the work is devoid of imagination: there’s the God of Cain and Abel who is pictured as a naked giant with his back constantly turned to us, he holds Abel’s offering in the palms of both his immense hands; Mary of Bethany is only ever seen in silhouette and her actions disembodied into panels of darkness, her tear drops, and nard draining from an alabaster jar. We only see the angry reactions of the men surrounding Jesus. In so doing, Mary of Bethany becomes all the nameless women in the parallel stories found in the Synoptics but more than this, the entire anointment scene plays out as a metaphor for occult sexual intercourse.

Brown’s comic is concerned with the flexible and mercurial nature of the Hebrew and Christian God, the lack of fixity in his laws; and perhaps his occasional pleasure in those who flout them. If this seems at odds with what you’ve read about God in Sunday School, that would be because it is. Brown’s interpretation of the Bible has always been idiosyncratic, finding the nooks and crannies of hidden knowledge and, in the example which follows, not allowing facts to get in the way of a good idea (to him at least).

The central story of Mary Wept is “The Parable of the Talents.” This is one version which can be found online:

14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. […] 19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ 21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ […]

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! … […] … 28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

(Matthew 25:14-30, NIV)

One problem with reading Brown’s copious notes is that they frequently communicate as facts that which is very much in dispute. To wit, in discussing “The Parable of the Talents”, Brown claims with a kind of divine certainty that “the work that we now call Matthew is a Greek translation of an earlier book that was written in Aramaic.” I suppose this represents the assurance of an artist who considers himself a kind of latter day Gnostic.

The idea that at least parts of the Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew is not a recent invention (see Papias by way of Eusebius) and is held by many Christians but hardly beyond dispute. There is as much reason to believe that this Gospel of the Nazareans (a names which appears only in the ninth century) is an Aramaic translation of Matthew (which is in Greek) or at least takes creative license and inspiration from that canonical book. This Gospel of the Nazareans has only survived in fragments brought down to us by various Church Fathers, and it is a summary of the Aramaic “Parable of the Talents” found in Eusebius’ Theophania (4.22) that provides Brown with his new reading.

From Bart Ehrman and Zlatko Plese’s translation of Eusebius’ paraphrase of “The Parable of the Talents” in Theophania:

“For the Gospel that has come down to us in Hebrew letters makes the threat not against the one who hid the (master’s) money but against the one who engaged in riotous living.

For (the master) had three slaves, one who used up his fortune with whores and flute players, one who invested the money and increased its value, and one who hid the money. The one was welcomed with open arms, the other blamed, and only the third locked up in prison.” [emphasis mine]

In his quotation of Ehrman in his notes, Brown deliberately leaves out the first section of Eusebius’ summary—that it was the servant who “engaged in riotous living” (i.e. the one who used up his fortune with whores and flute players) that was cast into the outer darkness with the concomitant weeping and gnashing of teeth. In so doing, he elevates the position of that servant in his retelling. In the original text, Eusebius quite clearly excuses the servant who hides the master’s money but in Brown’s rhetoric, it is the “whoring” servant who is rewarded

Brown cites John Dominic Crossan’s The Power of Parable as the primary source of his inspiration with regards his interpretation of “The Parable of the Talents” but while Crossan does provide the same reduced quotation from Eusebius, he obviously knows the whole and is clearly at odds with Brown’s reading:

“The version of the Master’s Money was presented in elegant reversed parallelism—a poetic device…But that structure means that that, of the three servants, the squanderer is “imprisoned’…The hider is, in other words the ideal servant.” (Crossan)

For Crossan, the parable is primarily about the conflict between the “Roman pro-interest tradition” and the “Jewish anti-interest tradition”; a challenge to live in accordance with the Jewish law in Roman society. Brown’s adaptation, on the other hand, seems to have been constructed out of whole cloth. If Brown’s adaptation of the “Parable of the Talents” has no historical or textural basis, then what are we to make of it? Perhaps Brown sees himself as a kind of mystic who has divined the true knowledge and the error in Eusebius’ (and presumably Crossan’s) prudishness.

More importantly, why would Brown even require a Christian justification for prostitution? Brown provides the answer to this in his notes—he considers himself a Christian though an atypical one. Moreover he considers secular society’s disapproval of prostitution (“whorephobia”) an unjustifiable legacy of poor Biblical interpretation, not least by a rather inconvenient person called Paul. Brown lives in Canada where it is illegal to purchase sexual services but technically legal to sell them. In this Canada has adopted the longstanding Swedish model, of which The Living Tribunal of this site (aka Noah) has grave misgivings, mostly because sex workers report that it puts them at risk.

Brown uses the story of Jesus’ anointment at Bethany to highlight the vulnerability of women in Jesus’ time. The title of Brown’s comic is a reference to the story told in Luke 7:36-50 where a (nameless) woman in the city “who was a sinner” bathes Jesus’ feet with her tears, drys them with her hair, and anoints them with ointment. The story has parallels with the story of Mary of Bethany’s anointing of Jesus’ feet in John 12:1-8, and Mark 14:3-11 where an unnamed woman pours expensive nard on Jesus’ head (“Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”)

After a period of vacillation, Brown has come down firmly on the idea that the woman in question (Mary of Bethany included) was a prostitute. By his estimation, the various versions of this story are not redactions retold for different ends but the exact same story from which the individual elements of each can be combined to form a richer more instructive whole.

Feminist interpretations of Luke (among others) differ greatly on this subject. The evidence for the woman’s sexual sin tends to come down to her exposure of her hair in public, her intrusion into the house of Simon, and her description as a “woman in the city”— all of these points have met with equally forceful rebuttals in recent years. These feminist readings focus on the sexualization of the woman and the fixation on her sin. They question scholars “who choose predominantly to depict her as an intrusive prostitute who acts inappropriately and excessively” despite the gaps in Luke’s text which allow a variety of readings. It is these gaps which opens this famous episode to a variety of rhetorical uses.

One of the great feminist readings of the New Testament, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza’s In Memory of Her, concerns itself with the historical erasure yet centrality of women in the Gospels. At one point, Martha (Mary’s sister) is seen as a candidate for “the beloved disciple” when John places the words:

“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” (John 11:27)

…into the mouth of Martha as the climatic faith confession of a ‘beloved disciple’ in order to identify her with the writer of the book. To Fiorenza, Mary’s action of using her hair to wipe Jesus’ feet is “extravagant” and draws comparisons to Jesus’ own washing of his disciples’ feet in The Gospel of John. Also of note is the decidedly male (Simon, the disciples, Judas) objection to her actions in every instance which is rebuked by Jesus.

While most sex workers are in fact women, Brown seems less interested in recovering the central status of women in the Bible. He has a somewhat different feminist (?) mission. Is it possible to be a sex worker and still be a good Christian? Even Brown seems to admit that it is impossible to reconcile prostitution or any form of sexual immorality with Biblical laws and Jesus’ admonitions. His new comic simply charts the curious areas where the profession turns up in the Bible and where its position in that moral universe is played out most sympathetically. While Jesus commands the woman taken in adultery to go and sin no more, I know not one Christian who has not continued to sin in some shape or fashion. Shouldn’t we be exercised about our own sins before those of perfect strangers? One would have to posit that the sin of sexual immorality is greater than all other sins (including our own) for one to be primarily concerned about its deleterious effects.

Brown’s position as a Christian in Mary Wept is that God’s laws are not immutable. Instead of a life of submission to curses and obedience to laws, he has chosen the “life of the shepherd” as espoused in Yoram Hazony’s The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture:

“…a life of dissent and initiative, whose aim is to find the good life for a man, which is presumed to be God’s true will.”

For Hazony, piety and obedience to the law are “worth nothing if they are not placed in the service of a life that is directed towards the active pursuit of man’s true good.” One presumes that Brown feels that he has found “man’s true good” in the sexual and personal freedoms afforded by prostitution. Whether he has found woman’s “true good” remains a far more controversial question.

#FlyToMetropolis

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Caroline Drennen

This is part of a series of essays written for Chris Gavaler’s comics class.

Unless you live under a rock you know about “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” And you probably remember the advertisements and promotional tie-ins. For the CBS Superbowl pregame one of the leading sponsors for the movie, Turkish Airlines, released two commercials, “Fly to Gotham City with Turkish airlines” and “Fly to Metropolis with Turkish Airlines.”

Both commercials are awesome but I personally like the “Fly to Metropolis” one more. Here are ten thoughts that I had while watching the commercial, which for the record I have watched about a thousand times now.

~Inspirational Music~

The commercial opens up with some inspirational music playing in the background while a narrator with a calm but strong voice tells you about the ~newest~ destination for the “airline that flies to more countries than any other.”

Maybe I’ll go to Metropolis for my next vacation

As I watched the Turkish Airlines jet fly over Metropolis and saw all the cool details of the city I seriously started wondering if I could go on a vacation there. One of the reasons why this is my favorite ad of all time is that it really looks like a real tourism video and it seriously makes me want to go to Metropolis for my next vacation. I usually hate all of those tacky tourism videos but this commercial left viewers with a sense of magic. (It also probably helps that it’s an imaginary city… but still.)

Damn that’s a lot like New York…

It takes a few seconds for it to sink in but the skyline that the jet flies next to is nearly identical to the NYC skyline. One of the bridges shown looks like a newer version of the Brooklyn Bridge and a building that appears in several different shots looks like a slightly different, LexCorp version of the Freedom Tower. There are also yellow taxis and at one point we see people sitting at a restaurant outside of the “Metropolis Museum of Modern Art,” which is clearly supposed to be the actual MoMA in New York City.

It’s like way cleaner though…

At this point I started to second guess myself and tried to convince myself that there was no way it’s actually New York because it was way too clean. There was almost no trash on the streets. No overflowing trash cans, no Starbucks cups littering the ground, and no one dropping their trash on the ground because they’re too lazy to go to the trashcan. It looked like they power washed the streets and sidewalks of New York.

There’s no pollution either and it’s so sunny! There’s no way this is New York…

It looks like a way happier version of New York. The sun is shining and the air looks so clear and clean. There is one shot in particular that shows a variety of people (bankers, construction workers, moms, kids, etc.) all walking in one spot but they aren’t pushing each other or yelling or flipping each other off. They’re just going about their business. The commercial also has several shots of the sun gleaming off buildings that definitely contributes to the perception of Metropolis as a more perfect version of New York.

Woo! Superman and Clark Kent!

~Major name drop~ This is when it becomes obvious to even the most disconnected people that the commercial is clearly about Superman. The narrator mentions “our heritage” and we are shown a shot of The Daily Planet building and then they mention “our heroes” and we see a statue that looks a lot like the statues of Atlas holding up the world but instead it’s Superman and he is bowing down to the city and holding it up.

LexCorp and Lex Luther

The main action of the commercial is Lex Luther holding a press conference on top of the unfinished LexCorp building and touting LexCorps “substantial contributions” to the city. It was at this point that I was calling him an obnoxious show off and saying that he has “no chill.” I also started to wonder if he was supposed to represent Michael Bloomberg. The resemblances are uncanny. Mainly that they run (or used to run) these major cities and that their companies donated large sums of money to projects aimed at revitalizing a city. After 9/11 Bloomberg’s company contributed $15 million to the effort to rebuild Lower Manhattan. This definitely brings in some dystopian elements and plays on current fears that corporations will take over or control entire cities/societies.

~More Inspiration~

~Visit the city of tomorrow, today~ Super, super corny but definitely hits a note with some people that would make them go and buy a plane ticket right after the commercial was over. This advertisement is definitely imitating a tourism commercial. They hit all the stereotypical elements of a tourism ad.

Damn Lex Luther back at it again with the white vans (or white suit)

Just kidding about the white vans. But Lex Luther does make another appearance except this time he is sitting first class in a Turkish Airlines jet holding a blue stress ball that makes it look like he has the world in his hand. He very creepily says, “We can’t wait to welcome you.” It seems so sweet but it’s just fake nice. This is when the dystopian vibes come in. Lex Luther looks like an evil genius that is plotting to brainwash us when we visit, or something crazy like that.

Was this really an Ad for Metropolis? Or was it about New York?

There are so many similarities between the two cities. The commercial also makes it look like they are selling tickets for flights to a perfect New York. Each time I watch the video I find more things that connect Metropolis to New York and it freaks me out a little. It also makes me question the motives of the movie: are they trying to comment on our society? Is this an undercover attack on Bloomberg?

I know I said it would be only ten thoughts but I can’t resist throwing in another and I have to point out how different this is from other airline ads.

Since 9/11 advertisements for airlines have changed a lot. Immediately after the attacks they focused on rebuilding trust with American consumers. They wanted to stop people from associating the attacks with the airlines too much and needed to make sure that 9/11 didn’t completely destroy the industry. American Airlines had to do a lot of damage control and released an entire ad campaign focusing on patriotism and trust after the attacks. But as 9/11 becomes further and further away, ads have started focusing more on customer service and perks instead of rebuilding trust and showing how much they love America. In other Turkish Airlines ads we can see that return to focusing on the perks associated with their company. They also usually incorporate humor into their ads and commonly feature celebrities. Fly to Metropolis though has a very different tone and is much more inline with the ads that we were seeing immediately following the attacks. The commercial hits a more serious yet optimistic note while also inspiring viewers. That tone is brought out through the ad’s treatment of Superman as an actual hero and not just a comic book character. It is also emphasized through the portrayal of Metropolis, artfully intertwining the story world with our world by making Metropolis so eerily similar to New York. This is one of the best commercials that I have seen. It has a very different tone and overall aesthetic compared to other commercials involving Superman and other contemporary airline commercials.

Utilitarian Review 4/23/16

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Noah Berlatsky

On HU

Chris Gavaler with a comics script about twins and death.

Me on Cinderella and pacifism.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Quartz I wrote about

—superheroes as metaphors for assimilation and whitewashing Asian performers.

—Prince, and how rock has always been black music.

At the Guardian I asked Is Mowgli a superhero? (answer, no, thank goodness)

At the Daily Dot I wrote about the inevitable Marvel/Star Wars film crossover.

At the Establishment I wrote about Prescott Colleges’s new scholarship for undocumented immigrants.

At Splice Today I wrote about Little Windows, a great country record by Teddy Thompson and Kelly Jones.

At Random Nerds I highly recommended indie pop/rock/awesomeness artist Mobley’s new ep.

Cinderella, Passive

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Noah Berlatsky

In his review of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Roger Ebert complained that the film ended with a pointless action sequence. “Time after time I complain when a film develops an intriguing story and then dissolves it in routine and boring action,” he says wearily. “We’ve seen every conceivable battle sequence, every duel, all carnage, countless showdowns and all-too-long fights to the finish.” Can’t anyone think of an end other than violence?

Ebert didn’t live to see the 2015 Cinderella live action reboot, but if he did, he would have at least been pleased on one count: it doesn’t end with a fight. Cinderella (Lily James) isn’t an action hero. True to the Cinderella template, she doesn’t physically fight, or even much struggle, against her fate. Her mother, who likewise wastes away peacefully, tells her that her ethos should be “Have courage. Be kind.” Ella interprets this as a command to passivity and deference. Her stepmother (Cate Blanchett, having a grand old time) treats her as a servant after her father dies, and Ella just takes it. When a friend reasonably asks her why, she replies that she has fond memories of her mother in the house…and therefore she lets herself be abused and humiliated because that’s what her mother would want? The logic is unclear, but that’s the way the plot goes.

Ella never grows a backbone; she escapes her plight through no fault of her own. First her fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) shows up and magically outfits her, then the Prince swoops in to rescue her. Ella’s only sign of resistance is a few words of rebuke to Cate at the end, and then a haughty “I forgive you.” It’s a fine passive aggressive moment, somewhat undermined by the fact that the film can’t admit to it being anything but the sincere effusion of a pure soul. Ella, so good and true and wonderful, isn’t even allowed to be bitchy or pissed off. To be a perfect Princess is to be not just nonviolent, but utterly unaggressive—and for that matter defenseless.

Roger Ebert asked why films have to end with violence; Cinderella, inadvertently, explains. Films have to end with violence because violence is the only way that these big-budget Hollywood films can express strength, agency, or even really action. Either you’re swinging a sword and decapitating the Jabberwock, like Alice in Burton’s film, or else you’re letting you’re step mother put her boot on your face because you just don’t have the gumption to do anything about it. You’re empowered and awesome or disempowered and pure. There doesn’t seem to be any middle-ground.

the middle-ground is, of course the place where most people live most of their lives. In most conflicts, in most lives, you aren’t fully empowered to beat the crap out of your enemy and have them cringe at your feet. Neither are you completely bereft of agency, waiting for a prince to save you. Instead, you’re somewhere in a difficult, grey middle, with some ability to make some choices, and push back against some power, if you’re cunning, and lucky,and don’t misjudge. Heroism comes not in using superpowers to blast all before you, nor in staying pure souled and above the fray, but in figuring out how to make the best of difficult situations, using what power you have, and what kindness you can muster.

There are some variations on Cinderella that manage to get at those issues in interesting and unexpected ways. Ella Enchanted explains Ella’s doormatness via a spell; the girl had a spell cast on her which makes her obey all commands. She then has to figure out how to use subterfuge, legalism, and ingenuity to abide by the letter of her curse while carving out a space for herself—not a bad metaphor for resistance under patriarchy. Twilight also presents violence as a option to be resisted when possible, negotiated where needed, and used as a last resort; Bella’s super vampire power is to dampen other vampire powers — she’s aggressively passive rather than passive aggressive. Nonviolence for her is a weapon.

But those are quirky, odd stories, notable because they refuse to fit into the more familiar binary. More common is the story which sees only power and powerlessness, the sword or waiting for someone with a sword to rescue you. The fact that we so readily sneer at pacifism isn’t because pacifism is silly, or because we’re sober minded and realistic, like Niebuhr. It’s because our imagination is, apparently, unable to think of any effective action that isn’t imbued with absolute power and bloodshed.

Making Comics: Double Trouble

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Chris Gavaler

I start a new course this spring term, “Making Comics,” a creative writing and studio arts hybrid I am team-teaching with Leigh Ann Beavers of W&L’s Art department. For my half of the four weeks, our students are writing comic book scripts–which they’ll then turn into actual physical comic books in the second half.

I’ve studied comics but never written one, so I spent a lot my winter term experimenting in the form. It’s not as easy as it looks. Our students will be crafting 14-page books, but I assigned myself several 22-page scripts (a common but not universal standard for an individual issues of a series published by a U.S. comics publisher). I’m using Dark Horse Comics’ preferred format (downloadable here), but break with industry norms by designing layout too–something writers are expected to leave to artists. But if you’re not thinking about layout, and so about panels’ shapes, sizes, framing, and relationships, then you’re not really thinking about a comic book as a form. To write “Double Trouble,” I conceptualized layouts that would work intrinsically with the story, and I also thought a lot about the peculiar nature of time and space in comics, and the odd relationships between words and images and how they can overlap and double in meaning.

Two stories unfold simultaneously. In the left column, Mina and her friends drive to a remote mountain cabin to spend a night partying in the woods (yes, a hackneyed genre, but stay tuned). In the right column, Mina’s twin sister Gemma returns to the cabin months later to investigate the deaths of her friends. But the two also flow back and forth across the page as the sisters foreshadow and relive the same moments. Or at least that’s how things start out. The relationship between the “sisters” gets a lot more complicated, which scrambles the layout too.

So here goes . . .

Double Trouble: Prequel-Sequel, Issue 1

COVER

A scenic mountain forest with a female figure standing with her back to us. The image is divided into eight equal horizontal panels. The left column of four panels features Mina in bikini top, summer shorts, and sandals, with the trees in full bloom and a bright afternoon sky. The right column of four panels features Gemma in light jacket, jeans and hiking boots, with skeletal tree branches and an overcast evening sky. The center gutter divides the mirrored figure of Mina-Gemma down the center of her back. She holds an identical knife in each hand.

PAGE ONE (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. Mina sits at the dressing table in her bedroom, looking at us and the implied mirror. She is wearing a light nightgown and a light robe. She has just picked up her phone with her right hand, and she holds a make-up eyeliner in her other hand. All of the make-up is jumbled on one side of the table, with the opposite side bare. A male figure sleeps in the bed behind her in the right half of the panel.

MINA:

Oh hi, Gemma.

Panel 1b. Gemma, who is identical to Mina, sits at a bare table in a police interrogation room, looking at us and an implied police officer. She is wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and is handcuffed to the table.

CAP (Mina):

“No, I’m staying in this weekend. How about you?”

Panel 2b. Same framing as 1a, Mina leans forward as she applies the eyeliner.

MINA:

Oh, you know about the camping trip, huh?

Panel 2b. Gemma sits at a defendant’s table in a courtroom, looking at us and the implied judge. She is wearing a conservative suit. Her roots have grown in dark. Her attorney sits beside her in the right of the frame, mostly cropped.

JUDGE (off-panel):

You are free to go.

3a. Same framing as 1a, Mina has put down the eyeliner and picked up a make-up brush.

MINA:

I mean if you really want to.

Panel 3b. Gemma sits on a couch in a psychiatrist office, facing us and the implied psychiatrist. A framed diploma and clock on the wall, psychology texts on the bookshelf, and a box of tissues on the coffee suggest the location. She is dressed up but not as excessively as she was for court. Her hair has grown about two inches since 1b.

PSYCHIATRIST (off-panel):

But in my professional psychiatric opinion . . .

Panel 4a. Same framing as 1a, Mina leans forward again to apply more make-up.

MINA:

I just don’t think you’ll have a good time.

Panel 4b. The bedroom and framing of 1a-4a, but in dimmer light. Gemma has just entered the room and is standing between the bed and the dressing table. She’s in the casual autumnal clothes as seen on the COVER. Her hair is about three inches longer than in 1b. Her head is turned toward the dressing table and us. The jumble of make-up is the same.

CAP (Psychiatrist):

“It’s too soon to go back.”

PAGE TWO (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. In the bedroom, the framing has shifted forward to the boyfriend in the bed, so that Mina is mostly cropped in the left edge of the panel. The boyfriend, Jerry, is sitting up in the sheets, shirtless, talking to her back.

JERRY:

Was that your sister? She’s not coming is she?

Panel 1b. Similar framing, but the bed is an autopsy table, and Jerry’s corpse has been cut open by the medical examiners standing over him conducting the autopsy.

CAP (Jerry):

“I know it’s a messy situation and all, but let’s be open.”

Panel 2a. Same framing as 1a, but Gemma has stood up, dropping her bathrobe to her elbows, her back still to Jerry.

JERRY:

Things are a hell of a lot more fun when she’s not around.

Panel 2b. Jerry’s naked body now lies on a mortician’s table as morticians clean and sew him up.

CAP (Jerry):

“Gemma is so high maintenance.”

3a. Same framing as 1a, Gemma has turned around and is approaching the bed, her back to us, and the robe dangling from her right hand.

JERRY:

Not like you, Mina.

Panel 3b. Jerry’s made-up and well-dressed body lies in an open casket, as mourners move around it.

CAP (Jerry):

“You’re the life of the party.”

Panel 4a. Closer on Jerry in bed, the sheets barely covering him. He is talking directly to us and so to Mina who is now out of frame.

JERRY:

Now why don’t you climb in here with me and we have some fun right now?

Panel 4b. Gemma stands before Jerry’s funeral plot, her back to us. The mound in front of the tombstone has begun to flatten and sprout new grass. The plot is angled and framed to parallel the bed in 1a-3a.

PAGE THREE (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. In Mina’s plush bathroom, she is newly showered, with a towel tied around her torso and another around her hair. She has a toiletry bag in one hand and her phone in the other. She is stepping into the bathroom from the bedroom, while talking to a friend on speaker.

PHONE:

Is this going to be like totally roughing it? No shower, piss in the woods, that kinda deal?

Panel 1b. Gemma continues Mina’s progression forward to the now visible sink, where she is reaching to open the medicine cabinet.

CAP: “It was my parents’ secret getaway. It has everything but a bidet.”

Panel 2a. Same framing as 1b, Mina is reaching into the now open medicine cabinet and dropping toiletries into the toiletry bag on the sink counter with one hand. Her other hand is about to grab a prescription bottle from the shelf. The phone is resting on the counter.

PHONE:

What are you packing?

Panel 2b. From Gemma’s perspective, close on the prescription bottle in her hand. It contains “Risperidone” and is filled out to “Gemma Pollock.” She is about to twist the cap off with her other hand.

CAP:

“Oh, just a few necessities. How about you?”

3a. From Mina’s perspective, close on the inside of the bottle and the few pills at the bottom.

PHONE:

Are you kidding? My suitcase is a bottomless pit.

Panel 3b. Gemma is placing the re-capped bottle into her jacket pocket.

CAP:

“Hey, it never hurts to be prepared.”

Panel 4a. Mina drops the bottle into her toiletry bag with one hand and begins to close the medicine cabinet with the other.

MINA:

Like my mother used to tell me . . .

Panel 4b. From Gemma’s perspective, she has just closed the medicine cabinet and now is staring at her own reflection. Her fingers are on the bottom of the mirror.

CAP:

“. . . always put your best self forward.”

PAGE FOUR (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. Front yard and walkway of Mina’s suburban house. She, Jerry, and four friends are dressed in summer clothes and are exiting the house and walking down the walkway which is angled diagonally through the panel. One of the friends is cropped by the right gutter. They are carrying coolers and other weekend supplies. It’s a bright early summer morning.

FRIEND 1:

Looks like we’re heading into a perfect day.

FRIEND 2:

We all going to fit in one car?

Panel 1b. Continuous with 1a, the walkway ends at the street where Gemma’s car is parked. Gemma is approaching the car alone. It’s an overcast autumn afternoon.

CAP:

“The more the merrier.”

Panel 2a. The back half of the car viewed from the side, the trunk and side doors are open as the friends load up and pile in. The gutter divides the car at its center.

FRIEND 3:

Damn! How much beer did you pack?

FRIEND 4:

I call shotgun!

Panel 2b. Continuous with 2a, the front half of the car, Gemma is driving alone, facing toward the right edge of the panel. The car is in motion, the background of houses blurred.

CAP (Jerry):

“Sure you don’t want me to drive, hon?”

Panel 3a. Left half of the car as seen through the windshield, the car is in motion and the friends are having rambunctious fun as they ride. One has her head out of the passenger window, her hair blowing back. Jerry is seated in the middle of the front seat and is cropped roughly in half by the gutter.

FRIEND 1:

I love this song!

FRIEND 3:

Turn it up!

Panel 3b. Continuous with 3a, the right half of car as seen through the windshield, the car is stopped. Gemma is getting gas and has the nozzle raised and the gas cap off.

CAP:

“No stop signs! Speed limit! Nobody’s gonna slow me down!”

Panel 4a. Close on Mina at the wheel, facing us and laughing and singing as she drives.

SFX:

I’m on the way to the promised land!

Panel 4b. Gemma’s distant car is climbing the highway into foreboding mountains.

PAGE FIVE (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. At the cabin clearing, the car is parked at an angle, its right front corner out of frame. The doors and trunk are open as the friends jump out. The cabin is in front of them, with trees and blue sky beyond it.

FRIEND 2:

It’s a dream up here.

MINA:

Welcome to paradise!

FRIEND 4:

I can’t believe how pristine it is.

Panel 1b. Continuous with 1a, the cabin is centered in the gutter, with skeletal trees and moon-lit sky beyond it. The front right corner of the car shines its headlights across the clearing and the right half of the cabin’s porch, which is blocked by heavily worn police tape. Gemma has stepped out of the car is approaching the porch with a lit flashlight.

CAP:

“It’s like we stepped out of time.”

Panel 2a. The framing moves forward, cropping the car out of the panel and expanding the cabin. The cabin door is open and half-cropped in the right of the panel. The friends are entering with the supplies.

JERRY:

This is really all yours?

MINA:

Hell yeah.

Panel 2b. Continuous with 2a, the porch and door are centered in the gutter. The window is boarded, but the door has been removed from its hinges and leans sideways under the wall. Gemma has stepped onto the porch from the right side of the panel, flashlight shining. She has broken some of the police tape which now dangles.

CAP:

“My family values privacy.”

Panel 3a. Inside the cabin, the friends are unpacking in the kitchen as Mina and Jerry are moving through the living room in the foreground. Mina is carrying a backpack in one hand and leading Jerry with the other.

FRIEND 3:

Look at this place.

FRIEND 1:

We could live up here forever.

Panel 3b. Continuous with 3a, Gemma is standing in the doorway with the flashlight. The doorway is to the right of the kitchen.

CAP:

“No one would ever find us.”

Panel 4a. Mina and Jerry have continued down the hallway and are entering a bedroom door on the left edge of the panel.

FRIEND (off-panel):

How many bedrooms are there?

MINA:

This way, Jerry.

Panel 4b. Continuous with 4a, Gemma is in the empty and ruined kitchen, looking toward the hallway.

CAP:

“You get the private tour.”

PAGE SIX (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. Framed by the door frame, Mina and Jerry standing kissing in the middle of the bedroom. Her backpack is now on the bed.

Panel 1b. Same framing as 4a of previous page, Gemma is standing in the hallway, looking through the bedroom door at the right edge of the panel.

Panel 2a. Same framing as 1a, Mina pulls away from Jerry’s embrace as she looks down at the trapdoor at their feet.

MINA:

What’s that?

Panel 2b. Same framing as 2a, the trapdoor is raised, and Gemma is shining her flashlight down through the opening. The bedroom furniture is the same but disarranged.

CAP (Mina):

“Oh my god, where do you think it goes?”

Panel 3a. Framed by the trapdoor opening, looking up from the basement, Jerry is looking down at us and unseen Mina who has already descended out of frame.

JERRY:

Is this really a good idea?

Panel 3b. Viewed from above, Gemma is stepping down onto the basement floor, while giving a last look up at us.

CAP (Mina):

“God. You sound like my sister.”

Panel 4a. Mina in the basement pulls on a light string, with the ladder directly behind her. A bare bulb illuminates the space.

JERRY (off-panel):

Why don’t you come on back up now?

Panel 4b. Continuous with 4a, Gemma has continued forward from Mina’s position, the flashlight shining into the right side of the panel. A large male figure stands silhouetted behind her and partly cropped by the middle gutter.

CAP (Mina):

Why? There’s nothing even down here.

PAGE SEVEN (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. With the ladder and light cord behind her, Mina in profile has stepped further into the basement. She is squinting uncertainly toward the next panel.

MINA (whisper):

Gemma?

Panel 1b. Continuous space from 1a, Gemma is turning as if in response to Mina. A pair of storm doors are propped open in the background in the right half of the panel, trees and sky visible outside.

CAP (Mina):

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Panel 2a. Same framing as 1a, Mina has stepped into the right half of the panel, closer to Gemma’s panel.

MINA:

You can’t just barge in anytime you like.

Panel 2b. Same framing as 1b, Gemma has fully turned and is shining the flashlight beam toward Mina’s panel.

CAP (Mina):

“I know, you’re just trying to keep an eye on me, but this is crazy.”

Panel 3a. The framing moves with Mina as she steps further forward toward panel 3b, leaving the ladder out of frame but the cord still behind her. The edge of the storm doors is just visible in front of her.

MINA:

And I already know you think going off the meds was a bad idea.

Panel 3b. The framing moves with Gemma as she steps forward toward panel 3a, with the cord dangling in front of her and the storm doors now out of frame.

CAP (Mina):

“Especially right after mom and dad’s funeral.”

Panel 4a. Mina is now standing where Gemma was originally, still speaking as if to Gemma’s figure facing her in panel 4b. Behind her a large male arm is about to grab her right shoulder. The arm is bare.

MINA:

But I have to move forward in my own direction.

Panel 4b. Gemma is now standing where Mina was originally, with the ladder and light cord in the left half of the frame, as she continues to look toward Mina in panel 4a. Behind her a large male arm is about to grab her left shoulder. The arm is clothed in a coat sleeve.

CAP (Mina):

“I don’t want to be you. And I’m not going to let you pull me back.”

PAGE EIGHT (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. Mina, who is in the right half of the panel, is spinning around to see Jerry standing behind her facing us, with the ladder behind him.

JERRY:

Sorry!

Panel 1b. Gemma, who is in the left half of the panel, has spun around to see a park ranger behind facing us, with the storm door behind him.

RANGER:

Didn’t mean to scare you, miss.

Panel 2a. Jerry is taking Mina’s arm.

JERRY:

Why are we even down here? It smells like something died.

Panel 2b. The ranger has taken Gemma’s arm and is gesturing toward the storm doors with his other hand.

RANGER:

It’s not safe. I’m going to have to escort you off the premises.

Panel 3a. Mina is yanking her arm away.

MINA:

You really are like Gemma! Why’s everybody always bossing me around?

Panel 3b. Gemma has yanked her arm away.

GEMMA:

This is my property. I inherited it from my parents. You’re the one trespassing.

Panel 4a. Mina has stepped past Jerry to the ladder.

JERRY:

Okay, okay, it’s yours, I get it. Who were you talking to anyway?

CAP (Ranger):

“Gemma Pollock?”

Panel 4b. Gemma has stepped past the ranger to the storm door steps.

CAP (Jerry):

“It was Gemma, wasn’t it?”

RANGER:

You’re Gemma Pollock?

PAGE NINE (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. Mina is climbing the ladder, her back to us and Jerry.

MINA:

That’s not like a crime you know. She’s still a part of my life.

Panel 1b. Gemma is walking up the storm door steps, her back to us and the ranger.

RANGER:

I know, I just never imagined you of all people would want to come back here.

Panel 2a. Pullback from 1a to show a silhouetted female figure holding a knife in her left hand and watching as Jerry follows Mina up the ladder.

CAP (Gemma):

“I’m looking for someone.”

JERRY:

I thought you were trying to forget her. Isn’t that the whole point of this trip?

Panel 2b. Pullback to show a silhouetted female figure holding a knife in her right hand and watching as the ranger follows Gemma up the steps.

CAP (Mina):

“It’s not like I can control when she pops up.”

RANGER:

You mean the remains? The news said one of the bodies was never found.

Panel 3a. Viewed down from the top of the ladder as Jerry is stepping out of frame, the female figure in the basement is moving toward the base of the ladder.

JERRY:

I say live in the present.

Panel 3b. Viewed from the top of the steps as the ranger is stepping out of frame, the figure is moving toward the bottom of the steps.

GEMMA:

The D.A. threatened life without parole trying to get me to say where I hid it.

Panel 4a. Mina’s hand begins to push the trapdoor closed behind her, blocking some of the figure as the door starts to fall.

JERRY:

And keep the past in the past.

CAP (Ranger):

“But you were acquitted.”

Panel 4b. Gemma’s hand withdraws as the storm door slams shut behind her.

SFX:

Slam

GEMMA (head off-panel):

And the case closed.

PAGE TEN (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. The four friends are on the porch drinking.

CAP (Ranger):

“There must be a lot of painful memories here for you.”

Panel 1b. Continuous panels, Gemma is walking along the side of the cabin toward the ranger’s parked car. The ranger is following behind her.

GEMMA:

They follow me wherever I go.

Panel 2a. Jerry is in the bedroom doorway, gesturing down the hallway. Mina is sitting on the bed.

JERRY:

Sounds like they started without us.

MINA:

Go ahead. I’m tired. I’m going to lie down for a minute.

Panel 2b. Mina is stepping onto the porch as the ranger turns around at his car.

RANGER:

Wait. You’re sleeping here? Alone?

CAP (Jerry):

“Want some help warming up that bed?”

Panel 3a. Similar framing of porch as 2b, the friends are getting rowdier as they drink.

CAP (Gemma):

“I prefer my privacy.”

Panel 3b. Gemma has stepped into the cabin and is beginning to shut the door.

GEMMA:

Goodnight.

CAP (Mina):

“I’ll be out later.”

Panel 4a. Same framing as 3b, Jerry is stepping out to the porch to join the drunken friends.

CAP (Ranger):

“I’ll come back in the morning to check on you.”

CAP (Gemma):

“Just don’t wake me up. I’m a late sleeper.”

Panel 4b. Close on living room window visible in 3b, but now broken with half of the glass missing. Gemma stands looking out, as the ranger’s car is reflected in the bottom of the glass as it drives away.

CAP (Jerry):

“Whatever you say, hon.”

PAGE ELEVEN (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. Mina sits alone on her bed, the room expansive around her. Her backpack lies on the bed. The door is closed.

Panel 1b. Same framing as 1a, Gemma stands in the open doorway.

Panel 2a. Closer on Mina, she has pulled the backpack to her and is reaching inside it.

Panel 2b. Closer on Gemma, she is holding her jacket open with one hand and has just pulled out the prescription bottle with her other hand.

Panel 3a. Mina throws her head back to swallow the contents of the bottle. The cap is in her other hand.

Panel 3b. Gemma holds the bottle upside down, as the spilled pills click against the floor.

SFX:

Click click click

Panel 4a. Looking down at her, Mina lies back on the bed, looking up at us and the ceiling.

Panel 4b. Same framing of the bed, Gemma lies back on the bed, but her eyes have just closed. Because the bed is not in the same position as in 4a, the walls and the corner of the trapdoor on the floor appear crooked.

PAGE TWELVE (eight vertical panels, two rows of four)

Panel 1a. Gemma stands looking down at Mina in bed, while holding a knife in her right hand.

GEMMA:

Mina?

Panel 1b. Viewed from above, Mina’s hand reaches over to wake Gemma. The rest of Mina is cropped.

Panel 2a. Continuous with 1b, after the gutter Gemma in her bed becomes Mina in hers, with Gemma’s hand reaching over to wake Mina from the other side of the bed. The bed is centered in the middle gutter. The rest of Gemma is cropped.

MINA & GEMMA (heads off-panel, centered in middle gutter):

Are you awake?

Panel 2b. A mirror of 1a, Mina stands looking down at Gemma in bed, while holding a knife in her left hand.

MINA:

Gemma?

Panel 3a. Similar framing as 1a, Mina jerks upright in bed, looking to the left edge of the panel where Gemma is no longer standing.

MINA:

Gemma?

Panel 3b. Similar framing as 1b, Gemma jerks upright in bed, looking to the right edge of the panel where Mina is no longer standing. The bed appears continuous with the bed in 3a. Their bodies do not overlap at all.

GEMMA:

Mina?

Panel 4a. Same framing as 3a, Mina turns to look at Gemma across the gutter to the right.

MINA & GEMMA (centered in gutter)

Am I awake?

Panel 4b. Same framing as 3b, Gemma turns to look at Mina across the gutter to the left.

PAGE THIRTEEN (eight vertical panels, two rows of four)

Panels 1a and 1b. Same framing as previous panels, but now Gemma’s hand reaches across the gutter to touch Mina, and Mina’s hand reaches across the gutter to touch Gemma.

Panels 2a and 2b. Same framing as 1a and 2a, Mina and Gemma are holding hands across the gutter as they move forward to climb off the bed and leave. Mina’s left hand holds Gemma’s right hand.

MINA (in 2a) & GEMMA (in 2b) (centered in gutter):

Come on. I have to show you something.

Panels 3a and 3b. Outside, still holding hands across the gutter, Mina and Gemma walk toward us, away from the cabin, which is behind them.

MINA (in 3a) & GEMMA (in 3b) (centered in gutter):

Where are we going?

Panels 4a and 4b. Still holding hands across the gutter, Mina and Gemma walk away from us and into the forest of birch trees. Because we are viewing their backs now, Mina’s right hand holds Gemma’s left hand.

MINA (in 4a) & GEMMA (in 4b) (centered in gutter):

Trust me.

PAGE FOURTEEN (eight vertical panels, two rows of four)

Panels 1a and 1b. On a path ending at a ledge overlooking a waterfall, Mina stays a step behind in 1a, as Gemma moves onto the ledge in 1b. The waterfall is in front of Gemma and to her side and is centered in the middle gutter.

MINA (in 1a):

Yes and no.

GEMMA (in 1b) and MINA (in 2a) (centered in middle gutter):

Have I been here before?

Panels 2a and 2b. A mirror of 1a and 1b, Mina is on the ledge, and Gemma is behind her.

GEMMA (in 2b):

Yes and no.

Panels 3a and 3b. Same framing as 1a and 1b, though the water pouring down from 1b into 3a appears continuous. Mina shoves Gemma off the ledge with one hand. She holds a knife in her other hand.

MINA (in 3a):

I’m sorry, Gemma.

GEMMA (in 3b):

Mina!

Panels 4a and 4b. Same framing as 2a and 2b, with the water pouring down continuously from 2a into 4a. Mina and Gemma mirror their figures in 3a and 3b, as Gemma shoves Mina off the ledge with one hand. She holds a knife in her other hand.

MINA (in 4a):

Gemma!

GEMMA (in 4b):

I’m sorry, Mina.

PAGE FIFTEEN (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. In Mina’s cabin bedroom with bright morning light, Gemma jerks awake in bed next to Jerry’s sleeping body. This is Mina’s bright, summery world, but Gemma, who is still dressed as Gemma, is also colored as though still in her autumnal world.

GEMMA:

No!

Panel 2b. Same framing as 1a, in Gemma’s cabin bedroom with overcast morning light, Mina just jerked awake and is looking around. This is Gemma’s dim, autumnal world, but Mina, who is still dressed as Mina, is also colored as though still in her summery world.

MINA (small):

Where am I?

Panel 2a. Same framing, Gemma freezes in wide-eyed alarm as Jerry’s naked arm rises and he touches her on the back.

JERRY:

Where do you think you are? Safe in bed with me.

Panel 2b. Mina stands, alarmed by the absence of Jerry in the bed. The door is open behind her, and a male figure is silhouetted.

MINA:

Jerry?

Panel 3a. Gemma stands, alarmed by the presence of Jerry in the bed. The door is closed behind her.

GEMMA:

Where the hell did you come from?

Panel 3b. The ranger steps through the door, as Mina spins toward him.

RANGER:

I kept knocking at the front door. I was afraid you were . . .

Panel 4a. Gemma backs away from Jerry to the closed door.

GEMMA:

Dead! You’re supposed to be dead!

PAGE SIXTEEN (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. Jerry stands up and points at Gemma.

JERRY:

You’re Gemma, aren’t you? What did you do with Mina?

Panel 1b. The ranger leans away from Mina as she points at him.

RANGER:

With who?

MINA:

With Gemma! My sister! Did you kill her?

Panel 2a. Jerry leans away as Gemma points at him.

GEMMA:

I wouldn’t hurt my own sister.

Panel 2b. Mina stares at the ranger confused.

RANGER:

But you don’t have a sister.

Panel 3a. From the hallway, Gemma has shoved the door open and storms out of the bedroom, with Jerry following her.

GEMMA:

What the hell are you talking about?

SFX:

slam

JERRY:

You’re going to wake everybody up.

GEMMA:

There’s nobody else here!

Panel 3b. Mina storms down the hallway, with the ranger following her.

MINA:

Up! Wake up! Everybody up!

RANGER:

There’s nobody else here.

Panel 4a. Gemma shoves open another bedroom to find an empty bed. Clothes and suitcases are arranged as though two people slept there recently.

GEMMA:

Whose stuff is this? Where am I?

Panel 4b. Mina has entered the same bedroom, though now the items are gone and the space dilapidated.

MINA:

Where’d everybody go?

PAGE SEVENTEEN (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panel 1a. In the hallway, Gemma has turned away from the bedroom and is walking toward us and the main room. Jerry follows behind her.

GEMMA:

Oh my god. My sister. The pills. I shouldn’t have let her . . .

Panel 1b. Mina has continued down the hallway and is in the living room space now, with the ranger following behind her.

RANGER:

The pills?

MINA:

I think she did this.

Panel 2a. Gemma has spun around to face Jerry in profile. The living room is behind them.

GEMMA:

I think she killed everybody.

JERRY:

You’re not making any sense.

Panel 2b. Opposite angel as 2a, Mina has spun around to face the ranger in profile. The kitchen is behind them.

RANGER:

Why don’t you lie down?

MINA:

I have to find her!

Panel 3a. Gemma has spun away from Jerry.

GEMMA:

I can still stop this.

JERRY:

Let me get your medication.

Panel 3b. The ranger raises a beer cooler behind Mina, as Mina is about to step onto the porch.

RANGER: It’s in the bedroom, right?

MINA:

This is all my fault.

Panel 4a. Jerry strikes Gemma over the back of the head with the cooler.

GEMMA:

I never thought she would –-

Panel 4b. Mina drops to the floor in front of the rangers’ feet.

PAGE EIGHTEEN (eight mixed panels, two rows for four)

Panel 1a. A vertical panel, in the woods with summery trees in the background, Gemma is standing and looking down into the next panel.

GEMMA:

Mina, can you hear me?

Panel 1b. A vertical panel, the trees in the background are skeletal, but continuous with 1a. Mina sits on the ground, facing the left of the page, with her hands tied to the middle gutter behind her back. The gutter appears to represent a tree. Her head is rising as if she is just waking up. Her legs are cropped by the left gutter, but would otherwise extend into 1a.

MINA (weak):

Gemma?

Panel 2a. A vertical panel, a mirror of 1b, Gemma sits on the ground facing to the right of the page, with her hands tied to the middle gutter behind her back. The summery trees are continuous with panels 1a and 1b. Gemma’s head is rising.

GEMMA (weak):

Is that you?

Panel 2b. A vertical panel and mirror of 1a, Mina stands, looking down into 2a, with skeletal trees that are continuous with the trees across all four panels.

MINA:

I need you to wake up now.

Panels 3a and 3b. Vertical panels, similar framing as 1b and 2a, but from the opposite angle, so Gemma sits facing to the left with summery trees in the background, and Mina faces right with skeletal trees. Their hands are now touching in the gutter.

GEMMA:

Mina!

MINA:

Oh thank God, you’re here, Gemma!

Panel 4a. A horizontal panel in a two-panel half-column filling the bottom quarter of the page, Gemma’s legs extend the length of the panel, with her head and torso cropped, and her back to the gutter. Her hand is untying Mina’s rope in the gutter.

GEMMA (head off-panel):

It was him!

Panel 4b. A horizontal panel and mirror of 4b above it, Mina unties Gemma’s rope in the left gutter, with her legs extending to the right.

MINA (head off-panel):

I know!

PAGE NINETEEN (eight mixed panels, ambiguous reading path)

1a. A horizontal panel, Gemma is untied now and steps into the frame from the left gutter as she crouches and finishes untying Mina.

GEMMA:

Come on.

1b. A horizon panel below 1a, and a mirror of 1a, Mina steps into the frame from the right gutter and crouches as she finishes untying Gemma.

MINA:

We have to get out of here.

Panel 2a. A vertical panel beginning in the top right quarter of the page, Gemma leads Mina down the panel into the summery woods.

MINA:

Which way?

Panel 2b. A vertical panel completing the top row, Mina leads Gemma up the panel into the skeletal woods.

GEMMA:

We’re going to get lost.

Panel 3a. A horizontal panel directly below 2a, Gemma leads Mina into the summery woods.

MINA:

We’re going to get lost.

Panel 3b. A horizontal panel directly below 23a completing the column filling the left half of the page, Mina leads Gemma into the woods.

GEMMA:

Which way?

Panel 4a. A vertical panel directly below 2a, Gemma leads Mina in a continuation of both 2a and 3a.

GEMMA:

It doesn’t matter.

Panel 4b. A vertical panel directly below 2b, Mina leads Gemma into a clearing.

MINA:

We end up in the same place.

PAGE TWENTY (eight mixed panels)

Panel 1b. A horizontal panel, Mina and Gemma stop and look forward, facing us.

Panel 1a. A horizontal panel completing the top row, Mina and Gemma have stopped with their backs to us and are looking at the waterfall in front of them.

GEMMA:

We always do.

Panel 2a. A vertical panel beginning the middle row, Gemma looks over the ledge and points as Mina steps closer.

GEMMA:

Oh my god.

Panels 2b and 3a. Two horizontal panels forming a half-column in the center square of the page, four corpses of the friends are piled in the stream and rocks below. In the top panel, they are decayed skeletons; in the bottom panel, they are freshly killed.

Panel 3b. A mirror of 2a, a vertical panel completing the middle row, Mina looks over the ledge and points as Gemma steps closer.

MINA:

Look.

Panel 4b. A horizontal panel, Gemma stands looking down as the ranger appears from the woods behind her shoulder, raising a knife. Mina is gone, possibly out of frame in the left gutter.

JERRY and RANGER (centered in middle gutter):

You shouldn’t be here.

Panel 4a. A horizontal panel and mirror of 4b, Jerry appears from the woods behind Mina’s shoulder, raising a knife. Gemma is gone, possibly out of frame in the right gutter.

PAGE TWENTY-ONE (eight mixed panels, three rows)

Panel 1a. A horizontal panel, Gemma appears behind Jerry and shoves him toward the ledge as he drops the knife and Mina lunges out of the way.

GEMMA:

No!

Panel 1b. A horizontal panel and mirror of 1a, Gemma lunges out of the way as the ranger is shoved by Mina.

MINA:

No!

Panel 2b. A vertical panel, Gemma looks down into 4b directly below them, which is continuous.

Panel 2a. A vertical panel, the ranger’s cropped body twisting and falling.

Panel 3b. A vertical panel and mirror of 2a, Jerry’s cropped body twisting and falling.

Panel 3a. A vertical panel and mirror of 2b, Mina looks down into 4a directly below them, which is continuous.

Panel 4b. A horizontal panel, the ranger lies on the rocks below, his head in the left half of the panel, completing his fall diagonally from the top right of the page to the bottom left.

Panel 4a. A mirror of 4b, Jerry lies on the rocks below, his head in the right half of the panel, completing his fall diagonally from the top left of the page to the bottom right.

MINA (in panel 3a above):

Let’s get out of here.

PAGE TWENTY-TWO (eight horizontal panels, four rows, two columns)

Panels 1b and 1a. The panels are continuous. In the left autumnal panel, Gemma emerges from the woods with her back to us and enters the clearing with the cabin in front of her. In the right summery panel, Mina emerges beside her. The cabin is centered with the gutter.

CAP (in 1b):

I don’t believe in fate.

CAP (in 1a):

I don’t even believe in the past.

Panels 2b and 2a. Continuous panels, as viewed from behind the car, which is parked at an angle in front of the cabin and is divided by the gutter. In the left autumnal panel, Gemma is opening the driver’s door to climb in. In the right summery panel, Mina is climbing into the front passenger seat.

CAP (in 2b):

Why shouldn’t they change?

CAP (in 2a):

They’re both open doors.

Panels 3b and 3a. Continuous panels viewed through the windshield, Gemma sits in the passenger seat in the left panel, and Mina drives in the right panel. Their heads are partly turned to look at each other.

CAP (in 3b):

We have to find our own way home.

CAP (in 3a):

We have to steer ourselves.

Panels 4b and 4a. Continuous panels, the rocky base of the waterfall, water pours down, centered with the gutter. The angle is slightly upward. In the left panel, a skeleton hand droops palm-up over a rock, the arm and the rest of the body obscured by the other rocks. In the right panel, a skeleton foot juts over a rock, the leg and the rest of the body obscured. The hand and foot are presumably part of the same body. In the foreground, divided by the gutter, a knife stands wedged between rocks. The blade is rusty in 4b, but shiny in 4a.

CAP (in 4b):

To get under the skin.

CAP (in 4a):

To get down to bone.

The Hooded Utilitarian

a pundit in every panopticon

Artists and Critics Sometimes Know Each Other

The Atlanteans and the Middle Passage

The Good and Faithful Chester Brown (and the Parable of the Talents)

#FlyToMetropolis

Utilitarian Review 4/23/16

Cinderella, Passive

Making Comics: Double Trouble