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Just for Fun: Comics are a fundamental communication form

Here are some basic book forms:

-the Myth or Epic

-the Dictionary

-the Spiritual Book – Bible, Koran, Bhagavd Gita...

-the Encyclopedia

-the Codex and manifesto – commandments, moral codes, social programs

-the book of Poetry and psalms

These are the fundamental books of a civilization. Each of these forms is an Archetype. Civilizations are rated by the existence of these forms and the quality of them.

I would like to add to this the “comic book” (!).

Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels are the new archetypes of this modern age. (Naturally, these have electronic and film parallels, Anime and big budget fantasy movies, but the basic form first begins as a physical book of some sort.)

To this we should add a variation on the comic book, we can call this the “Novic” – which would be a fusion of the comic book with the novel, where the stress on a page is text though we have images here and there. This is not a graphic novel which stresses the visual, this is more like the old illustrated manuscript or illustrated scroll where the words dominate but we have the benefits of art added. So this is the comic form in reverse to stress the transmission of more ideas but at the same time to offer the joys, emotions and power of imagery.

Why is the comic as an essential form? I am not sure actually, though I feel it and believe it. The comic has a great pull on the subconscious. From the comic begins the great story for a movie or animation or TV show. Today the comic initiates the modern myth of epic when before the oral storytellers were the source, and the form was spoken poetry.

The comic is a kind of shorthand or “essence” of a story. The comic boils down the premise, message and plot to bare essentials. It is almost like some sort of symbolic logic or math that gets to the core of a phenomenon. Even the visuals are simplified to get to the minimal persona of the characters. Further, the combination of text and visual offers more emotion and aesthetic satisfaction and more power to a presentation and the message of the book.

In a culture that lacks true myth, the comic is an essential medium to create new mythologies, stories and epics. It should be exploited more for its compelling power and irresistible potential. And the comic is a more accessible form for the average creative writer and artist than blockbuster movies. The comic is a good medium for popular movements and is perfect for the internet.

Cage Innoye

Axxiad News