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COMICS THROUGH THE EYES OF THE AMRITAS
For those who may remember the dedication page of The Comic Book Creator's Party web site, most entries there were somewhat familiar in the comics community. The subject of one which may be less familiar is Marc H. Miyake, a Hawaiian linguistics professor who explores, with great dedication and insight, the subtleties of languages crossovers at his blog, Amaravati: Abode of the Amritas. I ran across Marc's blog two years ago when he reviewed Neal Adams' science project and The New Comic Book of Life web site. Some time later, Marc posted a query about the writing style in the Hebrew document, written in my hand, The Last Testament Manuscript which was promptly answered by David Boxenhorn, a friend of the Amritas and a linguistics aficionado residing in Israel, who conducts the Rishon Rishon blog on issues pertinent to Jewish heritage and the Hebrew language. Another friend of the Amritas is none other than renowned comics writer James Hudnall. Marc is a purveryor of the graphic storytelling form and his Amritas Abode, a blog of distinct academic content, brandishes a banner for MyComicShop.Com at its homepage. When sometimes dismayed at the socio-political items he also writes of, The Amritas seeks temporary relief in the world of comic books. Today, feeling a little down due to a foray into Islamic Jihad issues and the London bombing, he posted a series of transliterated Hebrew terms denoting known comics characters. Going on, he posted a quick review of the Jewish connection to comics and the state of the comics medium in Israel. I got that quote from Eli Eshed's history of Israeli comics: There are some "comics experts" in Israel who claim that for historical reasons the Jewish peoples had never shown much interest in visual arts, and that this was the reason why, until recently the comics medium was not very popular in Israel. In fact, this claim shows a complete ignorance of American comics industry, which over much of its history was totally dominated by Jews, both in the management of companies such as Marvel [info], DC [info] and EC [info] which were all originally created or owned by Jews, and in the creative side of comics production. The most popular comics genre, that of superheroes, was developed by Jews, such as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster the creators of Superman, or Stan Lee and Jack Kirby [my favorite comics creator ever]who created the Marvel universe. [Eshed's הגולם The Golem comic answers the question: what if Kirby had immigrated to Palestine?] These names are just the tips of the iceberg. It can be said that in the US, the influence of Jews in the comics field was even stronger then their influence in Hollywood. But in Israel, in contrast to the US, for years comics had been a marginal phenomenon.
I wonder why. I still don't fully understand why indigenous comics have become a marginal phenomenon within the US. The historical reasons Eli Eshed refers to, which have seemingly suppressed the Jewish people's interest in the visual arts, revert to one of the Ten Commandments given by Moses on Mount Sinai "You shall not make any graven images and you shall not bow to them." Eli Eshed is correct in saying that this ignores the primary role which the Jews played in the founding of the most visual of mediums, the comics. While the European visual arts flourished during the renaissance, decorating the churches and embellishing Biblical mythology, its Jewish counterpart, the synagogue remained free of such stark images, reverting at times to iconic depictions of symbols and animals, but rarely ever those of Biblical and historical figures, or even any depictions of people. This principle has been at the crux of religious Jewish culture and is still evident today in the Ultra-Orthodox world - while approached more liberally in the Reform and Conservative communities. It is an issue of the religious communities, however, and does not reflect on the majority of Israeli culture, which is far more secular in nature. The secular Jewish world has perhaps more correctly understood Moses' commandment in its essence, which is not to turn the visual arts into a focus of worship. This doesn't preclude, however, such use of a visual medium for the sake of telling stories - a pertinent goal and mechanism of the Bible itself. This affinity to telling good stories, which goes back to the forefathers of the Jewish people, perhaps partly explains the overwhelming involvement of secular Jews in the comics. From my experience in the commercial visual communications medium in Israel, I might add that the underlying reason that the commercial use of the visual medium may not have flourished here, is that it is a luxury which is not readily affordable. In a country which expends a noted majority of its budget on defense issues and an economy which suffers at the whims of a volatile security situation, investing in more luscious graphic design or paying artists a due recompense to produce cutting edge illustrations, did not develop into a national cultural priority as it did in the West. This is changing slowly, however, as Western culture becomes more entrenched in Israel, and a habit of seeking visual finesse in previously neglected areas is beginning to take hold in recent times. All this may reflect only partly on the reason why indigenous comics have become a marginal phenomenon in Israel while a deeper issue is perhaps the underlying culprit also in America. I've repeatedly said, during the last several years, that as in any supply and demand factor, which includes pop culture dissemination to a buying public, the comics must attempt to more fully understand what the buying market seeks in pop culture mediums, and then nurture this understanding by undergoing a transformation which addresses this public demand. I've also said that the primary issue of 21st century civilization, at the level of the buying masses, is the seemingly hopeless plight of humanity as we careen downward into threats of wars, mass destruction, economic enslavement and the increasing daily strife of surviving the jungles of the modern world. Comics will remain a marginal phenomenon in the Western world, as long as they continue to ignore these anchor issues in their storytelling. The comics can, however, inspire the rise of the voice of the people of the world against our present hierarchies, which ignore the overwhelming threats all about, by taking the lead and boldly exposing the deception and hypocrisy with which world leaders, of all political intimations, continue to do the bidding of the merchant masters, in their pursuit of economic supremacy and world political domination. This is the hope which will set the world's marketing forces on fire with renewed life and elevate the comics into their destined place as the tool which will change the tides of futility that dominate modern day perceptions. Marc H. Miyake, the Amritas, goes on to mention my role in introducing Uri-On to the Israeli comics scene. He also cites, and identifies with, a criticism I wrote of DC's Countdown to Infinite Crisis. In classic linguistic fashion, he introduces us to an often misused phrase in order to express his feelings on the present state of affairs in the comics: 'Mainstream' American comics have become a toxic ocean. The medium needs a sea-change. "Sea-change" is linked to Michael Quinion's World Wide Words, who writes about International English from a British viewpoint: The phrase is a quotation from Shakespeare. It comes from Ariel's wonderfully evocative song in The Tempest: Full fathom five thy father lies: Of his bones are coral made: Those are pearls that were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth fade; But doth suffer a sea-change; Into something rich and strange. Shakespeare obviously meant that the transformation of the body of Ferdinand's father was made by the sea, but we have come to refer to a sea change as being a profound transformation caused by any agency. So pundits and commentators who think it has something to do with the ebb and flow of the tide, and use it for a minor or recurrent shift in policy or opinion, are doing a grave injustice to one of the most evocative phrases in the language. I wish a figurative full fathom five to such people. With this, Flaming Sword Productions agrees wholeheartedly. This is precisely the sea-change we seek to help bring about by encouraging the comics creators to stand tall and take a leadership role in the world through their storytelling form - and with this raise the comics to a more relevant place on the stage of world cultural events.
Permalink Posted: 9:08 PM EST
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