The dreaming youths by Oskar Kokoschka.
This brief illustrated poem by the Austrian artist is an interesting piece of media, as it could be considered a proto graphic-poem, much like the later works of Buzzatti (Poem Strip) or Pushwagner (Soft City).
A story commissioned as a children’s fairy tale, it became an ode to teen love and sexuality. The story’s heroine, Li, was inspired by the author’s first love interest, a Swedish girl named Lilith who wore a red skirt (a color that represents female sexuality in the Kokoschka’s eyes).
Given that I am not a poetry reader, I find it a difficult book to judge, especially as I wasn't able to find much in the sense of the promised sexual allegory through most of the poem. That said, it was very well written, especially for a poem, a medium I consider almost impossible to translate effectively (though I cannot attest to it being the case, being unable to read it in its original German).
With regards to the art, I was quite fond of his two-dimensional, medieval-reminiscent style, though I have to say that the last two were not as aesthetically pleasing due to their overt sexual content which was, perhaps ironically, lacking in any kind of erotism or sensuality. The rest I found quite good, both in their visual composition as well as in their oneiric quality, which helped enhance the dreamlike quality of the poem.
Personally, I wouldn’t consider it a comic, as its illustrations serve to enhance instead of being intrinsic to the piece (at least in edition I read). The original German version, with its medieval manuscript resemblance, feels much more cohesive than the Spanish edition I got my hands on, but its still more of an illustrated poem than a fully-fledged comic.
Poem Strip by Dino Buzzatti.
A very surreal comic about life and death and sex, it reminded me of Gaiman's The Sandman in some instances, as it delved heavily into dreams and stories within stories. It also had heavy mythological references, mainly within classical culture (Greece and Rome) and the likes of the Myth of Orpheus.
The art was pretty good and I do think it was a good fit for the story he was trying to tell. I personally preferred the more abstract scenes, where his skill really shone through, rather than the more character-focused panels. This was especially the case with the sexual content, which wasn’t as erotic as I think the story made it out to be. I think later authors like Guido Crepax or José (Pepe) González would go on to create much more sensual portrayals of women.
The prose was not that impressive. I don't know if it was the translation or the lack of commas at places where it felt like there should have been, but it was very much hit or miss. Sometimes it'd feel poetic and beautiful and others it made little sense and was hard to follow.
Though I suspect that the original comic in Italian is probably much better (as it tends to happen with translated works), its still a worthwhile read, though one where the text and the imagery coexist side-by-side without quite feeling like one cohesive blend.
Soft City by Hariton Pushwagner.
Chris Ware calls it in the introduction a “graphic poem” and “a four-dimensional readable image” and, after finishing it, I can definitely see where he’s coming from.
Almost wordless and spanning some 150 pages, Soft City tells the story of a world that is controlled by a huge mega-corporation and the lives of everyone are mapped to the second, leaving no free will, no real characters within its pages. It’s, at its core, a classic science fiction dystopia much like Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 or Orwell’s 1984.
The distinct aspect (one of them at least), is that the characters never stop to question the system, there’s never the thought of rebellion, the idea of change. It is a world so dark that any sort of progress is impossible, eradicated by Soft City Co. through media and screens and a monopoly on the job market and everything else.
The art is the most unique aspect of this work. Hariton Pushwagner was a Norwegian pop artist with an extremely colorful and surreal style that reminds one (or at least myself) of the music of guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix. But, in Soft City (at least the English edition by New York Review Comics) he uses a much drabber color palette, made up almost exclusively of blacks and whites and grays. His people are also drawn with a very unique style, being both extremely lacking in detail but in such a way that the story ends up feeling like a fever dream.
Overall, this is a comic that is experienced more than read, a phrase that makes one sound snobbish and over the top, but that is quite fitting for this tittle in particular. That said, if you need characters to get attached to enjoy a story, then you should probably skip this one as it doesn’t really have anything to offer in that department.
As far as labelling goes, this reads like a much more integrated combination of art and text, though there’s not much of the later to look into, and, unlike the previous two, this may very well be the first ever graphic poem and not an illustrated novel of sorts.
Comments