comics (not haha)

while laid up in lost angels this weekend, we decided to go to a few exhibits.

the first one at equator books was a collection of large format photographs of various mexican wrestlers, all in full lucha libre masks and costumes. there was one with an ultraman mask, a couple of zombie twins, a creepy gynecologist(!), a mighty mouse, super pinocho 3000, and even an ultraman! sweet.

the next exhibit is actually a joint one between the hammer museum and the moca, on the masters of american comics.

they display classic works of the comic form, all the way back from winsor mccay’s little nemo in slumberland from the beginning of the 20th century all the way up to gary panter’s jimbo and chis ware’s jimmy corrigan. they split up the exhibit to show the more “classic” stuff at the hammer, which i almost found this a little more interesting because there’s incredible innovation and flat-out weirdness that i never even realized was in these older works. sure, i know that little nemo is a classic and the first comic masterpiece, but i had never really read much of it. but taking the time to examine it really showcases how incredible it was and how groundbreaking some of the panels were: characters stretching out like funhouse mirrors, mirroring each other into infinity, and other weird psychedelic-like happenings, all published in major newspapers.

furthermore, sure, i knew how great peanuts and krazy kat were, but even things like frank king’s gasoline alley were quite innovative for their time and surprisingly surreal even by today’s standards.

of course, moving to the newer stuff of the second half of the 20th century at the moca, you get the wonderful graphic brashness of jack kirby’s work, the poignancy of art spiegelman, the weird incredibly fucked-upness of gary panter, and the sad and lonely incredibly fucked-upness of chris ware, as well as many others.

it’s quite wonderful. see it if you can.

Posted at November 26, 2005 11:07 PM