object lesson
Over on the TCJ forums, Andrew Farago began a thread concerning Marvel’s 2006 Holiday Special anthology, and the story he wrote therein. Supposedly in an effort to mollify Roger Langridge, whose story was posted in its entirety on Newsarama, Jesse Hamm writes, “Marvel exists in a world where “variant covers” and “reading copies” are still being purchased. The collector gene in Marvel readers’ brains will never allow them to be content with an electronic version of a comic.”
Huh. This may in fact be so, but I propose that while mainstream (ie: Big Two) comics have remained basically the same in terms of format for the last 70 years, it is independent comics that have explored the far reaches of the materialist signifier. They are (increasingly) fetish objects, perhaps in an effort to elevate the overall perception of the medium, and, to a great degree it’s worked, as (real) mainstream media continue to take notice of the sequential arts, although it must be noted that despite the pains taken to make comics handsome, the reviews tend to focus on the content.
Ah, it’s late and I’ve got to fill the unforgiving minute. Anyone know how to make the upcoming.org widget validate as XML 1.0?
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