I have a love/hate relationship with comics.
I love stories. I love drawings.
My frustration stems from one major issue. Women are consistently depicted as eye-candy.
As a guy who has struggled for years with lust, I find the majority of comics to be unhelpful at best. Like a bar to an alcoholic, it’s better just to stay away.
Woman are perfectly proportioned, at least according to our modern plastic-surgery standards, though other cultures in other times obviously disagreed(see any nude statues or paintings from ancient Greece.) It’s actually amazing some of them don’t fall flat on their faces from the excess gravitational pull.
The men go into battle with massive armor covering every part of their bodies. Women go into battle in panties.
I understand why the decision is made to depict women this way, but that doesn’t make it right or helpful.
Boys may gravitate towards this imagery, but appetite isn’t an indication of right. Just compare it to most kids appetites for sweets or Doritos. “Yeah, I get that you’d rather eat jolly ranchers and Cool Ranch Doritos, but that doesn’t make it good for you.”
Ok, that’s a generalization. There’s actually a number of comics I really enjoy. But the typical superhero’s in tights, with unrealistic body perportions and plots that always involve a doomsday device … no thanks.
A great advantage in the age of the internet, is that anybody can create and publish their work where anyone can view it.
There’s a negative side to not having any gatekeepers, but let’s focus on the postive. Many of the artist I’ve enjoyed have been able to gain a following through various uses of the internet. I think it’s safe to say, that without the internet, none of these guys would be where they are today.
So, without further ado, here are some comic book creators you need to check out:
Doug TenNapel – A list of his works can be found at Tvtropes.org, or for his YA titles, go to Scholastic
