Comics Journalism, Seaguy, and a King Named "Bertie"

Seaguy comes out on Wednesday as we all know from the blurb-ish info that's hit the usual comics news websites and such. But what does it all mean? Let's speculate!

In the comments following my howl, The Superhero Breakdown, Ken Lowery posted a link to his blog where he followed up on my thoughts on superhero secret IDs. While perusing Ken�s site, I spotted a link to a Newsarama interview item with Grant Morrison regarding his upcoming Seaguy comic (scroll down a little), which will be in shops this Wednesday, the 19th, if I�m not mistaken. This interview is typical of much that passes for comic book journalism [I could be snarky and put that word in quotes] in this country:

�So, genius comic book creator, what is Talking Point One for your new project?�

�It�s all about [the Catch Phrase]. And by that I mean [slightly wordier phrasing of the Catch Phrase, possibly with a Buzz Word or two].�

�Wow. Rather than follow up with questions about what you just said, let me just lob you a softball question that leads in to Talking Point Two for your new project.�

�Talking Point Two is all about these additional Buzz Words.�

�Really? Let me lob you another softball asking for you to expand on those Buzz Words.�

�Right. This is where I connect these Buzz Words to what I said earlier by referencing my Catch Phrase again��

And so forth. This interview/news item with Grant Morrison is very much in this mold. But that�s not what I want to talk about today (heh). I thought it might be fun (at least I hope it will be fun) to take a look at what Mr. Morrison says Seaguy will be about and see if we, as smarty pants comic book blog writers and readers, can figure out what he means before we have a chance to read the first issue when it comes out Wednesday. Ken quoted the relevant section on his site, and I shall quote it again here:

Q: Starting at the ground level � how do you describe this book? A simple �superhero with nothing to do� tale, or the examination of man�s inhumanity to man told through iconography we�re all familiar with�or something like that?

Morrison: A bit of both, as usual. the story started out as a kind of palate-cleansing exercise - after the heavy, 'realistic' approach of the Marvel stuff, I wanted to do something surreal and whimsical, in the vein of my DOOM PATROL stories again - an ocean-going picaresque adventure, you might say.

Then I had the idea to develop SEAGUY into a weapon I could use to fight back against the trendy and unconvincing 'bad-ass' cynicism of current comics, most of which are produced by the most un-'bad-ass' men you can possibly imagine. In the current climate, it seemed like an act of rebellion to deliberately create 'the new sentimentality' and produce work that was almost embarrassingly dripping with tender and awkward feelings. There's a strange kind of Edwardian vibe hitting the world right now - a kind of slowing down, a promenading feel as people rebel against manufactured 'cool'. SEAGUY can be seen as art at the vanguard of this new attitude.

Okay. Before we take a closer look at the buzz words, I want to take a moment to address the ��bad-ass� cynicism� comment. That phrase makes me think of Wolverine and the Punisher circa the late �80�s and early �90�s when those characters were at what I perceived to be the height of their �best there is at what I do, but I what I do isn�t very nice� popularity. The only comic I can recall off the top of my head in recent years that conjures up thoughts of �bad-ass cynicism� to me is the �Batman as unstoppable juggernaut� thing, which of course Morrison himself was instrumental in propagating. I�m just not seeing recent comics, superhero or otherwise, as suffering from a particular epidemic of �bad-ass cynicism.� Am I just missing something here?

I also have a thought on the men (and presumably women) who create �bad-ass� comics as being some of the �most un-bad-ass men you can possibly imagine.� That seems like a pointless and superfluous slam to me. Morrison is hardly a bastion of bad-assness himself (except as a writer), and he�s certainly written his fair share of superhero-y badass characters (and one could argue that a Batman who feels the need to have a plan to take out all members of the Justice League is showing a fair amount of cynicism). I mean, is one to slam Nora Roberts� success because she herself is actually not very romantic in real life or something?

That having been said, let�s first take a look at the keywords in Morrison�s answer and define them:

Picaresque: Of or involving clever rogues or adventurers. Of or relating to a genre of usually satiric prose fiction originating in Spain and depicting in realistic, often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social degree living by his or her wits in a corrupt society.

Surreal: Having an oddly dreamlike quality.

Whimsical: Erratic in behavior or degree of unpredictability.

Sentimental: Resulting from or colored by emotion rather than reason or realism.

Up to this point I�m sensing that we�re talking about something like Don Quixote without the cynicism (presumably, given Morrison�s comments).

Promenading: A leisurely walk, especially one taken in a public place as a social activity.

This is mentioned in the sentence in which Morrison talks about this vibe that he thinks is �hitting the world� where people �rebel against manufactured �cool.�� Maybe they�re doing that in Britain? I know there�s no rebellion against manufactured anything in the United States.

Edwardian:

This is the one that slowed me up. I was familiar with the time period but couldn�t articulate a meaningful definition. I looked online, but all I got were �of or having to do with the period of King Edward VII�s rule� definitions. Not helpful. I read some encyclopedia entries on Bertie�s reign but didn�t come up with a gestalt, adjectival, sense of what �Edwardian� should mean. I consulted a couple of the Howlers and got one �I�m not sure either� and:

I suspect Morrison is using it to mean dandyism, aestheticism, devotion to style. A last flowering of a softer, androgynous sentimentality before Empire's collapse.

I couldn't really find a good definition either - even the Glossary of Literary Terms was no help.

I would be tempted to connect his usage to Decadence, Oscar Wilde, etc., all of which came the decade before Edwardianism proper but seemed to set the tone for what followed. But Morrison expressly says he's talking about the embarrassingly earnest, not the artificiality of cool.

So we�re not sure either. Thusly I turn to you, the Howling Curmudgeons reader, to explain to us what you think Morrison means by �Edwardian� in this context.

Now that we have, �Edwardian� aside, working definitions of the words Morrison throws out there to describe Seaguy, I want to survey you guys and gals and see what you think it means and what you expect the book to be like. Morrison talks about Seaguy as being on the �vandguard of this new attitude� � what new attitude? What do you think this new attitude is, and do you think it will influence any mainstream Marvel or DC comics? If so, how?

Fire away!

Posted by Chris M. at May 17, 2004 3:11 PM