The superhero universe is not, contrary to public opinion would have us believe, the preserve of geeks silly and regressive. Not at all. Characters like Superman or Captain America have evolved and are far from being ridiculous, hollow, infant or I know not what other nickname.
Yes, the superhero was in the beginning, in 1938 (with the character of Superman, in fact), at least in form. I must say it was created by two teenagers at a time when everything was done (Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster 18 years old when they create the character of Superman). Yes, the superhero universes remain for decades a niche for the younger ones. I must admit that even in the 80s, it is subject to a strict code that does not really intends it to adults. Yet comics authors work there: Stan Lee brings a lot of background to his creations (existential concerns, a parable about racism, a mythological development ...). Others follow it and infusing a political speech in their stories (Steve Englehart echoes the Watergate scandal with Captain America series). Some comics still offer horrific stories aimed at experienced players but they endorse the fact that superheroes are reserved for children.
True, culture "geek" will be born of this taste for regressive childhood fascinations: fantasy, science fiction, the wonderful worlds, monsters, supermen. But in fact, all these concepts were not already present in ancient mythologies, so prized by lovers of general education? If I am not mistaken, philosophers and psychoanalysts have not they shown from the outset supported interest in these concepts?
Nevertheless, some of these young players will grow by being fed against this culture, to become authors themselves. Thus, at the dawn of the 80s, writers and / or artists like Frank Miller and Alan Moore are beginning to take hold. And that's the shock. The superhero becomes an adult, complex, tormented, dark, ambivalent. And a generation to recognize through a slew of unifying works.
On arrival, characters like Superman and Captain America, the undeniably ridiculous and propagandists start with their costume modeled on the American flag and their values stuffed with simplistic stereotypes and good moral (although the first version of Superman, if I believe anecdotes, was much more complex), have become critical support models. And all this without take away their original substance of mythological heroes. Like what, despite their simplicity, they possessed from the beginning the roots of their future artistic redemption! Today, through writers like Grant Morrison, Ed Brubaker, Mark Waid, Paul Jenkins, Mark Millar and many others, they shine the light of a postmodern era where past achievements feed work meaning sip of authors in accordance with their time. On a depressive mode, backlash of the sweet innocence of the past, these heroic archetypes are now questioning their place in the world make mistakes, accept them, are questioning their choices on the responsibility that their power on their time and the values in which they were educated on the repercussions of political decisions, etc.
Today, as the wealth of this cultural universe is no longer in doubt, the world of self-righteous always keeps the look of a condescending eye. This world does he still not understand that the comics were emancipated for thirty years? Has not he noticed that some of the perpetrators amounted among the most important of our societies, any medium confused? Does he not see that they use the superheroes to propose the political, scientific and historical metaphor to enable them to develop, while advancing an acute reflection on the progress and dangers of science, on the vagaries of our societies, on the cult of religion and money, on the notion of difference, on racism, on the relationship with death, on the boundaries of good and evil inherent in each, and is called ambivalence of the human soul?
In short, moult digressions on the condition of man that we willingly grant to literature, cinema, visual arts, song and theater, strictly speaking comics for adult or Enki Bilal Art Spiegelman ... But still not the comics. Neither manga elsewhere!
I trust that it will come. Alan Moore with his masterpiece Watchmen what did he not high enough for the debate that it is not the case? Has he not shown that they could combine the bottom of the story with its graphic form such a level of demand that the comic book medium allowed the highest degree of philosophical matter? Has it not been proven that precisely the comics have become a unique and irreplaceable cultural prism within which meet both mythological creations as rich as those of antiquity, cultural identity and a propensity to exceptional universal discourse, as well as a formal tool of inexhaustible wealth? Did he not justified when all bonds with osmosis in a conceptual work in which form and content are inseparable, in a humanistic work that elevates the debate is that many major art it is, in some displease? Caution, do not believe this is true of all that is on the market. The world of comics is mostly trading (as well as that of other mediums such as film, literature and music), it is full of inept creations. But for the connoisseur, he is full of treasures.
Watchmen is definitely with Best Of - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, The Sentry, and many more, one of these cultural treasures within the meaning of the term MAJOR.
There are some years, this medium has become so emancipated that the publishing house DC Comics created the Vertigo label, allowing experienced authors to develop their own creations. Alan Moore, with works such as Saga of Swamp Thing 1 (yet a mainstream series he "just" relaunched) and Best Of - V for Vendetta, makes figure of spiritual father! Regarding this major author frequently called genius (!), He will have laid the seeds of its artistic revolution with purely European original creations (Unpublished Alan Moore), since it is English, before diving in heart of the super-heroic industry with Miracleman. It will continue this course with a number of major works carried out in the USA. In addition to those mentioned above, may be adopted in regard to the superheroes, Best Of - Batman - The Killing Joke (VF), the series "Top ten", "Tom Strong", "Promethea" "Supreme" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". Essentially ... Then, back in England, he will abandon superheroes for a time in order to devote himself to a monumental work on the legend of Jack the Ripper: From Hell. This paved with unmatched density end to raise the comic book to the rank of major literary creation and continue the theme developed in Watchmen, Moore using his fiction to develop a beautiful parable about the notion of context for redefining, based on events, time and geography, our perception of space / time ...
Today, when people pass by me while I am trying to read a comic book, I still find myself thinking: "He must say I'm a retarded teenager!" It would not be so disturbing if one thought that the comics were, as in literature, the opportunity to spend the Lord of the Rings to Marcel Proust, or like in the movies where you could watch a Star Wars evening and Woody Allen the next day. But there is no eclecticism unfortunately this idea regarding the world of comics!
From 1938 to 1986 (date of the release of Watchmen), it will still be almost 50 years elapsed during which comics were primarily intended for teenagers only. A long period obviously difficult to erase from the collective unconscious ...
