Riassunti video Comics per esame Inglese B - Martinelli

Anyway, to define a comic book we have to separate the form from content; the medium known

(conosciuto) as comics is a vessel which contains any idea and images: the way comics are drawn and

written out varies depending of the artist. Other important medium need to control their element (like

video, music, written world ecc…), in a comic book this attentions has been rare because is different.

Comics are a sequential art BUT is not like an animation: animation is sequential in time but not a spatially

juxtaposed (accostate, affiancate) as comics are.

SPACE : COMICS like TIME : FILM

Sequential Art (comic book) is, in specific, a juxtapose static images in deliberate sequence.

Definition of comics: is juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey

(trasmettere) information and/or to produce an aesthetic (estetico, bello) response in the viewer.

So, comic book is a sequential art and this is the easier and faster definition of the terms, but if we want to

know more, we need to look of the history of comics.

The difference between comics and cartoons: one is an approach to picture making a style while the other

is a medium.

Comics are not just static images, we can expand out and make it what we want it to be. Is a sequential art:

one image next to another image or series, it presents us a story.

The Icon:

the icon is the representation of what we have come to expect, is something that make us think of the

actual item.

Here, icon means any image used to represent a place, a person, thing, idea.

The cartoon:

we examine cartooning as a form of amplifications through (attraverso) the simplification.

Cartooning is not just a way of drawing but it is a way of seeing. The universality of cartoon imagery means

use one simple image and think about what are you really seeing in that: your mind can’t avoid to see a



face if you’re looking a smile ( ), you always see a face! That’s what is mean “Way of seeing”.

Memory, Cinema, Video and the Image of the present - Martinelli

The blend between new and old materials, gives the opportunity to make new unpublished material. The

past link to the present and future, making new story, spin-off or retelling told stories. This work allows to

links vintage imagery and innovative graphic.

This article borns from the author passion for superhero DC comics. He tells us that the children

appreciated ever exception and extra-development of DC comics. The publishers knew that and started to

publish the series “The brave and the bold”, into these comics there were a lot of superhero’s story, some

old and someone else new.

Annual “Secret Origins”, published in 1961, was different between the others because on the cover there

was not only one superhero but also various ones, not as a team like justice league. In this comic there

were information that would explain more clearly the present condition of the characters. This it could be a

way to introduce new character or to explain superhero’s decision into the comics.

How DC universe has come complex and complicated to the common reader?

In 1940s DC superheroes and comics suffered losses (subirono perdite) and that brought their suspension,

only few superheroes continued to survive: like Batman, Superman, Acquaman, Green Arrows.

The Dc reborned with new restyling of Flash and goes under the name of “silver age” (before that there

was the golden age with superhero like acquaman, batman ecc…). Flash debuts in 1956.

The success of Flash encouraged to remake the others superheroes too, like Flash. Dc starts with Hawkman

and Green lantern; after that DC resumed its production but this revitalization of superheroes is still a

problem to continuity.

What to do with old characters in presence of new ones? How to keep coherence between gold and silver

age?

The solution comes in 1961 with the edition “Flash n°123” and the story “Flash of two worlds” that

introduces parallel universes and parallel earths, together both similar and different. This narrative allowed

the simultaneous presence of Golden and Silver age’s superhero.

In 70s an insignificant and dull Arrow Green explodes and changes in a modern day Robin Hood. Arrow

Green is with poor, against the corrupt rich. In DC comics he marks an opening into more adult themes like

drugs or class conflict, that were appreciated by the reader.

Arrow Green represents also a new season: “bronze age”.

We have:

- Golden age: with first DC superheroes, it starts in 1940

- Silver age: starts in 1961 with Flash’s remake.

- Bronze age: starts in 1970s ca with a new Arrow Green and new adult themes like drugs, civil

conflicts ecc…

After all this successful remakes DC decided to publish 12 issues series calls “Crisis on Infinitive Earths”.

These comics was made for getting rid of old useless stuff (various character die in this series) and fixing

new characters that will be important to the future.