Comic books

Recently, I have gained a surprising interest in comic books.  As a child I was an avid reader of both The Dandy and The Beano. However, when it came to mystical creatures and super heroes, I think Banana Man (who frequented The Dandy) was as far as my interest went.

   However, whilst sorting through the comic book collections at Hopkinson’s, I really found myself drawn to the amazing two dimensional creations that covered the pages. Throughout history art has been used to depict battle scenes and tell stories and comics are doing exactly the same thing - only in parallel worlds. I was intrigued by the extent to which the artist is using and expanding their imagination. I consider myself a creative thinker, but I highly doubt I could invent my own unique world. I find these comics books quite astonishing and staggered at the dedication to explore outside the box

   I am by no means, a comic connoisseur. I have no knowledge of the stories or of the worth of comic books, perhaps this enables me to focus on the artistic brilliance of every page. The comic book community is thriving and expanding at a fast pace with the release of so many comic book films, the popularity of comic conventions and the infiltration of comic book humour into sitcoms such as The Big Bang Theory, the comic book is being exposed to a wider audience. Comic book imagery is most definitely in style, with most high street stores selling numerous products with comic book references on them. A piece of comic book inspired artwork would really be in keeping with not only the vintage trend but also the current comic book craze.

    If you are interested in experimenting with a different genre, the comics at Hopkinson’s would be a great starting place to collect some ideas. Just look at the work of Roy Lichtenstein in the 1960’s and you can see how use of two dimensional images are just as powerful as three dimensional.

Roy Lichenstein 'Ohhh ... Alright ...' 1964 www.npr.org

Written by Victoria Hall