Monday, February 21, 2011

Monsters and Morrison

So thanks to my roommate I've been on a total Hellboy kick. I had seen the movies and dabbled a little bit, but never really read anything seriously. Now I can't put it down. I also finally got around to reading some more of Grant Morrison's work outside of the mainstream, specifically The Invisibles. I'm not sure what I think about it yet. It's very good, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure just how much I like it.

I want to go back to Hellboy. I think if anything, Mike Mignola has a gift for characterizing without actually just telling everything. One of the interesting things about comics and characters is that because of the format (few words, lots of pictures, short issues, etc) you don't just say a bunch of things about Hellboy or Hal Jordan. Comics are the epitome of the creative writing doctrine "show, don't tell". Telling is waste a space, plus with someone like Mignola who prefers to let his panels do the talking.

I can say a lot about the character of Hellboy. It's an incredibly impressive undertaking.

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