Gene Luen Yang Lecture
I was going to be all meta and make a comic-style journal entry about the lecture, but I've got too much art on my plate already, so instead I'll just write an old-fashioned post!
GENE LUEN YANG HOW ARE YOU SO AMAZING. He was so nice and genial, funny and smart! I mean, I have a certain background as an indie comics reader, so I expected his lecture to cover a lot of familiar ground, but I found myself FASCINATED by his discussion of the divergent roots of converging American and Japanese comic styles and creators, especially given the topic of my last post. I didn't know the thing about Tezuka getting the classic anime eyes idea from Bambi, for instance. My epic braincrush on Yang has grown exponentially.
I do have a niggling disagreement with Yang about how awesome Scott McCloud is. I recently read Making Comics and, while that book is five years old and a lot has happened in those intervening years in terms of manga being embraced by American audiences, his chapter on manga struck me as... appropriative? Idealistic? I'm not sure, but it left me feeling a bit cold after having appreciated quite a lot of the practical advice he gives in the bulk of the book. Of course, a person doesn't have to be perfect in order to be influential, and there are certainly worse people Yang could have dressed as for Halloween (which had me laughing SO HARD).
I really appreciated the time Yang spent on his personal journey around comics and culture, too. Some of the things he said resonated (I also got flak from teachers in grade school for reading comics!), and some of it was bringing a perspective I don't have as a white American. I like his approach to finding harmony and bridging apparent divides--it certainly works well for him, judging by his work.
After the lecture I ducked back out into the lobby where we were selling the books and found my boss sitting there reading American Born Chinese. My boss has always been one of those people who adamantly refuses to give comics a try--even ones that are super relevant and beloved by the bookstore's core community, like Alison Bechdel's work! But here she was, reading the comic book, and she looks up and says in a totally shocked voice, 'This is really good!' Yes, yes it is! What have I been telling you for years, now? It was like this great little moment supporting that shift Yang spoke about of how denigrated comics as a form was and how it's finally gaining some respectability as worthwhile literature in recent years. I think Yang is totally right that right now is an excellent time for comics.
Also, on a shallow note, OMG AVATAR COMICS. That show is quite literally one of my favorite shows ever, and I can never get enough of Aang and the gang, and Yang is one of the few writers I would trust completely to continue the series and adapt it well to the medium. Often when you get comics continuations of shows it feels like a shill by the company to squeeze more out of a property without investing in the heavy costs of filming a show anymore, with a few exceptions. In those cases the art might be lacking or the stories and presentation simply ill-adapted to the comics medium, but I trust Yang to do a fabulous job, even more so after hearing his lecture and the depth of his knowledge and appreciation for both American and Asian comics and comics histories. Avatar is such a surprisingly well-done merging of American animation with some anime influences and Asian-styed secondary fantasy world/plot that, shockingly, seems to respect and honor the Asian influence rather than come off as appropriative. It's a remarkable piece of television and it has a devoted fanbase and, happily, will now enjoy a future in good hands in a new medium, as well as a sequel show!
In conclusion, and just because I love it and I'm all excited about the comic now, one of my favorite Avatar fanvids!