{"id":2514,"date":"2015-11-03T09:23:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T17:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2514"},"modified":"2024-01-09T09:27:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:27:56","slug":"maggies-world-034-its-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-034-its-epic\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 034: It\u2019s EPIC!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 034: It\u2019s EPIC!<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I recently became caught up in a conversation with someone who sneered that, while he was a devoted fan of motion pictures, he never watched television. To which I responded that it was in television, not movies, that we most commonly find today\u2019s epics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of which led me to consider the epics that the field of comics has given us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the thing: It\u2019s a bit tricky to differentiate between what we might term \u201cepics\u201d and what might better be regarded as \u201csoap operas.\u201d I don\u2019t think of the classic newspaper strip Gasoline Alley<\/em> as an epic; it was the ongoing tale of the ins and outs of family life in America, sure. But. Hmm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dick Tracy<\/em>? Joe Palooka<\/em>? On Stage<\/em>? Modesty Blaise<\/em>? Hey, maybe Prince Valiant<\/em> \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s think about definitions of \u201cepic,\u201d dimly recalled from my freshman Intro to Lit class at Oberlin. Or, cheating, let\u2019s look at what Wiki has to say. (We\u2019re talking the literary term here, not the Marvel imprint. Just to be clear.) We\u2019re not talking about poetry or an artform limited to formal oral tradition. So, roughly, I\u2019m thinking of a story that resembles an extended, complex tale celebrating heroic feats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to toss in one extra qualification: I think it requires a beginning, middle, and end. Arthur, Robin Hood, Odysseus, Aeneas, Beowulf: They wrapped things up with some sort of conclusion. I\u2019ve enjoyed tales of Airboy, Hellboy, Batman, Donald Duck, Fawcett\u2019s Captain Marvel, Concrete, The Spirit\u2014the list, obviously, goes on and on for thousands of comics over many decades. But their stories are largely (whether as single installments or larger story arcs) stand-alone interludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given all that, however, it does seem to me that comics have given us several actual epics. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(At left): Dave Sim\u2019s self-published achievement,\u00a0Cerebus,<\/em>\u00a0was staggering. The epic began with enough entertainment value to inspire collectors from the start and displayed his ongoing determination to provide excellence to readers. \u00a9 2015 Dave Sim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
1977-2004 Cerebus<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Dave Sim\u2019s 300-issue masterpiece was a vast project. In the first collection, printed a decade after the series began, he wrote, \u201cAlthough crude, I hope the dedication of a rookie taking his first tentative steps unburdened by editorial interference still shows through. It was a wonderful time. And my hair was much longer.\u201d What began as a comedic take on swords-and-sorcery fantasy grew over the years into a showcase for his developing skills at art, storytelling, parody, satire, and even such seemingly minor aspects of comic book skills as lettering and mastery of individual dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the comic-book epics that can be contained in a single volume is the complex saga written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons. \u00a9 2015 DC Comics; Neil Gaiman\u2019s elaborate fantasy of eternal powers began by spinning off from the world of existing DC characters. \u00a9 2015 DC Comics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
1986-1987 Watchmen<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Alan Moore wrote a dozen issues, beginning with the premise of what might happen in later years to an assortment of costumed characters who had once hung out together. (Famously, Moore began with a possible evolution of Charlton\u2019s characters but morphed them, instead, into new identities.) Beginning with the concept of aging heroes, Moore and artist Dave Gibbons crafted a combination of heroics and mystery while delving simultaneously into such basics as the tendency of power to corrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1989-1996 Sandman<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Though the series began with its feet in the DC Universe, in 75 issues Neil Gaiman called on epic traditions to leap to new worlds of fantasy. While many of the tales of the seven \u201cEndless,\u201d with a focus on Dream (others being Death, Delirium, Desire, Despair, Destiny, and Destruction), were standalone stories or arcs, the series as a whole took readers through one extended adventure. The eternal forces played out their roles in stories that often evoked the dark side of human existence. And of the existence of those forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jeff Smith\u2019s epic adventure began with a tiny cast of goofy characters and quickly expanded to a tale of heroic conflict. \u00a9 2015 Jeff Smith; Bill Willingham\u2019s characters were drawn from classic folk tales thrown into our modern world. \u00a9 2015 Bill Willingham and DC Comics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
1991-2004 Bone<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Jeff Smith\u2019s story began simply enough with several comic creatures caught up in a world of fantasy intrigue. In 55 issues, he told a tale that (Wiki says) Time<\/em> described, \u201cas sweeping as the Lord of the Rings<\/em> cycle, but much funnier.\u201d But Smith\u2019s epic had the setting of a complex universe, and he used its humor and its menace in an ongoing counterpoint that provided the story of a struggle against dark forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2002-2015 Fables<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Bill Willingham\u2019s 150-issue series began by positing that characters known in folk tales for decades\u2014even centuries\u2014live among us in the modern world without our realizing it. And that they have loved and fought and won and lost momentous conflicts during their existence. Given that premise, the possibilities were enticing, when such characters as Jack Horner, Snow White, Bluebeard, and Mowgli lived and interacted in the same universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hmm \u2026<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

After compiling this list, I realize that each of the epics I\u2019ve picked has had a single writer at its foundation. And I question in retrospect whether (a) DC has been an especially fertile home for structured beginning-middle-end epics or (b) these were simply among the series that first occurred to me. And that, in turn, may be because they\u2019ve been considered classics almost since their respective inceptions, earning a pile of awards over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realize, too, that I\u2019ve dodged the world of manga in which reside many comics epics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, there are other epics I haven\u2019t included (Usagi Yojimbo<\/em>, Saga<\/em>, and Groo<\/em>, I\u2019m looking at you), because they continue, delightfully, to entertain us in ongoing publication. Which is as it should be, because one of the aspects of epics is that they end. And I\u2019m perfectly happy to continue to have the thrill of reading new events in the fictional lives of some of my favorites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the first Monday of every month here on<\/em> Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n