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April 17, 2005


On Sunday Morning, I Spent Some Time Thinking About Wayne Boring

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I thought a lot about the Eisner Awards this week, mostly because the 2005 nominations came out this past week and after making a brief commentary on this site I received a number of e-mails suggesting I didn't go far enough in my criticisms, that this year's slate of nominees was abominable. The problem is 1) I know that deep down awards don't matter which is a constant lid over the grease fire of my limited outrage and 2) I don't think the '05 books are, on the whole, any worse than the slate of nominees in any single recent year. It may be that I'm just so dissatisfied with the general snapshot of the industry's values that comes out of such public expressions as its awards that I don't notice a two or three award swing in any one direction. It could be that I'm not immersed enough into mainstream comics to feel particularly upset about Michael Turner getting a cover artist nomination over yet another pretty painter at Vertigo whose names and art all run together in my mind. I'm not sure.

I think my general position is that I don't like any of the comics awards because they're not very interesting and none of them seem to serve a noble or even savvy function. They represent a clubhouse clap on the back that quickly gets lost as the ripples spread out into a non-existent or a totally humiliated marketplace. A lot of the arguments made about these awards I don't get. As I really don't think that half of the good books to come out in a year are from Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse -- none of these companies is enjoying a golden age by even their own fans' publicly expressed standards -- I don't find a nominees list's balance between mainstream and non-mainstream books any sort of comfort, or a small shift in emphasis one way or the other an of distress. Generally, since about 1998 I think there are about five really high-quality books to come out in a year, about five to ten more great works archived and re-released and then anywhere from five to 25 halfway interesting and admirable works of varying size and scope. The Eisners and Harveys in that period have tended to hit on about one or two of the great ones in each group and then split their remaining awards between those interesting and admirable works and higher end but perfunctory genre material.

Watching the various awards and particularly the Eisners remains fascinating, however, because it is the most naked expression of old-fashioned impulses that exists among most cartoonists and industry members. There was a moment last year when the people who passed were honored, and the very dear wife of an older cartoonist, both of whom I met and talked to on multiple occasions and liked, was remembered but William Steig, a giant of cartooning, was passed over without mention. I understand why that is. I understand old-time fan ways of looking at things. I just wish we could put them aside more frequently in public, and embrace a set of value that reflected the growth of the art form in more than just limited, grudging ways.

imageThis brings me to Wayne Boring. Someone whose taste I respect wrote to tell me they'd be voting for Wayne Boring in the Hall of Fame balloting. I found this really interesting. I mean, I like Wayne Boring. I really do. I will applaud for him this summer if he is voted into the Hall of Fame. That would be a great thing for any surviving family, and his friends and colleagues who think well of him. I wish only good things for Wayne Boring's legacy, for his family, and for fellow fans of his work. But once you get past nostalgia, and how much anyone of us might like Superman, isn't putting Wayne Boring in the comics Hall of Fame sort of like inducting Frank Sutton into the acting hall of fame? Before he played Sgt. Carter, Frank Sutton also made quality contributions to a variety of minor projects at his medium's inception. Frank Sutton was similarly really, really good in his one memorable role, and it was very popular while he was doing it. His portrayal, one of those larger-than-the-actor roles that make television special in its weird way, is at least as iconic in its fashion as Wayne Boring's isolated contributions were to the larger Superman myth, I'd think. But talking about Frank Sutton as a serious candidate for an acting Hall of Fame would still be sort of strange. Maybe not. But it certainly suggests something about that Hall of Fame, a certain set of values, beliefs held by those who would be happy to see this happen on virtue of its merits, and those who wouldn't mind seeing this happen because it would be a lovely moment.

Maybe my comparison is unflattering. Boring enjoyed a longer career than Sutton, and because of the way comics are made and TV programs are shot Boring as an artist was a bigger player as far as bringing that piece of pop creation to life than any actor on a television show. But the older I get, the more I wonder how long comics' self-image will lag behind the comics themselves, even for the nicest of reasons. I suspect that too many people place too much value on the specific thrills they remember as a child or the particular art that kept them going as a teen or even the warm sweater of inclusion and universal acceptance which the industry likes to pull over its head every now and then. Comics will never be given permission to grow the rest of the way up as long as so many of us would prefer, deep down, they stay the way that flatters us.
 
posted 2:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

 
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