“Frank Miller's 'Sin City' is just another pop-cultural kitsch.” One of the leading comics of all times is connected through criticism with kitsch. How is the kitsch aesthetic related to the comic? In a general sense, the term has a negative connotation and constitutes a pejorative characterization. It would be helpful to see the kitsch as a cultural phenomenon that is evolving in the 20th century and over time determines the comic. Does the kitsch today mark something different than something poor tasted?
These are some of the questions and concerns to be dealt in this project, in our attempt to interpret a popular type, identifying its artistic value. The probably misunderstood term, frequently used in an arbitary way, fitting in the context of culture, with the comic. Kitsch and comic intersect at many points, with the very first both their uncertainty about whether considered art. If we try to study the origins of kitsch, treating it as an artistic trend, we will see that it has more in common with the comic than we believe or want to admit.
In response to Frank Miller's “Sin City”, we will try to interpret the kitsch in general, and how it is reflected in the American and Japanese design, since these two design schools determine his particular writing.
The text above is the Introduction of my thesis, the book of which I designed, printed and now am presenting. It was written in Greek, so I translate the texts of the pictures that follow.
BOOK CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1: The appeal of subculture
Chapter 2: The universality of comics
Chapter 3: The recognition of maturity
Annex: Comics Code Authority
COMICS AS A FORM OF SUB- AND COUNTERCULTURE
Frank Miller's Sin City as Case Study
CHAPTER 1
THE APPEAL OF SUBCULTURE
"In art, as in language, the beauty does not lie only in the original work"
"In art, as in language, the beauty does not lie only in the original work"
Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Lichtenstein inspired Drop Caps
Indicative use of balloons
From "Yellow Kid" to "Yellow Bastard"
ANNEX
COMICS CODE AUTHORITY
"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself"
Potter Stewart, American Judge
“Now, the unofficial culture, the kitsch, comics, advertising, stereotypes, formula fiction, conventions, all are aloud incorporate consciously in the most unexpected forms. Everything is permitted, everything can and must combine to create art.” The subculture artists, their art and experimentation are being recognized as a form of counteraction to “high art” and gradually we go from sub- to counterculture to end up to the removal of “counter-”, leaving space for a culture with many facets and diversity, ready to be explored and enriched.
