What is your Topic?
- My topic is Comic Books in the Modern Age. "Modern Age" is the current time of comic books, mostly spanning from the 1980's to the present time. It marks the age in comics where things became a bit darker and bit more realistic. There's not a lot of pure 'SLAM' 'BAM' 'KERPOW!' moments anymore. It's becoming about much more than fighting of "evil".
Why?
- Comic books are something that I am insanely passionate about. Being a visual person, as well as someone who appreciates good story telling, these books are something that I take very seriously and are very close to me. While some people see these stories and think of them as either childish or just not as interesting as movies or books or something, I see them as a gateway into a very different kind of world than one we experience normally. This idea of a "different world" is one that I want to explore in depth. What makes a successful comic book? What makes it stick in people's minds and allow it to leak into every day conversation? Why is the Superman crest one of the most known logos in the world? I want to understand that and explore it. Of course, I had to narrow it down from just comic books, considering comic books themselves (or at least, american superhero comic books) have been going on for at least seventy, eighty years. So I chose one that has the most bearing and is currently going on: The Modern Age.
What do you hope to accomplish after studying this topic all year?
- I want to go into the comic books industry. There are tons of people who write about comics, their influence of people and the impact of modern comics in regular culture. While they aren't writers for the books or artists, they are still apart of the comics industry and they are the people who draw people in (aside from the comics themselves). They analyze things to the closest extent and they bring it to the people so that everyone else can understand too. I've always admired these types of people for taking this medium (which is always underestimated) seriously. It's what I want to do and what I am truly passionate about.