This, from Moritat’s interview at CBR, is just plain great:
The idea of comic books [as a medium], as we know it, is escapism. The stereotype is a child reading it hidden between his or her textbook. All over the world a common sight is a commuter train and an unexpected double take as you notice a nun, or sumo wrestler, reading a comic book.
More common now, is a shell of a human being with a tablet or device playing a video game. If you observe the focus, the concentration, is on the urgency of the laser sight lining up with the zombie’s head or the timer ticking down in the race for collection of gold coins. This is counter to escapism. It is regulating the brain to more calculations. With a comic book your brain is taking time off from left hemisphere of the noggin.
With comics, you are participating with Asterix and Obelix as they set off on a journey through rolling art scape of Uderzo’s countryside. You are breathing the foul vapors of Apokolips as Desaad wanders the halls seeking his master. You are not initiated by digital sounds and perfect visual mimicry of a F1 cockpit when starting a journey with a Tezuka character in a convertible sports car, but rather a sense of a tingle and twinge in the spine of what happens next when you turn the page.
To settle the matter by third party meditation: How many good comic book movies are there and how many good video game movies are there?
Okay, so maybe we shouldn’t consider movie adaptations as a good arbiter of quality, but… Man, you can tell that Moritat believes in comic books, can’t you? I love the passion in the above quote so much.
December 29th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
I will do one better: forget comic books and read a book!
That quote is just sad.
December 31st, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Why is it comics Vs. video games? They’re not in competition! One is not better than another. They’re both satisfy different needs.
January 3rd, 2012 at 6:42 am
Moritat is a great artist but he sounds like an idiot here. I suspect he has never actually played any video games.
February 11th, 2012 at 11:04 am
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