4/25/2012
4/24/2012
Frank Miller's Holy Terror
I've heard the label "propaganda" attached to Frank Miller's latest graphic novel Holy Terror, his personal response to 9-11. To me, this conjured up old fashioned images of America's overwhelming military might, Captain America socking Adolph Hitler in the jaw, or Chen Zhen kicking the Japanese occupiers in the face to the adulation of Chinese audiences. But Miller's own stylistic predilections don't lend themselves to that kind of obvious flag waving and chest thumping. Anyone familiar with his proficiency with pulp conventions or his libertarian leanings will not be surprised to learn that Holy Terror is a noire revenge fantasy were the resolute anti-hero single-handedly takes down al-Qaeda instead of the usual powerful crime syndicate. There's not a whole lot that's subtle about the premise or in Miller's execution. But one question I had coming to the book is how much of this is meant to be taken seriously as being applicable to the real world?
Reading Miller's own public statements, he seems determined to be taken seriously as a provocateur. His over-the-top approach to storytelling has already split reader opinions down the middle. And that's when he was mainly sneering at superhero tropes. When exercised on actual events, the results are no less controversial. It also makes a literal reading of Holy Terror problematic. The narrative is bare bones - Analogs for Batman (Fixer) and Catwoman (Natalie) go after al-Qaeda after someone commits a suicide bombing. They torture a member for information and infiltrate the enemy lair. They kill them. The end. The bad guys are ludicrous evil archetypes: Cobra Command led by a preening James Bond villain. Unlike the real al-Qaeda, they're well-equipped to launch a succession of rapid, coordinated attacks. Heck, one of the good guys has the Star of David tattooed to his face in case no one could figure out where the book's politics lies. These action movie cliches might make unsympathetic readers roll their eyes at the whole thing. But despite this exaggerated portrayal, Miller's reactionary ideology is evident throughout. One that's underlined by the angry, snarling tone permeating the book. At no point does he distinguish between religious extremists, Islam, or Arabic and Middle Eastern culture in general. Unlike Craig Thompson, he isn't here to understand. He isn't here to bridge cultures. Miller's "postmodern diplomacy" just wants to search and destroy.
And the fantasy of Holy Terror is oddly seductive because Miller's art is more kinetic than 99% of the art found in American mainstream comics. Holy Terror is drawn in the panoramic format that made 300 an effective visual showcase. But the sweeping compositions are contrasted with sometimes awkward figures and some of the ugliest caricatures I've ever seen Miller draw. The ugliness affects both good and evil characters alike. And it's something that blunts the black and white morality of much its supposed propaganda. Actually, the curious experiments in color and odd background details more often seem to be virtuoso display for it s own sake. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Miller has often referenced his own works and of his colleagues in the past, but Holy Terror's metatexuality seems designed to avoid constructing a complex narrative. It's kind of a lazy shorthand. The emotional resonance of the main characters comes entirely from readers investment in Miller's interpretations of Batman and Catwoman. These characters grunt unoriginal lines like "my city" or "not in my watch". There's the impact of 9-11 itself, the common stereotypes of Muslims and Arabs. And there's the mute portraits of various public figures being counterposed next to panels depicting miscellaneous acts of violence, as if they were ineffectually reacting to these events. The apparent point of relying on these metatextual devices is to facilitate the revenge fantasy. The reader is exposed to familiar images of terrorists doing bad things, then they see Batman going out and killing them.
And in the end, Holy Terror doesn't necessarily deliver a cogent message. On one hand, there's the grim satisfaction of hurting the bad guys who to tried to hurt us. An eye for an eye and all that. But at the very last page is the portrait of a lone man forever terrified by the prospect of fighting an endless war with an enemy he cannot see and cannot understand. He only knows that they want to annihilate his way of life. There doesn't seem to be much hope in this version of the post 9-11 world with a fantasy that both empowers and tyrannizes.
4/21/2012
4/20/2012
4/19/2012
Habibi
And yet there's something genuinely sweet-natured about Habibi. It certainly doesn't cancel out the worrisome aspects of the book, or the fact that Thompson has knowingly participated in an anachronistic storytelling tradition. But Thompson has suffused the graphic novel with emotion and tenderness. His romanticism is the (admittedly controversial) justification for his use of the Orientalist idiom. At the center of the book is the relationship between by Dodola and Zam. They are separated from each other and endure great misery. But the almost insurmountable obstacles they face serves to get the reader to root for their reunion. And the fantastical setting only intensifies the romanticism. The reader is maneuvered into hoping for a certain emotional payoff, which didn't bother me as much as I would have expected. But your mileage may vary.
Thompson continues to explore the same themes found in the sometimes controversial Blankets, particularly when dealing with religion and faith. Whereas that book's autobiographical approach has been criticized for being self-indulgent, Habibi takes on a more an uncharacteristically formalist approach. Blankets was attacked by some for stereotypically portraying religion as buttressing the ignorance of the citizens of small Midwestern towns. This is an understandable reaction, though I myself am sympathetic to Thompson's rejection of this part of his upbringing. Habibi represents a rapprochement with faith through the lens of Islam. Islamic and Arabic culture inspires the narrative structure. And the book is full of digressions ranging from alchemy, mathematics, numerology, medicine, calligraphy, legends, Hadithic teachings, Quranic tales, comparative religion. There's an element of obsessive fascination combined with virtuosic display, and the end result is a sprawling narrative that often threatens to upend the central story. A lot of this tangential material has to be accepted on its own terms if the book is to be enjoyed. Thompson's own formalism isn't exactly subtle, as he often moves from using metaphors to just straight out telling the reader what to think. But this obsessive pedantry results from time to time in some stunning and gorgeous imagery.
The other overarching theme of Blankets and Habibi is the schism between love and sex. A particularly urgent concern for Thompson is how to reconcile physical longing with a deeper spiritual union. The two works betray a certain kind of Christian-based self-loathing, as sex is crucial to much of the misery the main characters experience, whether it's the lust Dodola inspires in men, or the futile sexual abstinence Zam practices. Habibi pulls the reader two ways by fetishizing the decadent imagery of the harem, and particularly Dodola's often uncovered body, while negatively portraying the many depredations she suffers. It's a duality about the treatment of female characters that seems to crop up often in American comics. But the resolution at the end of the book is the kind of mystical communion that doesn't often present itself in mainstream entertainment.
Despite its ambiguous fairy tale setting, the book often comments on more contemporary issues, such as Islamophobia, ecology, and racism. This attempt at relevance isn't itself problematic, but these sections often reveal Thompson's own limitations as an outsider talking about an alien culture. For all the research he's put into the project, the manner in which the book addresses these issues often feels closer to the generic observations most Westerners make about them. There's an omnipresent pessimism about humanity's future. What's lacking is a certain historical specificity and nationally inspired impulse engendered by the intimate knowledge of a true native. And this limitation is only vitiated further by the Orientalist setting Thompson trades in.
This is the paradoxical and flawed nature of Habibi. Behind it is an earnest desire to bridge cultures and civilizations. To find broad human commonalities. And in some ways, it does succeed in its goal. But the image of the East it ultimately settles on is in many ways more quintessential than real. Many will find Habibi too unwieldy or retrograde. I also find that Thompson has written a beautiful and provocative book that I can't help but admire and continue to wrestle with.
4/11/2012
4/10/2012
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