Comic comes from the dictionary. In Greek it means “pertaining to comedy”, to “revel”. In English it means “funny”, “amusing”, “you read them? aren’t they for kids?”, “spandex superheroes”, “juvenile”, “self-indulgent autobiography”, “artistically bankrupt” and “the lowest artform next to mime”.
We believe different. Except when we don’t.
It is time for a new paradigm. A new wave of Comics. A new, vague blueprint for Comics to take up. This is a map that lets you fill in the locations and plot your own course. Away from something definitely, without knowing for sure what we’re moving towards.
We do not create Graphic Novels, Sequential Art, Pictorial Narratives or whichever self-hating label is in vogue
We create Comics. We acknowledge such distinctions were once necessary but reject the notion that they still are. As with novels, films, and video-games, Comics shall remain a clumsy description of the medium but one that we embrace.
Comics is Comics
We will not create Comics as pitches for tv shows, movies or other media. We create Comics because the content demands to be expressed in this medium. Comics are not storyboards. Comics are not stepping stones to other media. Comics is Comics is Comics.
We reject the straight-jacket of live art space, bleed margins, script formatting, bristol board and other rules of Comic creation
The Comic chooses the format. Not the other way around. It is understood that rules must be mastered before breaking them but we counter that rules must be broken to be mastered.
We reject the notion that print is dead
True, the screen promises endless possibilities but we vow to create beautiful work you can hold and beautiful work you cannot. We are committed to producing gorgeous, tactile Comics that readers will cherish.
We don’t like superheroes, auto-biography, crime, war, horror, science fiction, comedy, confessionals, fantasy, romance, vitriolic polemic, meta, politics, manga, westerns, or zines
We like Comics, and that’s all that should matter.
We trust the Comic to speak for itself
We do not care what brush you use or what nib size you choose. We do not need to know your brand of notebook or your favourite drink. We just ask that you show us what you make and let it live or die on its own strengths and weaknesses.
We will not settle for specialist shelves and longbox storage
We want Comics to fight for space with design bibles, coffee table dead-weights, podcasts and posters. We want comics to be handed to you on your journey home from work and we want them framed in well-lit store-fronts. We want your children to learn how to read with them, and we want you to unlearn how to read with them.
We will create
We will write. We will draw. We will paint. We will print. We will sew. We will publish. We will bind. You will know us by the trail of Comics.
8 Comments
September 4, 2009 at 11:02 pm
[...] a flavour of what to expect from an impressive contributor list and a manifesto post entiled “Declaration Of The New Vague“. It’s definitely been written to act as both a call to arms, an inflammatory first [...]
September 5, 2009 at 8:16 am
This sounds incredible. Best of luck with this, I’d love to be involved if I can at some point.
(Is everyone here a solipsist or is it just me?)
September 6, 2009 at 11:57 am
Sequential Art is a meaningless term. good call.
September 6, 2009 at 12:02 pm
[...] that features the very best in alternative UK comics — has launched its website with a manifesto that states the intentions of a new wave of comic artists taking over the UK alternative [...]
September 6, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Consequential art’s quite meaningless, too…
September 6, 2009 at 1:44 pm
[...] website went live last week with a manifesto that I wrote with Matthew Sheret which was written as a brief statement of intent for the anthology [...]
September 8, 2009 at 12:24 pm
[...] ‘hard to get at’ attitude is essentially the target of the manifesto that Tom and I wrote. The declarations are, for the most part, some reasonably self-evident statements that an awful lot [...]
September 8, 2009 at 11:03 pm
[...] Declaration of The New Vague « Solipsistic Pop It is understood that rules must be mastered before breaking them but we counter that rules must be broken to be mastered. / We reject the notion that print is dead [...]