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ABSTRACT In a critical analysis of several independantJy produced South African comics of the 1980s and early 1990s, close analysis of the comics leads to an assessment of the artists' intentions and purposes. Discussion of the artists' sources focuses on definitions of different types of comics. What is defined as a comic is usually what has been produced under that definition, and these comics are positioned somewhere between the popular and fine art contexts. As the artists are amateurs, the mechanical structure of comics is exposed through their skill in manipulating, and their initial ignorance of, many comic conventions. By comparison to one another, and to the standard format of commercial comics, some explanation of how a comic works can be reached. The element of closure, bridging the gaps between frames, is unique to comics, and is the most important consideration. Comic artists work with the intangible, creating from static elements an illusion of motion. If the artist deals primarily with what is on the page rather than what is not, the comic remains static. Questions of quality are reliant on the skill with which closure is implemented. The art students who produced these comics are of a generation for whom popular culture is the dominant culture, and they create for an audience of peers. Their cultural milieu is more visual than verbal, and often more media oriented than that of their teachers. They must integrate a fine art training and understanding into the preset rules of a commercial medium. Confronted with the problem of a separation of languages, they evolve a new dialect. Through comparative and critical analyses I will show how this
dialect differs from the language of conventional comics, attempting in particular to explain how the mechanics of the cornie medium can limit or expand its communicative potential.
Page 1: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SOUTH AFRICA
Page 5 and 6: "Does he paint? He fain would write
Page 7 and 8: 1. INTRODUCTION What I am attemptin
Page 9 and 10: existence ... until food gets short
Page 11 and 12: is making comics respectable in the
Page 13 and 14: Most of these comics are produced a
Page 15 and 16: 2. DEFINITIONS AND TERMINOLOGY The
Page 17 and 18: In addition, extraverbal sounds, or
Page 19 and 20: The decision as to whether visual l
Page 21 and 22: For the first two decades of the tw
Page 23 and 24: Wertham's book The Seduction of the
Page 25 and 26: Undergrounds were amoral, sexual, s
Page 27 and 28: coalesced into comics intended for
Page 29 and 30: 3. ANALYSIS Four different groups o
Page 31 and 32: incomprehensible passages are incom
Page 33 and 34: positive shapes, even or especially
Page 35 and 36: 3.2. KOMIKSOC The confessional aspe
Page 37 and 38: ,0 ::l£~) \e B . f"'CM P'!~t .....
Page 39: Figure 2 Franklin After the Plagues
Page 42 and 43: Sididis's Tripping uses comic conve
Page 44 and 45: example of how the appearance of a
Page 46 and 47: M\..I.A i H !lVIE ou~ rut", """" ""
Page 48 and 49: The artist only solves this problem
Page 50 and 51: text. Yet the frames function in su
Page 52 and 53:
of the text, which is the reason fo
Page 54 and 55:
omb) are lost in an attempt at pers
Page 56 and 57:
a single emotion, depicting various
Page 58 and 59:
Figure 19 Breytenbach Eddie Jumped
Page 60 and 61:
Content is sometimes allowed to esc
Page 62 and 63:
Sorfa's technique saves, lives up t
Page 64 and 65:
Figure 23 Casey Showcase: Item 1 pI
Page 66 and 67:
Two people, a scriptwriter and an a
Page 68 and 69:
Sorfa's collaboration with scriptwr
Page 70 and 71:
Casey's understanding of blacks and
Page 72 and 73:
From the whimsical, poetic scripts
Page 74 and 75:
This same regularity forces pace to
Page 76 and 77:
In previous comics, my 'visual writ
Page 78 and 79:
The comic was drawn full-size on A4
Page 80 and 81:
Text shifts between narrative, spee
Page 82 and 83:
Teo iNTE.N5E · Figure 38 Sorfa Spi
Page 84 and 85:
' .. Figure 1 T. Begg The Battle of
Page 86 and 87:
The text of Bone Staircase, by Freu
Page 88 and 89:
of solid blacks and a subjective vi
Page 90 and 91:
Rue, by Sididis, begins well. The f
Page 92 and 93:
completely resolved. Possibly his p
Page 94 and 95:
seems to pick out elements, without
Page 96 and 97:
The awkwardness of this comic is a
Page 98 and 99:
3.4. BI'ITERKOMIX Bitterkomix start
Page 100 and 101:
From Case No. 308, the story of Tom
Page 102 and 103:
Figure 3 Botes, Dog The Tommy Saga:
Page 104 and 105:
'Tj ~. (1) ..,. tj o OQ ;l ,(1) VEI
Page 106 and 107:
etween form and content, but also p
Page 108 and 109:
Another example is figure 8, from A
Page 110 and 111:
structured. Familiar sources, conte
Page 112 and 113:
Some verbal comic conventions are m
Page 114 and 115:
Both artists make use of a great va
Page 116 and 117:
character, Chico D, into a martyr a
Page 118 and 119:
Figure 17 Van Zyl Die Besoek p5 112
Page 120 and 121:
The transitions between panels are
Page 122 and 123:
simply by its silence and inexplica
Page 124 and 125:
Figure 22 Botes Die Mens 118
Page 126 and 127:
Verdwaalde Harte [fig 23J, also by
Page 128 and 129:
Figure 27 Dog, Winterbach Rewerie p
Page 130 and 131:
In Die Hero van die Bitch [fig 29],
Page 132 and 133:
draws the reader's attention to the
Page 134 and 135:
Figure 32 Bates Siembamba 128
Page 136 and 137:
The Proverbs are selected and reint
Page 138 and 139:
In Klapmuts Polisie Slaan Toe, Bote
Page 140 and 141:
Ina van Zyl is more concerned with
Page 142 and 143:
I ROSIE is NUUT deur Ina van ;Zyl I
Page 144 and 145:
M y DEliO !r1OTHER H I..4NG UP I LE
Page 146 and 147:
Botes is very good at acidic social
Page 148 and 149:
The second episode of Missileman, b
Page 150 and 151:
In Kanker Botes' subject is again t
Page 152 and 153:
coincides with the appearance of th
Page 154 and 155:
closeup, then pulls away to explain
Page 156 and 157:
stories in issue 1 are in English,
Page 158 and 159:
4. CONCLUSION The comics are all pr
Page 160 and 161:
The most common genres (my definiti
Page 162 and 163:
the first generation whose world is
Page 164 and 165:
ways of creating this entrance poin
Page 166 and 167:
S. BIBLIOGRAPHY BARKER, M. 1989. Co
Page 168:
Thames and Hudson. NEAL, C. 1987. T
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