Monday, April 29, 2019

Megg and Mogg and the Comics of the Modern era

For the final reading of the semester, I've read some comic issues of Megg and Mogg. A hand drawn comic strip by Simon Hanselmann, which tells the stories of a witch, her cat, an owl, and other nefarious animal characters living life as stoners, and going against tropes set up from stories they were made up in. The entire comic strip is about fictional characters living like drug dosed parodies of their fictional selves, with only the Owl acting as the one who has any sense of intelligence with the group.
The comic may appear crudely drawn out but it still has enough adult language, and mature content that could make any comics artist smirk. Each story follows a different variation, but they all still feel like they end in ways you wouldn't expect. From drug abuse, to full mental health issues, Megg and Mogg may appear childish and low quality, but they still entertain from a narrative standpoint.
In many ways, this comic strip represents the level of quality comics, have gotten to in the modern era. Not so much graphic novels, as they still can tell about mature themes with amazing artwork, but comics not as much anymore. One reason could be drawing characters for multiple storyboards can be draining, and time consuming. However so is writing a story, and yet Hanselmann has well written stories with crudely drawn artwork. Wether or not the art was done by him is another story, but it still feels like while comics have grown more mature with their writing, they've also changed with their art.
Megg and Mogg is not a bad comic, it's just one that feels like it could be made by anyone, and in that sense that's ultimately what comics are. Something to be made and read by everyone. And while it's humorous, and well written in ways that make me keep on reading, it still could be so much more.

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