"Night of the Living Text"

I read this story when the English version was first published, and, well, I liked it. A lot, in fact. I'd go so far as to say that, after "The World to Come" and "Quandomai Island" (those sentimental favorites), it might actually be my favorite Casty story (I also like the much-feted "World of Tudor," but I find it's just a little too hard to fully suspend my disbelief). So there you go, but obviously, I didn't write anything about it. And...I haven't written anything about any Casty story, I see. Well, there's definitely a reason for that.

I remember when I was working on my PhD dissertation, I noticed something. It consisted of four chapters, the first two of which were about modern writers from the early part of the twentieth-century, and the latter two of which were about more contemporary writers, who were and are still alive. And what I noticed was that, for the former two, it was much easier for me to talk about themes or ideas that their books might embody, regardless of their intention. Whereas it was hard for me not to think about the latter two as being more...aware, let's say, of what they were doing, and thus perhaps less fertile ground for analysis. And I think this is really just a matter of them being more recent and therefore more difficult for me to historicize or put in their proper perspective.

And thus it is also for comics. I know I've written about a fair few contemporary stories here, but the balance of my entries is pretty heavily weighted towards classic material, and I think it's exactly for that reason. I just don't find I have as much to say about the average Rosa story, somehow (which in some instances hasn't stopped me, of course).

Anyway. That being my long-winded way of saying that I'm not entirely sure how much of interest I'll find to say about this one. But I shall give it my best!

So the idea is that narration boxes turn evil.

And...I guess that's that! We are done here! See ya next time, folks!

...

Okay, obviously not, but it does point to a problem with writing about a story like this: it very much is a gimmick. That's not a pejorative; it's a great gimmick, but, I mean, what can you say about it once you've pointed it out? This is the question that we must answer.

Really, I can't complain: it's right up my alley; I know I've written before, probably too many times, about postmodernism and metatextuality and stuff in these comics, but this is just begging for it: this whole jumble of comics and tropes and whatnot all coming together in this big ol' jumble.

And, you know, it's true that the gimmick is easily described, but it's certainly executed with panache.

No, really, the way captions go from being expository to diegetic within a few panels is just DARNED. COOL.

I also like her; not that the character is really much of a character, but Casty's art I think especially nails it, and makes her more entertaining to read than you might think.

Also, I like dopey jokes. So there you go. But my question is: what do we do when this text makes us trip?

...that's not my department, says Gerner von Dipp.

Had to get that out. I must admit, I do find the "in the comics, there's always..." stuff a little bit grating. I mean, granted, given the premise, it's thematically appropriate, but STILL. Yeah, yeah...

I'll admit, even, that the boxes can become a little ominous, a bit like a China Mieville sort of thing, though the story doesn't go too far with that. I don't suppose you could in a Disney comic.

But really: the idea of this text, not signifying anything, only existing for effect, constantly calling attention to its textuality: is this a Gilbert Sorrentino novel, or what?

You'd better do what you can with the concept here and now, because unless you come up with a truly substantial, novel idea, you're not going to be able to have a do-over. So this is fun. I want to know what the Italian version had here.

I've made fun of the Italian tendency towards gigantic recap boxes before, so this made me laugh out loud.

And it's visually cool; I just somehow wish there was more to it than just this one visual joke. There it is, that's all. No follow-through. I do feel, somehow, that there are places where more probably could have been done with the concept. But then again...maybe not? Maybe it's inherently pretty limited? Difficult to say.

Yes! I immediately identified that "summertime" box as coming from the beginning of the localization of "The Delta Dimension." I would enjoy more of that kind of thing. I must admit, that "Folkestone Coast" reference (I assume it's a reference) is lost on me, however.

Anyway, we are coming to the denouement, which at least features Pete looking goofy. Or is that Goofy looking...? Oh, forget it.

Although, to tell the truth, even if I like the visuals, I still find this conclusion somewhat lame. Does that make caption boxes go haywire? Does it really? I am not so sure about this. I do not think there is any rule that would make this seem like something that comes from somewhere as opposed to something that Casty whipped out because he needed to end this somehow.

Well all right then. Surely the final "The End" box had to have some role here, so that's all right. And I do like the fact that it isn't quite the end.

Aaaaaall a dream! The most exciting ending! Especially when you pair that with "...or IS it?!?"

Yes. Well. I'm surely being unfair here. It is what it is, and what it is is fine. But the real question remains: you already have ice cream cones. Why do you need to go to the "soda shoppe" as well? Crikey! I feel like people have trouble coming up with fun things for Mickey to do, so they just revert to this archaic nineteen-fifties stuff. Oh well! That's neither here nor there. Really, I feel like I've spent entirely too much time carping about this story, which is really quite good regardless of my ability to pick nits.