Friday, February 27, 2009

The Line

I found this comic at Virus Comix while stumbling this morning. A lot of text initially, so much I stumbled again before my curiosity got the better of me and I had to go back.

I am not sure of the author's real name because he doesn't give it.

"WINSTON ROWNTREE (not his real name) likes to make comics for some reason. Virus Comix is the pretend company under which he makes his work known, and Subnormality is his weekly comic in which he inflicts upon the world a variety of thinly-veiled misanthropic tirades (well, maybe). "

The story is pretty touching. It involves two young girls who both joined the BDM (League of German Girls, the female branch of the Hitler Youth) in their late teens. They choose opposite paths and, consequently, opposite fates.

I wanted to post it because there are some design elements involved that I don't generally associate with comics (the line and its separation of text, the overall composition) and I found it incredibly intriguing.

But, I also wanted to post it because it deals mainly with injustice and gives us an idea of what it really takes to stand up against it. It is easy for us to believe that the world is better now than it was then. It is easy for us to dismiss or ignore injustice when we are separate from it, when it doesn't immediately effect our own lives.

Sometimes I think narratives like this, though a little upsetting, are good for me. They remind me that there is always something more that I could be doing for the world, for my fellow humans. As I enter the professional design world, I am constantly reminding myself of the responsibility I have, as a visual communicator, to humanity. I hope that I am able to maintain my values, as one of these girls did, through even the darkest times.

^D
sarah

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