Comics as the Language of Post-Digital: Deskilled Comics and Meme as Vernacular Comics
Karissa Sakumoto, Endman (2019)
Mushbuh, 310,310 (2017)
I have a new essay for LAAB Magazine #4: This Was Your Life!, titled Comics as the Language of Post-Digital: Deskilled Comics and Meme as Vernacular Comics. LAAB Magazine is one of my favourite space for comics discourse and it was an honour to be asked to participate in.
This is one of my favourite essays I have written. It is about Deskilled Comics, intentionally poorly drawn comics, and:
Deskilled Comics and their characteristics in both art comics world and broader general post-digital visual culture
Why Deskilled Comics are preeminent forms of post-digital visual culture
Paper Rad as the precedent of everything post-digital
Meme as Vernacular Comics of post-digital
Comics as the language of post-digital: memes, emojis, Instagram, etc.
Now comics are much bigger than anyone has ever imagined and we need to ask different questions. For example:
Meme makes “The Death of the Author” a reality and eliminates the distinction between original and reproduction. What does it mean to make art when being original and/or an artist means nothing?
Meme and Deskilled Comics are a kind of camp for post-digital age. Their mechanism of humour of distancing makes them easy tools for radicalization. What does it imply for comics and comics community that comics are used to kill people?
and more. Get LAAB Magazine #4: This Was Your Life! to read the essay.