You say Hello, I say Goodbai
Time flies and soon so do I. Although I’ve been quite on the blog front, I’ve been busy in the United Arab Emirates over the last three weeks surveying the contemporary business end of Arab Comics. Much like the rest of the money making sector of Dubai, the blossoming comics’ industry bares a striking resemblance to its established Western counterpart. Comics are sold in chain bookstores like Borders, you can purchase an oversized poster of a comic book character along with the comic itself, and the focus of said comics are generally more geared towards the Marvel/DC Superhero template rather than the longer graphic novel memoirish template. Another surprise to me that I hope to explore in a future post is the surprising popularity and influence of Manga in the UAE (which frankly makes sense considering how truly international the city itself is). My experience here has served as a fascinating contrast to Egypt, where “comics” are more frequently associated with a richly steeped history rather than a growing commercial market (although, this too is changing). As for my personal take on the Emirates I’ll just say that in recent e-mails to friends and family I’ve described the country as “a playground of human ingenuity,” “a place where everyone is nice and everything is shiny,” “a city that makes you feel so tiny as a human being,” “filled with the world’s largest this and the world’s first that,” and “a giggle-factory.” Dubai Tourism Board, please find my contact information at the top of the page if you want to get in touch.
On a programming note, I have to confess that my unusual amount of jet-setting over the last month has put me really behind on the blog entries I have been intending to write. I am going to do my best to consolidate a lot of these posts when possible so I can get them out without my post subject and current location falling even further out of sync. This brings me to the fact later tonight I will be traveling to Taiwan, which has been recently added to my Fellowship itinerary. In Taiwan, I will continue to explore how local politics and culture have been reflected through the panels of comics. Much like other former colonies I have been to thus far, Taiwan faces the struggle of how to craft a unique national identity in spite of a long history occupation. There is over 60 years of independently created comics documented in Taiwan, a period which reflects Taiwanese going through 50 years the Japanese colonial rule only to enter another 40 year period of martial law under the KMT Government. What I will explore is how Taiwan has managed to develop its own unique voice in the sphere of comics despite the regional hegemons of Japan and China presenting their own specific templates of what comics should be.
So to recap: I’m leaving for Taiwan today, but I will publishing a lot of posts in the near future ranging from the history of Tintin’s bootleg Arabic translations, racism in Arab comics, a profile of an Egyptian comic book publisher-activist, interviews galore with contemporary artists in the Arab scene, a look inside the first Middle Eastern Comic Con, and a chat about The 99 with its creator Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa. In addition the coming weeks will have me exploring Taiwanese artists like Niu Gur, Chen Uen (Abi Jian), Jin Yong, and whoever else I’m sure to stumble upon during my time in Tapei. Basically, if you bare with me through the jumble of posts that is soon to occur I think it will be worth your while! In the meanwhile, I’ll post some stray Tintinography from my time in the UAE which will hopefully tide you over until I can deliver some critical essays about Tintin and the larger global cultural comics’ history of which he played an influential part.