Garbowska ‘Toons up Memories, Precious Moments and Black Spider-Man

People that know me or reside in online locales with me (I like to think something like Ballardian Vermilion Sands) wouldn’t at all be surprised that what ended up being the subjects of my first two commissions from the great Agnes Garbowska were related to VALIANT Comics and a cosmic MARVEL character, specifically Adam Warlock — two long time personal favorites of mine from the medium. How I found Garbowska, and the immediate connection that I had with her work are significantly much more out of character for me.

I’ll tell you what I’m not.  I’m not one of these people that use the word ‘cartoony’, demand realism, and in the very next breath flag wave something that completely contradicts my own branding. However, nor am I one that finds myself often drawn to caricature or extreme change without reason. While I think there is a potential for numerous top shelf stories for and within  every style, I do not necessarily think every and any style are equals on shared canvases. I know this smacks of  self-made limitations due to  fictional, rigid ideas of comfort, and  worse, categorizing and compartmentalizing art,  but  it does, however, remain very true. The relatively unchanged medium at the top reveals this to us every week at the stands. More direct and ugly examples can be seen in some of the reaction we’ve seen due to the mere  utterance of the possibility interest of an African American actor  assuming the role of Spider-Man in film (there were tons of write-ups on the subject, but let’s point  to  the eternally meritorious Elizabeth Rappe over at Cinematical who cited another piece at  io9, and another by Devin Feraci at Chud). After reading it, my first reaction on twitter was that we’ve had different Spider-Men before, specifically Miguel O’Hara, from the Spider-man 2099 series.  I have to admit that I enjoyed the series (as well as Doom 2099) and in moments that I think I’m alone, you may witness me claim it as my favorite Spidey costume design. I don’t think the “issue” was ever about Spider-Man, but more about Peter Parker. Hell, you couldn’t replace Bruce Wayne with Jean-Paul Valley (which is about as cracker as you can get), and DC couldn’t replace Superman with a cyborg, a white pre-emo clone, a brotha, or a sentient alien artifact (it’s arguable that some of the best Batman stories in recent memory was with a black man under the cowl in Batman Beyond.) It’s really Peter Parker that people are protective defensive offensive about, because that’s when you go beyond intruding in on their world, and go straight to possessing their avatar.  You know…the kid who collects Spider-Man the geek  fucking Mary Jane.  It’s true that comic book fans are perhaps among the the most possessive of their favorites and ideals, and  it sometimes  morphs into this (over) privileged idea  that the work was personalized  to them to begin with. In their defense, we are the first generation of comic fans who lacked another to pass on the torch to, and it is ours, and ours only as if we fished it out of the Gladden River ourselves (or more aptly, killed whoever else wanted a piece). These fantasy worlds, much like our own, are always better when shared.

I hate Precious Moments…

Perhaps most profound (beyond even me being back on subject) is  when I was first exposed to Garbowska’s comic work — through  charity auctions for the Hero Initiative –  my first reaction was, “look, precious moments Logan”. For personal reasons, I rather hate those damn figurines, and for my second reaction to be something that amounted to “that was as awesome as Wolverine has been since Fatal Attractions (haven’t read Old Man Logan yet, but I do want to note that one more recent exception was an appearance in back-up story in Agents of Atlas#1 illustrated by Benton Jew) is a breakthrough on levels beyond funny books. I’ve never been a fan of commissions, instead always opting to buy published pages.  The reason for this is also why I never bought even published pin-ups. Several artists are able to originally render or duplicate  great shots  and capture a moment to perfection, but  even in the presence of such precision, I suffered disinterest. Sure, they could be either serene, explosive or anything in between, but it was always still; a snapshot of that present that had neither an immediate past or future.  In Garbowska I found works of precious moments alive with a precocious quality that gave the subject(s) of her work a tangible awareness of their own. I felt what I was looking at had been somewhere and places yet to go, and on some level, my love for comic storytelling  may be defined by that very quality. Until very recently, I had never read an actual piece of sequential work by her, but I still felt like I had experienced pages chapters by her hand.  Garbowska is a storyteller. I guess it’s plain on the surface that her work hits on an element of  innocence, but what I find unique is that if you look at the cover reproduction of Harbinger#1 above, it’s not a singular piece. Each character’s face tells a story, and though this existed in the original, it makes me want to see her eggbreakers and Harada–characters I’m not even sure she knows even exist. Now, look below at Adam Warlock and the face of a man who just won and literally wears the mantle of omnipotence. Whether kids looking to find their destiny (via a flying car) or HIM who has achieved absolute dominion of  Time, Space, Power, Reality, Mind, and Soul; the beauty of Garbowska is channeling the  preexisting charm — a natural state –  into characters moments that have since aged and been reinterpreted into more austere posturing timelines. As a reader it is not in my best interest to dislike the fanboy target morphing into a fanmen market, but I do cherish these reminders that reflect back at us — big headed and all — and still reveals the cat who loves comics, not just the idea of that he once did.

I’ve currently got another commission in the works from Agnes, this one dealing with another passion of mine. I suggest others do the same and take a look at her site, which looks like it was recently redone. All homes need portals into the world of Garbowska. It’s a shared world.