Me on Alex Toth on the Loss of Innocence in Comics
June 5th, 2006 | Published in Writing
Aside form the occasional political forward my Brother and I don’t communicate much via email. When I got this terse note this morning–sent to me at 3AM his time–I was taken a back. It’s not the sort of thing he and I talk about normally. But we certainly could…
>Dustin wrote:
> Subject: what do you think?
> Content: http://www.oklahoma.net/~silvrdal/tothop.html
Douglas replied:
Alex Toth died the other day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Toth
Or maybe you knew that.
At this time, I don’t find anything personally compelling about stories of innocent-minded wonder that would pull me away from a more gritty storyline. I was a fan of Super Friends, Johnny Quest, and even Space Ghost for a time–I was much younger (heart, mind, and body) then than I am today.
I think a person’s tastes and sensibilities evolve and/or cycle with their own lives. It’s not fair to suggest that just because I have developed preferences for a bit of grim prose and dramatic black-inked artwork that I am a bad person or encouraging others to be bad people. I was full of wonder when I needed to be–now I am not.
My guess is that with my children getting interested in books and movies that I will return to a renaissance of wonderment and be able to enjoy it through their eyes in a fresh new way.
What do I think?
Not worried.
Is that what you mean?