Among History and Comics.

I was 12 when the Spider-Man movie directed by Sam Raimi hit the theathers. As I usually do, I went to watch it with my father. I loved the movie, though I never really liked Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man but that is another story. The next week my dad gave me a Spider-Man toy that came with a comic book. The pages of the comic book were filled with the first appearence of the arachnid hero (of course, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko, one of my favorite artists) and other horror-science fiction stories. I felt in love with comics that day. Since then Ive been buying and reading comics like they are paying me to do it. Some years later in 2009, I graduated from the equivalent to High School in my hometown, Bucaramanga, Colombia. I had no idea what to study, 6 months after I graduated I decided that I was going to move to Bogot and that I was going to become a historian. This decision was made in no more than 15 minutes, after I read the program and the courses of the Pontificia Universdiad Javeriana, I said to myself What the hell, it would be really cool to know all this stuff about this territories and ages. That was it, that was how I made one of the most important choices in my life, one that I would never regret.

I felt in love again, this time with History. I had an incredible surprise when I started to discover that History is something beautifil that goes way much farder than just knowing some names and dates. History is about questioning, analyzing, searching and building. History requires passion, patience, creativity and curiosity. My instinct told me that my love for comics could cross paths with my cherish for History. I was completly positive about that, but obviously the matter didnt solved itself. I had to read, to make questions and well, esentialy think about this topic a lot. My first step was to approach super hero comics from a basic history point of view. That was because the development of my interest in comics started with concern for super heroes and later I proceeded to get involved with comics from the underground movement and in general, not super human/super powers business. I discovered Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Black Hole by Charles Burns, Palestine by Joe Sacco, Chris Wares Jimmy Corrigan, Robert Crumbs work, the Heavy Metal Magazine, Moebius drawings, etc. But the first comic of this kind that I read and changed my perspective of many things, was Maus by Art Spiegelman. One of my friends recommended it to me and persistently encourage me to read it (thanks Salva!), I attented to my friends call and I started my relationship with Maus. The first time I read it I didnt payed much attention to some major details that years later were going to be crucial for my undergraduate thesis. I made some essays about the history context behind super heroes and the jewish influence of the writers and artists on their work in the comic book industry. I even did some public presentations about this first writings in both academic and comic specialized events. This is one of the best feelings I ever had, sharing with other people my passion for comics and finding in the audience interest and questions about what I am working.

For some reason I read again Maus, this time I was more careful and thanks to that my historian sense tingled and indicated me that this was the object that I should approach for my thesis. My undergraduate emphasis was in Art History, this allowed me to start not only a student-teacher relationship but also a friendship with whom later became my thesis director, Carlos Rojas. Carlos, a Historian, Film maker, Master in History and recently a Doctor in History, was in charge of the Art History emphasis, and thanks to the universe in his classes he always insisited us to look beyond the concept of context. He urged us to analyze art and images beyond this idea, to rethink them in their paths and possibilities condensed through the ages. Is relevant to mention that this proposition is fueled among other authors, by Walter Benjamins and Aby Warburgs theorys and concepts.

One of the things that surprised me when I was working in my thesis, was that I didnt get a single weird look from my teachers when I mentioned what I was working with for my thesis. One of the biggest of the insecurities that used to crawl every now an then in my mind, was that my idea didnt have a place in a country that doesnt consume or produce comics in a significant amount. But then I understood that this doubt was precisely one of the reasons why I should keep going with my project. I am not saying that I am a genius pioneer in my country, there are other people currently studyng comics in Colombia from different fields: literature, philosohy, design, etc. What I am saying is that if you get the chance to contribute to something that you love you should do it. That is one of the main reasons to do anything, because you like it, it might sound simple or dumb to many, but I feel that like this is esential. Before thinking in academic and revolutionary objetives, we shouldnt forget that passion is what will keep us going ,even when things get difficult and you get tired and frustated, and that is something that happens to every one of us when we set a target.

The internet, JStore, my privilege to regulary travel to the USA to buy comics, journals and books that doesnt exist in my country, were my allies. Locating the work of Marianne Hirsch and her concept of postmemory was esential to my investigation about Maus. It enlightened my road not only because it gave me irreplaceble tools to approach the comic in question, but it also clarified me that entire academic concepts and investigations can be born from the interest in a comic book. I discovered in Maus a past that denied to remain static, stored and sterile. Everytime I read it, I was witness of the past and present constantly talking to each other. In Maus the different times invade each other regularly.

I just started a Master degree in Aesthetic and Art History and I am working as hard as I can to improve my work as a historian and especially as a historian that love and study comics. I am hoping to use the tools that the degree offers me to keep my investigation going and also to build new ideas that I can share with the public to create a critic view and specially passion for comic books. I feel that the key to succeed in what I want to do (and maybe anything one wants to archive), is to stay humble and open to multiple perspectives , opinions and posibilities. In other news, my history sense is tingling again, telling me to turn my view to the work of Joe Sacco Ill let you know how that endend.

Mara Camila Nez B.

Editado:

Between History and Comics, Or, On Liking What You Do

Iwas 12 when theSpider-Manmovie directed by Sam Raimi (2002) hit the cinema theathers. As I usually do, I went to watch it with my father. I loved the movie, though I never really liked Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but that is another story. The following week my dad gave me aSpider-Mantoy that came with a comic book. The pages of the comic book were filled with the first appearence of the arachnid hero (of course, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko, one of my favorite artists) and other horror-science fiction stories. I fell in love with comics that day.Since then Ive been buying and reading comics as if they paid me to do it. Some years later, in 2009, I graduated from the equivalent to High School in my home town,Bucaramanga, Colombia. I had no idea what I wanted to study. Six months after I graduated I decided that I was going to move to Bogot and that I was going to become a historian. This decision was made in no more than 15 minutes, after I read the programme and the courses of thePontificia Universidad Javeriana, I said to myself , what the hell; it would be really cool to know all this stuff about territories and ages. That was it, that was how I made one of the most important choices in my life, one that I would never regret.I fell in love again, this time with History. I had an incredible surprise when I started to discover that History is something beautiful that goes way beyond just knowing some names and dates. History is about questioning, analyzing, searching and building. History requires passion, patience, creativity and curiosity.My instinct told me that my love for comics could cross paths with my cherish for History. I was completely positive about that, but obviously the matter didnt solve itself. I had to read, to make questions and well, esentialy think about this topic a lot. My first step was to approach superhero comics from a basic historical point of view, because the development of my interest in comics started with a concern for superheroes. Later I got involved with comics from theundergroundmovement and in general, not super human/super powers business. I discoveredPersepolisby Marjane Satrapi,Black Holeby Charles Burns,Palestineby Joe Sacco,Jimmy Corriganby Chris Ware, Robert Crumbs work,Heavy Metal Magazine, Moebius drawings, etc.The first comic of this kind that I read and changed my perspective of many things, wasMausby Art Spiegelman. One of my friends recommended it to me and persistently encouraged me to read it (thanks Salva!). I attented to my friends call and I started my relationship withMaus. The first time I read it I didnt pay much attention to some major details that years later were going to be crucial for my undergraduate dissertation.I wrote some essays about the historical context behind superheroes and the Jewish influence of the writers and artists on their work in the comic book industry. I even did some public presentations talking about these early writings in both academic and events specialized in comics. This is one of the best feelings I have ever had: sharing with other people my passion for comics and finding in the audience interest and questions about what I am working on.For some reason I readMausagain. This time I was more careful and thanks to that my history-sense tingled and indicated me that this was the object of study that I should approach for my dissertation. My undergraduate emphasis was in History of Art, which allowed me to start not only a student-teacher relationship but also a friendship with whom later became my dissertation supervisor,Carlos Rojas. Carlos, a historian, film-maker, holder of a Masters and a PhD in History, was in charge of the History of Art emphasis, and I am very grateful that in his lectures he always asked us to look beyond the concept ofcontext. He urged us to analyze art and images beyond this idea, to rethink them in their paths and possibilities as condensed through the ages. It is important for me to mention that this proposition is inspired by, amongst other authors,Walter Benjamins andAby Warburgs theories and concepts.One of the things that surprised me when I was working on my dissertation was that I didnt get a single weird look from my tutors when I mentioned what I was working on. One of the biggest insecurities that used to crawl every now and then up my mind, was that my idea didnt have a place in a country that doesnt consume or produce comics in a significant amount. Then I understood that this doubt was precisely one of the reasons why I had to keep going with my project.It goes without saying that I am not a genius or pioneer in my country. There are other people currently studyng comics in Colombia from different fields and approaches: literature, philosohy, design, etc. What I am saying is that if you get the chance to contribute to something that you love you should do it. That is one of the main reasons to do anything: because you like it. It might sound simple or dumb to many, but I feel that liking what you do is esential. Before thinking in academic and revolutionary objectives, we shouldnt forget that passion is what will keep us going on, even when things get difficult and you get tired and frustated, and that is something that is very likely to happen to every one of us when we set ourselves a target.The Internet,JStoreand my privilege to travel regularly to the USA to buy comics, journals and books that are not available in my country were my allies. Locating the work ofMarianne Hirschand her concept ofpostmemorywas esential to my research onMaus.It enlightened my road not only because it gave me irreplaceble tools to approach this comic, but it also clarified to me that entire academic concepts and investigations can be born from an interest in a comic book. I discovered inMausa past that would not remain static, stored and sterile. Everytime I read it, I bore witness to the past and present constantly talking to each other. InMausthe different times invade each other regularly.I just started a Masters degree in Aesthetics and Art History and I am working as hard as I can to improve my work as a historian and especially as a historian that loves and studies comics. I am hoping to use the tools that the degree offers me to keep my research going. I want to develop new ideas that I can share with the public in order to help create a critical view and specially a passion for comic books.I feel that the key to succeed in what I want to do (and maybe anything one wants to archive), is to stay humble and open to multiple perspectives, opinions and posibilities. By the way, my history-sense is tingling again, telling me to turn my attention to the work of Joe Sacco Ill let you know how that goes.