8 Underwater Landscapes in Comic Books
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The pastoral model of countryside landscapes has been deployed through landscape paintings since the 16th century and is still associated with the brilliance of
Impressionist painting; after that, the models of mountain and coastline landscapes
were to be popularised at the same time as photography; but it was only in the second
half of the twentieth century that the model of the wilderness was to explode with
aerial photography (see Yann Arthus Bertrand) and in the cinema (Schama 1995;
Baetens 2012).
Underwater landscapes come completely within this dynamic which associates
new media and new landscapes: “Not forgetting, of course, all the landscapes that
microphysics and space exploration reveal to us, or rather invent for us, and which,
undoubtedly reveal, essentially, technical progress. But none of this would ever
come within the collective orbit if they were not popularized through the media, and
artialised, as clearly shown, for underwater landscapes, by the films of Cousteau
and the Grand Bleu of Luc Besson, or, for planetary landscapes, the productions of
American space art and the work of science fiction” (Roger 1997).
Admittedly, the comic book, which starts to become accepted as the “ninth art”,
is not such an influential medium as the cinema, and its diffusion via magazines does
not have the same impact in the construction and sharing of a common corpus of
images as films seen throughout world. But, like the cinema, it has adopted the field
of the underwater world and contributes to the popularization of its landscapes.
The inventor of the comic book is often considered to be the Swiss writer Rodolphe
Töpffer, famous for the publication in 1944 of the Voyages in Zig and Zag which for
decades was read by French schoolchildren as an introduction to the landscapes of
their country. Töpffer broke new ground in 1933 with the first history album in prints:
The story of Mr. Jabot, circulated in 1935 (Groensteen 2009; Moliterni 1980). The
comic book spread in the 19th century to the United States then in the 1930s it had
a great success in Europe in periodicals for children and teenagers, some of which
still exist today (The Mickey magazine, Spirou). In the 1970s, there was a revival in
Europe with comic books for adults, exploring all the narrative genres and all styles
of comics (Baetens 2008b). A few great authors then emerged, who were to become
benchmark classics, such as Moebius, Hugo Pratt and Enki Bilal. So the history of
the comic book, like the cinema, is contemporaneous with the history of underwater
discovery and scuba diving.
The comic book has much in common with the cinema in the construction of a
scenario and the succession of settings, as well as great flexibility in the succession
of visual angles (low-angle shot, high-angle shot, close-up). As for the more specific
aspects of the underwater environment, for a long time the comic has had the immense
advantage of not having to go underwater to create its images. It is free from all the
technical and economic constraints to which the cinema is subjected, including studio
reconstructions or synthetic images (for example STARWARS episode I). With the
stroke of a pen, the comic can confront the deepest abysses such as the sea beds of
the antipodes, and the authors have made the most of this advantage (Fig. 8.1).
Vocabulary inside air bubbles in the water often converges with the text bubbles
in the drawings, and it is interesting to note the significant number of comic book
festivals whose posters refer to underwater landscapes. Here are a few examples:
123
The pastoral model of countryside landscapes has been deployed through landscape paintings since the 16th century and is still associated with the brilliance of
Impressionist painting; after that, the models of mountain and coastline landscapes
were to be popularised at the same time as photography; but it was only in the second
half of the twentieth century that the model of the wilderness was to explode with
aerial photography (see Yann Arthus Bertrand) and in the cinema (Schama 1995;
Baetens 2012).
Underwater landscapes come completely within this dynamic which associates
new media and new landscapes: “Not forgetting, of course, all the landscapes that
microphysics and space exploration reveal to us, or rather invent for us, and which,
undoubtedly reveal, essentially, technical progress. But none of this would ever
come within the collective orbit if they were not popularized through the media, and
artialised, as clearly shown, for underwater landscapes, by the films of Cousteau
and the Grand Bleu of Luc Besson, or, for planetary landscapes, the productions of
American space art and the work of science fiction” (Roger 1997).
Admittedly, the comic book, which starts to become accepted as the “ninth art”,
is not such an influential medium as the cinema, and its diffusion via magazines does
not have the same impact in the construction and sharing of a common corpus of
images as films seen throughout world. But, like the cinema, it has adopted the field
of the underwater world and contributes to the popularization of its landscapes.
The inventor of the comic book is often considered to be the Swiss writer Rodolphe
Töpffer, famous for the publication in 1944 of the Voyages in Zig and Zag which for
decades was read by French schoolchildren as an introduction to the landscapes of
their country. Töpffer broke new ground in 1933 with the first history album in prints:
The story of Mr. Jabot, circulated in 1935 (Groensteen 2009; Moliterni 1980). The
comic book spread in the 19th century to the United States then in the 1930s it had
a great success in Europe in periodicals for children and teenagers, some of which
still exist today (The Mickey magazine, Spirou). In the 1970s, there was a revival in
Europe with comic books for adults, exploring all the narrative genres and all styles
of comics (Baetens 2008b). A few great authors then emerged, who were to become
benchmark classics, such as Moebius, Hugo Pratt and Enki Bilal. So the history of
the comic book, like the cinema, is contemporaneous with the history of underwater
discovery and scuba diving.
The comic book has much in common with the cinema in the construction of a
scenario and the succession of settings, as well as great flexibility in the succession
of visual angles (low-angle shot, high-angle shot, close-up). As for the more specific
aspects of the underwater environment, for a long time the comic has had the immense
advantage of not having to go underwater to create its images. It is free from all the
technical and economic constraints to which the cinema is subjected, including studio
reconstructions or synthetic images (for example STARWARS episode I). With the
stroke of a pen, the comic can confront the deepest abysses such as the sea beds of
the antipodes, and the authors have made the most of this advantage (Fig. 8.1).
Vocabulary inside air bubbles in the water often converges with the text bubbles
in the drawings, and it is interesting to note the significant number of comic book
festivals whose posters refer to underwater landscapes. Here are a few examples: