Review - A Mind of Love by Bruce Mutard

Bruce Mutard's A Mind of Love collects previous published (as 'Love to Know You' in Street Smell) and new material to complete the story of Brian, a social misfit with a penchant for pornography.

After nine years working in his 'dream job' as an adult bookshop attendant, Brian decides to kick his pornography habit. The impetus for this decision is an encounter with Nancy, a waitress who serves him lunch every day, and whom he has a crush on. Too shy to formally ask Nancy out, Brian follows her home after she has an argument with her boyfriend to see if she's okay. His encounter with Nancy outside of the café setting shatters Brian's perception of her and pushes him to question how he sees women and to make drastic changes in his life.

While Mutard professes that the story is about pornography and its effects, we're not particularly privy to Brian's addiction - we come in on the end of it. Nor is there much to suggest that this addiction is destroying his life. Has he pursued pornography to the detriment of other aspects of his life? It hasn't messed up any relationships because he's never had any and he's maintained a job and apartment, for nine years. He mentions he's spent over $2000 on porn. Over nine years that amounts to under five dollars per week. That sounds more like an interest or a hobby than an addiction. I suppose it doesn't matter whether it actually constitutes an addiction, but rather that Brian sees it as one and decides to do something about it.

For an excellent movie about addiction, Permanent Midnight (1998) (based on actual events and starring Ben Stiller in a rare dramatic role) portrays television screenwriter Jerry Stahl's almost life destroying drug addiction. For an even more harrowing look at addiction, try Requiem for a Dream based on Hubert Selby Jnr's book of the same name.

While A Mind of Love doesn't delve deeply into social and personal affectation of pornography it does at least raises questions for discussion. For Brian his pornography addiction has 'taught' him to see women purely as sex objects. Yet there are many forms of media which teach us how to look at women - cartoons, movies, music videos, even magazines for women. Simply, before Brian had seen any pornography he would have already been 'taught' to see women as objects. Pornography, it can be argued, is merely an extreme reflection of the social construction of women in a patriarchal society. So when Brian calls ogling women, 'instinct' and excuses it with 'Ah well... I'm still a bloke', he fails to see that he's embedded in a wider set of constructed social norms and practices regarding women which over time have come to be interpreted as 'natural'. Thus it can't be argued with because 'that's just the way it's always been'.

Brian's consumption of pornography creates a distance between him and women, effectively leaving him disconnected from the possibility of a real relationship. Also, pornographic images, easily accessible and always ready on demand, substitute for real women, so Brian effectively doesn't need a 'real' woman, or a relationship with one, when he has pornography.

For me, the heart of A Mind of Love lies in the simple a story of a boy becoming a man. Much of Brian's inner dialogue, I would argue, is reflective of many young men who are shy, and nervous, and without a natural rapport with women. Brian is less a misfit, and more a confused and unsure young man lacking in self-confidence. Brian's development into adulthood is retarded, culminating in his twenties, but this isn't unusual considering that the cult of kidult-hood which permeates society. Adult pursuits such as having children and marriage are now postponed, happening later than in earlier generations. Many adults now still live with their parents well into their twenties, with their parents still paying for them. Childhood pursuits, or those that were considered childish such as reading comics and playing video games, are now firmly ensconced as a part of adult culture. Yet it is not the pursuits themselves that are juvenile, but the adults that act in a juvenile manner refusing to accept responsibility for their own actions. While they may look like adults they still 'play' like children. More and more the idea of making adult choices and taking responsibility is becoming anathema to a society of juveniles that expects things to be presented to them rather than being earned.

Brian is rejecting this ethos when he makes a decision to become an adult. Essentially he is emerging from a fantasy. The 'dream' of working in an adult book shop where you can look at naked women all day is a male teenager's fantasy. When Brian makes an adult decision, deciding to take responsibility for his actions, he's able to leave his fantasy world of porn and enter the diverse 'Big Ass Bookstore' of adulthood where he's able to converse with women without seeing them purely as sex objects, and have a relationship which ultimately results in marriage and impending parenthood.

The theme of fantasy and daydreaming is strong in A Mind of Love. In a simple, yet clever technique, the hard panel borders are removed when Brian is fantasising/daydreaming. The temptation to return to his earlier 'fantasy' life is strong. When he visits the cafe and adult book shop he starts fantasising again but with adult vigour rejects any nostalgia for 'the good ol' days'.

In between finishing A Mind of Love Mutard has had published a number of other works - The Bunker (2003), The Sacrifice (2008), and The Silence (2009) and it's not hard to see why. Mutard's artwork and storytelling is very impressive. The more recently produced artwork of in A Mind of Love's later chapters is a standout. The line work is acutely detailed and in the sequence of Nancy's representation as stripper, the drawing is flawless. The book's shading is excellent with impressive slabs of glossy black backgrounds.

In his introduction Jason Franks comments how Mutard doesn't shy away from drawing a crowd scene and indeed, these scenes packed full of bodies are some of the best in the book. The faces, hairstyles, clothes and expressions of individuals are all unique. Lovingly crafted and wonderfully executed, A Mind of Love is a testament to Mutard's copious talents and while his work is already bordering on masterful, I feel there is still better yet to come.

For further information on Bruce Mutard and his work go to his Allen and Unwin author page.

Posthuman Superheroes (Part 1): Posthuman Bodies and Genders

This is the first part of a four part essay dealing with posthuman superheroes. The superhero universe is full of characters that exhibit a wide range of posthuman features. With their abilities of shapeshifting and embodiment they are forms without form; characters which exhibit endless possibility and multiplicity. Using the work of Ihab Hassan, and the idea of embodiment as defined by Robert Pepperell, and Katherine Hayles, part one provides an overview of posthuman theory which include evolution of the human through mutation; and the idea of embodiment which theorises that the mind, body, and environment are a continuous entity. It then identifies a number of superheroes as having posthuman bodies and genders.

Part two ‘Performing Gender’ theorises Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs as a negative ideal of a posthuman subject and analyses Martian Manhunter performing gender in two issues of Justice League Task Force.

Part three ‘Shapeshifters, Cyborgs, and Embodied Superheroes’ theorises the superhero characters, Mystique, Jean Grey, Apollo, Midnighter, The Engineer, and Jack Hawksmoor, as posthuman subjects.

Part four ‘Coming Off The Page’ investigates the growing real world emergence of the posthuman and the possibility of fostering a real world 'heroic imagination'.

In their editorial to the ‘Posthumanous’ issue of the journal, Reconstruction, Jason Smith, Ximena Gallardo, and Geoff Klock, write:

there is certainly no agreement as to what, exactly, constitutes posthumanism or a posthumanist position beyond the premise that what previously seemed to constitute the subject position of a “human being” has been threatened, infiltrated, deconstructed, or denatured (2004).

Even though there may be no consensus on posthumanism, there are several key theoretical concepts, that are, not the least for my discussion here, the most prevalent.

In his 1977 essay ‘Prometheus as Performer: Toward a Posthumanist Culture?’, Ihab Hassan echoes Michel Foucault’s claim that man as an invention of recent date is perhaps nearing its end (1973). In signalling the end of humanism, Hassan suggests:

We need first to understand that the human form – including desire and all its external representations – may be changing radically, and thus must be re-visioned. We need to understand that five hundred years of humanism may be coming to an end, as humanism transforms itself into something that we must helplessly call posthumanism (1977:212).

Although the essay seems to have been forgotten by current posthuman theorists – Hayles uses it only for quotation purposes – Hassan’s essay is for me a nexus from which the major strands of posthuman thought originate. Written in “scenes” using eight “textual voices”, Hassan’s succinct essay, covers much of the ground – evolution, consciousness, and human/machine hybrids – upon which the current posthumanist debate resides. These major strands of posthuman thought diverge from this essay, resurfacing and recombining years later as “new” theories on the subject including ideas that Robert Pepperell, author of The Posthuman Condition: Consciousness Beyond the Brain, uses twenty years later. Dealing more with the aspects of human consciousness than with the integration of human and machine which has come to dominate the posthuman debate, Hassan documents that posthumanist culture depends on ‘the growing intrusion of the human mind into nature and history, on the dematerialization of life and the conceptualization of existence’ (1977:205). Much like Francois Lyotard’s view that postmodernism is not an age, but ‘a mood or better, a state of mind’ (1986/87:209), Hassan’s posthumanism is that of a continual movement, an expanding of consciousness that happens, and has happened, throughout history; a performance in progress where ‘the languages of imagination and the languages of science have… crossed in certain epochs and certain great minds of the past’ (1977:207). Science and imagination are thus agents of change – their interplay as modes of representation and transformation, being vital performing principles in culture and consciousness (Hassan, 1977:208).

Robert Pepperell defines posthumanism as that which comes after humanism; the time dominated by the thought that humans are the measure of all things; the ‘long held belief in the infallibility of human power and the arrogant belief in our superiority and uniqueness’ (2003:171). This antagonistic/egocentric humanistic view results in humanity’s desire to dominate, control, and exploit nature. The emergence of movements that resist exploitative humanist behaviour – feminism, environmentalism, and animal rights – are the most evident of humanity moving towards a posthuman future. Incorporated in the humanistic view is the idea that scientific enquiry would prove the world, and indeed the universe, to be a gigantic machine, and once all the parts of this machine had been discovered and studied, then through logical reasoning, the future could be accurately predicted. Pepperell sees posthumanism germinating in three early twentieth century ideas – cubism; relativity theory; and quantum physics – which changed how the nature of reality was viewed and represented (2003:162). Specifically, seemingly stable reality became a ‘cluster of probabilities that mutate over time and which are dependent on the viewer for their perception’ (2003:166). The cubists’ role in this was the introduction of an ambiguous contingency into pictorial representation that was analogous to the uncertainty and paradox found in advanced physics (2003:166).

For Pepperell, the posthuman era begins proper when ‘we no longer find it necessary, or possible, to distinguish between humans and nature’ (Pepperell, 2003:161), shifting from ‘a universe of certainty and predictability to a universe of uncertainty and unpredictability’ (2003:167). While some posthuman debate tends towards the elimination, manipulation, or expendability of the body, Pepperell theorises about an expansive body through the dissolution of boundaries. Thus the idea of embedded consciousness – embodiment – drives his posthuman philosophy. Consciousness is the mind (as opposed to the brain as an organ) and body acting together – effectively we think with our whole body (2003:178). Pepperell argues that the human is identifiable, but not definable such that no finite division can be drawn between the environment, the body, and the brain. Our consciousness (mind) and environment (reality) cannot be separated and are therefore continuous (2003:178).


Posthuman – After the Human

The term posthuman is also used in an evolutionary sense, with differing definitions. One branch of posthuman thought posits that we have evolved enough to decide the direction in which we are to evolve. A definitive, and somewhat idealist, explanation of this facet of posthumanism is put forward by Nick Bostrom:

A posthuman is a human descendent who has been augmented to such a degree as to be no longer human… your mental and physical abilities would far surpass those of any unaugmented human. You would be smarter than any human genius and be able to remember things much more easily. Our body will not be susceptible to disease and it will not deteriorate with age… you may have a greatly expanded capacity to feel emotions and to experience pleasure and love and artistic beauty. You would not need to feel tired, bored or irritated about petty things (in Graham, 2002:159)

This level of enhancement says that if more is better, then lots more must be much better. Opponents to the engineering of human evolution point to the dehumanising effect it may have on the human subject, undermining dignity and eroding the fuzzy value of what it is to be human. There is also the threat posthumans might pose to “ordinary” humans (Bostrom, 2005: 204). Though as Michael Akerib (2007) writes, the means and availability of procedures to attain a posthuman state of this kind would inevitably be restricted, initially, to a chosen few, which is essentially no different to the liberal humanist conception that:

may have applied, at best, to that fraction of humanity who had wealth, power, and leisure to conceptualize themselves as autonomous beings exercising their will through individual agency and choice (Hayles, 1999:286).

Like claims that postmodernism is simply the natural extension of modernism (high or late modernism), the posthuman could also be claimed to simply extend the ideas of the humanist agenda – progress, self-improvement, individualism (Graham, 2002:153), of which all three can be applied to the posthuman ideal. Thus the domination of technology is achieved by incorporating technology into our(selves), allowing a complete mental mastery over prosthetic devices. These machines/augmentations, such as artificial prosthesis, literally respond to our commands, our thoughts. Again opponents point out that this progress could actually be harmful to the human subject/psyche and is therefore not progress at all.


Posthuman Bodies, Posthuman Gender

For Judith Halberstam and Ira Livingstone posthuman bodies ‘emerge at nodes where bodies, bodies of discourse, and discourse of bodies intersect to foreclose any easy distinction between actor and stage, between sender/receiver, channel, code, message, context’ (1995:2). A posthuman body is ‘a technology, a screen, a projected image… a contaminated body, a deadly body, a techno-body… a queer body’ (Halberstam & Livingstone, 1995:3). They are ‘causes and effects of postmodern relations of power and pleasure, virtuality and reality, sex and its consequences’ (Halberstam & Livingstone, 1995:3). This suggests the posthuman body, using the metaphor of space in this context, simply occupies space(s). Similar to Pepperell’s use of uncertainty, Halberstam and Livingstone elicit the uncertain posthuman concepts of gender, race, and sexuality, through the idea of someness:

How many races, genders, sexualities are there? Some. How many are you? Some. “Some” is not an indefinite number awaiting a more accurate measurement, but a rigorous theoretical mandate whose specification… is neither numerable nor, in the common sense, innumerable (1995:9).

Here is a posthuman ideal set out – the idea of uncertainty of which Pepperell writes – where some number of genders, race, and sexualities are embraced. Succinctly, by keeping the number uncertain then none can be excluded nor when another mode is invented/rehashed/reincarnated, will there be a conflict because there is always, and can only be, some. The posthuman being is always a multiplicity. There is neither one nor other, object or subject, but at the same time, also both. Therefore, the posthuman body:

vibrates across and among an assemblage of semi-autonomous collectivities it knows it can never either be coextensive with nor altogether separate from. The posthuman body is not driven… by a teleological desire for domination, death or stasis; or to become coherent and unitary; or even to explode into more disjointed multiplicities. Driven by the double impossibility and prerequisite to become other and to become itself, the posthuman body intrigues rather than desires; it is intrigued and intriguing just as it is queer: not as an identity but because it queers (Halberstam & Livingstone, 1995:14).

Posthuman genders ‘include any and all former “unnameables”… and any other “transgressive” gender practices’ (Smith, Klock, & Gallardo, 2004). The reasoning is simply that these gender types have assaulted and undermined the two-sex model and thereby what it means to be human (Smith, Klock, & Gallardo, 2004). While I don’t feel this term posthuman gender is particularly relevant – they are hardly “post” anything and have always been labelled – there is something to be said for their increasing representation in the traditional white/male/heterosexual space of superhero comics. Thus we have the emergence of previously unnameable posthuman genders becoming named, starting with the Marvel Comics character, Northstar, who openly declared his gay sexuality. The trend continues to The Invisibles’s Lord Fanny (a Brazilian transvestite shaman, though more correctly she is transgender), and culminates with Apollo and Midnighter of The Authority, who engage in an openly gay and committed relationship; who get married; and adopt a baby. The posthuman superhero narrative is not that of Dr Fredric Wertham’s implied undercurrent of homosexuality (which in itself implies that there is no place for homosexuality in comics) in his diatribe, Seduction of the Innocent. Rather, the posthuman superhero narrative is that of The Authority which sees homosexuality function at full volume, where the two most powerful characters on the team openly make out with each other (Klock, 2002:143). The fact that Apollo and Midnighter are deliberate tropes of Superman and Batman actually turns Wertham’s argument against itself. Why not make the two most powerful representations of superheroes gay? As a representation of a committed gay couple, Apollo and Midnighter show readers what is possible and present, dare I say, a normative picture of homosexuality. On the other hand, as two of the most powerful humans on Earth, they can basically do what they want without any worry of social reprisal, a situation which is perhaps difficult to replicate in the “real” world. I recall here the X-Men character, Beast, being unwilling to correct the impression that he is gay in New X-Men #134: ‘I’ve been taunted all my life for my individualistic looks and style of dress… I’m as gay as the next mutant’ (Morrison et al, 2005:14). Incorrectly Beast equates gay sexuality with the surface quality of mode of dress – a matter of performance. Assuming that it doesn’t matter whether he is gay or not, which of course can be seen as a positive representation of homosexuality, this is perhaps something only someone of a heterosexual identity could say. Like Apollo and Midnighter, Beast has the ability to repel any attacks that might occur in the event that his ruse is revealed. His is a position of power, mainly physical, even though as a mutant he is relegated to society’s margins.

Read Part Two: Performing Gender

Read Part Three: Shapeshifters, Cyborgs, and Embodied Superheroes

Read Part Four: Coming Off the Page

Reference

Bostrom, N. (2005) ‘In Defence of Posthuman Dignity’ Bioethics 19, 3, pp. 202-14.

Akerib, M. (25 July 2007) ‘Towards a Post-Human World?’,
http://clubofamsterdam.blogspot.com/2007/07/towards-post-human-world.html (Accessed 11 Oct 2007).

Graham, E.L. (2002). Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

Halberstam, J. & Livingstone, I. (1995). Posthuman Bodies, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Hassan, I. ‘Prometheus as Performer: Toward a Posthumanist Culture’ in Benamou, M. and Caramello, C. (eds) (1977). Performance in Postmodern Culture, University of Wisconsin – Milwaulkee: Coda Press, pp. 201-20.

Hayles, N. K. (1999). How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

Klock, G. (2002). How to Read Superhero Comics and Why, New York, London: Continuum.

Lyotard, J. (1986-7). ‘Rules and Paradoxes and Svelte Appendix.’ Trans. Brian Massumi, Cultural Critique 5, pp. 209-19.

Morrison, G. (w), Quitely, F. with Grant, K. (p) and Avalon Studios (i). ‘Kid Ω’ New X-Men #134 in Morrison, G. (w), Quitely, F. with Grant, K. (p) and Avalon Studios (i) (2005). New X-Men Vol. 4: Riot at Xavier’s, [Collecting 2003 ‘New X-Men’ #134-138] New York: Marvel Publishing.

Pepperell, R. (2000). ‘The Posthuman Conception of Consciousness: A 10-point Guide’, http://robertpepperell.com/papers/The%20Posthuman%20Conception.pdf, (Accessed 16 Oct 2007).

Pepperell, R. (2003). The Posthuman Condition: Consciousness Beyond the Brain, Bristol, et al: Intellect.

Smith, C. J., Klock, G and Gallardo, X. (2004). ‘Introduction: Posthumanous’ Reconstruction 4, 3, http://reconstruction.eserver.org/043/Klock.htm (Accessed 11 Oct 2007).

Review - The Infinite Vacation #1 by Nick Spencer (writer) and Christian Ward (art)

So I've come to realise that writing a review of the first issue of a comic is a bit like writing a review of a movie after only viewing the first twenty minutes. You really aren't going to be providing much more than initial thoughts and hoping that the comic hooks you by giving you the hint of where it's going. I'm happy to say that Nick Spencer and Christian Ward's The Infinite Vacation does indeed have major hooks.

The Infinite Vacation provides several hooks to pull us into the story. First is the idea of being able to exchange life experiences for something better, even down to turning up somewhere earlier to avoid standing in a queue. If you don't like how something is panning out, just pay for a vacation where (or when) it does.

This leads our flame-haired main character Mark, to vacation on average 9.7 times per day. It's just easier for him to pay for a different reality than deal with life's little inconsistencies. Unfortunately for Mark, this strategy also doesn't seem to be working as his life just ends up the same - boring and unfulfilled. Then there's the problem that alternate versions of himself are turning up dead. That's the second hook.

And then there's the final hook in the issue: the girl. She's basically Mark's opposite- a Deadender who refuses to 'make life changes even if it means a worse existence for them'. She challenges his continual vacationing attitude. Life is all about taking your chances when they're presented.

This is a radical and original use of the multiverse/multiple universe concept and there's a lot of parallel universe jumping going on in comics right now. In fact I'd argue it's become a staple part of storytelling, for the superhero universes anyway. But in The Infinite Vacation there's no superpower needed or massive changes to the reality. It's easy - accessible through a free phone app. You can just change whatever you about your life if you've got the cash. This would seem to imply that you're able to buy your way out of, if not your whole crappy life, at least crappy parts of it. However the availability of infinite vacations - realities - doesn't change the fact that a vacationer may still engage with each reality in exactly the same way.

We are witnessing a story involving the commodification of reality. A nifty idea indeed. So the question posed is: Does this make the buyer happier or not? The answer I assume will be played out in the relationship between the Mark and the Deadender girl.

Spencer is on the rise as a writer and it's easy to see why - crisp ideas, sharp writing, and great hooks. First issues are hard to pull of but Spencer has done it. He's given a concept background on what's happening, introduced intriguing storylines, and interesting believable characters with dilemmas. For someone who was unknown two years ago, Spencer has certainly made his mark with his creator owned books (Morning Glories, Shuddertown), and looks to have nice career ahead.

A word too here about Christian Ward's art. Ward's pastel and autumnal tones, give the comic a washed out watercolour style look which reminds of David Mack's artwork, if a little less realistic in this context. The panel and page layout are excellent using standard paneling (with and without borders) and complex double page spreads evoking a wonderful sense of distortion, and confusion that is Mark's life. The range of facial expressions - for me, always the mark of really good artist - are great and convey each character's emotions brilliantly.


This: has got it's hooks into me. Excellent.
Forthcoming: Will provide me with a holiday from reality.