in the gutter, beyond the fold

September 14, 2009 8:45 PM

no drama, non-narrative comic books?

I am looking for comic book/graphic novels/other that aren't plot-driven narratives about particular characters-- I'm looking for books that tell stories without human or anthropomorphized protagonists. Not necessarily comic book, but hand drawn, and preferably epic in scope.

Some examples that don't quite fit the bill:

1) imagine the scenes from Jimmy Corrigan Smartest Kid on Earth without human actors and see how Chicago architecture evolves.
2) Similar to Brian Chippendale's Ninja but more ummm... rendered.
2) Collections of Ernst Haeckel's radiolaria drawings
3) Collections of Lebbeus Woods's drawings
4) Brice Marden's Suicide Notes

These examples have elements of what I am looking for but none are quite right. I guess I want a story where objects, buildings, locations progress through time as the main characters instead of people.

Help me articulate this more clearly. Thanks!

posted by at the crossroads to grab bag (11 comments total)

This, I suppose, will not be a good answer (considering it has something resembling a narrative with anthropomorphized protagonists), but it is epic, and the landscape and architecture, if you could call it that, are integral to the story and evolve throughout it:
The Portable Frank
"The Frank stories have a meditative, hallucinatory feel... They tap into a universal consciousness of archetypes. But ultimately Frank tells one story, everyone's story, the same story as life: 'How Laughably Absurd It All Is.'" – Time.com

I think I can picture the sort of thing you're looking for, although I can't articulate it, and I certainly can't think of anything that matches perfectly. I'll be anxiously following any other replies you get!
posted by a.steele at 10:38 PM on September 14

Well, I think you've got to elucidate what your definition of a narrative is. I'd say that nearly all comic books or graphic novels involve more than one images, aligned in a visual sequence that's usually meant to be read in a certain way or direction. That aspect of arranged seriality itself tends to lend itself to a narrative, even if it's just a sequence of the phases of the moon, or the sunrise, or the rise and decay of civilizations, etc.
posted by suedehead at 12:00 AM on September 15

Isotown
posted by rollick at 4:07 AM on September 15

Abstract Comics isn't quite right, but it may be worth a look for you. It's, uh, abstract -- no real objects, but movement and progression. (Some of these, though, I wouldn't really call comics.)
posted by darksong at 4:36 AM on September 15

The classic example would probably be R. Crumb's "A Short History of America".
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:35 AM on September 15

There are several Big Book of graphic novels which, although they do not specifically exclude human- or anthropomorphic protagonist-driven stories, oft do not feature them. I'm thinking in particular of the Big Book of Conspiracies.
posted by WCityMike at 10:37 AM on September 15

Alice in Sunderland, maybe? Or the previously mentioned Abstract Comics. You use Ninja as an almost-example; have you seen Brinkman's Multi Force, also from Picturebox? Speaking of Picturebox, you could send an email to Dan or any of the Comics Comics crew and see if they can come up with anything.
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 3:49 PM on September 15

I've got it-- Yuichi Yokoyama:
“Few cartoonists of the moment are weirder or more original than Yuichi Yokoyama — his work obsessively diagrams architecture and design … TRAVEL is remarkably entertaining.” — Douglas Wolk, The New York Times Book Review

In Yuichi Yokoyama’s Travel, the storyline is as linear as it is sharp: it is the long, silent and crystalline description of a train ride undertaken by three men. The subject Yokoyama depicts here is less the landscape around the train (the distance covered, the regions travelled through) than the actions within the train itself. As the train moves, the three men walk through the string of cars and are confronted with the vehicle’s architecture, its machine-like environment. By above all, they are confronted with the stares and the physical presence of other passengers. Travel is a journey into the contemporary Japanese psyche – a brilliant, wordless graphic novel. Bookforum has written of Yokoyama: “Concerned with phenomena rather than character and narrative, his comics resemble the output of a drafting machine: sequences that present multiple views of an object in action and look like exploded product diagrams. Yokoyama seems to enjoy the resulting images as much for the strange shapes that are generated as for what they reveal.”

And it's currently on sale, so it's got that, too.
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 3:55 PM on September 15

Tales of the Beanworld
posted by pushing paper and bottoming chairs at 5:58 PM on September 15

How about the comics of Ben Katchor? He has characters, but I'd argue his central character is the city of New York, or some kind of fictional memory of its past. Buildings and store fronts and obscure organizations feature heavily. There is a TEDtalk that gives you a decent introduction to him, should you not know his stuff. I find that his work is best consumed in collections, allowing you to get immersed in the world he is creating.
posted by edlundart at 11:09 PM on September 15

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. All of your links have been helpful, since I was and still am looking for precedents (and new inspiration) for my own drawings. I guess I could have been more forthright with that information. Travel mentioned above is a nice example.

Also, suedehead, to elucidate my definition of narrative: It doesn't matter to me if there are humans or creatures in the story, what I am not looking for is traditional stories about a singular character (or small group) who typically advance a narrative through personal drama. I should've been clearer on that in my original question. So in this vein, I didn't want to exclude some abstract artists' monographs even though they are not explicitly comics. Plus, I didn't want to frame the question such that only abstract works were returned in the answers. As you can see I am struggling to articulate what I mean. As the field is so vast, I'm not exactly sure what it is exactly, either.

The closest match to what I imagined is Abstract Comics. (I don't know why I didn't simply google that before posting my question.) It's curious because the editor of that anthology teaches at the university in the town where I live and I had no idea. Maybe I'll go visit him.
For anyone who is still following, I've discovered a few new and interesting things by following your lead(s).

Asemic Writing [previously] and Postliterate Society look very interesting.

Halloween Jack, you're right, that "A Brief History of America" is classic, something to think about.

And thanks, edlundart, for introducing me to Ben Katchor. His TED talk surprised me. I didn't expect it to be so poetic. I'll look into him further...

Thanks, everyone! You've pushed me along and over a pretty serious hump.
I am excited to delve into all of your suggestions more thoroughly. So inspiring!

If you think of anymore, I am still listening.
posted by at the crossroads at 5:37 PM on September 30