Earlier tonight I had the privilege of listening to Art Spiegelman give a lecture on the history of comics at the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. My boyfriend and I got there about a half-hour early, and the line had already coiled down one hall and back again to the door. I probably shouldn't have been surprised (it's Art Spiegelman, for heaven's sake), but I sort of was anyway--contrary to popular belief, Boulder's not really much of an art town, unless you think art consists of dull watercolors of flowers, decent-but-uninspired photographs of mountains and "noble savage"-type paintings of American Indians (which I don't). The little old ladies who wound up sitting in front of us mentioned that they were from Denver, though, so I guess word got around to the surrounding area. The MC seemed a little surprised at how good the turnout was, too.
When the doors opened, the line dissipated and everyone just kind of stampeded toward the entrances. We got very decent seats near the front. When you are there to listen to Art Spiegelman, you sit as close as you can to the man, and that's all there is to it.
As for the lecture itself, well, I didn't really learn much new about comics in general. I think this lecture was intended as a somewhat introductory seminar with the intent of getting people interested in a wider variety of comics. (That's probably good, because the conversations I was overhearing while we were waiting for the lecture to start made me think that most of the audience either a) was Jewish and had only read Maus or b) was the kind of person who calls comics "graphic novels.") Spiegelman covered the history of comic strips, the transition from big Sunday comics like "Little Nemo" and "Krazy Kat" to small comics like "Peanuts," the start of comic books, the Comics Code Authority, underground comics--all stuff I knew about, but his presentation was both charming and entertaining, so I didn't mind. He briefly talked about panel structure and using the layout itself to create a feeling in the reader, but that was really the only bit of insight he actually gave to the craft of creating comics. I wish he'd talked about that sort of thing a little more.
His personal anecdotes were where the talk really shone. He talked quite a lot about his personal experiences working for the New Yorker and Harper's. He also spoke about his meeting with Charles Schulz (Schulz had seen his work and sent him an invitation to visit; Spiegelman was initially convinced that the letter was a hoax). One thing he said struck me as profoundly funny: he started thinking of and treating comics as high art just because that was the only taboo left to be broken in underground comics. I sort of wish I'd taken notes so I could remember some direct quotations.
After the talk, there was a Q&A. I love Q&As, but the students at Boulder ask such insipid questions. Unfortunately I couldn't think of anything better to ask, though, so I didn't go up. In retrospect I probably should have asked him something about his creative process, how he wrote and designed his stories, something besides "If Vladek had met Hitler, would you have drawn him as something other than a cat?" (this was an actual question asked by someone there).
Before you ask, no, Mr. Spiegelman was not signing things or doing sketches. I wish I could say I ran into him at the bar later or something, but I can't. Well, I mean, I could, but if I did I would be lying.
