first person story telling (click on the image for a close up view)
I read about this in Jeff Kripal's MUTANTS AND MYSTICS, but this was the first time I got to read this short comic in its entirety. This an 11-page story was last published work by comic book ledgend Barry Windsor-Smith. It was in an anthology from July 2000.
read the full comic HERE
Michael Hughes wrote about this comic HERE. Christopher Knowles references this comic in The Secret Sun from back in 2009. And, Jenny Randles writes about the OZ FACTOR, the eerie silence described in the comic.
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Interesting. IMHO could never understand the greatness of BWS, though (as sometimes purported in comic strip "fandom"). Clunky drawing, too tight and the faces...eh? Beside the point,
ReplyDeletemaybe, but unfortunately dampens the appriciation of the story for me.
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ReplyDeleteMan, I need to re-read that book. I keep urging Greg Bishop to read it, too! ;)
ReplyDeleteThe story was interesting to me for several factors. First, because it brings me back to some of the ideas I've been thinking about re. the UFO phenomenon: The dream-like quality of the experience and Barry's feeling that his mind was being "controlled" make it seem as if there was some agency --i.e. the UFOnauts-- performing said control; but what if that's not the case? What if that is just a natural reaction of the human mind when confronted by someone so completely outside its previous frame of reference?
It's like what Greg says: Our minds have all these little "boxes" and whenever we encounter something new we're constantly trying to put it inside one of those boxes. But with things like UFOs or other Fortean phenomena, it's like trying to fit a squared peg in a circular hole, triggering a 'short circuit' of sorts.
I think this is related with how our brain hemispheres are designed to process information. The right hemisphere --the one popularized with artistic sensibility-- functions in a 'gelstat' mode, taking it all 'holistically', while the left hemisphere is the one who's always trying to 'explain' and categorize the data input received through our senses. You could say that the left hemisphere is 'the voice inside our heads' trying to make sense of the world.
When confronted by a UFO, the left hemisphere shuts down.
So maybe that 'shutting down' is more responsible for things like the 'Oz factor' and even 'screen memories' than an actual direct involvement of the phenomenon itself. Maybe they're actually trying to bypass through that in order to establish a productive communication link. Maybe they're looking for the people who can do that, and maybe those people are the ones who have a natural artistic disposition --i.e. perceive the world without relying so much on their left hemisphere.
Maybe ;)
PS: I forgot to mention that the other reason Barry's account resonated with me, was because I think I've also experienced something like that: I have these "memories" of seeing enormous, structured craft that looked like something out of that old TV show based on the Blue Book files --remember that one?-- when I was very young, but my parents told me those were publicity stunts and the 'saucers' were being dragged by a helicopter. Looking back on it, I can't honestly say if those were real memories, or very vivid dreams.
ReplyDeleteHey Mike! This is so cool -- I had no idea Barry Windsor-Smith had an experience like this (I've been aware of his work since the 1979 book The Studio with Mike Kaluta, et al). He does a wonderful job here of putting you in the moment of being there, and also of articulating the real-time memory wipe that starts to work immediately afterwards, eating away the memory like a virus, only to be recalled much later or under hypnosis. I also like the way he doesn't go for any conclusions, but rather just honestly documents the event and its aftermath. Strikes me as honest. More sightings and experiences should be related this way - with visuals, in comic or animated form.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I know you're busy, but I do miss the podcasts. You're a gifted interviewer.
Hi Mike
ReplyDeleteHave you considered making a comic from some of your own experiences? I think especially your experiences from october 2009 would make great comic.