Stripped (2014)

Another of my favorite media is comic strips, whether in print or online only. So I pretty much had to add this documentary to my queue on principle. While I chose to watch it last night for its 84 minutes, the timing was also appropriate in that one of the interviewed cartoonists, Mell Lazarus, just passed away.

As the Bill Watterson-drawn poster implies, one of the points is to lament how newspaper cartoonists don't have it as good as they used to (e.g., lower pay, less page space, more syndicate demand for sameness). Watterson had complained about it in the '80s, but it got a lot worse when the Web started putting newspapers out of business. Fortunately, the film doesn't keep an unhappy tone much of the time. It's really about pretty much every subject pertinent to comics in general. And it ends with a hopeful note on the future, particularly of webcomics.

We don't see or hear from the filmmakers even in narration. Mostly we see and hear various cartoonists, syndicated and not, at various levels of fame. (The reclusive Watterson deigned to have his voice recorded for the public at long last, but he's not on screen.) I have a passing familiarity with almost all of them and have even met a couple, but it made no difference for how much I enjoyed their screen presentation.

Naturally, a documentary about an art form has to be pretty artistic in its own right. This one is quite "indie," if the guitar song at the end is any indication, but still affords some nice split-screen effects reminiscent of comic panels. Sometimes it imitates another medium for variety and parody, like a '50s-style PSA or an early-'90s video game. The one aspect I dislike is the sound mixing; I kept wanting to turn up the volume for some speakers.

Not only do I appreciate something that draws attention to the relatively little-known realm of webcomics -- and treats them as equals to newspaper comics, no less -- but now I want to check out more comics of both kinds again, particularly among the ones sampled herein. I even feel like giving another chance to some that didn't grab me before. There are some brilliant minds at work, churning out regular humor in a heavily limited format.

I may also have acquired some ideas for improving my own performance. Sure, I'll probably never do it for money, but hobbies could stand to be honed as well.

Alas, being a comic fan means I have little idea how much the rest of you will care about any of it. You might simply enjoy hearing from people who clearly love their jobs in spite of all the setbacks, but that wasn't enough to get me to sit thru Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Will the artistic presentation be enough? Will the advantages unique to the webcomic medium entice you? That's for you to decide. To those with even a passing interesting, I make my recommendation.