This article contains a few spoilers for "The Dart Man."
Monster Circus | wen
"Not everyone can be great artists, but great artists can come from any corner."
You may have heard this phrase, which appeared in Pixar's 2007 high-scoring animation "Ratatouille", and was a foodie's remark. But in reality, it comes from a great actor. He is Peter Otto, whose masterpiece is Lawrence of Arabia.
Today we're going to talk about "The Dart Man," but let's start with this movie and the actor.
Lawrence of Arabia is a classic in film history, and it tells a story that is not difficult to summarize: during World War I, a British Army intelligence officer "betrayed" his country and united the wandering Arab races against Turkey and the Western powers that wanted to encroach on the Arabian Peninsula.
To this end, he changed from a traitor to an exotic national hero, with a lofty vision, and was eaten back by the barbarism of human nature. In the end, the lusts of his allies and the machinations of powerful nations tore apart his dreams, leaving only a romantic story and a still divided, impoverished Arabian Peninsula.
The film represents a genre film: it tells the story of a person, but it shows the change of an era, the strife of a land lasting thousands of years, and the tragedy of human nature buried in the blood and tears of history. It is truly epic.
Peter Otto, who starred in the film, did not succeed in the film until he was 30 years old, and his initial job was as a journalist and radio technician.
Now let's go back to The Dart Man. This is a work by Chinese cartoonist Xu Xianzhe, in the style of pure black and white comics. The author, Xu Xianzhe, had never been trained in professional painting, and at the age of 26, he was still working in the translation and advertising industry. By the time "Dart Man" came out, he was 30 years old.
Almost every article that writes about the glory of "Dart Man" will mention: it was a great success in Japan, reported several times by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Association), and even Rumiko Takahashi praised it... It was once more famous in Japan than in Japan, but now, domestic manga fans are also aware of its charm.
Let's put aside all the awards and glory, and talk about why "Dart Man" can represent the peak level of national comics from the work itself.
First of all, what story did the dart man tell? In fact, it is as easy to summarize as "Lawrence of Arabia": in the context of the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, a protagonist named Daoma was strong in martial arts, taking a child and escorting a person named "Zhi Shilang" to the capital. This Zhishilang is closely related to the Zhishilang who led the peasant revolt at the end of the Sui Dynasty in history.
And it's also like "Lawrence of Arabia", which is ostensibly about the adventures of a group of people, but the real protagonist is an era, a dynasty of sentient beings, from emperors to poor people.
It is difficult to become a classic in the story of the characters alone, and there are generally two ways to cast the classics: one is to go deep into the hearts of the characters and touch the roots of human nature, similar to "Hamlet"; and the other is to extend outward from the people to explore the environment in which they are located, just like "One Hundred Years of Solitude".
And "Dart Man" has taken two roads at the same time. On the previous path, it explores the inner world of each character, why they love and hate, why they revolt, and where their obsessions come from.
Villain and Ikon
This kind of discussion does not stop at a glance, xu Xianzhe constantly asked these themes: Did Zhi Shilang, who rose up for the people, really make the people happier? As a prodigal son, does the sword and horse really have faith? How did the twisted villain and Yi Xuan lose their kindness?
Chishiro and the human head tree that symbolizes sacrifice
Under this discussion, "Dart Man" constructs a real group drama: in the play, it is not a different face and a mantra, but a very different soul, and behind each soul is a life and thought; they conflict and collide with each other, but they are united by some purpose, as if a microcosm of human history.
On the latter road, it broadens the perspective. The story begins with the experiences and desires of each character, slowly leading them to the road ahead, and many roads are like branches supporting a giant tree, which is the Sui Dynasty before the fall.
Because of this complex development process, the worldview in "Dart Man" is no longer black and white. For example, the Hu shang forces represented by the character "Lao Mo", who were once slaves and united to carry suffering and oppression to build their own homes, but in their comfort, they were divided by greed and became bandits who exploited them.
The changes of these generations, Xu Xianzhe only used two pictures to paint.
The split family is ironic with the shared beliefs once shared in the monologue
In this way, Xu Xianzhe cleverly used different roles to describe different forces: turks, exploited civilians, and the tyrannical Sui Emperor. And he shows not only a tree, but also the growth process of this tree. When we see the ugliness of the character's heart, we see the big hole hidden in the tree.
These two points give "Dart Man" a little epic temperament. Xu Xianzhe once said in an interview that he believes that what Guoman lacks is not the lack of painting skills, but a kind of cultural flow; China's culture should be deep, and the manga created does not have the cultural output ability of Naruto.
Whether or not he correctly pointed out the problem of Guoman, he drew an excellent answer by his own ideas: no matter where the previous road was wrong, if you follow this road, you can break through.
"The more people who walk, the more they become the road"
Not to mention, these rich stories are fascinating enough in themselves. In the middle of the story, we can see how Pei Shiju of the Sui Dynasty relied on provoking dissension and destroying several Hu Shang families. The plot is unexpected and dangerous, and it is as wonderful as the political drama in "A Song of Ice and Fire".
Then there is the painting of the work. Xu Xianzhe did not switch to drawing comics until the age of 26, but he made a work with extremely hardcore drawing skills.
From the details of weapons, costumes and architecture in the works, we can see Xu Xianzhe's "nitpicking" attitude towards history. The most famous is probably the following Dunhuang mural map.
Xu Xianzhe himself said that he would paint a whole month for a background picture. This is definitely not a business model worth referencing, but perhaps in this capital chaos industry, the business model is not the most lacking thing.
Xu Xianzhe's rough brushstrokes, coupled with this pursuit of details, form a unique style. This delicate, arrogant style seems to belong to our culture and comics.
After all, "In the midst of talking and laughing, the trees will disappear in ashes" and "I hope that people will be long-lasting, and thousands of miles will be cherished together", are not also from our same poet?
Xu Xianzhe created a "miracle of 30 years old", which should not be unexpected, because Caesar did not expedition to Gaul until the age of 50 to push Rome to the peak; the so-called "late completion of the great instrument" can actually be seen everywhere.
Perhaps we should instead reflect on why everyone is repeating the wisdom of some "successful people" and "people who have come over" today. So gradually, 35 years old has really become the age when the industry eliminates people; the brand of success or failure hangs above the 30 years old, dominating the happiness of love and life, it seems that people can only "live smoothly" in this way.
As a result, tens of millions of people repeat the philosophy of life, and no one creates masterpieces.
Finally, the excellence of "Dart Man" is also reflected in its narrative method.
Xu Xianzhe has some creative narrative techniques, such as the previously mentioned one, showing the changes of several generations in just two pages, which is very impactful. He often draws the audience's emotions to a high point and then twists them in an instant.
In addition, Xu Xianzhe often used symbolism. The seemingly fantastical passages in "Dart Man" can be seen everywhere, but in fact they are reflecting reality. Just like Kafka in "Metamorphosis" uses the transformation of beetles to allude to the alienation of people.
Metamorphosis
For example, when the Sui Emperor appeared, he was the image of a dragon, which vividly reflected his majesty and tyranny. In the later stage, the dragon also became a heavy pupil, indicating that Yang Guang's thinking had gone mad.
This way of expression not only makes the composition extremely tense, but also artistically and directly draws the essence of the character. Xu Xianzhe boldly did not add any annotations, using only some details to suggest that these scenes were not realistic, which is rare in national comics.
However, some questions also arise, such as the Luocha in the story, which readers still do not know whether they are real monsters or symbols of something. This directly determines whether the work will become a song of ice and fire in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties.
Another narrative feature is the much-used stream-of-consciousness perspective. There is a saying in the study of literary history: there is an important difference between Chinese and Western classical novels, Chinese novels rely on words and deeds to shape characters, and Western novels rely on psychological descriptions.
Therefore, many classical themes of national comics have been affected by this, basically using words and deeds to depict characters, and psychological descriptions are mostly for their own dialogue with themselves.
Looking at the classic Western comics, it is not difficult to find examples of stream-of-consciousness narratives. For example, in the famous "V for Vendetta", a detective is ordered to hunt down the protagonist V, and in order to gain insight into V to predict his actions, the detective goes to the concentration camp where V was once imprisoned and swallows psychedelic drugs.
Later, the narrative shifts to stream-of-consciousness, where the detective sees the suffering of others merging with his own past, and in the midst of his hallucinations, he witnesses the atrocities of the Gestapo, a stream-of-consciousness perspective that allows him to abandon the shackles of identity and examine Nazi evil with a pair of "human" eyes.
"la Voie, la Verite, la Vie (Road, Truth, Life)", and eventually he uttered the words in his native language, obliterated by the Nazis, assimilated by V's thoughts, fading the clothes that symbolized the "old me" and running to the sunrise. Thus was born a classic narrative: from enemy to ally, this nirvana-like psychological transformation, which can be naturally completed in just a few pages, is the charm of this kind of narrative technique.
Naturally, these scenes are not real
"Dart Man" also boldly adopts this narrative style. Many of the bridges in the comics directly describe the inner world of the characters, the most famous of which is that the nemesis of the knife and horse gradually loses himself in the duel with the sword and horse. At this time, the perspective turned to his heart.
There is no expository text, not even a logical set, in the fragmented picture, we watch a person pursuing the Buddha's heart, but being distorted into a demon by mortal dust and himself, and tragedy floats in the ink.
This masterful way of narration allowed Xu Xianzhe to successfully complete the reversal of an important role in a few words.
Perhaps it is precisely because Xu Xianzhe has been engaged in the translation of literary works that he has been able to combine Chinese and Western creative techniques. And these novel attempts at narrative give "Dart Man" a unique literary temperament, which stands out among many comics.
So "Dart Man" has no shortcomings? Naturally not. For example, it is now in a state of serious delay, and the story is still far from reaching the scale of its grand picture of "late Sui and early Tang", so it is not impossible not to say that the tail is rotten, and even the story is not impossible.
The concept of the main character of the story, Chishiro, is also too modern, and it requires very high skill to coincide with the historical Zhishiro. It is difficult to support such an avant-garde ideal based on the real Zhishilang alone.
So, "The Dart Man" is not yet a great work, it is on the way to greatness, but we don't know if it can finish the road.
However, the significance of "Dart Man" is that it has knocked out a path on a seemingly impossible wall of thorns. In the title of this article, "alone" is used, which is certainly not to say that we don't have excellent black-and-white comics, but "Dart Man" does seem to have something different: the potential to leave a name in the history of world comics, if only for now.
We should have that potential because we have a great history, a great story; so our comics should have great storytellers.
Xu Xianzhe used to be a loner, and it can be said that he was a lonely artist before he became famous by relying on that kind of talent that could not be ignored. Manga became famous first in Japan and may have saved its life.
The intensity of the work can be seen
The situation of China's black-and-white comics is quite bad, which is something that practitioners and enthusiasts often talk about, whether it is the creative environment or the market, it is not satisfactory.
So much so that we have to face the fact that it is possible that this road will not work here. In contrast, color comics and strip comics have a more complete industrial chain, and they are not bad, they can also tell profound content, draw a tortuous plot, and continue to grow and develop.
It is not only "Dart Man" that has also made a breakthrough.
It's just a pity if another classic ACG art form slowly dies out.
In this case, "Dart Man" still stubbornly hits the south wall with his head. Maybe putting aside the content of "Dart Man", leaving aside Xu Xianzhe's career change and "late success", this matter itself is enough to impress many people.
Like The Wandering Earth.
It's a bit like a flag, symbolizing that something exists, that someone has tried it, and it's done.
However, there is no need to be overly sensational. Xu Xianzhe is not a poor person, he has achieved fame, although he has taken risks, but it is not really a desperate gamble. Life is like this, not necessarily relying on Hollywood-style bridges to move people to cry and weep, in order to have meaning.
In fact, "Dart Man" is just a comic, and many fans with levels may not be able to like it at all. In the time that follows, it can also disappoint all sorts of people. But sometimes, it is still a little touching to catch a glimpse of these five-year-old comics lying in the bookstore, looking at their slightly out-of-place figures.
Obviously, there was only black and white ink, but it overflowed with boiling blood.
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