Review of Karcomics: Highlight on Ismail KAR
by Vanessa Raney
The online Turkish Karcomics: Cartoon & Humor Magazine / Karikatur ve Mizah Dergisi features a section for “Ismaili KAR’s Cartoon Gallery / Karikatür Galersi.” Spanning five Pages, each of KAR’s Pages of twenty single-panel cartoons works on a theme while transferring image concepts from previous Pages.
Gallery 1 (http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/k.html) thematically links transmogrification and politics. For Gallery 2 (http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/k1.html), attention follows birth and the soul of music.
By Gallery 3 (http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/k2.html), one finds a lighter overall tone and pencil drawings focused on turbaned Muslims. Those of us titillated by the American comic strip scene may pleasure at the black and white image featuring Dagwood, Krazy Kat and Mickey Mouse waving as they ride their Turks’ shoulders. Meanwhile, a seemingly wealthier, suited conservative with umbrella in hand appears perplexed as he watches the manic crowd of what appear to be working class men (indicated by one wearing a tie associated with waiters and the others by their open jackets) run in front of him, their motion suggested by short lines and dust puffs that are distinguished from the two clouds by their shorter balled appearances. (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/47.html)
Gallery 4 (http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/k3.html) pivots toward death and judgment. With Gallery 5 (http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/k4.html), KAR suggests the exploration of the human hungry to be explored. For those of us working in sequential art, the frog and bull comic offers a classic example; this interesting story about images defining us shows individual but continuing panels divided by “1.,” “2.,” and “3.” instead of by boxes (http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/91.html).
Among KAR’s central image concepts is the dove. In Gallery 2, which features the first of two sexual images in the galleries (the other appears in Gallery 5 but is linked with the concept of the human as animal (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/97.html)), one image shows a dove sitting on top of a nest on top of a man’s scrotums (balls), with the penis erect (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/34.html). However, the perspective takes its cue from looking upward toward the penis, with the dove’s weight forcing the penis in the direction of the man’s stomach, which then associates the womb and that with birth and finally women, life, etc.
I believe the dove holds a turkey berry in its beak, and this turkey berry fills in with the earth tones of brown, blue, green and yellow - colors that correspond with the branches of the nest, though the nest filters the color so that it appears more transparent than the turkey berry. The penis, too, holds the turkey berry in its meatus (see http://www.cirp.org/pages/anat/), suggesting a connection between the penis and the dove. Thus, the white dove, already symbolic of life, also encourages an association with the sperm cells that ferment in the man’s scrotums and release during ejaculation.
The next image shows a dove between two open-mouthed men holding turkey berries between their teeth (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/35.html). Finally, in the third image that follows, two caricaturized doves bring a turkey berry and a cartoon heart to an outstretched mechanical hand (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/36.html). The most suggestive image that confirms my view of the dove as birth leads Gallery 2: a grey skull resembling an X-ray picture reveals an embryo in the brain cavity (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/21.html). However, the two images that precede the dove as symbol present a man popping a musical note and a turkey berry into his mouth (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/32.html), and a maze that takes us to either a newly born baby or an embryo developing inside the womb since the umbilical cord remains attached to it (as in non-gender specific).
In the last significant image, KAR blended the dove with the yellow color of the sky. At the same time, the man, seen by shades of prominent black, has a grenade in his pocket and a turkey berry in his hand while he holds the dove upside down by one leg. It seems to suggest that life is sacred and too easily placed at risk. (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/38.html)
Also significant in Gallery 2 are the images of a soccer (or rugby) player without legs below his shorts who holds on to crutches while balancing a soccer ball; his midsection with protruding belly button are also visible. We see this same soccer player in Gallery 1, but in black and white. Now, in Gallery 2, KAR shows two different color images of him.
In the first, the soccer player, whose crutches now appear in green yellow-tinged sheepskin covers (see http://elitemedical.com/crutchparts.html), wears a green top and yellow shorts; he bounces a black, red and white ball against a dominant blue sky and green grass background. (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/23.html) In the second image, the soccer player, whose crutches now appear in blue sheepskin covers, wears a purple top and pink shorts; he bounces a black and white ball against a watercolor blue-splashed and cloud background. (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/27.html)
Finally, in Gallery 5, KAR shows two different images of a soccer player identified as Ortega in the first image, in which he appears between a solid yellow sky and several yellow and black lined balls, his right leg showing as a flesh object (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/77.html). In the second image, KAR offers a full portrait of Ortega as caricature with a standard white and black lined ball (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/78.html). From these, one can surmise that KAR enjoys soccer; Ortega is likely a professional soccer player.
In Gallery 3, KAR suggests the snake as a symbol of fertility. The image of the snake and the Muslim translates a tone of tranquility. The Muslim sleeps while the smiling snake holds on to the end of a turkey berry. More importantly, the snake’s eyes are shaded like the turkey berry: black pupils outlined in green; the green turkey berry branch has black berries and green leaves. Read differently, the white, black polka-dotted snake is the penis with the promise of life. (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/56.html)
The last recurring image concept involves Hitler. In Gallery 1, a black man volleys Hitler as he runs down the track. (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/19.html) From my knowledge of the 1936 Berlin Games, which presented a positive propagandist view of the Third Reich, I believe the figure is Jesse Owens, who earned “four gold medals (100m, 200m, 4x100m and long jump)” (http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1936). In Gallery 3, a doctor holds a syringe as a starting gun while three prostrated men in different-colored striped shirt tops and exposed (and two with red) bottoms prepare to run. One man wears a tourniquet around his head. This comic reminds me of Dr. Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death” during WWII. (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/41.html)
For those of us interested in the relationship between movies and comics, we may also be intrigued with the image of Albert Einstein in Gallery 3. His body is a tree and his face the leaves, echoing the image and suggestion of the tree in the 2006 release of The Fountain (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/49.html). Collectively, however, these various male-dominated images which KAR created in black and white or color, offer an oeuvre of the artist’s work that, simplistically or more complex, present different facets of his outlook. One could read in his comics statements against poverty/class, violence and inhumanity, but also find random images of Turkish ways of being, including romance.
My favorite image appears in Gallery 3. Here, a man’s profile is outlined by white doves against a washed black background (see http://ismailkar.8m.com/k/46.html). It is an arresting image, but also unique – like KAR, whose style of artwork breathes an essence of Turkey not found in American comics. I suggest checking him out; he has good material.
Posted by Vanessa Raney
at 2:23 AM EST
Updated: Tuesday, 25 December 2007 2:49 AM EST
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