MEATCAKE #12

Dame Darcy's aloof beauty serves different goals than most comix

By Mike Whybark     September 08, 2002

MEATCAKE emerged, it seems to my unreliable memory, fully formed from creator Dame Darcy's brow. She herself appears to spring from very brow of Goth, equally fully-formed, her being and our idea of that subculture merging and blurring. That's not to say that Darcy's work, or her presentation of herself as a character within the milieu of both Goth and MEATCAKE, are predictable or specifically derivative. It's more like a sense of recognition: "Of course", one thinks. "That's exactly what a goth comic book should be."

In a larger sense, this is because Darcy is working within the constraints of genre, and when a creator commits to a genre, part of the measure of success is how closely the artists' work adheres to our expectations of that genre. From this perspective, her work is very successful indeed. However, because MEATCAKE is only a facet of the ongoing project of self-creation and presentation which is Dame Darcy herself, standalone consumers of her comic may miss more normative aspects of comics craft, such as plot and character.

This is not to say that MEATCAKE dispenses with either; rather, since Darcy employs characters and plots that reflect and draw from her life and social circle, the information that completes the characters and plots is not contained solely within the comic book. This makes sense when viewed from a subcultural perspective. Those who develop a deeper understanding of the events and characters portrayed may be displaying a badge of belonging, of special social status, much as intricate knowledge of origin stories and alternate universe plots and costumes are employed by mainstream, industrial comics creators.

Darcy's art, then, will be what sells the book, and there is much to be attracted to. Clearly influenced by Gorey, Charles Addams, and magazine illustrators from the 1880s to the 1920s, her drawings are dark, beautiful, and somehow combine aggression and lightheartedness. I was very strongly reminded of cartooning I know from obscure 'zines, at least in part because of the whimsical, lurching nature of the plots.

Even though I appreciate MEATCAKE as it is, and very much enjoy Darcy's art, I wish she'd consider working with character-and-situation plots, as many others working the haunted-house and dark-rimmed-eye section of comicstown have chosen to. Lack of depth in these matters creates a kind of perfect surface, which resists retention and penetration, and is therefore both invulnerable and ephemeral, like a fairy, but not like a fairytale. I still prefer it to much mainstream contemporary goth-appealing work, at least partly because of the 'zine-like feel of the book.

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