The City as Dystopia/Utopia: a Maze to lose or find oneself?
The city, as a modern living and dwelling space, holds a special connection to comics: comics employ a certain self-reflexivity that make them prone to critical, vibrant and genuine self-portrayals of urban topographies in ways that embody urban modern life and outlook by excellence. A space for discovery, for urban fast paced and disconnected lives, places of loneliness and of "crowd baths" "bains de foule", places of both loneliness and communality, places where individuals are thrown against themselves and against each other in the turmoil of fast paced modern spaces, the city is the protagonist of many comics, and not simply a place or a theater of action for its comics heroes. Not a single Megalopolis (New York City, Berlin, Paris, London, Tokyo, etc.) have failed to take center stage in the dwelling and adventures of major popular comics heroes series (Megapolis for Superman, NYC for Spider-Man, Tokyo for Manga, Beirut for Mazen Kerbaj, etc.).
