Sweet Comic Jams

a synergistic doorway

(a little letraset faerie found in a drawer)

dear creators,

I’ve been clearing out some mad paper stacks this month— not because I felt like it but because I misplaced my passport—and came across some old comic jams that I’d stashed away. I got a few good laughs out of them and thought I’d share.

If you’ve never heard of such a thing: a comic jam is when you get at least two people together and give them each a blank comic page to begin a story. Once everyone is finished drawing the first frame, they trade papers and continue one another’s story. After the second frame, they trade again and keep switching until the last frame is complete.

I offer this activity in all my classes (ages 6yrs- adult) to invite the possibility of fresh ideas/expression through collaboration. It’s sometimes easier to respond to something that someone else has begun than it is to begin with our own idea. Even though everyone is beginning a story in the first frame, there isn’t any pressure on the individual for this beginning to make sense or to know where it’s heading or leading to.

For instance, I can begin with a drawing of a crumb on a plate and when I pass my paper to the next person, they enter a mystery and are in a position to inquire: where is this crumb and plate? where did it come from? what happens next? etc.

Typically, when we learn to write a story, there’s the assumption that we have to think it all out and have an ending locked-in before we begin. This may lead us to getting stuck in the dull norms of storytelling. A comic jam offers a rhythm of pausing, responding and then taking action (much like a music jam). As a result, not only is each frame more carefully expressed, it is considered from multiple points of view and, therefore, there are more possibilities.

This same rhythm can be embraced by an individual comic artist— I can approach each of the frames I draw with a pause and respond to what I’ve made with consideration before I move to the next frame (though, this sort of patience will likely take time to foster…)

As I’ve mentioned in other letters, pausing and responding is essential to anyone’s creative flow— it’s the often neglected receptive aspect that compliments it’s opposite: the active. Even if we’re working on our own, we’re always collaborating with life in some way.

***

Now, before I share the actual comic jams (I participated in some of them), I need to briefly address the, um, kinda unsettling nature that crops up in these stories. It doesn’t matter what age group I introduce to this activity, comic jams seem to invite an exploration and expression of our dark side.

This is where some psycho-analytical alarms might start clanging and I don’t want to get heavy into anything like that here (maybe later?)— so, for now, I’ll just point out that humour has a mysterious power to draw out our darkest fears to be dissolved in the light of laughter.

Not to say that death, pain, suffering and violence are funny— but to laugh is an opportunity to witness some truth of our existence and gain a broader perspective without our heavy defensive shields. And, as a bonus, it may alleviate some of our (conscious or unconscious) anxiety about those things.

Hope you get a chuckle or two.

Big grin,

~Corrie

P.S. I found my passport!