Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Will and Imagination: Willworld page 84

It is interesting to me to read Willworld again like this, slowly, savoring all the ins and outs of Hal's wierd journey. It becomes clear that Seth was at least partly responsible for the content of this book. He said so, of course, but I didn't know how much of it was his and how much was general Green Lantern schtick, and how much was the author.

In his own life Seth worked hard to develop both his will and his imagination, in order to become the best artist he could be, indeed, the most complete person he could be. He felt that there was no limit to what a human being could do, that people are not limited by the restraints of the natural world. He wanted to overcome his weaknesses and find a sort of resonance with the universe.

Hal's journey reflects this point of view, and this page shows in images how it works. In the two upper panels Hal is alone, but he is surrounded by throngs of people who believe in him, who have either completed the same sort of training that he is immersed in, or are going to do it.

In the two lower panels we see what appears to be a giant lighthouse beacon, and Hal entering into it, and dissolving into something that seems to be taking away his humanity. He doesn't know for sure whether he has the power, the will, the understanding to go through this set of experiences and come out stronger, or if he will be consumed by what is happening. He can't know until he goes through it. Seth saw life's challenges just that way, and like Hal, was determined never to shy away from them.

3 comments:

Geoffo said...

Hello there,

just a little comment to say thank you again, your work here is really really valuable to people like me and I am deeply thankful to you for that.

As always, the more I draw, the more I love Seth's artwork. And this is funny to find these messages of your about composition of a page, I am currently thinking about it, so these are a great help to me.

I plan to do a Nimbus pin-up soon, if it's okay for you.

I hope the rest of the family is okay.

Take care.

Vicki said...

Thank you so much Geoffo. I am really glad that you keep looking at what I have posted. I try to keep what I write true to Seth and his vision. I know what you mean, the more I draw also, the more I love Seth's work. I always knew it was beautiful; I didn't realize before how GOOD it is in many different ways.

Seth was generous in allowing the use of his images to other people for good uses. Do you mean that you are going to use one of Seth's Nimbus images on your blog? Thanks for letting me know.

Geoffo said...

Oh so you're drawing too?

I (we?)'ll be very pleased to see your artwork some day.

And as for Nimbus, I actually plan first to put the name "Nimbus" on a sticker on a moto for a pin-up I'm doing (I'll show it you, I'm almost done), and then I plan to draw a pin-up based on Seth's character, with the dragon en probably one of the girls. Unless you're not okay with it.