Viswanathan K's Thoughts

I am reading this book titled “What If?” by Randall Munroe. It’s a book on “serious, scientific answers” to “weird, hypothetical questions”. Munroe also writes a webcomic called xkcd that’s very popular among the kind of people who usually read the above mentioned book: geeks, science fans and engineers! (Personally, I believe anyone can learn from such informative yet entertaining books, but that’s a different topic…) Talking of his webcomic made me think of how comics require you to be able to write as well as to draw. Or does it? Let’s look at some popular comics over the ages to check the validity of that hypothesis (I know, I know: I am in that “What If?” frame of mind when I use words like “validity” and “hypothesis”!) Let’s evaluate in chronological order. The Asterix comics were done by a team: one guy wrote; the other drew. Awesome outcome, wasn’t it? Then there is the Tintin series: the same guy did everything. The drawings are good, the stories even better: ...

I’ve never understood this obsession many have with evaluating a writer’s personal life. Like it has any relation to their work. With a new Tintin movie ready for release ( The Adventures of Tintin ), the latest guy to get judged in this manner is Hergé . For his collaboration with the Nazis . And for writing a very racist Tintin ( Tintin in the Congo ). So much so, that they don’t even show it on the list of Tintin books anymore! So have people stopped buying Tintin’s for their kids, to voice their protest? No, but that doesn’t stop them from criticizing him. Others like to bring up Wodehouse’s broadcasts on behalf of the Nazis . Did that make his novels less funny? Do you laugh less at Bertie Wooster’s crazy adventures because of that? Does it make his language any less brilliant? Or take the endless discussions as to who wrote Shakespeare’s works. One author or multiple authors , would we quote Shakespeare (knowingly or unknowingly) any less for that? It seems such a...