Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Webcomics Worth Wreading Entry 43: Wizard School


The magical community is in trouble. They’ve long lived in secret alongside ordinary humans, but there are dark forces at work that seek to destroy both the magical and non-magical communities. The task of defeating those dark forces falls to the Chosen One, known by the mark on his forehead. Though he has lived all his life without knowledge of the wizards and witches sharing his world, he is now expected to master wizardry and defeat the forces of evil.
I did not just describe Harry Potter. Well, okay, maybe I did, but that’s purely incidental. The piece of fiction we’re going to discuss today is Wizard School.


Russell Graham is just about the last person you would ever want to rely on to save the world, deliberately so. The villains chose him specifically so that the Chosen One would have neither the skill nor the inclination to damage their plans. If you’ve read Harry Potter you may remember that Harry wasn’t the only one who could have stopped Voldemort… until Voldemort attacked him. Voldemort’s actions turned Harry into the only one who could defeat him. Well, Wizard School gives us an idea of how things might have gone if Voldemort knew what the hell he was doing.

Note: Wizard School is a narrative comic and should be read in order from the beginning if you want to understand and enjoy it as much as possible. This is a case where I don’t think the things I say on the blog will spoil the comic much, at least not in a way that will damage a reader’s enjoyment of the story. This comic’s appeal is primarily in the tone and the details, and there is plenty to discover besides what I’ve outlined below.


Every character and plot development in Wizard School is a deconstruction of the fantasy genre in general and Harry Potter specifically. The choice of Harry Potter as inspiration is integral to the comic’s success as a message. Harry Potter has become embroiled in the public consciousness to the extent that any fantasy work invites comparison to it, regardless of whether that comparison is useful or how much influence that work had on the fantasy genre before Harry Potter was even written.

While I’m not fond of tossing the phrase Harry Potter out there every time a kid goes to a magical boarding school, Wizard School invites and revels in the comparison. While not every aspect of Wizard School runs parallel to its equivalent in Harry Potter (or even necessarily has such an equivalent) it’s clear that this world and its inhabitants were crafted in a twisted imitation of Harry’s home and companions.


The plot devices that are skewered in Wizard School may be primarily associated with Harry Potter, but they have been part the fantasy genre for a long time. In a way, Harry Potter has become the ultimate incarnation of a particular kind of fantasy tale. By commenting on Harry Potter, one inevitably winds up commenting on modern culture, showing us precisely how we are using fantasy stories to process the real world.

Wizard School is Harry Potter viewed through the most cynical lens possible. Archetypical characters are subjected to reductio ad absurdum, whittled down to one dimension. They become clowns, lacking any layers or subtlety. They are still recognizable as the archetypes that populate Harry Potter and other fantasy works going back for ages, but they are stripped of their humanity, the complexity that gives them a life beyond the role they play in a story.

These archetypes show up so often in fiction because they work, because they communicate something to us about ourselves and our journeys. Simply being an archetype isn’t enough, though. Wizard School demonstrates the shallowness of allowing a role to define a character. It is possible to craft a fantasy story as mere formula, with characters falling into the jobs assigned to them and going through the motions of self-discovery. However, that approach to storytelling creates a mere framework, lacking substance. And that framework lends itself to support all manner of unsavory furnishings if you’re not careful.


The basic conceit of Wizard School is to take your basic child-saves-the-world fantasy story and twist each element of it, bringing the depraved in juxtaposition with the innocent and marvelous. The most stark example of this conceit is in the age (and attitude) of the protagonist.

The task of defeating evil in stories like Harry Potter almost always falls to a child. That way the story can serve as a coming of age allegory, or can establish a theme of innocence triumphing over corruption, or can include a moral about underestimating the small and meek. Everyone in Wizard School is expecting the Chosen One to be a child, as children have always been the ones to bear the mark in the past. When an adult shows up, they’re surprised, but they accept what they see as fate’s choice, and provide him the same treatment that they would if he were younger.

Russell Graham is not just any adult, though. He is an adult who has embraced all the most vile aspects of adulthood. His primary concerns are money, sex, and drugs, and he has no intention of behaving himself differently simply because he’s surrounded by kids. Any reasonable man in his situation would ease off a little, employ a little discretion in his speech and behavior, but Graham does none of that. He treats the children who surround him with no more care than he would other adults, and in fact revels in the power he can hold over the other students.


Another stark juxtaposition comes from Wizard School’s setting. Fantasy stories can, of course, take place anywhere. Many are set in fantastical realms beyond our world, or long in the past during the time of legends and fairy tales. There is of course a strong history of British authors writing fantasy set in the UK or a place very like it, and for a time any American’s first thought upon hearing someone mention England was inevitably “Oh, like in Harry Potter!”

One can even find fantasy set in the US, if one looks for it.

To Americans, though, our own country does not feel fantastical. We are used to seeing magic happen in other places, and we don’t expect to find it at home. America is mundane; it’s what we see every day and we don’t expect to find anything out of the ordinary here.

Furthermore, America is crass. To the mind of an American, Britain is full of sophisticated, intelligent people. They know how to comport themselves, and they view us with judgement for our ill-mannered ways. A magical school to train wizards would just about have to be British, because Americans could never run such an institution properly.

So in Wizard School, where the beautiful and innocent meet the horrific and depraved, one finds a wholly American take on a story that is so heavily associated with Britain. For most of the story, the setting is not entirely clear or relevant, but this magical world contains trappings that are definitely influenced by the lowest of American culture. Wizard School is nearly as much a commentary on American self-image as it is a deconstruction of fantasy.


Even the ragged edges of the panels reinforce the idea that this is a messy world, where easy, clear-cut attributes like purity or goodness are elusive.

On the surface, Wizard School appears to be a pretty direct parody, but I’ve been reading it for years now because it lives and breathes with its own life. I highly recommend you check it out for yourself and see what it says to you.

“Oh, but what if I’ve never read Harry Potter?” You might ask. To which I say… I honestly don’t know how to put myself in the mindset of someone who’s never read Harry Potter. Those books have become so ingrained in our culture, and were such a significant part of my childhood, that it’s difficult for me to imagine being unfamiliar with their contents. I’m tempted to say Wizard School would still be enjoyable to you, though. After all, Shaun of the Dead is beloved even by viewers who lack familiarity with zombie movies. So I say give it a shot and see for yourself.

Wizard School is written by Kevin Kneupper and drawn by Robert Rath. It updates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Please note that, despite being heavily influenced by a children’s book series, Wizard School is not an appropriate comic for children. I wasn’t kidding about the sex and drugs. But if you’re intrigued by what you’ve seen and read here, go ahead and dive in!


4 comments:

  1. Wizard School is not an appropriate comic for children, you say? I've been reading it from the beginning (and there is stuff on the site suggesting it's nearing its end) and when I saw the 'spirit animal' that was a goofy goat named "Goatsie", I knew it was not even appropriate to try to EXPLAIN to children.

    Still, one of the best Satire/Parody/Deconstruction comics of any genre (and the web has them of EVERY genre) and a worthy entry to your fine list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As someone who usually errs on the side of "kids can handle anything" I sometimes feel the need to specify when something makes EVEN ME believe it should be kept away from the children.

      Anyway, I'm glad people are enjoying it.

      Delete
  2. Word of warning - Wizard School stopped updating about 2 weeks after this review. The author pleaded lack of money and wrapped up the story at the end of Chapter 18.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wizard School did indeed conclude shortly after this post went up. The whole run, start to finish, is now available for anyone who wishes to read the entire work.

      Delete