WEEK 6: UNDERGROUND COMICS

Airships of Atlantis Discover... Mu the Land that Never was (1978)

When I first picked up this book during class I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew some underground comics may be explicit and may address political topics but this comic took me to another world. I didn't see any of those topics. I was confused as I was following this distasteful character who was self-centered and power-hungry. The characters weren't that likable even his fiancé, the princess, was cheating on him with the servant and trying to get rid of him. What was interesting was the build-up to the end. We learn about this world of Atlantis, the creator of the flying airships and this new world "Mu". After the main guy utilizes his power to gain the likes of the princess of Mu and gain leadership in Mu things start to get weird. If you weren’t confused from the beginning, welcome to more confusion with the twist. I could be wrong but the land of Mu was created by the creator of the flying airships to get back at the main protagonist. The man didn’t believe the magic creator that Mu was fake and was as real as he believed it. Something happens to the island and the sanity of the protagonist as they are lifted into the sky and land on the moon. From my understanding, this book takes the “New Age” theology and the idea of the Mu city on the moon. I think the reason I was so confused was because I felt like I was dropped into the story with no real context. The biggest problem was either handwriting or grammar.