"THE SYMBOL STORY OF A SYMBOLMAN FROM A SYMBOL TOWN."

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The Author

Author's Note (in book):

You’re holding a fairly strange animal in your hands right now, a unique hybrid, kin to storytelling dating from the dawn of man, the heir apparent of prehistoric cave art, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, pictographic languages from every civilization -- a stepchild of the comic book subculture.

No, there’s nothing ordinary about this book.

Art invokes new perception in an individual through the utilization of universal symbols, and humans are hard-wired to search for them. At the same time archaic symbolism continues to serve us in museums and universities, we’ve invented new literal, utilitarian symbols. Ones that guide folks worldwide to rest rooms, or tell them this door is “not for you,” there are “airplanes that way,” “no cell phone” use here, or “smoking is prohibited.”

These symbols don’t sell Gods and Goddesses, not anymore. Those folks are Toast in a fast food culture.

When a toddler sees something as simple as a fast food Logo, they’re effectively Reading. That the letter “U” ten thousand years ago represented the scribbled outline of a cow’s face on a wet clay tablet, by an accountant, gets ignored by the child’s brain quickly as abstract letters morph into words, sentences blend into paragraphs, and a new, richer experience blooms in the mind.

As a student of art and anthropology I spent a lot of time thinking about what constitutes “reading,” how the mind conceptualizes words and imagery.

So I strung a few literal symbols together and quickly discovered the original context and inherent meaning of the images changed, sometimes dramatically -- redefined by their juxtaposition within the narrative flow of a story that seemed to begin writing itself. Like a universal code, a sort of “visual esperanto” sprang into being, one which I believe allows just about anyone in any industrialized nation, anywhere on the planet, to read and understand this Tale, regardless of language.

A little history: In 2000, I animated a portion of this book and entered the work in an online contest hosted by Shockwave.com/Animation Magazine. I won the “Best Animated Graphics” Worldwide category and accepted a beautiful award at a ceremony in Hollywood, California. I had bested over 640 animators from all over the planet with, “Symbolman: Boy Meets Girl” -- which can be viewed at: http://www.symbolman.com

Take a copy home, share it with your friends, puzzle it out together. For those who might have trouble along the way I’ve included some cheats in the back, clues for each page in case you feel stumped or stymied. But try to read the whole story without referring to the clues. You can do it. Part of the fun is discovering that some symbols will be changed by those that come later, or before, as this “movie in your head” unfolds, and only you can fill in the blanks, once you’ve entered the flow.

Be advised however that once you’ve read it, this book will change you. The next time you cruise a highway and spot symbolman in bed, at an off ramp, in your mind’s eye he’ll slide out of that bed, make coffee, take a shower, and ponder what to do with his day.

Magic.

Joseph Campbell, the great teacher of myths and the meaning of symbols, might have appreciated this book more than most. I hope you do too.

Micheal A. Stinson

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