Week 15 - Revising Week 3 Blog Post

This is what I would add to what I wrote before. I really enjoyed reading Little Nemo.


This comic reminds me almost of the more successful vines where they are able to tell a story within a short amount of time (or in comics, a short amount of space on the page/panels/being limited to one full page). By reading Little Nemo I have gotten the impression that out of all the comics we have read this may be one of the most effective ones that uses the least amount of text in the shortest amount of pages. Usually Nemo has dream like adventures with quirky characters that will talk to him before he wakes up. These adventures range pretty widely, from running around a tree that ends up turning into a rhino to sledding down a hill discovering jack frost's palace.

The visuals in Little Nemo are very impressive to me. Specifically the way in which the backgrounds/landscape/buildings are drawn. Most of the detail seems to be put in the background which makes sense because it's a comic about a dreamworld. However there's so much detail put into the line work of everything around the characters it stands in a league of it's own. I believe that in class we talked about how he drew everything from memory too which is almost unbelievable because the architecture looks like it was taken from inspiration from life. This shows you how an artist can require to have multiple different skills in order to create their work. Going off of his buildings that was drawn for Little Nemo I'd say he's almost like a concept architect.

Week 4 - The Comic Book

EC Comics Haunt of Fear

This was my first horror comic. Haunt of Fear felt as though it was a classic campy horror film, most likely because this comic was from the 50's. What made it felt the most campy to me was the dialogue. However I would not consider this to necessarily be a bad thing. Through the dialogue I was able to read the words in the voices I assumed the characters would have while also being able to feel the way in which the characters were saying their dialogue. This really stood out to me because sometimes it can be hard to convey the way in which dialogue is being said to an audience but in this comic it felt so natural. I believe that this is due to not only the way in which the dialogue was written but also how the character's faces were drawn and the fact that it is a genre. Throughout the comic the characters reactions are very apparently drawn out in an over dramatic way that I think is only fitting for a horror comic. The other thing that stands out to me is that there is a narrator. This makes it feel similar to a childhood story in that someone is telling us a spooky horror story. This someone is a very detailed looking old woman that resembles a witch.


Explorers On The Moon

This comic felt very appropriate for the times. This comic was made in the space age period of the 50's/60's I believe. This was a time when America had high hopes for the future. Space exploration was something that people dreamed of. I feel as though this specific edition of Tin Tin was to intrigue people's minds. This was my first time reading Tin Tin. It almost felt like a novel with pictures rather than a typical comic book. I loved the dialogue when characters said things such as "Blistering barnacles...". These older comics have a special charm about them but that may be because I like the period in which they are from. The story had funny comedy parts that you just don't see now. Such as when one of the characters (who was getting tipsy off whiskey) accidentally shuts off the nuclear motor (sounds like a dangerous motor) and so the gravity is not normal. They all start floating around. After they get the gravity fixed they are all issued magnetic boots in case the problem happens again. This whole comic has lots of issues such as this one where one character gets into a pickle and Tin Tin has to save the day.

Week 8 - Stereotype and the Ethics of Representation

To me stereotypes in comics is an example of an artist who is not creative enough to come up with compelling characters. Stereotypes are easy to do because we see them all the time. They are what we "expect" to see. But because we see them so often they start to become very unoriginal. At the same time I believe that stereotypes do not really help anything. Yes it allows the artist to be able to create characters very easily but for what? It does not do anything for the reader when we have these shallow small depth characters. By having these stereotypes incorporated in our pop culture it only reenforces them. This is not the mindset that the artist should be giving people who view their work.

We should be using our medium to making people see past the typical stereotypes. Art can be used and I think should be used as a way of communicating positive messages to the world. Stereotypes only exists I believe because they are similar to viral videos, in that once there's the image of a stereotype, some people just seem to buy into it and believe it.

Looking into the future I hope that comics will throw away the stereotypes and enforce the use of not having any stereotypes. It's possible with the newer generation who for the most part, we seem to be more open to things such as this, will be the ones to rid the stereotypes. But at the same time it is hard to predict what will happen because I believe that the stereotypes have become somewhat ingrained into our society, even if the majority of the people do not like them.

Week 3 - The Comic Strip

Little Nemo

What grabs my attention the most about Little Nemo is that we are experiencing the character's dreamworld. Anything can happen in each comic strip. At the same time though as a reader you can somewhat expect there to be a little bit of consistency between each comic because they all end in the same way. Every Little Nemo ends with him waking up out of bed, signifying that everything that was shown previously was a dream. Both the consistency yet unknown (being a dreamworld where anything can happen yet knowing that it is a dream) is what would draw me back to read the comic on a routine basis.

Week 9 - A Wide World of Comics

Persepolis

Since this comic is an autobiographical comic it feels as though it's similar to a comic documentary. It is interesting to think of comics used as a form of non-fiction almost. Most of what's in this comic I knew nothing about so I think that this comic does a good job at informing people. Because this is a autobiography I feel as though it's the best way to really get a sense of what it's like growing up as in Iran during the Islamic revolution. This is more effective to me when it's written this way versus being a fiction story because it feels more genuine and accurate. It's like a history book but with more visual images and less text. Precise and to the point. I believe that this comic would be effective at even teaching the younger Islamic generation what there past was like. It would be able to reach a very broad audience since the writing in this comic is not too advanced.

When it comes to different religions and beliefs having simple line work and black and white images help to convey information that may be more difficult for us to understand. Their beliefs can seem so vastly different from our own that it can be hard to comprehend why they do the things that they do but when it's presented in a comic format that is easy to understand, I can make sense of unfamiliar things easier.

I think it's interesting how we see how bad she wants to be a prophet no matter what anyone tells her. This makes us connect with her because we too want her to accomplish her dreams. Slowly her desire to be the prophet gets put on the back burner as the revolution becomes the main focus.

Week 10 - Manga and the Japanese Comics Tradition

Battle Angel Alita Volume One

A scifi manga. These are my favorite type of mangas as they always seem to bring up topics that make you think. In Battle Angel Alita it is no different. The first volume starts off with two scientists trying to bring back a person using an advanced form of technology and science. I find it interesting that at first they are disputing about whether to bring back this person or not. The friend of the scientist asks the scientist why would he bring someone back who is his enemy. This stood out to me because the scientist is not only acting as a god by bringing someone back but he is bringing someone back who has killed him before. I think that this says a lot about his character and what he believe it means to be someones enemy.

What sticks out to me about manga versus other types of comics is that it is usually very cinematic. They also tend to have very long stories that feel similar to the greek epics. The thing I love about them is that they feel like they have the scope of giant blockbuster narrative films yet they have the format of episodic television shows. Battle Angel Alita in particular starts off that way. We have this epic scene where we see the scientist bringing the girl back to life while at the same time there are these two kids walking across the desert trying not to get shot or blown up by land mines. At the end the scientist finishes making the girl and she wakes up. I believe this is to get you interesting and wanting to read the new volumes.

Week 11 - Comics as Contemporary Literature

Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp has a very pop art vibe going on. There's a selective use of colors that is very visually appealing. The color purple is the main color while often times there will be one other color thrown into the mix. Other colors such as yellow or blue will be used to sort of guide our eyes visually to what the artist wants us to pay the most attention to. Pink seems to be used primiarily during love/romance parts of the comic. This is a great use of the medium and uses the restrictions of the medium to ones advantage, beyond what has already been done before.

There's an interesting concept throughout this comic that is presented as "What if reality (as perceived) were simply an extension of life?". I feel as though this accurately represents the theme of the comic. Throughout this comic there are a lot of big concepts about life and our ways of thinking intermixed with the main character's narrative story. I would consider this comic to be a very philosophical comic in the sense that we get several different people's opinion on life but in a very detailed way. We really get into the main character's ways of looking at life. A memoir of his personal perspective on life would be a good way to put it.

The line work to me compliments the deeper meaning of the comic in that it is very simple line work contrasting with big concepts. This puts more importance on the words than it does on the actual images.

Week 12 - Comics by Woman

This One Summer

This comic feels a lot like the movie The Way, Way Back. Similar to the movie, I feel as though this comic is about the story of people discovering who they are. It's a teenage coming of age drama story. Rose wants to grow up already. Everyone around her age in the story is talking about much more mature themes. She goes to the store to rent a dvd and then other people are talking about blow jobs. She picks out the R rated horror film. Rose talks about how sick she is with watching cartoons and that's why she likes the horror films. Then she brings up oral sex. It is very evident that she wants to be grown up and do mature things. We see her talking about the older boy working at the store and if he is old enough for her.

I like how visually this comic was black and white when the world in which the characters live in seem to be the exact opposite. I do not think that color would have enhanced the comic as I feel it would have instead taken away from the comic. The line work makes the comic have sort of a timeless feel in that any generation could read it and it would not feel that dated. I also noticed that there does not really ever seem to be that much drawn in the panels. To me this is showing us exactly what's important and not stuff that just fills up the empty panel space. Sometimes I would even notice when characters would be talking to each other there would just be white blank space behind them.

Week 14 - The Future Of Comics

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac 

I recognized this art style right away from the show I used to watch, Invader Zim. This comic seems to adapt the same type tone as the tv show. The world is bleak yet somehow the character's are relatable in a dark twisted kind of way. The art style feels very similar to Tim Burton's style. I like that all of the people's eyes are exaggerated and that you can get a sense for what emotions they are conveying just by the way the artist draws the eyes. I think it's interesting how lanky and long people are. It feels as though they are all skeletons which I feel adds to the horror feeling of the comic.

We do not actually see any of the parents faces in the comic. This gives you the impression that they are not really there for their child and perhaps are not the best at parenting. We see the son approaching both his mom and dad because he is scarred yet they both dismiss him away. His mother literally says "Mommy's ignoring you honey" as she is laying on a bed. When he goes to his father he says "I have to work to keep you alive. To feed you. I haven't smiled once since you were alive. Go to sleep."and then makes the son go away.

Once the son goes back to his room he hears a sound in the bathroom so he goes to investigate. Here is where we see an interesting perspective of the son. He starts talking to his bear about his parents. I find it fascinating that he tells the bear that he has to protect his parents. Even though his parents ignore him and do not really seem to pay that much attention to him, he still wants to protect them. I think that this says a lot about his character and who he is as a person. Then he starts arguing with his bear about how he parents really do love him and don't mean it when they tell him to get kidnapped.

From here we are introduced to Johnny. To me I got the impression that the young kid is like a younger version of himself. Both of them can talk to the bear that the kid owns. It feels as though Johnny is the version of the kid when he grows up if the kid's parents continue being the way that they are. I feel as though if the kid gets neglected enough he will end up becoming Johnny.

The Private Eye - Volume One

This comic's style is very colorful. It feels as though it is a superhero comic because of how many colors there are. This to me contrasts however with the tone of the comic. I would say that the tone is very reminiscent of film noir set in the future, similar to Blade Runner. The themes are for a more mature audience.

I really like the concepts that this comic conveys in the narrative. They talk about how everyone used to store everything on the cloud and then one day it all got leaked. Everything about everyone was available and out in the world. I think that this is a really interesting idea about what could actually happen in our future. This is what intrigued me most about reading this comic. A rising issue that we seem to be facing today is the protection of our online personal data. When the main character goes to the library to find data is looks as though it is a prison. Barbed wire fences are surrounding the outside while guards patrol the inside. All to protect people's data. In the future people's search histories are federally protected. This is what destroyed people's lives in the past so now it is a huge deal.

I also love the fact that the main character's grandpa represents someone who was living during out our time period. He's always trying to connect to the internet or use his old cell phone but none of it works anymore. The internet is even referred to as an old fad.

Transmetropolitan - In Class Questions

1.

I believe that the gun is a symbol in the comic. We start off by seeing the main character holding the gun pointing it at the phone while they are telling him that he owes them two books. Usually guns are symbols showing who is in control or not. However in this comic I feel as though the gun is a symbol for the false sense of control. Just because he has this gun does not mean that he actually is the one who is calling the shots. He still has to write the two books. When he gets back to the city and storms into one of the business buildings to see an old friend he points the gun at the friend demanding to get a job at the business. The city editor does not even really act phased by the fact that a man just walked in his office with a gun. It seemed as though possibly a gun might be a symbol for people who are out of control because the city editor still seems to hold all the power even though he does not have a gun.

2.

The connections that I made with the story was the whole aspect of the mountain life versus the city life. Although in the comic this aspect seems to be dramatized more than it actually is in real life I feel as though it is accurate. The city people look down (as seen when spider goes to the toll booth) on the mountain people and the mountain people look down on the city people. I think this is an interesting topic to bring up because it puts both groups (city and mountain) into their own little factions.

In reality I feel as though you always want what you cannot have so mountain people want to live in the city and vice versa. In the comic they place an emphasis on how much worse the city life is compared to the mountain life. To me I connected with this because I believe that this represents how everyone thinks, which is the need for change. He moved to the mountains to get away from the city life. Essentially he was literally running away from his fears by going to the top of a mountain and staying there for five years. I think we can all relate to this. If we all could just run away from our fears without having to face them that would be great.

3.

The changes that I would make to adapt this story into a film would be to make it less on the nose. Right now there is not that much subtext because the main character says and thinks everything that is on his mind. I think that this works great for the comic medium but for film I think that you would have to show this visually. The main character does not like the bar so he just literally blows it up. He almost comes off like a god. His name is even Spider Jerusalem. I feel as though his personality would be very interesting to how as a film character but he would have to be toned down in terms of how godlike he comes off. The first thing that came into my mind when reading this was that it would make a great film noir style film. I think the thing that would have to be emphasized if this were made into a film would be the social criticisms that were apparent in the comic.  To adapt the same social criticisms from the comic into a film would make for a very ballsy film. I think that it would be relevant for today because in the comic they make most of the average people seem as though they are just drugged out vegetables. This is super interesting because it is somewhat of a opinionated foreshadowing of what could be a potential outcome for all of our futures.

Week 13 - Reconsidering the Superhero

Arkham Asylum

I thought that the artwork in this comic was really interesting. It seemed to vary heavily from what would be considered a traditional superhero comic. Most of the panels consisted of dark color palettes and not the flashy vibrant colors that I am used to seeing. What really amazed me though was how the artist was able to get such rich textures into the comic. Sometimes Batman is takes up an entire panel and yet does not have defined lines. He almost blends into the background giving the characters this hazy dreamlike feeling. There was this abstract feeling to every panel which I think then supported the theme of the comic.

We get a very unique look at batman in this comic. He comes across as more emotional in this one. versus our typical image of what Batman is supposed to be like. Most of his internal problems are conveyed by the dialogue in which he says. The reader is able to see more of his feelings. The themes in this comic are on the more physiological side which makes sense since he is in a prison that holds all of the crazy people. Also this further supports the dreamlike feeling this comic has.

Week 5 - Will Eisner Graphic Novel

A Contract with God

One of the interesting things that I liked about Will Eisner's style in this graphic novel was how has an intro type format where for a few pages there are text on the page telling us the narration and then one big image drawn per page. As the graphic novel goes on it forms two or three panels per page. I think this builds up the momentum of the story making you want to read more.

Eisner's use of cross hatching for adding texture to walls and floors is very appealing because it is simple yet allows you as a reader to focus on the parts of the image that have more finer details. I feel as though most of his work is similar to film noir in that it uses the blacks and whites to it's advantage. The mood of A Contract with God also is more dramatic which is why I might be drawing this connection.

Eisner draws people in a way that to me in unattractive. However I believe that this gives them more personality and you are able to distinguish who is who easier.

Week 6 - Underground Comics

Mr.Natural - Robert Crumb

For an underground comic Mr.Natural started off as a very positive almost Disney type of vibe. We have the main character telling us to be happy and positive. Once it get's to the next segment then it starts feeling more like an underground comic to me. We witness the main character meditating for a long period of time. He starts to come across as though he is a hippie. Then we witness him stealing money from a real monk type figure which shows us that Mr.Natural is not a good person. But ironically he gives the money away to a kid which shows us that he does at least have some redeeming qualities. I think it is funny how the monk at this point does complain that he has rent to pay after just saying he is not attached to material things. I believe that is a take on life today that even though yes the monk wants to not be attached to money, it's what makes the world go round.

Whiteman - Robert Crumb

I found this comic to be interesting in that we start off feeling just like whiteman does. At first he is freaked out bigfoot but then as time goes on he becomes more used to them. He even goes so far as forming a relationship with one of them. As this happens we as a reader become more attached to the bigfoot character. I felt as though this was trying to say something about society and what we consider to be "acceptable".

Dopin Dan - Ted Richards

Dopin Dan reminded me of M.A.S.H. if they all smoked weed all the time. I can see this appealing to the veteran crowd. The main characters feel like rebels which would make it appeal to the underground crowd.  I felt as though it was similar to The Three Stooges in that they are always getting yelled at and messing everything up but in Dopin Dan there are more mature themes.

Week 7 - Maus

This story came off as very genuine to me. It felt reminiscent of the film Big Fish or The Fall that both use the storytelling convention of having a character tell about things that happened in the past to another character. This type of story lends itself to a very episodic type of narrative. We experience this is Complete Maus several times as the son keeps coming back to hear more of his father's stories about the past. By doing this you as a reader want to keep reading so that you find out the full story. Also this lends itself to having nice breaks in the narrative but still be one big connected story.

I thought the father's dialogue was tricky to understand. It reminded almost of how Yoda talks in that after you read the dialogue you have to think about what you just read, decipher what it is he is trying to say.

I was also interested every time the author would want you to know what a specific item was in one of the frames he would specifically make a text box and say what that item is. An example is when Artie's father throws away Artie's coat and then Artie comes back with a new coat, different from the coat that Artie's father gave him. In the frame we see the wife putting the coat away in the closet with a text box indicating that it is a new trench coat. This text box also occurs another time when Artie is getting ready to leave and Artie's father's wife is playing a crossword puzzle from the new paper. We as a reader know it is a crossword puzzle because it says in a text box "x-word puzzle". I believe that Spiegelman used these text boxes because the frames in the comic were laid out are small, not allowing the use for finer details. Oftentimes I would even have trouble keeping track of which character was which since the majority of the time they all look similar. Except when they introduce different animals or when you pay specific attention to what clothing they had. I also believe that being black and white worked against Spiegelman because with the use of color he could have easily differentiated what was what.

When we get to the part near the end where we see some of Artie's comic work I think the way that this is conveyed in genius. The entire time Artie is interviewing his father and I am thinking as a reader what kind of comics does Artie make. Then near the end we actually get to read one of Artie's comics in a comic inside of a comic type way. I think the way that this was done was really great because it really puts you in Artie's world being able to see the type of content he creates. He created this very twisted underground comic about his mother dying showing that how upset it made him.

At one point near the end Artie shows his father rough sketches of the comic book he is working on. He says "It's an important book. People who don't usually read such stories will be interested.". When he says this I feel as though this is the reason that the Maus is so important. It addresses a topic that might not have been discussed in such detail in 1980 when it was originally published. This in a way feels almost like it's a PSA in that it is raising awareness of what the times were like back then in the war for a family such as Artie's father.

Week 2 - Understanding Comics

I really liked when he talked about breaking down the process of comics into the list of 6 steps. Purpose, Form, Idiom, Structure, Craft, Surface. This resonated with me because in a way I felt as though most of what he was saying about these steps were true. Scott McCloud visualized these steps as an apple with Surface being the outside of an apple. Most of these days every chooses what has the best surface and then ends up getting disappointed because there's just a hollow center(no Craft, Structure, Idiom, Form, Purpose). I agree with this idea 100% and believe that it applies to lots of different things in life.

Then Scott goes on to talk about how a younger, newer, inexperienced artist who likes comics will go and start making one but only concentrate on the Surface. He does not have the other 5 important parts of the comic. This I found interesting because it seemed as though it was explaining most of our generation and how when we get excited about something we only proceed to do this thing at surface level and then quickly lose interest and move on to the next thing. There example was a guy who did a comic and took it to professional at a comic con and gets his work torn apart because he did not know how to make a comic with every step. After he gets his harsh critique he forgets everything and then moves on. I think this speaks to the ADHD of the world and that we all have short attention spans nowadays.

Week 1 - The Arrival by Shaun Tan

The Arrival was able to tell a story without words through the use of it's images alone. Using a familiar topic, detailed images, and linear narrative we are able to understand the story without there being words.

The type of topic or specific story that the comic follows is immigration/moving to a new country. It feels very reminiscent of when people started coming to America from England. I think most people can relate to having to move or traveling while also spending some time apart from their families. Because the comic is about this topic I think it connects to readers on a more personal level and therefore makes it much more easier to understand on a base level.

The images in which are used in the comic are detailed, focused and specific. Each frame/image chooses to show you specifically what they want you to see. This is very important since there are no words, the only thing we have to go off of as a reader are what is shown visually. I felt as though because it uses the frames in chronological order you are able to understand what the story is about. It’s similar to a storyboard for films but goes into more detail almost going frame by frame every time a little action in the story changes. In The Arrival it uses a variety of frame sizes to also help convey what is going on in the story.

The narrative in this comic is similar to how most stories are with a beginning, middle, and end. Because the entire comic has the whole story I think it is easy to make sense of what the story is. We are not getting random fragments or just an individual chapter or segment from a larger story. The more we follow the characters journey to me the easier it is to understand what is going on in the story because you have more images to go off of and it becomes less cryptic.