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.