Web Comics

When I Am King

     When I Am King is an interactive web comic that’s almost entirely linear, the reader has to scroll right or left for all the chapters. While most panels are still frames created in a program rather than hand drawn, some panels are animated. A new element to the comics genre. As technology and the internet evolved so did comics, creating a new genre called Web Comics which are comics published on the internet rather than by tradition means. Awhile most web comics still adhere to the structure of comics, some web comics such as When I Am King are avant-garde. Using linear scrolling and animation to tell the story of a pharaoh that gets locked out of his palace and is force to go and explore the world. 

The Killing Joke

The Killing Joke

      I found the Killing Joke to be very interesting. Seeing the Joker’s origin’s unfold and his wife’s death was the catalyst for his transformation. While the series is usually focused on Batman, this story followed the Joker and how he ultimately became the Clown Prince of Crime. The story sort of jumps between the beginning and “end” of the Joker’s career. We see his origins and his resolution with Batman but we’re given slight context to the constant struggle that these two characters have been through dealing with one another.  

      Throughout the story the Joker’s plan is to drive everyone mad, to show that he is just like everyone else. Methodically planning to show Batman that they have a lot in common. Saying how they each had one bad day that made them who they are now and why they fight so hard. All leading up to that one moment where the Joker shares a laugh with Batman. 

       If I could adapt The Killing Joke to another medium I would turn it into a live action movie. The Killing Joke currently has an animated adaption but I feel that  actors would bring out these characters and add to the tension and drama within each scene. To fill the role of the Joker I would cast David Tennant (most widely known as the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who). David Tennant’s part as the Doctor already proves his ability to play an excellent Joker, but his charismatic and convoluted character would do justice for the fan favorite lunatic villain. It was even brought to my attention that The Killing Joke’s Joker even resembles Tennant. 

Comics by Women

This One Summer

     This One Summer is a graphic novel written by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki. Two Canadian based twins. The story follows Rose, a pre teen who goes to a cabin with her parents during summer vacation. She meets up with her friend Windy as they have their own summer fun. The art style of the novel was truly beautiful, it complements to the realism of the drama that’s laced within the story. The expressions of the characters each scene would give context to their real feelings, even if it’s never really told in the story. The story has a sense of realism, and allows any reader to be able to relate to one or more problems that occur throughout the story. Including subjects like, marital problems, teen pregnancy, miscarriage, and sex which is heavily used in the story. Sex and sexuality is the main topic of conversation between the two girls as they slowly approach their teens and start seeing the world with a different view. 

Asterios Polyp

    Asterios Polyp

       Asterios Polyp is a story that follows the life of a troubled man by the same name. Asterios goes through his life with the feeling of having someone looking over his shoulder. This feeling is because of his stillborn twin Ignazio, who is the narrator of the graphic novel. Throughout the novel, different scenes and characters are shown with unique color palettes and art styles. When a scene is taken in the present, there’s more yellow each panel. When it’s in the past the color palette is predominantly purple. In dream sequences,  characters are all yellow. When Asterios and Hana got into arguments their character designs would go from being similar styles to different, with Asterios becoming polygons and Hana becomes sketch-like.

Manga

Ranma 1/2

     I’ve read manga as far back as middle school so whenever I started reading Ranma 1/2 the weirdness and obscured plot of the story just seemed normal. At first I was thinking, “Really? All these little ponds where different things drowned in just happened to be right next to each other?” But after the introduction of the characters and backstory I couldn’t put down the story. I ended up reading the first three volumes in one night and if I wasn’t short on time I would’ve continued to read the other volumes. What really grabs me about Ranma and other mangas in general is the art style. While it simplifies characters down to very few identifying details, uses that in order to excel in expressions in order to bring out the personalities of the characters. The same goes to the character’s actions. With fewer details it’s easier for the characters to breath in a sense and let them move around easier. 

European Comix

Wake

    Wake is originally a french graphic novel before coming to America. At first glance you wouldn’t recognize that this wasn’t an American comic, but in comparison it’s not hard to notice that it’s more detailed and at times more graphic. In the original version of Wake the protagonist had a white stripe across her bare chest. When it was brought across the Atlantic it was changed to have a black stripe, censoring her chest. The story itself was very captivating, having an amazonian woman take on an entire fleet of Aliens. The saddest part for me was when the death of the Tiger, Houyo. Having his face get blasted off by the intense heat of the Aliens suit is another example of how much more graphic European novels are, and are allowed to be. 

March

March

     March follows the story of Congressmen John Lewis and his life throughout the Civil Rights Movement. The graphic novel was illustrated completely in black and white, it does well to make certain scenes more intense. Using close-ups and black backgrounds to show importance to the scenes. Opposing white characters were drawn with shadows under their eyes making them seem darker than the black characters which felt like they had much lighter characteristics. 

Maus

Maus

    

        Maus by Art Spiegelman is a graphic novel that illustrates the story of Vladek Spiegelman, polish Jew and a Holocaust Survivor who tells the story of his life during the war to his son Art. The first thing you’ll notice when you open up up this novel is that the characters are represented as animals. Jews were depicted as mice, Nazis were represented as cats and the pigs were the polish people. By illustrating the characters in Maus as animals Spiegelman is able to use the idea of cats being the enemy of mice and emulate that relationship to the Jewish people and the Nazis. Representing Nazis and Jews as mice and cats, it allows any reader to understand why Jews were so afraid of Nazis.
        What’s truly interesting about Maus is that it tells two stories, the story of Vladek during the Holocaust, and the story of his life now with his son and his new wife. Vladek likes talking to his son but his son is distant, only interested in his story of the holocaust for this novel. Even towards the end after Vladek finishes his story Art got upset with him because he destroyed Anja’s diary. Art calls him a murderer and walks away, unconcerned about how his father felt in the past and even now in the present. Vladek went through a lot in life. From losing his wife and first born, to surviving the holocaust. And now he’s suffered two heart attacks and married to a loveless relationship. While the central story has a clear ending, the more subtle one is left on an empty note. 

          I guess that's what makes the story even more realistic. The story continues past the pages.

Underground Comix

Underground Comix

     Going into Underground comix I had mentally prepared myself for the worst of the worst and in this case they did not disappoint. When it comes to the cruelest and the most controversial subjects Comix definitely doesn't pull any punches. The first set of comix I read were Mr. Natural by Robert Crump and by the second issue there was not only a child molestation joke, but several panels of Mr. Natural having sex with a minor. Honestly this was the only comix that was able to shock me. The other pieces of underground comix didn't give me that same punch, but that's obviously coming from my perspective were most things don't offend me.

      One of the things that's interesting about Comix is the use of recognizable characters, such as Mickey Mouse, whom we normally associate with innocence and throws them in a very grotesque world. This use of children characters surely adds to the shock value to these types of comics, and since this is the objective of the comic, it was truly successful up until it got taken down by Disney.

      Something I've noticed about Underground Comix that separates it from other comics is that there is no one type of art style. When you pick up a superhero comic book, based on the art style it's easily recognizable as a comic book. But each comix has it's own unique art style, some that are poorly drawn but still able to hold meaning. And some that are very detailed in order to add to the grotesqueness of the comix. This freedom of art style gives anyone the ability to create their own comix, even if they can't draw. 

Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels

    Blankets by Craig Thompson is a great read and it’s an exceptional example of what a graphic novel is. Breaking away from the norm of comic books and stepping out of the panels, Thompson fills an entire page with just one scene; this style is called Splash Pages. It allows Thompson to put emphasis on one scene or subject, showing its importance to the story. Blankets tells the life story of Craig Thompson, the story goes deep into subject matters that many people can relate to, whether it’s bullying, the feeling of not belonging or the story of our first love, with readers being able to relate to some of the problems in life that Craig had to face, this allows readers to understand the character and be able to feel for him.

   The Spirit by Will Eisner is an interesting take on the superhero comic book genre. The Spirit is a crime fighting vigilante with no superpowers, while he’s an interesting character the story isn’t completely driven by him. A good part of some of the stories are driven by what happens in the background. What I find interesting about Eisner’s villains are more flushed out than the protagonist. For example, Smooch was a villain but was also seen caring for a baby that he happened upon, this shows that the villains aren’t entirely evil; there are more sides to the villains than the Spirit himself. 

Comic Books

Comic Books

      Comic books bring a new style to how we think of comics and a new way of storytelling. In comparison to comic stripes, comic books are longer per issue. Stories became more complex diving into the story deeper than just a few panels. As for the art style, since comic books were printed larger than comic strips in newspapers artist were able to draw the comics in greater detail which added to the appeal of comic books especially those featuring superheroes. Comic strips only have a small window in order to entertain a reader while comic books are able to get a reader invested in the story, wanting to see the next issue and always hating the moment they see "To Be Continued..."
       

Comic Strips

Peanuts

     

    Peanuts is a daily comic strip that has been entertaining readers for decades now. The comic has a wide variety of characters each with their own unique story and personalities. Because of the wide range of characters not all of them have to be used at once, which allows for there to be more comic strip ideas and for the comic itself to last for a long time. The comics don't relate back to the previous comic, each new comic could have a completely different setting and idea behind the joke that the strip is trying to tell. 

 Calvin and Hobbes

   The story follows Calvin and his best friend Hobbes who is his stuffed tiger. The two go on adventures and cause mischief wherever they go. The comic strips themselves relatively relate to the previous comic, creating one cohesive story. The settings and ideas of the story doesn't stray too far from the story.  

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

Understanding Comics

         Understanding Comics opens our eyes to the world of comics. Taking the formula of the comics we see everyday and shows us all the pieces that go into making a comic what it is. Being a comic itself the narrator does a lot of 4th wall breaking all in ordering to example the fundamentals of a comic. Normally when reading a comic we read it from left to right, unless it's a manga then it's the opposite, but in some panels he directs our eyes so we read it from top to bottom.
         One thing I found interesting was how he breaks down the ability of comics to showcase the illusion of time passing in a single panel. Naturally our eyes read at a certain pace, so for me I figured that a few seconds had passed between each dialogue bubble. But he breaks it down further, he explains how sound shows the passage of time, since there is a speech bubble that could only come before a camera flash and one that would only make sense if it was said after the camera flash.
         I think one of the biggest take aways from this comic is the basic structure he has shown has. Idea/Purpose, Form, Idiom, Structure, Craft, Surface. He explains how the importance of making a story is understanding each part of these steps in order to make a comic great.  

The Arrival

The Arrival
By

Shaun Tan

When I read the first chapter of the Arrival I thought that maybe the story could be a metaphor for dying and the man going to heaven. In the beginning of the story we're greeted with this nice looking family but towards the end of that scene we learn that the city is over run by these dragon tails or shadows of such. The family was walking side by side but then the father disappears after that scene and the mother and daughter continue their walk. The father then goes to this strange and mysterious place. My initial thought was that he had been killed and that this new place was a sort of heaven. But as the story moves on I start to realize that his isn't the case since he was able to mail to his family.

The story really pulls off the imagery in the story were you don't need dialogue in order to understand the interactions between two people. Through body language and facial expression it's clear when someone is asking where is a certain place when they have a questioning or confusing look when they point to a map. Or when someone tells their life story. The story has a way of putting us on the same page as our protagonist, with each passing scene and with every new discovery we essentially know as much as our hero knows. The main character is exploring this new city and it's unique culture and we're right along with him, and just as confused at some points. It lets us truly understand the protagonist and how he feels when it comes to adjusting to a new place.