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.