Comic

Web Comics

The comic Johnny the Homicidal Maniac felt like something a read before. Johnny is a criminally insane, introverted young man on a killing spree, his victims being those who taunt and make fun of him, all to feed the red wall with their blood. Driven by the voices in his head projected on to dead bunny, and two styrofoam pigs, he struggles with his madness and the fact that no matter what atrocities he commits, he is never caught.The illustrations in this book are styled much like Jhonen Vasquez's other creation, Invader Zim, which was a huge selling point for me as I love that show. I love the plot of this book, it's not just a bunch of murderous comic strips with a deranged character. The murders mean something, Johnny's struggles and insanity have a point, and the story progresses at a nice pace. It was easy to follow and I had no trouble getting back into the story after setting it down for a while. 

Reading chapter one of The Meek was a rather interesting read. I liked the intro panel where the little creature is slowly moving to the fruit to eat and then bam, there is a chase that takes place. It was a nice surprise action that took place, how they developed this by having a very calm scene ruined by an action. Then reading more of the chapter I was really confused why the girl, Angora, is naked and have green hair during the comic. I think it is not necessary to have her naked, but maybe their is a important reason why she is down the line, but my preference to that is a no. The green hair kinda made sense when we find out she can use nature to fight, so green hair makes her more earthy looking. Another shocker to me was what the grandfather looked like, I thought it was going to be this old wise man, but it was more of a whimsical creature. Got me thinking that maybe Angora is not from earth or maybe not apart of the human life, but I don't know never got to the end. The humor is kinda funny, but not really a comedic comic. 

The art style of meek is one word, awesome. I liked the color choices and how they used highlights and shadows in a simple way that doesn't over do the style choice. It is defiantly more cartoon style then a realist one. Even though the artist keeps things simple, their is detail in some ares, just played down a little. Like for example they show the map and you understand its a map, but it doesn't have every little thing shown, but enough detail to know what they are talking about. The artist also accomplished great facial expressions on the characters, in which it brought them to life. They also added to their personality and you know more about their character through them and also their choices. 
When branching out to find a web comic of my choice I skimmed through a couple and found one called Sandra and Woo. It a comic based on a a girl named Sandra and her adventures with her pet raccoon Woo, its not a serious comic. 

http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2000/01/01/welcome-to-sandra-and-woo/ 

The comic is more like comic strips, very short and to the point. I like that because its refreshing not to read a book about one comic. The humor in this comic is spot on, I chuckled so many times on the jokes. The raccoon is my favorite character on his actions he does. Their is one comic I found that leads more into a story on how Sandra and Raccoon met. Still cute and funny like the strips. I like the style of the art its simple and black and white. Background is not really a big part in this comic and I kinda like it, it focused more on the characters and actions of them and it brought them alive. 

Osamu Tezuka Buddha and More

I read some volumes and discussed Buddha, a manga by Osamu Tezuka, with my brother. I could not find all the volumes of this manga series and knowing my brother he read them all. He gave me a quick summary of what I was not able to find. We also talked about the characters and how the religion buddhism is represented throughout the series. How they include Siddharta, which is the main character of the Buddha series and prince of the Shaka tribe. I do think he is a big part of the Buddhism, but do not quote me on that. Though if true it is very interesting how they included actual things from the religion of Buddhism in it. Sadly though he is only introduced half way in the first book , and then his mom dies, wow what a great child hood. The art style in the comic series is really minimalist in some ares but then he is able to add detail in which it does not off set things. I love how he plays with the panels shapes in different scenes. I uses more odd shapes that add movement and action during action scenes. I love the arrangement of panels on the page becomes different on ever other page. How some go down from one another, others horizontal in rows, full pages of one panel, and some thrown in different ares for different types of scenes based on the mood. I think the use of only being black and white is good, but how the covers of the books have a pop of color leaves me questioning if the comic would look maybe even better in color. Though overall I love his art style and especially his compositions in action scenes. 
Overall, Tezuka's liberal adaptation of the Buddha story is both riveting and kitschy in its use of 80s lingo and Manga humor and silliness. In the end, Tezuka's ability to tell a fast-paced, well-oiled tale outshines is astonishing. I would recommend someone to give it a look.

I watched the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie years ago and it was real love.Therefore, it’s probably completely understandable that I absolutely loved this book. It was fan-tastic! And obviously while they were making the movie, they paid huge attention to detail, because even though I had forgotten some moments and scenes, it was so easy to re-imagine everything in color and with the actual actors, simply because every scene was executed precisely as it was drawn.The story is obviously hilariously awesome, all of the characters are such weirdos, it is so good. I loved the dry humor and the sarcastic remarks to a degree in which I felt like all of the characters are my soulmates at one point or another.To be honest, out of all of them, Scott is not my favourite by far. However that might be part of the point. As well as having the readers love Ramona. Because that I did. She’s so cool. I totally feel like a Ramona sometimes, she’s the relatable hipster girl we were or tried to be in high school. Though I do not approve of her choice of boyfriends.I am now really looking forward to reading the other parts of the series, big recommendation of the comics and the movie.

Another comic I read was Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara. The first volume of Mushishi is just wonderful. While it's sublime pace might not be for anyone, it collects five stand-alone stories which detail the interaction between humans and different kinds of Mushi. The tone of each story varies quite wildly, from the uplifting "The Green Gathering" to the truly disturbing "The Pillow Path".
While the trade doesn't really have an overarching plot, it does serve to introduce the concept of Mushi, as well as the reoccurring characters of Ginko and Adashino. The world-building characters the unmistakable overtones of Japanese mythology and the art is truly stunning throughout.

This One Summer

Jillian Tamaki wrote a comic called "This One Summer" which I thought was an interesting read. I felt more like a average television show you would find on abc family or something rather then a comic to me. I guess I thought this because when I think of comics I think of either humor or action in a comic, not a everyday girls day. I liked it though, it was different then a lot of what we read in this class. It shows how a young girl deals with her parents slowly separating, spending the summer with her best friend, and crushing on an older guy that might of got a girl pregnant. It is really relatable with me because of how the parents are always fighting, so I felt more attach to this comic more then something like "Archie." I liked the drawing style as well, how they drew each character with clean lines. How she really drew the clothing with pattern and the background with detail to really understand where the character is and the time. My favorite scene that she illustrated was the one with rose just chilling in her bedroom on the bed reading a magazine. Just the detail in the rug, the objects on the floor, and how she translated the blanket folding but with simple lines. Also another panel I loved when her friend Windy is dancing and she did not break each move in a different panel but rather on the same panel, with a figures moving a sequential order. It brought humor and movement in that moment. Most of the book was in black and white, but I also saw some blue ink used. I really enjoy the simple color use as well, I think it benefits in this way more then it would if it was in color. The overall character shows how the younger mind of a girl works, bringing a little bit of innocence to the comic.

In class we talked about how women comic book artist have a distinct area that classifies their work all together. I do not really think that women artist should all be classified in a subject together. Different artist bring different things to the comic world. In the comic I read done by a woman artist I see of only a woman being able to achieve it, but only because of the concept of the comic. It would not make sense of a man writing about a young girl and her love interest in a older man. I mean he could, but the perspective coming from a woman that went through possible is way better. Just because woman are way more emotional and can bring that to art in a famine way.

Authority

I read Watchmen by Alan Moore, and it was rather interesting, but not a favorite. Watchmen in which many people know the idea behind the title "Who will watch the Watchmen", but not everyone has read this acclaimed novel. As the title suggests it is a graphic novel that deals with the idea of who exists to watch the superheroes if they go out of control. And really, part of my problem with reading this novel is that when a hero goes out of control you get a villain. I don't subscribe to the idea of the anti-hero like many people. I believe in absolutes and as such I think that the hero is the character who performs more good than he does evil. 

In the end of this novel the whole idea of what Watchmen is really trying to convey wraps together. It's really about psychological conflict, about Nihilism and about the Jungian shadow. Many psychological theories I do not subscribe to but find useful to use as discussion points. Because I do not believe that the world is all full of darkness and evil when you strip it down as Watchmen appears to portray. I believe that there is much evil in life but that there is also hope and light for anyone to see. 

The comic "Authority" is a superhero themed comic filled with action of good and evil. When reading the two volumes, the class was asked a question about the comic. Which was, "are there any prominent symbolism the story and if so, what are they, and how are they used?" When reading the volumes I really did not look for symbols, so when going back to look it over again I really did not see many. A big symbol is good and evil, how their is this group of all sorts of heroes trying to keep all the universes from being taken over by this evil group that wants to turn, well at least one I know of, into a rape camp. I do not know if this was a symbol or not, when examining the clothing on both parties I notice they both consisted of a circle in some way. How the evil man had a circle, but with three dots breaking it up, kinda reminds me of how they are trying to break this peaceful state that society is in a cycle of. Though, then the superheroes had a circle on their clothing, but also a triangle. I do not know what that really could stand for honestly, because later on in the second volume Jenny Sparks has a new outfit on. Also another symbol I saw was Apollo and the Midnighter and how they are dark and light, or more what I see as ying and yang. Because they are a pair, always together, and when Apollo used all his energy and was drained, Midnight was very worried and held him, but they are different from each other. The guy is like his other half, a brother, or lover if you will.
 Next question we were asked to answer was " What connections did you make with the story, and discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect?" It is kinda hard to connect with a story based on superheroes, since I have no super powers. Though my connection is kinda with my dad. How I wanted to go to an art college and I had to keep fighting and fighting him to let me carry on my dreams. So in a way its like how the authority league is fighting evil to keep their place of peace that they dream of. Another connection would be to Apollo and Midnighter, because it kinda reminds me of my best friend lena and me. How I am more like midnight the dark kinda rebel one and she is like the pure and innocent one, how me and her are ying and yang, different, but need each other.
"What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium, what medium would you use, and what changes would you make?" I think the only other medium I could see this comic in would be and animation or a film. It kinda has that face pace action that I think would show very will with face pacing shot scenes. Some changes thought would be more detail in areas, it seems to me that the comic jumps a lot around and the quickly to where I am sometimes lost. I would kinda have more of flashbacks of the main characters to understand who they are and how they got there. I was really confused on everyone when reading this comic, I did not know what they did really until they were thrown into and action shot and I had to really look at it to know what they did. Sure they say like oh Apollo "the sun guy", but that is a very vague description of the man. I would though keep the idea of how the characters designs are present the way they are and the use of opec colors is eye catching.

Mox Nox

Joann Cornell's graphic novel Mox Nox was a delight to read. Some where really humorous to me, but others were alittle to graphic which lead me not being able to enjoy it. Cornellà is a brilliant artist. He is genuinely insightful and witty without being at all pretentious. He is focused on his art and not on his image. Great bold bright colors through out the comics adds to its humor and makes the comic for the young generation. He is a minimalist, conveying exactly and only what needs to be shown. He understands that there is no need for fluff or filler in great art. His minimalist approach is refreshing; I do get bored of photorealists drawing meaningless, complicated dragons and shit. Mox Nox does not seem at all manufactured, forced, rehearsed or 'thought up'; it feels natural and like Cornellà is giving a part of himself to his art. It is raw and vulnerable. The brilliant, short comics make abstract, sometimes riddle-like comments and inferences about human nature and culture. The recurring characters are archetypal and memorable and the facial expressions Cornellà draws are simple yet timeless. A favorite most defiantly. 

Dockwood is a contemplative glimpse into an otherwise uneventful Fall day in a sleepy town somewhere in the UK. You spend the first half of the day following a young kitchen porter as he prepares and delivers meals to the residents of the nursing home where he works, while a section of the afternoon is spent with a high school paperboy as he goes around Dockwood delivering the local evening newspaper.
Yeah, not much happens in terms of a plotline, but then again, you get the feeling that complicated plots were never the point of this graphic novel. Capturing everyday life, as quiet, uneventful and even boring as it might be sometimes seems more in line with the purpose of Dockwood, and in this aspect, the novel succeeds most brilliantly. The color schemes used by the artist are stunning and complement the Fall spirit of the novel entirely. I particularly like the “silent” moments of some of the panels, the ones in which the two main characters simply stop what they are doing and take the time to appreciate simple things, such as tree leaves or a starry sky. But humans are not the only protagonists in Dockwood, and I found the numerous panels depicting nature and the animal life of that quiet town really enjoyable too. 
That being said, it is fair to warn that Dockwood is an unusual book and that it is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you tend to find beauty in the ordinary, it might just be the thing for you. 

The french film we watched in class was also a delight to watch. I love the style of art it had through out the film. How each character was drawn, the dog being round so he is friendly to the audience and the evil man have sharp edges making the audience to know they are not friendly. The muted dirty colors made it seem like a older piece then it is, and I loved seeing that sketchy feel all around. This art style is the kind of style I love to see in art. I would recommend this film even though we sadly never go to finish the film in the class.

Contemporary Literature Comics

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli, was more amazing to look at then to read in my view. I love the use of colors in the piece, like the bright blues, purples, yellow, and pinks, but also use those colors muted as well. Anything with color is more interesting to me then just black and white. A lot of white space is used in the artwork. He almost uses it to frame out the characters and objects that identify the background. Kinda makes the art have a abstract or geometric work. He uses different styles throughout the comic, their is some minimalist work and then some sketchy aspects. Even though he introduces different styles throughout it all seems to work still as being one. They story is about a professor named Asterios Polyp who taught at Cornell University, but leaves after being hit by lighting in his apartment. He moves to Apogee to become a mechanic. Then the story starts to show his past about his childhood with his still born twin, then into his bad marriage, and continues on into dreams. I think it was a very interested story and never really read anything like it. I would recommend everyone to try it and read it. I have been told by my friends that they love reading it over and over again, so it seems timeless.

Bone by Jeffery Smith is a childhood favorite of mine. This comic brings back memories of me just sitting on the couch, flipping through the pages as fast I can so I do not get caught by my mom to start my homework. I read the color version which I though was the only version of the comic, I never knew it was in black and white first. I am glad they made a color version because it just added so much to the art and brought the story to life even more.Jeff Smith wonderfully takes three cartoon characters and puts them in a land of mystery and adventure, taking the reader from amusing, comedic anecdotes to an epic war for the fate of the world! While the Bone cousins are surely simplistically drawn, Smith develops their characters to a level of richness that blends them naturally with the detailed, flourishing environment that perhaps visually contrasts their appearance. Coming of age, loss of innocence, faith, love, and truth which are all major themes of this story. It is a must read for anyone that enjoys comics or just a great story with playful characters. 

In class we looked at some comics in more of a book form. I really enjoyed looking at Ice Haven and the one that came in a box with many different ways presented (I did not remember the name, sorry!).

Osamu Tezuka Buddha and Chynna Clugston Scooter Girl

I read some volumes and discussed Buddha, a manga by Osamu Tezuka, with my brother. I could not find all the volumes of this manga series and knowing my brother he read them, he can give me a quick summary of the rest. We also talked about the characters and how the religion buddhism is represented throughout the series. How they include Siddharta, which is known the be the iconic buddha. He though is not really a big part in the series for that the is a newborn. The main characters seem to be the pariah Tatta, the brahmin Naradatta, the slave Chapra, and his mother. We do not actually learn her name in the series. The story focuses on their journey more then Siddharta's. Mostly Chapra's goal is to rise up from his slave caste, even though it is forbidden. The book is full of characters with interesting personalities and morality's. For example our heroes may be good. But some will kill if they feel it is needed. The General who adopts Chapra is shown to be a horrible person at times, but is also shown as a loving father who accepts Chapra, even when he learns that he is a slave. The book is very well written with a lot of drama as well as a bit of humor. The humor me and my brother both agree that it is kinda corny, so some jokes seemed not so funny. Also just to through out there is that the series to me seems like it has a lot of 80's lingo as well, making it out of date to know days. The art in the series is very clean and uses black and white correct, making it still readable even with the heavy use of black in some areas. Many little details in the clothing, characters, background and more. It is a great read that I had fun rereading.

Another quick manga I read was Scooter Girl by Chynna Clugston. This was a disappointment. Everything about it kinda was a disappointment. The art in some panels was good, but other then that the manga was bad. Super cheesy plot line, predictable, and not humorous one bit. I had to really get myself to finish it and not slam my laptop shut and walk away. It was basically a typical story of a guy trying to get a girl, like cat and mouse. The only slight twist was that bad things start to happen to the main character, the boy, and believes the girl is a curse. For example his scooter gets ruined over, his dad becomes bankrupt, and all his friends start to hate him. Even though it had this twist I kinda did not think it helped, I thought it was actually out of place in this concept. I remember reading some of Chynna Clugston's Blue Monday work and that was a whole a lot better then Scooter Girl. Maybe going into this reading I had higher hopes and that made me more disappointed in the end. Overall I would not recommend this reading.

Stereotyping, March, and Exit Wounds

Before I get into the readings of this weeks, I wanted to touch on stereotyping. My view is that 99 percent of the time I do not realize stereotyping is happening in films, books, games, and etc. This is because I grew up seeing it thousands of times so my brain is register to think that it is normal. Though I do not agree with stereotyping. Being a woman I hate seeing a woman that is super skinny with a big butt and big breasts. Majority of woman are not shaped like that or presented as eye candy for men. Me being a woman I am more effect on stereotyping for women then African American stereotyping. Though how I feel about how women are stereotyping is probably the same way they feel about stereotyping. Its accepted in the world right now, but if the envelope is pushed to much I could see things going bad.

Now on to the reading for week eight. March by John Lewis is a book that will challenge you, that will make you think, and that will hopefully leave you a bit better after you've read it. This is a book that everyone should read, and then reread again. And then pass on to others to read. This is a part of history that we should not let die, remember, and honor those that created it.

Congressman John Lewis is an iconic figure within the Civil Rights movement, and the last surviving member of the “big six leadership.” He rose from being the son of sharecropper, to marching with Martin Luther King, and to the halls of Congress. This first book in a planned trilogy covers John Lewis’s youth in rural Alabama, his first meeting with Martin Luther King, the birth of the Nashville Student movement, and the battle for desegregation on the steps of City Hall. And it comes to an end all to quickly. I finished the book saying "but, but...I want more! I need the rest of the story now!" And that's such a great way to leave readers, clamoring for the next part of the story. It’s a powerful and moving story to see a firsthand account of the triumphs and sorrows of being involved in this time period in history.One of the problem that I normally see with autobiographical stories, is that they often try to give the reader to much information or even sometimes not enough information. They forget that we aren’t all familiar with the history of an individual. But this book doesn’t suffer any such problem. We move expertly between past and present, as John Lewis gives a tour to children from his district and explains his past. It’s a great way to set up the story. And more importantly you don’t ever feel like you’re missing out on something.

Nate Powell’s artwork is absolutely gorgeous. It’s done in his typical grace/style of capturing the human form oh so perfectly and it seems like this time he’s gone even further in his use of shading to give us the beauty of all different types of skin tones, each character’s is unique. His artwork is perfectly suited for this story capturing the range and intensity of emotions--the sorrow, the joy, and the fear that sends chills down your spine. That intensity, that feeling of life that he captures in their faces really makes them come alive.

You can’t help but feel moved by this story and you can’t walk away unchanged. The combination of story and art works perfectly in capturing this event and this time period. I’m predicting this book will be one of the best graphic novels of the year, perhaps even one of the best books of the year. I started recommending it to my faculty as soon as I heard about it. And one that I can’t wait for them to teach from. I defiantly recommend the book for someone to read, ten out of ten.

Exit wounds by Rutu Modan was another read I did for this weeks comics. Now this comic is one comic that I was kinda like meh with. Nothing really empowering and nothing really memorable about it. I am not bashing about on it, it was a good book, but compared to what I have read in this class it is probably on the bottom of the list. What happens in the comic is that a taxi driver in Tel Aviv is confronted with a mystery involving the potential death of his estranged father. In the process he gets to know a young woman who is the daughter of wealth.

Something that I did really enjoy about the comic were the illustrations. Modan's illustrations are crisp, and clean, with bright, stark color work. The characters are well fleshed out and absolutely imperfect. In some ways the story feels inevitable. In other ways it takes some unexpected turns. The character of the father comes to life in a somewhat surprising way. I would not really recommend this book, I would recommend reading the March over Exit Wounds.

Barefoot Gen

While watching the film Barefoot Gen in class, was like being on an emotional rollercoaster. I went through so many emotions, like joy, anger, and most the time sadness. I would not think this film would make me feel all of those emotions, for that anime style movies never really touch my heart like that. Yes, going in to this film I was not excited. One being that it was in the style of anime, not my cup of tea. Secondly, it contained subtitles during it, making it hard for me to follow along while also trying to read all the words being presented on the screen. 

The subject of the movie shocked me also, taking the view of a suffering family during the war and bombing at Hiroshima is different. Sure I have seen many movies based off that time and era, but never the way Mori Masaki did it. Since being born and raised in America, I was going in being on the American side, but I saw myself crossing over the the other side. I felt bad that innocent people were attacked and lost loved ones during that time. Even in the movie the father never wanted the war and thought it was stupid that the people started it. I really enjoyed how Masaki made me change sides during the movie and made me understand how even citizens of Hiroshima felt about the war. 

Now lets get to the art, since I am an art student. No again as I stated before anime style is not my cup of tea, though I liked how it was handled in this situation. How the characters a bubbly and playful, so when their upset you become upset. I think the film had a simplify style during the film, but had enough detail to understand what the object, place, and person Masaki was trying to represent. Now it does get graphic when the bomb hits and the after effect. How the boys slowly burn, fall apart, melt, and basically rot. How children in the river die because they can't swim. Walking burn victims down the streets. Also how the artist shows breasts a lot during the film, I know that really it is not a really big deal, but growing up in a Catholic home it is for me.

Overall, I would recommend this film.

 

Art Spiegelman's Maus

As a story about the Holocaust in comic form, Art Spiegelman’s Maus accomplishes the seemingly impossible. Maus tells the story of Spiegelman’s father, Vladek, and his experience as a Polish Jew during the Holocaust. Running parallel to the story is the story of Spiegelman’s interactions with his father as he visits his father on numerous occasions to record his memories. All of the characters are represented as animals: the Jews are mice, the Germans are cats, the Americans are dogs, and so on. Within this seemingly simplistic framework, Maus confronts the terrifying reality of the Holocaust, the systematic genocide of millions and millions of Jews carried out by the Nazi regime during World War II.

Maus is considered a representative work in second-generation Holocaust literature, literature about the Holocaust written from the perspective of the survivors’ children. As the critic Arlene Fish Wilner explains, “In the Jewish tradition, the transmission of familial and communal history from parent to child is a sacred obligation”. Inheriting and preserving their parents’ stories is a way for children to connect with their families’ pasts. This becomes especially important when you think about the fact that whole families were wiped out during the Holocaust.

Spiegelman exploits the comic form in Maus to unsettle the reader, playing with panel frames and arrangements and with his own animal motif to unsettle the reader’s expectations. Within the comic, Spiegelman reflects a lot on the making of Maus, inviting the reader to inhabit his creative process. In using a form of popular culture to talk about serious historical issues, and by reflecting on the form within the text itself, Maus is also considered a postmodern text.

I also liked how he used black and white instead of color to set the mood of the comic since it tells a more serious piece of work. Using rodents as people shows how he wanted to represent how jewish people felt like pest and rodents compared to everyone else during that time, basically alienated.

I would recommended this.

Robert Crumb

Robert Crumb's, The Book of Mr. Natural, has a main character featured through out the whole book, heck his name is in the title, Mr. Natural. At first appearance, Mr. Natural is a mystic guru who spouts aphorisms on the evils of the modern world, and the salvation to be found in mysticism and natural living. He has renounced the material world and lives off anything he can get in exchange for his nuggets of wisdom. Mr. Natural is always depicted as slightly overweight, bald with a long white beard, and wears a gown which makes him resemble a prophet.
Crumb's bearded guru is too unapologetic to be called a con man. Despite his renunciation of the material world, he's an unrepentant sybarite. His straight talk, while refreshing, can get him into trouble, as when he was kicked out of heaven for telling God it's "a little corny" in "Mr. Natural Meets God". The stories that contain the character Mr. Natural always seems to keep things fresh brining a wittiness to the pages. 

Need More Love, a graphic novel by Aline Crumb, was a fun book to read. For one thing, along with text, there were comics to read, photos and paintings to enjoy looking at. Aline Crumb had a totally dysfunctional childhood, with a father who did not hold a regular job, but always looked for a way to scam a buck. Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, she explored free love, drugs and rock 'n roll. She had a baby when she was young and gave the healthy boy up for adoption. It does not sound like their paths ever crossed again. After her father died, her mothers wanted to share a flat with her, and she married a nice Jewish boy instead to get away from mom. That marriage did not work out. After attending college as an art student, Aline eventually moved to San Francisco so she could explore her craft. She got involved with such feminist artists as Trina Robbins. She worked on "Wimmen's Comics", where she wrote autographical comics, which was very new, especially for women back in the 1970s. Due to some conflicts with some of the other cartoonists, she eventually worked on her own comics with other artists called "Twisted Sisters." 

In San Francisco, she met artist Robert Crumb, who already had a great following as a cartoonist and they started hanging out. Eventually they lived together and got married. They lived in Central California for many years, worked on comics together called "Dirty Laundry" and had a daughter Sophia. During one of their many travels, Aline fell in love with France and convinced her family to move there. They are presently living in South France in a beautiful home. Aline shows off some photos of her home in this book. Robert and Aline are still very involved in their writing and cartooning. 
I loved reading this book and learning about Aline and her family. Aline has a great sense of humor throughout her book. She makes fun of herself, her art and she emphasizes how difficult it was at times for her daughter to grow up with parents who are artists and had such a liberal past. I highly recommend this book for a good time. 

Tijuana Bible Blondie, is a very graphic piece. I did not expect to be reading such vulgar things from a comic book. I just thought this would be a good comic book since I never heard of it and I wish I did not. I do not understand the purpose of this, it was like the comic version of porn. To add to it, it looked like a young boy drew the characters making it even more uncomfortable to read it. Basically if you have not gotten it already, I did not enjoy it and do not think there should be much to say about it.

Will Eisner's Works

Will Eisner's Family Matter tells the story of a day in the life of a typical family gathered for a birthday party. In the span of twenty-fours hours, the darkest family secrets are revealed. Long suppressed memories surface like betrayal, abuse, greed, incest, and worse. The strained family comes together, only to be torn apart. Will Eisner's novel The Name of the Game traces the parallel lineages of three Jewish families from the late 19th century to the 1950's: an old money family, the Arnheims; a more modestly striving family, the Obers; and the social climbers, the Kayns. By turns, it is poignant, maddening and sobering in its depiction of how people use marriage as an avenue to preserve appearances, rise in social class and sometimes just survive. While I seem to recall Jeffrey Archer's Kane and Abel novels covering some of the same territory, I found this deeply affecting and resonant. The Dreamer, another Will Eisner's work is a semi-fictional story of a young man who dreams of working in the world of comic books in the 1930s. Along the way he meets those who share his dream, and others who have dreams of their own. 

Blankets by Craig Thompson is wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers. A tale of security and discovery, of playfulness and tragedy, of a fall from grace and the origins of faith is a small description.Blankets in my opinion is the coming of age story of Craig. It's a story of love and self-discovery, and of family and parenting, and the scars the smallest of brutalities could make. But most of all It's the story of Craig's struggle with art, love, and sexuality on one hand, and his faith on the other. Blankets is, in short, about life. Craig's journey from the darkness of Plato's Cave, to the light of the real world; his liberation from dogma and ignorance, through love and reflection, was so relatable to me, since I went through a very similar journey.I never thought that a graphic novel could be this meaningful—not taking away anything from graphic novels, but the ones I read, so far, were more entertaining than anything else. But Blankets changed that very mistaken impression; it made me reflect on life, and feel so many emotions. Would recommend, if you can read more than 600 pages.

Art Spiegelman's Jack Cole and Plastic Man

Art Spiegelman's Plastic Man series of comic book bended the rules of a regular super hero. When going into reading this comic book I was expecting a generic super hero and a common scenario were this man saves the day. Though I was surprised to find out what this Plastic Man really was. Plastic Man is a man that can shift into anything that he needs. For example he can stretch him self like a rubber band from panel to panel, or he can shift into an object like a ball. He can even shape shift into a female. It was interesting take on a super hero, and how his powers changed out the layout of a comic book. It also gave leading lines and movement when he stretched himself, making the viewer know where to look next or where to look. It standard traditional color scheme did not hold back the red jumpsuit and yellow belt though. The reading was great, but my only negative about this comic was that its scenarios were border lining predictable and commonly seen in other comics. The new super power of this hero defiantly helped the comic in the long run. 

Herge created many comic book series of Tintin and his adventures. Tintin travels to exotic places in every comic book. Tintin is a famous reporter with Le Petit Vingtieme. In one of his comics he departs for the USSR with his faithful friend Snowy, a white dog. Tintin is on a mission to find out, and report to his young readers back home, in one of his comics, the state of affairs in Soviet Russia. This adventure was the birth of a legend and the first edition of the book that had achieved legendary status among collectors. 

While in class, we read a few comics of Carl Bark's work. Carl is the creator of all of Donald Ducks comic series and his adventures. In one of the comics that I read Donald and his nephews are competing on who can catching animals. Donald says he can catch anything and to prove it he will catch a fox. His nephews though decide to prank their uncle and have him catch a faux fox scarf he gave daisy. Donald though catches his nephews in their little act and decides to find a "wolf" from the pound and claim he caught it. The nephews are shocked from this catch and try to catch themselves one. Though Donald seems to get caught by their trap when trying to show his nephews that their trap stinks. When the nephews go for help they get caught in Donald's other trap. leading them later to be cut down later by bystanders. Then a mouse sales man tries to sell Donald a mouse trap and Donald does not find this funny, slams the door and leave the sells man confused. 

Carl Bark's gives these little critters many gestural poses and facial expressions that  bring the characters alive. The bright colors adds a cartoony feel, and less realistic colors like some comics we saw about wars or batman by DC Comics. The jokes found in the comic are generic, but still makes me crack a few chuckles here and there still. Lets face it you can not beat a classic joke. 

Little Nemo and More

Winsor McKay's Little Nemo in Slumberland is a full-page weekly strip depicting Nemo having fantastic dreams that were interrupted by his awakening in the final panel. The strip is considered McCay's masterpiece for its experiments with the form of the comics page, its use of color, its timing and pacing, the size and shape of its panels, perspective, architectural and other detail. When reading Little Nemo in the Palace of Ice, it was a quicker read then what I expected. For that at the end of each comic, the final panel is always little Nemo waking up from his dream. Hearing that Mckay always has Nemo wake up at the end of his comics, gave the comic artist a signature of repetition. Making the artist quit unique. His use of colors helped depict where he was placing Nemo at the time. With blues and whites gave a cold feeling, and show that he is at the Palace of Ice. His panel size variation also helped him make the comic seem more real, since it played on the timing in the story. Overall, I enjoyed the little adventure that little Nemo went on. 

Other two comics that I read were Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant! and Some Krazy Kat by George Herriman. Beaton's comics strip (394) was a little three panel comic making fun on how an american sit compared to the British. It was a nice small comic that was straight to the point. It was a black and white comic with the same panel size. It s characters facial expressions and how the comic was drawn added a humorous quality to it. Krazy Kat now it a different story. When reading some Krazy Kat in class I had a hard time reading it. Then I was told to read it out loud, then I could understand it little bit more. The comic uses slang making it unique, but could be hard for some readers to follow. Though, if the reader can not follow along through the text, they won't have a hard time following along through the illustrations. The quirky little characters makes the comic seem timeless for anyone. The use of colors too, it has a sense of old time tones of colors, but I think that adds to the old worn out jokes it features. Overall, both comics displayed a corny joke with humorous illustrations. 

Comic Theory

Not a lot of people put too much thought into the process of how comics develop or what even makes up a comic. During the development stage the artist or creator of a comic put a lot key things into thought. Like in Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics, Scott goes into what a comic really is and how it uses certain vocabulary, icons, colors, its "moment to moment", time sequence using frames, and basically other key ideas that wrap up the whole story. The most important point I feel that Scott McCloud makes about what makes a comic is the "moment to moment" or "aspect to aspect" sequence. Some comics are wordless so the panel to panel aspect is almost the comics grammar. To make a comic work, the panel-to-panel of both ideas flowing makes the story understandable to the reader, and can properly be read. I feel the time sequence plays in the same idea of this, since how many panels are repeated of something or how small or big one is also helps the reader understand how to read the comic and get what the artist is trying to do. Though McCloud likes to keep those main ideas away from each other by separating them in different chapters.

Another artist that helps explain the comic theory is Roger Sabin in his book Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels. The book talks about the development of comics from the 19th century to today's graphic novels. Sabin talks in great detail about each era take on the comic. He also supports his work with including detailed images of the comics during that time period. I think a great point that Sabin makes in his book is that the generations of comics have changed a lot over years and how now we have manga and anime more in comics then not even being a thing in the 19th century. Though, comic artists still use old tricks in new works, so the old saying "don't fix it if it's not broken." Is a great representation of old comic book tricks that still work. Like for example to use color to convey certain emotion in a panel. An oldie, but still a good goodie. 

My Response to The Arrival

When first glancing at the graphic novel The Arrival, I was nervous to see no text or words to follow along with the story. Though, surprisingly I was shocked to find out it was easier to follow along through pictures then if reading words line by line on a page. What helped a lot in the pictures was the gestures and facial expressions that the figures gave, giving us an idea what they were trying to show or say. Like when the man had to be taught of how the other world worked, a lot of the people that helped him along he way had to show him through pointing or demonstrations. For example, when the man is trying to earn money he decides to put up posters, later though other man who hired him to do this task shows him he was doing it all wrong. The man was putting the posters up the wrong way, this was shown in the surprise look in the mans face, and the aggravated look in the other man's face with the poster in his hands the right way. There are way more situations were facial expressions and gestures showed what that scene on the page was trying to convey. Another thing that stuck out to me is how the author Shaun Tan showed the changing of seasons with the transformation from the foreign flower dying slowly. It gave a nice time lapse, but also giving the reader the information that it was a different time period now. Overall, I feel like Shaun Tan captured the story of showing how foreigners feel when coming to a new place. Tan draws it like living on a new planet that almost non real to someone, and that person has to learn different things and different ways to do things, even if its odd to them. In conclusion, words were not needed in this novel, for all the images said it all.