Rewrite

Ethics Representation

King

I read the third volume of King at the library. The art was a lovely stark black and white. It was drawn very well and the artist used it to enhance the story about equal rights. Balancing hand drawn images with actual photographs really reminded the reader that this was a historical piece. It was a relief to see black people draw as people and not simians.

The monologues of different people giving their opinion about the king were also an interesting bit of story telling. It almost seemed like a story telling device people would use at a play. They all had different personalities; one even called him a white-lover. They didn’t all speak of King sometimes they spoke of the rights movement itself . This really gave us an idea of the mindset back then which though it was the recent past is drastically different from today.

I’m fond of the way Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t overly glorified. He was a great man but he was still a man not a god.  Seeing King act casual, seing him swear, and seeing him arguing with his wife made him seem more real. His personal life is what we didn’t learn in our high school US History class. The moment when Coretta had to tell her daughter that she couldn’t go to the amusement park (because it was whites only) was heartbreaking. It was such a strong. This little girl didn’t even understand racism, because her parents protected her from it, it didn’t make sense to her. But she had to face that some people not only believe that this little girl was equal with white children but that she shouldn’t even be around white children.

Chicken with Plums

I’ve read Persepolis before and I was looking forward to this book, which wasn’t from her point of view. This book told the story of one of her relatives, Nasser. The wonderful thing about this story is the way that your opinion is constantly changing about Nasser as Marjane reveals more and more information about him through out his story. In the beginning we see Nasser is on his way to buy a new sitar to replace the one his wife broke. He thinks he sees a woman from his past but she doesn’t remember him. The new sitar isn’t good enough, so he decides to lie down and die. At first I was judging this strange man, I didn’t understand why he’d give up on life because his sitar broke. Later we realize that the sitar was the only thing that kept him going when he wasn’t allowed to marry the woman he loved. That lover was the woman that didn’t recognize him in the beginning. So in one day he loses sitar, which symbolized his love, and he sees that the woman he loved forgets him. It was such a well put and told story I had to read it twice.

The story also goes beyond Nasser and tells the tale of his children and his wife. I honestly felt bad for his wife. She held the relationship up all by herself. These other stories were entertaining but they did get bizarre. Like the story of Nasser’s son’s daughter who became pregnant without realizing it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Annual

The teenage mutant ninja turtles have wonderful thing going on, a steady series. The original Eastman and Laird comic began in the 80’s. Since then the Turtles have had a tv show, comic, and movie in every decade. Every generation since the 80s have been exposed to turtles which is why most people are familiar with them. That’s pretty big accomplishment for characters that aren’t licensed to a major comic company like DC or Marvel. The creators still hold the rights to turtles so they have their name on everything.

Thanks to the current deal with Nickelodeon Viacom the turtles now have an annual comic. The TMNT annual is written and drawn by Kevin Eastman. It looks like a piece of the original comic, I still can’t believe that it’s a new issue from 2012. It’s been 28 years since the first comic and we get the new annual comic. There’s something about seeing the family-friendly Nickelodeon’s logo on the inside cover of a gritty comic complete with blood stained katanas that makes me happy. It was nice to relive the turtles again and 2013 can’t come soon enough, maybe Laird will write this time.

Comics in the 21st Century

Comics in the 21st Century

White Ninja

It’s like taking a step back to the newspaper comics. I thought white ninja was a very entertaining comic they humor was weird but it worked. White Ninja reminds me of the character Homer Simpson. Not the smartest person but still fun to watch.

Gun Show

This is a web comic I check regularly KC Green who has made many web comic before creates it, but Gun Show is his current one.  The comic does have some reoccurring character but you could start reading it at anytime it’s still entertaining if you don’t keep track of it. I really like the art. Green can draw one expression a million different hilarious ways.

One comic in particular I’d like to focus on is Emmy and the Eggs, a 3-part Halloween special. http://gunshowcomic.com/617 These pages show you what the comic is all about. It takes something you think you’re familiar with (such as pumpkins) and it changes the story to something completely wrong and sometimes disgusting (such as pumpkins filled with horse fetuses.) I do find it really funny. Some times Green does run out of ideas, since it is a tri-weekly comic but the stories normally aren’t dry.

Reconsidering the Superhero

Batwoman Elegy

This was absolutely gorgeous. I don’t know what I expected from that comic but I loved it. I tend to read superhero comics anyway and as much I enjoyed the past classes it felt good to be reading about caped crusaders again.

The art was gorgeous, the comic actually changed styles between Kate Kane and Batwoman. The symbolism of the covers mirroring to hero with villain, because they were twin sisters, was well thought out but not obvious. It was still tailored to the male gaze but the writing realized this and poked fun at it. I am familiar with Greg Rucka he wrote for Wonder Woman Hiketeia and Land of the Dead. He handles female characters very well; they exist for themselves and not for anyone else. Not for the male reader’s fantasy.

Kate Kane was such a real character, and very positive representation of a gay character. She was shown as a human and wasn’t simplified to cheap stereotypes. She wanted to fight crime, after leaving the military she ended up fighting crime. She wore the bat symbol so people would understand she was a hero. She isn’t actually affiliated with Batman. She exists for herself.  This is impressive because so many characters are linked with batman that Bruce Wayne practically has a Bat Family. It would’ve been easy for the writer to add Batwoman to the team but Rucka didn’t do the easy thing. With the help of her father, Kate Kane became Batwoman and Batman had nothing to do with it. Batman doesn’t even know who she is. (Unless you read Batwoman Issue 0, then you see the great detective unlocks her identity very quickly.)

I really love that the villain was Kate’s sister Alice (no doubt in affiliation with mad hatter) it made her fight so much more personal. The assumed death of Kate’s mother and sister drove her to be strong. She didn’t want to be weak or over powered ever again. And now the reason for her strength is trying to cut her down and hurt civilians. It’s such complex rivalry.

Civil War

While we’re talking about superheroes reinvented I believe the Marvel Civil War deserves and honorable mention. The Civil War is about the superhero registration act which would require all heroes to reveal their secret identity to the government so they can be held accountable for destruction. The two head are Iron Man, who sides with the government and Captain America who is against the act. All the superheroes had to pick a side. This Marvel event tied in nearly all of Marvel current series into one plot. All the different writers changed their comic to fit the Civil War.

Marvel has had other events such as the secret invasion or the Dark reign but nothing holds a candle to the Civil War. It was truly a sophisticated issue dealing with justice. It was handled well.  

Graphic Fiction and Graphic Nonficition

Cockaboody

I thought cockaboody was adorable.  The style was simple and childish the raw dialogue worked so well. I still remember what it was like when my sister was a toddler. There was a lot of gibberish that meant something. It was cute and very real

New York Diary

I’m really surprised how personal this story was. They all seemed centered around her experiences with men and her experiences were horrible. My god, it was as if New York was filled with the worst people in the world. But Julie didn’t just paint a picture of horrible men we learned about her and why she let these things happen. She grew up very sheltered in a catholic school. If I were out in a park and some strange man tried to tell me about his penis I’d probably walk away. But Julie didn’t she was too awkward too sheltered.

            All of her experiences with men seem like they all expected something from her. If she went to their house she was expected to have sex. If she was nice then she was expected to hold them as they died. Her last boyfriend expected everything from her; he was such a child. This is actually an example of a feminist issue. The feminine mystique not only makes woman strive to be something unreal but it paints unreal expectations of women for other men. All of those men, even the ones she know for a short time felt like they were entitled to something from her.

            Yes it took awhile for Julie to finally get a back bone and I’m sure her experience would’ve been different if she just said “stop I’m uncomfortable” but I can’t help but wonder why those men didn’t see that she was nervous? I suppose they just didn’t care about her.

Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp

This was a fantastic story. I really love how early on we were aware of Asterios’ ego. I was waiting for Hana to call him out and when she did it was a beautiful clash of her red and his blue. The way the art was used to emphasize mood was very clever and effective.

I think we all know a few people like Asterios, highbrow know-it alls that could judge a person harshly just be looking at them. It was fun to look deeply into a character like this and to see his world get broken and rebuilt. His attitude in New York and the small town are very different. In New York, before his place burned down he always spoke of things as they were. He spoke his opinion as if it were hard fact. In the town he either didn’t speak much of his opinion or he would start with “I used to think.” This alone showed clear development of his character.

The theme of duality is very strong in this piece. No doubt, Asterios is obsessed with duality because of his twin brother whom died in the womb. This obsession with pairs affects his building designs, his philosophy, and his love life. Hana’s argument with him not only marks the end of a relationship but also shakes his world.  He was wrong about duality. He used to think love was just a mixture of mutual attraction and shared interests but it’s so much more than that. Asterios does learn though. His midlife crisis has greatly changed him, humbled him. Made him significantly less self-centered. Safe to say, he’s not a huge asshole anymore. So Asterios confronts his other, Hana, to prove it and then an asteroid destroys them both and it over. It was an ending I didn’t see coming. The ending does fit though, midlife crisis are about live like you’ll die tomorrow. And in the end I think Asterios was truly proud of himself.  

An Introduction to Manga

An Introduction to Manga

Mushishi

I absolutely loved Mushishi, it was like no story I’ve ever experienced before. It’s so hard for me to explain the creatures, the Mushi. Some people have said that the Mushi are similar to the western myth of demons. There are all kind of demons water demons, mountain demons, and sound demons, etc. And there are many types of Mushi but the Mushi are inherently neither good nor evil. They are also natural, not wicked, they are older than most organisms. There really is no western equivalent to the mushi. The composition of panels really added to the story telling. I reminded me of shots from a film. I think my favorite moment was in the Mushishi’s first encounter when we learned about the how the grandmother lost half of herself. That shot when she’s just standing, then she walks away but her mushi half stays in place watching her other half walk off was beautiful! Another strong moment for me was the man who thought his dreams were visions of the future. In reality his dreams were merely dreams but the mushi made his dreams become reality. I didn’t see that twist.

            This manga had me at the edge of my seat with my nose between the pages. It wasn’t and action manga, there were no fights but it was just so interesting and I was completely wrapped in the mystery of the mushi.

Millennium Actress

I watched this movie without looking at a review or a trailer so it was something entirely new and I didn’t know what to expect. When the film genre first changed and the time period jumped between the 1940s back 800 years I was genuinely surprised.

It is a beautiful movie and a strong homage to film. I really love that the director and the cameraman were Physically drawn into Chiyoko’s story. The shots and editing was fantastic. The montage where she’s running through all the films to the painting of the moon shows just how good the editing was. One other thing I love was the repetition of the actors (such as her older co-star.) The policeman was very interesting to me. The moment when he returned to apologize to Chiyoko as an old man was very strong. We learn that he killed the painter with torture. Chiyoko didn’t hear this though, she’s been chasing after a dead man for most of her life. And she’s cursed to chase after him for 1000 years. At the end of the film when Chiyoko was dying/leaving in a spaceship I couldn’t help but hope we’d see a scene of her finally reunited with the painter in the afterlife. But the movie just ended instead and it made me cry.

Wide World of Comics

Wide World of Comics

Fantastic Planet

I watched the rest of Fantastic Planet and I wasn’t the biggest fan. A big part of it might’ve been because I watched the English dub instead of the French one. The English voice actors were so dull and the animation was already limited and it just seemed boring. Normally, good voice acting saves limited animation. I should’ve watched it in French. I did really find it interesting that the movie showed us a utopia. But it was a utopia for the Traags and a nightmare for the Oms (who us humans are supposed to relate to.) Like a lot of 70’s science fiction/fantasy the movie focused on introducing us to new world. It focused on the culture of the Traags and the Oms. It also focused on the landscape and creatures. It seemed a bit more focused on the world than the plot. While I did like that Terr used the power of the Traags’ own knowledge in the end the conclusion of the film seemed very rushed. The Oms create a rocked and travel to the world that the Traags meditate to. They start destroying the world and the statue the souls would inhabit. This devasted the Traags so much that the called for peace and ended the slavery of the Oms. I don’t understand why the Oms would accept a peace treaty. For once they finally had power over the Traags and the Traags were terrible to the Oms past. The Oms also didn’t seem like a race that would accept peace so easily. They had some issues with Terr when they first saw him. Why would the accept peace from their oppressor so quickly? But before that question is answered the movie is over.

Triplets of Bellville

I have never seen triplets of Bellville before this class and I loved it! I loved Champion’s unconventional family. I loved the style and the comedy. It was so interesting to watch but I was wrapped in it. It made such and interesting story even though it had so little dialogue. Which was so it could be distributed to other countries. I also found it very inspiring to my own animated work.

Stereotype and the Ethics of Representation

King

I read the third volume of King at the library. I really loved the gorgeous back and white ink drawings. It was a relief to see African Americans portrayed as actual humans instead of simians like the comics we’ve read before this.  Balancing hand painted drawings with actual photographs really reminded the reader that this was a historical piece. The monologues of different people giving their opinion about the king were also an interesting bit of story telling. What I really loved about this was the way that Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t overly glorified. He was a great man but he wasn’t flawless. The comic also showed the King arguing with his wife. I thought his personal life was the most interesting part of the comic. It’s what we didn’t learn in our high school US History class. The moment when Coretta had to tell her daughter that she couldn’t go to the amusement park (because it was whites only) was heartbreaking. It was such a strong and real moment. This little girl didn’t even understand racism, because her parents protected her from it, it didn’t make sense to her. It’s because racism is outside of common sense.

Chicken with Plums

I’ve read Persepolis before and I was looking forward to this book, which wasn’t from her point of view. This book told the story of one of her relatives, Nasser. The wonderful thing about this story is the way that your opinion is constantly changing about Nasser as Marjane reveals more and more information about him through out his story. In the beginning we see Nasser is on his way to buy a new sitar to replace the one his wife broke. He thinks he sees a woman from his past but she doesn’t remember him. The new sitar isn’t good enough, so he decides to lie down and die. At first I was judging this strange man, I didn’t understand why he’d give up on life because his sitar broke. Later we realize that the sitar was the only thing that kept him going when he wasn’t allowed to marry the woman he loved. That lover was the woman that didn’t recognize him in the beginning. So in one day he loses sitar, which symbolized his love, and he sees that the woman he loved forgets him. It was such a well put and told story I had to read it twice.

Maus

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Maus was a very wonderful and unique read. I love the way the main story, Vladek’s Story, was framed with Artie’s little visits. It was a very personal book. Vladek does not jump right into the story of the nazi oppression he first tells the story of his young life, of finding love, of the good times. Everything being told is significant to him. It’s also adorable that Vladek told his son not to mention such “private things” in his story. This also gives us a contrast to the rest of the novel.

            I am fond of the portrayal of Vladek because he reminds me of my own father. My father wasn’t in Auschwitz of course but he does do a lot of cycling. When you get older and your joints weaken walking gets harder. My dad started cycling a lot because it was an exercise that didn’t hurt his joints. I can only assume this is why we see Vladek cycling so much, and cycling as he tells his stories. Vladek also seems proud of his strength. It would only make sense that he continues exercising even in his old age. Vladek’s speech pattern’s is also a clear part of his personality. “It was so treasuring for me this package.” I loved that I could hear the Polish accent in my head as I read this.

            I also like that Spiegelman didn’t portray the characters as humans. Polish were pigs, Germans were cats, and the Jews were mice. For a brief moment in the sanitarium we saw even more animals such as rabbits, moose, and frogs. Cats and mice have a very clear relationship that was similar to the Nazis and the Jews. Mice are also seen as pests, much like how the Nazis saw the Jews. I also like that when the he was portraying his father pretending to be a pole he portrayed him as a mouse wearing a pig mask. By using anthropomorphic characters Spiegelman has made the meaning stronger. This is part of the visuals but it really adds to the story.

            The story is filled with heartbreaking moments. Everything you’d expect from a holocaust survivor. It was interesting to see how the characters dealt with the tragedies. When Vladek’s son dies he reacts in just a small panel but when Lolek decides to face the ovens there is an entire page dedicated to this tragedy. I thought about why his nephew death got a page while his son got a panel. It was because of Anja. Comforting his wife was what made the moment so memorable. She was a wreck but he wasn’t going to let her give up.

            Spiegelman clearly can’t stop thinking of his own mother as he interacts with his father. He wants her story. He also filled with guilt since his mother’s suicide. We see this in his comic Prisoner on the Hell Planet. He is a prisoner of guilt. He always asking his father for his mother’s diaries so he have the story of both his parents. When Spiegelman learns that his father burned the diaries he loses it. Especially when he hears that the stories were intended to be read by him. Spiegelman his furious that he doesn't have his mother’s story to tell. As a reader I am also sad that I don’t have her story to read. In a way the writer and the reader mourn the loss of a story. I also thought it was extremely clever the way Spiegelman ended the first Maus by calling his father a murderer. He also ended Prisoner on the Hell Planet by calling his mother a murderer. It is a wonderful connection between the two moments in time. It’s incorrect to say Maus is just about the Holocaust. It’s about the Spiegalman family.

Underground Comics

For the underground comics I read Greaser. It’s really strange comic written in the 70’s set in the 50’s. The comic starts with the main character doing the old hole in the bottom of the popcorn box gag on a movie date with his girlfriend. Through out the entire comic I have trouble finding the protagonist; I don’t think there is one. For a while it seemed as if the comic was applauding the greaser lifestyle since it was centered around it. We see the greasers terrorize people. In the end the greaser push some one too far. They both get their brains blown by a shot gun only to have their killer commit suicide. Who’s the protagonist? All the characters with a significant amount of lines are dead. What’s the point? Without a real story this comic seemed more like a freakshow. The comic would only be read just so people could obtain an offensive view of gender and Italians. The paneling was awful and art. It was clearly handled amateurs, but I guess most underground comics were. One strange thing that stuck out for me was on the back there and illustration of a greater harassing a woman, on the bottom it said sexism was out. I didn’t understand it all. Was the comic sexist and hated feminism? Did the comic not believe in sexism? Maybe the comic was actually against sexism and using the disgusting characters as an example of what not to be? I don’t know but I also don’t want to read Greaser to find out.

Sally Cruikshank’s work actually made me laugh. It was a little hard at first because the animation is low quality but it was entertain. Seeing Sally’s work I now know that the show Rocko’s Modern Life is must be based off of it. In fact most of Joe Murray’s work must be inspirted by Sally Cruikshank. It was very interesting to see the work of a significant figure of animated programming.

#4 Brief History of Comic Books

#4

I read Tin Tin in Tibet. In the class people said that the dialogue was tedious because the characters would unnecessarily explain the visual information. I didn’t get that in this comic. Haddock could get into crazy antics with and ox without anyone explaining it. It might be because it’s a later comic. Tin Tin was still a little tedious to read. I think it was because of the way the panels were laid out. There were about 15 panels per page all with the same height. Lengthy dialogue, such as reading a letter would be stretched out through four panels. If this were a modern comic it would most likely be fit all in one panel and the panel would be stretched to take half the page.  I also noticed that a lot of the panels would use the same composition or “camera angle.” This makes Tin Tin seem inspired by film composition. I understand why the Tin Tin cartoon was so popular. The comic really translates will to the silver screen. It’s like reading storyboards. I love storyboards so it was an entertaining read. It is interesting to see the clear line between Tin Tin and modern comics just by the way the pages are organized.

One thing I do love about Tin Tin is that it is an action adventure comic aimed towards children. It handles the audience and the genre really well. There is just enough comedy and just enough excitement. I enjoyed that all the characters have clear personalities, even Snowy gets internal dialogue.

            The EC comics were extremely entertaining. I can’t believe I’ve never read them before. The art is fantastic. The story and transitions are all done so well. The treatment of story reminded me of the Twilight Zone. The episodes had separate characters and plots but it was still the Twilight Zone.

            Carl Bark’s stories were also fantastic. I love how, unlike most of the newspaper comics we looked at last week, it was funny. The comedy is well thought out. This must be the point in time when writing started to get better. It’s a shame Barks didn’t get enough credit. He really did make a big impact.

Brief History of Comic Strip

Hark a Vagrant

I’ve read these comics before and I always like the style of it. It is very loose and free handed in ink the faces and bodies are simple but the characters that appear are distinct from each other. One thing in this comic I find interesting is that there are no main characters; most strips (that I’m familiar with at least) strive for original characters or are circled around the characters. Hark a Vagrant depends on well-known references for its humor. For example, in one comic Kate Beaton shows a monk creating an Illuminated Manuscript. In the same strip another monk is writing a fanfiction. It’s hilarious; it’s farcical humor that pairs familiar situations with something unlikely. Many comedic shorts depend on this type of humor. When there is no main character it depends on the situation.

Calvin & Hobbes

Calvin & Hobbes follows the format of many comics you’d see on the “funny pages.” Main characters, simple style, short panel format. A cute childish comic, Calvin and Hobbes really focuses on Calvin’s imagination. This comic reminded me of the earlier reading of Understanding Comics when McCloud explained how the audience will see themselves as a character. Calvin is relatable to anybody who was ever a kid. The simple face also makes it easier for us to relate to. One thing I do admire about this comic is how the ongoing plots are treated. In May 1986 Calvin loses Hobbes and doesn’t find him by the end of the strip. It takes 6 strips to find him, roughly a week. With just 4 panels a day Watterson created a little ongoing plot. What I love is that each strip stood alone really well and each individual strip had humor.

Flash Gordon

I was never a fan of this type of comic. I like action comic books but a daily action comic that travels at the speed of 3 panels a day didn’t seem enjoyable. The comic usually ends with a cliff-hanger. Reading Flash Gordon as a collected work was entertaining but I imagine reading it in the paper would take some dedication. It is something different among the daily comics and I can appreciate that. I also have a lot of difficulty relating to this comic. This comic is very focused on the male gaze. While we see male characters that get to be heroes, villains, young, old, or even aliens the extremely few female characters are all eye candy. I don’t think I saw a single female character that wasn’t interested in Flash romantically. The comic is not realistic. It is fantasy. I guess it’s just not my fantasy.

Understanding Comics

Right off the bat I found it interesting when McCloud showed it was hard to explain comics in a basic way. He gives up at “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence.” Comics are hard to explain it’s a medium for story telling that is unlike any other, combining visuals with internal dialogue.

When McCloud was describing the appeal of cartoon, specifically cartoon faces. I really appreciated the way he described the faces as not merely simplified but focused. By simplifying the surface we are amplifying the meaning. I don’t think I’ve ever though of simplifying as amplifying before. We see faces in many faceless things because we are a “self centered” species, such as a car’s headlights. It’s really not that hard to show emotion when people interpret two dots and a line as a face. Some of the most basic shapes create the most memorable characters. It will most certainly affect how I create my own characters in animation.

I also enjoyed the explanation of the gutter. I notice that comics used a gutter to separate the panels instead of a line but I never wondered in depth why they were there. The gutter does more than separate panels for clarity is gives the comic a rhythm. What isn’t drawn still gives us our experience.

The apple, or the six steps of a sequence, really struck me.  Noticed that this goes beyond comics into visual storytelling in general. There are many gorgeous animated films or shows such as Mystery Incorporated or Tron: Uprising that are just hollow apples. The visuals are gorgeous and maybe the plot is strong but the treatment or script is too weak. Without the strong core you just try to avoid the story completely even if it is gorgeous. Visuals are still important, sometimes there might be a strong piece with weak visuals and people will just refuse to watch it. There are countless examples of visual storytelling where the image and story just don’t match up. Both the writing and the visuals are needed to tell the story together.