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.