Maus_Week 7

Before I read Maus by Art Spiegelman, I have never heard of it. Going into it, I only knew what was said on the assignment page for this class. But after reading the first few pages, I was able to tell quickly why this comic novel was viewed with such a positive light.

The work itself is very well conveyed with a visual styling that helps bring attention to the work and what it stands for. Classifying each race a different animal, helps the reader tell who is Jewish, German, or Polish. The reader wouldn't be able to tell these races apart if they were normal humans, and the segregation of race in ww2 was a large part of the story. If the reader wasn't able to tell the difference with each race instantly, it could cause much confusion that could be avoided.
Another side effect to classifying the races as animals, causes the reader themselves to racially separate them. Just reading the book you can very easily tell the difference between a pig and a mouse, which could be a good and bad thing.

The way he sets up the story is different than most stories that start in the present, and then rewinds to someone's past. More times than not, the movie, book, or comic would start with the character talking in the present. When the character speaks of his past, you are able to only witness past events. The story rarely breaks the past tense until the end, after their story has been told. This story has the father taking breaks because of his health, he starts rambling, it gets late, many things that brings us back to the present. Because of this the story is helped, You are reminded that he lived through the WW2, and is able to talk about it now. It causes you to wonder, what did happen to his family, his son, when did he meet his new wife? Because you know these questions will be answered because the story is constantly progressing, you keep reading.

I can understand how this story is much more a personal one, rather than a historical novel. The break in it to describe current events is very personal. With him and his father talking about his father's death and their rocky relationship. His struggle in writing the comic as well, the story is much more intimate than a typical historical novel, which would be only about the concentration camps.

Underground Comics_Week 6

I read several underground comics in class, and Robert Crumb's The Book of Mr. Natural and I didn't like it.
Every underground comic I read had the same sexist, racist, immature content. Mr. Natural had a comic where a baby gave him a blow job. Many comics had the character 'realize' he was in a comic, and because of this he was now able to 'get any girl he wanted to.'

If it wasn't for this class, I wouldn't have picked up one of these comic books, and because of this class I am never going to do it again. Unless there is one that isn't about a man's dick or  a person acting like a dick, I'm not interested.

ComicBook_Week 4

For my assignment I read several Carl Barks comics and a few Tintin comics by Herge.

I have read many Carl Barks comics before the class, and I have a great fondness of them. Their simple story with interesting characters going treasure hunting is very easy to follow and enjoy. Also a comic book associated with Disney never hurts.  But his works in expanding the entire ‘duck universe’ was astonishing, and his works later fueled Ducktales, and many other great comic artists. Although he didn’t get as much credit as he should, because his comics were listed as ‘by Walt Disney’, many people still knew that what he was doing was great and interesting.

Tintin has a many same qualities, with someone going on adventures ever issue, but had a more serious tone almost. Mostly because it was humans instead of ducks running around. Tintin has more characters to interact with when visiting other countries. And feels like he is after a great adventure rather than the destination. Also, while Scrooge is only after personal gain, Tintin has friends and more purpose to help others and solve problems.Because of this you are more interested to buy more comics, because the story continues from each story. Bringing up old friends and making new ones.

Newspaper Comics_Week 3

For this assignment I read Charles Schultz’s Peanuts and Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes. While reading several strips, it became very apparent that these were designed with adults in mind. 

Although I know many people who associate newspaper comics with children. Because of current associations with children and comics in our present day. But while reading it, I was presented with jokes or punch lines that only an adult would understand. 

The two comics share a large part of their charm together. There about children observing the world with a ‘I don’t quite understand how the whole world works yet, but I am observing it how i see it’ charm. Meaning, you can make snappy judgment about how your life is going to turn out when you grow up. 

While Calvin and Hobbes was much more adventure, imagination, and childhood fun. Allowing the reader to remember the good old days when they had stuffed animals, tried not to go to school, and their worst part of the day was going to bed. 

Peanuts had kids doing kid things with simplistic humor with children hanging out and making jokes that adults, the intended audience, would find funny such as the kids making jokes about taxes, or having one-word comebacks that usually link to an adult term in the work force. 

Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics_Week 2

When reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, he most interesting thing I found about it was the small discussion about character design.

The idea that he portrays is that the human race is so conceited, that when looking at a simplified human face; such as a default smiley face J we see ourselves in it. And because of that we are able to sympathize with the information or the emotion better because we are now imaging ourselves in the story. With this technique we are no longer observing the story, but instead extending ourselves into the story and fully immersing ourselves into the story’s lore.

His example of this was the very way he drew himself in the comic. Instead of seeing him as his own character, we are instead seeing him as an extension of ourselves. Instead of someone else explaining the terms and ideas in a comic book, we are using the little voice in our head to make him talk and move around on the pages. He brings this up well when he draws himself as a realistic man instead of the simplified person. When doing this it gave his drawing a personality outside of our own. Forming a stranger on the page that we don’t know anything about, and the mind is quick to wonder whom this person is. But when he was simplified we didn’t care about who he ‘is’, because he was just another piece of the viewer.

I have heard this theory before but put in a different context. Some believe the reasons Groot was such a hit in the movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, was because he had an extremely simplified face. Although the character said one line throughout the entire move, we understood to his emotions and could see ourselves in the character. Unlike the other characters that formed a personality of their own, you were able to put your self in Groot’s possession and sympathize with him the easiest.