Success- Michael Johnson

Straight up the most buck wild thing I've experience in the world of comics. My jaw dropped. It took me a second to realize what was going on and wow I was shocked. Success by Michael Johnson is a comic opera. Yeah. Take that as you wish. I do not what to give too much away because I want any new reader to be as surprised as I was. I have seen music employed in online comics before but never like this. This is a really interesting, contemporary take on the genre but I think it works? Fun home by Alison Bechel was turned into a musical so why not just cut out the middle man and make a comic that is also a musical (this style of comic with Fun Home would be so cool btw). I think this really explores what can be done with comics and I would love to see more of this in the future.


Link to Success:

http://www.successcomic.com/

Arkham Asylum- Grant Morrison and Dave McKean

Honestly I chose to read Arkham Asylum this week because I had played the video game and I wanted to see what the original was like. I truly was not expecting such an unhinged, claustrophobic, skin crawl-inducing book. The art style was the first thing that struck me. It was very painterly and messy which is atypical for the genre, and it was extremely chaotic. The style reminded me of the covers of some Neil Gaiman books and no surprise, the same illustrator did it. The mix of collage, textures and drawn elements created a visual that played well with the hectic nature of the story. The use of color was also really interesting; everything had a kind of sickly feel, supplemented by the greenish-yellow hues added to characters.

What stuck out to me next was the formatting. The panels were very vertical. Something about the stretched shaped really added discomfort while reading. The format in general was a bit odd; the pages were never really all that consistent. I really liked the device used in the beginning of the book where a single scene will be happening in the background but there are panels running down either the sides or the middle of the page that have a different scene and dialogue playing out. I do not think I’ve seen that anywhere else. It felt very cinematic, almost like a montage or if a scene was having a voice-over.

The story was particularly interesting, as you are seeing the scenes with Batman play out, as well as the history of the asylum and its creator, Amadeus Arkham. These two different stories finally connect at the end with a twist I was not really expecting. Some of the story was a bit hard to follow but over all I think the set up lead to an interesting ending.

Asterios Polyp- By David Mazzuchelli

Asterios Polyp is story of a man, trying to pick his life back up after losing basically everything. The story is told in the present day but with flashbacks of to his past, showing the prime of his life and also his downfall. What immediately struck me was the art style: simple color palette, mostly flat with gradients. Things at times felt collaged together, line work mixed with no line art or different art styles completely. This was especially utilized when different characters met, like when Asterios met Hana. Hana was pink in a complex crosshatched style, while Asterios was a drawn with clean blue lines and curves It was interesting to see their styles combine as they got to know each other, with Asterios’s blue lines serving as the structure and Hana’s lines as the rendering. The styles felt very representation of the characters and it was interesting that when they would argue they would differ in styles again. This means of separating characters also went as far as the speech bubbles. Different characters has different fonts, Asterios was all caps, while Hana was lowercase. Asterios’ mother was cursive and his father was in a Greek style. These details were small but they had a huge impact on how carefully crafted the story seemed. All of these details really drive home the theme of duality as well as form and function. The coupled characters were all so different from each there and yet they still worked together.

The story was well thought out and thought provoking. The “narrator” questioned or perception of reality and in a comic like this that had a huge effect. It made it clear that this was not just drawn this way to separate characters and their personalities but to explain that this is either how they perceive themselves or how other perceive them. It was not just a style it was a conscious, careful choice by the author.  And the ending wrapped the whole story up, asking the audience that at the end of the day, how much of our existence is really up to us.

This One Summer- Mariko and Jillian Tamaki

I absolutely loved This One Summer. The story has two main characters, Windy and Rose, but it focuses on latter. They only hang out over the summer, when Rose goes to Awago. It is a coming of age story, with the girls developing interest in boys and paying more attention to the adults' emotions. The art style, the writing, everything was so beautifully handled. I really enjoy comics that are more down to earth, slice of life kind of things. This was exactly that. It was so grounded; it felt like something I could have experienced. The general attitude by the main character just felt so pre-teen girl and wow, did I not miss that time in my life. I really feel like the authors captured what I felt like at that age. The two girl's world felt so big; they were the only things that mattered, adults don't know anything and they were obviously cool enough to hang with the teenagers. Man, what a pain. Reading this made me want to call my mom and tell her I'm sorry for being such a jerk all the time. Stories like this really exemplify female narrative; a man could not have written this story. It goes to show the importance of female writers; stories like this should be told. Not everything in comics needs to be exceptionally humorous or grandiose, sometimes it can be as simple a story about one summer. The emotions, the nuances in plot and dialogue made this a really successful story in showing a teenage/pre-teen experience. It did not dumb it self down for younger audiences, nor did it make it so intense that it would be unappealing or scary to kids of this age. This is a story I wish I could have read when I was younger, I'm sure if I did I would relate to Rose so much more.

Buddha- Osamu Tezuka

I absolutely loved Buddha. I think the story was brilliant, deep moral themes interwoven with a humorous drawing style. It very delicately walked the line of being comedic and very serious. No tragic moment was really dwelled upon it was all very action packed and fast paced. It was not the representation of the story of Buddhism that I would ever expect, but never the less I think it was very well done. What shocked me was the very explicit nature of some of the scenes. Tezuka never shied away from talking about or showing abuse, slavery or death. What offset it was the traditional comic style used with in. The "SLAM or "AGH" that was used in the spiky speech bubbles or, the stars above characters heads really gave the comic a more cartoonish look. This in turn, gave it a more humorous connotation. However, it never felt like a dumbed down story. The narrative was really well composed, delving into loss, triumph, and sacrifice; all the while also showing themes of Buddhism like Pratītyasamutpāda, the interconnectedness of life, and impermanence.

I have always had mixed feelings about manga. I think what has and is being produced is really impressive but the anime/manga culture has always put me off. Buddha was the first manga I have read since childhood and it has really made me re-evaluate my thoughts on the media. A story like this would definitely not be the first that comes to my mind when I think of manga, but just like anything else you have to find what you like in a medium. Buddha really showed me a possibly of manga that I was not expecting and I'm excited to discover more.

The Nikopol Trilogy

I browsed a couple of comic on the resources page but the cover of this really caught my eye. This was unlike any comic I had ever read. The style looked similar enough for to American comics but the writing shocked me. The dialogue was so long! I honestly could not follow it at some points. It took graphic novel to a whole other level. It was really interesting to read something so in depth that also had just as detailed visuals. Reading such a political story in such an outlandish, sci-fi context was also really jarring but I think it worked well, because politics can be so universal. It was fun to see the news article titled "the Pope is Dead!" or "Women Liberated at Last" and then to see the context it was reflective of.

Stereotype and the Ethics of Representation

Representation matters. Its been proven time and time again. I know, growing up in Florida, it was hard being the only Asian in any given space. Thankfully I have only occasionally experienced explicit racism but it was still a tough fitting in. It leaves you grappling with self-identity. The only representation for me was just stereotypes; the token nerdy Asian girl in tv shows or the ninja warrior in movies. But at least it was something right? That was what I though for most of my life. As I got older, I realized that a stereotyped character ≠ representation. Why? Because who is it representing? I have never fit into those molds. Stereotypes are not meant for the people they are representing they are meant for people lazily trying to understand a culture they do not actually care for learning about. I really do not think its a necessary strategy in character design or representation. Obviously if you want to represent someone from a specific culture they need to be drawn as such, but they should not be caricatures. I think in the end what really would help the representation of other cultures and people is better writing. There should be more insight and research on who you are actually trying to represent.