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. 

Batman the Killing Joke-Assessment

Q1: What is your reaction to the text you just read?

Discomfort. The way this was written and drawn completely unsettled me. The treatment of Barbara especially made my skin crawl, it felt truly horrific, especially in they way it was used against Commissioner Gordon. It was interesting to read about how Joker became what he is, but it didn't seem like the creators were trying to get the audience to sympathize with him (and if they were, it didn't work).

Q2: What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work in which you are able to connect.

I thought the story was well executed but I'm tired of seeing female characters subjected to unequal violence. I think that's why I was so uncomfortable because this is another story where a female character was stripped, mutilated and overall dehumanized for the sake of the progression of male characters. As a girl, these elements feel a little too real and close to home as violence towards women is so rampant. This isn't to say that the male characters in this story don't face violence or terror but after said events they return to how their were originally conceived. Barbara could have easily just had be kidnapped or threatened and it would have had the same effect on the story. Instead she was crippled and stayed canonically wheelchair bound for the subsequent years.

Q3: What changes would you make to adapt this story to another medium? What medium would you use?

Honestly, I think the animated adaption was very successful in staying with the storyline and art style. That medium is one of the more appropriate ways to adapt a story like this, as it is able to break the boundaries of what would be capable in something like action. It's obvious that the animated film's creators attempted to make Barbara a more rounded character, but using her as a sexual partner for Batman was NOT the way to do it. I would skip that completely and show her doing work as Batgirl, or just anything that shows semblance of a personality that does not depend the male counterparts.

Maus by Art Spiegelman

I think without question, Maus is truly a literary masterpiece. This novel is told in a past-present format, with the majority of the story taking place in flashbacks but it is still set in "present" day. I thought this was really interesting as were are not just seeing the events from Vladek's point of view, but from the point of view of his son, Art, who is dealing with the aftermath. I thought this was really important, as you are not just seeing a victim's point of view but how the Holocaust has a lasting effect on the people around Vladek. This tragic story was interwoven with familial issues and jabs. Its clear that Art and Vladek are estranged in real life, and it feels almost mundane compared to the retold stories of the Holocaust. It makes this connect and feel even more real and personable; the story is not being reduced to the typical, glorified events we see in media. This also highlighted the flaws in the characters like Art's frustration and guilt while dealing with his father, and Vladek's own prejudices against African Americans, even though he had lived through a prejudice based crime against humanity. Surviving such a tragedy did not mean that he did not style have flaws and I think it was important for Spiegelman to highlight this. A quote that really stuck with me in regards to this was "it wasn't the best people who survived, nor did the best ones die. It was random!"

The use of animals to represent people was an extremely interesting concept to me, and it revealed itself to be more complicated than I initially thought. Prior to reading the story, I have known that the Jews were depicted as rats and the Nazis as cats. That is as far as I thought the metaphor was going. What I was not expected was how self referential and meta this metaphor would become. I was not expecting to see characters donning the masks of other animals and I was impressed by how simple but clever this was as a means to show the characters trying to blend in. The metaphor starts to come apart however, when Spiegelman has a conversation with his wife about what animal to make her, which just goes to show how inane this type of system of dividing is. Another interesting use of the masks is when Spiegelman is talking about his book and to his lawyer, they are both wearing rat masks, which seems to show that the metaphor goes beyond just the book.

The theme of guilt also thoroughly resonated with me. In the second part of Maus, Spiegelman makes his guilt apparent, depicting himself, donned with a rat mask, writing on his desk which sits atop the dead Jews that made the book possible. He also feels some guilt towards his father who, in his frustration, depicted rather harshly. There are also feelings of survivor's guilt from both Spiegelman and his father. Vladek obviously feels guilting for being one of the last of his family to survive. Spiegelman also expresses guilt and conflict in his telling of this story. "Its feels so inadequate trying to reconstruct a reality that was worse than my darkest dream." This quote was critical to me. I feel like this perfectly expresses a lot of our understanding of history. For many people or at least me, knowledge of the Holocaust is a tragic abstraction of what actually went on. I can't truly conceive the events that happened, which is why I think Maus is such a brilliant work, as it depicts the history in a hyper personal account.

Mr. Natural #1 by Robert Crumb

Let me begin with wow. Just wow. We were warned about the offensive nature of underground comics and I'm no spring chicken but man was this a surprise. I truly did not know what to expect but this was definitely not it. Mr. Natural started off innocuous enough, meditation-ok, racist stereotypes- not ok but not surprising, then weird baby oral- yeah what??? While reading this I found myself asking why, many many times. There's just nothing about this comic that I could relate to or understand or justify. There was no overall moral to the story that I felt made any of it okay. The end's never really justified the means. And the artistry did not really do much for it either, it was fine but it was not anything super impressive or high art. I guess that's the point though, these comics were meant to be something alternative, that do not fit into the model of "acceptability." They are simple, "fun," really bizarre reads meant to entertain, which to many people they did. While I personally did not really enjoy this particular comic, underground comics did do a lot to pave the way for a lot of media we have now. As weird as they are you have to give credit where credit is due. 

A Contract with God

A Contract with God is a graphic novel created by Will Eisner. In this novel, a young Hasidic Jew named Frimme Hersh makes a contract with God and devotes his life to him. He believes all his good fortune is a result of this. One day he receives an orphaned baby girl, who he then takes care of. However after a few years, she suddenly passes away, which infuriates Hersh as he feels god has violated the contract. This drastically changes him, he becomes a greedy business man, indulging himself on various vices.  Even with all of his indulgences, he feels an emptiness that he believes can be filled with another contract with God. However almost immediately after it is written, he dies as well. Later, a young boy finds Hersh's old contract and signs it, creating a new cycle.

What struck me most profoundly is Eisner's depiction of grief and irony. The anger in the novel was nearly tangible, you could truly feel Eisner's rage. I originally did not know the author had gone through such a tragedy but after reading this it was obvious. Anyone who has dealt with a loss so deeply tragic, as Eisner had with his own daughter, would definitely feel as though the world or God had turned their back on them. In death especially, things can feel so utterly unfair, no matter what age, but to be so young is so heartbreaking. Hersh had done everything right in is life prior, which made his daughter's death even more senseless and unjustifiable. I felt just a deep pity for Hersh.

Little Nemo in Slumberland

Little Nemo in Slumberland is a really interesting comic strip created by Winsor McCay. The strip depicts Nemo going of fantastical dream adventures and being abruptly awakened by the last panel. I found this comic really interesting just because it seemed so experimental, not just conceptually but style wise as well. It wasn't a typical layout for comics where it is always read horizontally and all the panels are the same size. A great example of this was the 10/22/1905 strip where the panels grew to reflect the mushrooms in the panel.  The use of color also struck me as very unique. The art nouveau style colors felt almost psychedelic in some panels with a variety of saturated and unsaturated color and yet it still felt cohesive. I also loved the formula of it and how relatable some panels felt. I know I've had plenty of dreams where I am falling in a dream and i wake up because I'm right about to fall off a bed, or when I call for my mom in my dream only for her to be waking me up in real life. It made these comics seem oddly personal and acted as though it was a look into the human psyche.

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

Understanding comics by Scott McCloud was a truly insightful look into the psychology of comics and how comics work. This guide broke down and explained concepts and terminology in easy to digest comics (I would expect nothing less). Even as a fan of comics I had never given much though to why comics worked so well. I especially enjoyed McCloud’s explanation of abstraction as the means to making what is said more important than who is saying it.

While this was an interesting point but what resonated the most to me was the break down of the six steps in an artist’s path. The steps are: the idea/purpose, form, idiom, structure, craft and surface. McCloud explains these steps as part of an apple, with the surface being the skin and the idea/purpose being the core. These steps are all components of creating art, not a linear guide on how to make art. He explains that there are many types of artists who will take certain steps but not others, i.e. an artist could have the idea and craftsmanship but nothing else which could lead to having lackluster art, style over substance.      

This concept really hit home for me, as this has always been an internal struggle as an illustrator. There are times where what I create could be technically strong but conceptually lacking, or vice versa. I have still yet to bridge that gap or go through all the steps.  Although this was discussed in the context of comics, McCloud put into words (and icons) the artists’ struggle, and how even though you may be satisfied with your work there are still numerous ways to command your art and to understand your relationship with art. You just have to reach beyond the surface.  

"The Arrival" by Shaun Tan

         The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a prime example of wordless narrative in the graphic novel genre. The story’s compelling visuals evoke feelings that perhaps, written words could not. One of the reasons this graphic novel worked so well was that it was using a universal story: immigration. Although not everyone in the audience may be able to relate specifically to it, they would be able to empathize with the feeling of loss, isolation and also hope. This is supplemented by the surreal landscapes the story takes place in, instilling the idea that no matter where you are coming from or going to, humanity connects us all.

The story is set up as “day in the life” storyboards, as you observe a family somberly living out their day. The viewpoints are incredibly intimate, almost feeling as though you are there as well. Tan took incredibly care in capturing gestures and emotions, using their expressions rather than words. Aside from capturing emotion, this story was rather impressively able to avoid confusion contextually. It was presented shot by shot much like a storyboard would be, and the drawings were cinematic and reminiscent of camera shots. Motifs were repeated to insinuate the space and time, for example the objects on the first page (kid’s drawing, the family portrait, etc.) are found a couple pages after in the image of the family packing up their house. This technique was also extremely helpful during the flashback pages, particularly with the old an in the factory, as he was wearing the same hat in present day and in the flashback.

              The craftsmanship and attention to details greatly were imperative in the telling the story, however, what was the most interesting was how self-referential the work was to the genre of wordless comics. The main character does not know how to speak to the locals of the new land he is in, relying on visual gestures and drawings to communicate, further conveying the point that words are not the only means to get an idea across.