Week 14

For Week 14, I read the Team Fortress 2 comics!

Personally, I can say with certainty that these are probably my favorite comics I've read so far in my life.  Based off the Team Fortress 2 game, but with a new spin on it, giving it an actual narrative, but keeping the same type of chaotic humor along along makes for an incredible read.  The narrative actually manages to pull off some really touching moments considering the source material is nine insane mercenaries killing each other in the New Mexico desert over some dirt.

Interestingly enough, the comic is all drawn and mainly written by Jay Pinkerton. She's an incredible artist to say the least, but she got her job making these comics after she made a fan made character design for the announcer in the game, and the creators at Valve (the company that made the game) loved it so much they bought it off of her and hired her to make the comics as well as other promotional material for the game. Since then she has also worked on other comics such as the Legend of Korra comics and is very successful.

This all being said, its very clear that Jay Pinkerton adores old comics. If you haven't noticed from the first picture, the cover of that issue is a homage to the Death of Supergirl cover. And every cover for each issue shows homage to another classic superhero comic cover. (As well as the appearance of some panels being references as well, such as Batman's Death in the Family panel that makes an appearance) Just for some quick examples: 

But one of my favorite parts of the comics is how the adapt to the medium of web comics. Pinkerton makes sure to use the medium to show the story in ways that physical comics just can't. The progressions from panel to panel are unique and interesting and make for a engaging experience.

Just look at these two pages above! Just this one progression says so much without actually having to write anything out! And just clicking to the next page and just having the page go mostly dark is such a striking visual difference.

I've went on about the comic enough, but if you think you'd enjoy this sort of silly comic, then I highly suggest reading them.  They are incredibly funny, and I'm more than happy that I chose to read them. 

Read them here!

Week 13

For Week 13, I finally got to finish Fables!

About 2 or so years ago, I started reading Fables after I played Telltales: The Wolf Among Us. I really enjoyed the concept of the different fairytales that we know as kids (and some that we didn't know) becoming main character in a much more adult light.  I remember having stopped right before the comic series called Cubs in Toyland. I had heard from a friend that those issues changed the comics entirely and that it had main character deaths, so I just kept putting it off until I ended up being obsessed with something else. 

Needless to say, I love Fables. I love how the narrative was written and how each character has histories with each other from back when their stories took place, one particularly interesting character, the Jack of Tales, actually represents every Jack in any nursery rhyme or story and is considered just a troublemaker and a huge asshole.  Bigby Wolf, being the Big Bad Wolf and sheriff of all the other fables is an interesting choice, but understandable considering all the other fables know what kind of destruction he's capable of, and fear him-- even if thats not what he wants.  The covers are beautiful, and most are done by the artist James Jean-- with my favorite cover being shown above. Overall its a solid series, and having all the character we know from other stories redone in a creative way is incredible smart and super fun for a narrative.

Week 12

For week 12, I read the new Ms. Marvel comics.

First off, I'd wanting to read these comics for a while. I'd heard great things about them and the fact that they made Ms. Marvel a Muslim teenage girl is more than just cool, its important to cultural diversity.  I am a strong believer that acceptance of others is greatly influenced by media as well as our own morals, and having such a character as the main character and depicted in a position of justice and power is incredible. Also the fact the comic is written by a woman practicing Islam herself is incredibly inspiring considering how closed the comic book industry tends to be towards women-- let alone women of color. Just the creation of such a comic makes history.

On top of just the creation of the comic, the narrative is actually really fun and interesting. I enjoyed them so much I went and searched for other issues to read, and it was interesting to find out that Kamala (the main protagonist) actually told her parents about her powers unlike most super heros. (In fact, I can only think of one other super hero that has done the same-- One version of Blue Beetle) But it makes sense! As a teenager with strict parents its much easier if your parent were to know about your powers then it ever would be to explain everything as it happens with excuses.

I also found the symbolism and imagery of the classic heros in the first issue being shown like Islamic gods and speaking in what I would guess is arabic is really interesting and cool as well. Just overall a really striking image that stays with the reader in a very good way.

Week 11

For Week 11, I read Love and Rockets #17.

Personally I found this work be alright, nothing I'd go out and buy for myself but enjoyable for a past time reading. What I did find interesting though was the representation of different characters in the comic. Just about every character was different from the last visually, and this even applied with some of the background-ish characters.  It also showed all types of women and although it didn't have a ton of people of color, the ones that were shown were all unique as well and didn't fit into any kind of stereotype which is always nice to read. The more "simple but also grunge" type of art style and narrative isn't something I especially like, but it wasn't unbearable either.

Probably the most interesting parts in the comic I read were these moments of almost surrealism and imagination. They were few and far in between, but these moments really stuck out in my head because of the honesty of the little girl and just the strangeness of it all. I almost wish more of the comic had these types of moments.

Week 10

For Week 10, I read the oringinal Dragonball Manga!

I've only been a Dragonball fan for the past two years or so (which is decently rare for Dragonball fans of my age, which usually grew up with the series), but I remember seeing some Dragonball Z episodes on TV as a kid and not really liking it, and I never got into the series until I read it.

I think the main reason for this was the over all sharpness of style and emphasis on fighting to save the world that is seen in Dragonball Z that made me not like the series, but reading the oringinal series really showed me what I was missing out on.  The oringinal Dragonball manga is fun and round in its style, never really taking itself too seriously until near the end of the series. Also, the oringinal series has a common theme of self improvement through fighting and getting stronger rather than getting stronger for the sake of others. And while both are good morals, I almost enjoy the first more because of how rarely its ever done in media. It also tends to be a more Japanese moral culturally, and makes it unique to the American and European fanbases.

And reading through the oringinal this time, I have a much more in depth love of Dragonball Z and now Dragonball Super. And while they don't have the same charm of the oringinal, Dragonball occasionally touches upon moments of friendship, self improvement, and family that fueled and made the oringinal just so charming in the first place.

Week 9

For Week 9, I read multiple entries from the Blacksad series.

Goodness... Well to start things off, I didn't just love these books-- I adored them.

Blacksad very easily is one of my favorite comic series I've read so far, it all just has a certain feeling and rhythm to it that seemed to click with me immediately.  The art is all done in watercolor and every single panel is simply beautiful. The characters are fun and expressive, with the exception of some of the female characters looking very similar.  But overall, I connect with the art because its similar as to how i hop to draw someday. Its another example of having a disconnect from reality so that the author is able to get away with more adult things for a younger audience.

 

The way the narrative is set up is brilliant as well. In every book I read from Blacksad, none of the plots were simple "black and white/good vs evil" type of narratives. Every character had their own motives and no one, including Blacksad himself, were ever portrayed as completely morally right or wrong, but rather just living, as characters do.  As well as the villains don't tend to be your stereotypical villains. For instance in this book, it was a pair of writers, but in another book it was about an old jazz band and their producer. This gives the work an ironically human feel, and you sympathize with just about all the characters in one way or another fairly easily. This moment in particular has so much power behind it just a few panels: 

Overall, I didn't expect such a solid series of comics, but I was more than happy to read and enjoy them.  Truthfully, I can't wait to read more and possibly find hard copies to own for myself.

Week 7 

For week 7, I read the graphic novel Maus.

Having already read this piece in high school as a required reading, and then reading the sequel on my own, I was more than happy to revisit the work and to see what I remembered from the last time I read it.  I found that rereading all the way through the second time, I found it even more enjoyable than the first time.

The book is very much written in a style of writing that sounds like your sitting with Artie as he asks his father, Vladik, about what happened to him and where he was when WWII started.  The whole book breaks in and out of the story, and you get in bits and pieces, just like if you were asking your own family member about a complicated and long story.  Some people find this boring, but I still find it strangely therapeutic to just "listen" to a story, and having it being told in this way.  And with the difficult subject of WWII I think its handled amazingly.

The art style is very unique and simple, and with all the people being portrayed as animals helps with a disconnect to reality, and lets the author get away with more graphic or striking imagery for a younger audience.  I distinctly remember a scene in the sequel where Vladik and all the other men around him in the concentration camp where striped of their clothing and forcing into the massive shower system and how dehumanizing it was.  And I don't think the author could've really pulled that off for a younger audience if they had been portrayed as regular humans, as the disconnect to reality lets readers get the story and understand what happened and how horrible it was without all the graphic details.

 (Although these details are very important to document and eventually to see so that we may not repeat these mistakes in the future, for younger audiences I think its important to teach without scarring them and making them adverse to the subject entirely.)

The subplot of Artie just wanted to know more about his mother and how he copes with her death is also interesting, as you see on many occasions as he comes up in conversation. As much as Artie just wants to get a story from his father, you can tell he wants to more about his mother as well. And while her stories are gone, you can tell he has gone to great lengths to make sure his father's story is preserved. 

Week 6

For Week 6, I read some of The Complete Cheech Wizard. 

First off, I understand and believe wholeheartedly that the underground comics of the 60s where needed to break out of the "goody-two shoes" stereotype that comics had to be, as well as open people minds to the amount of potential the medium has as a whole.  These underground comics were the extreme counter to what the medium already had produced, and without them we don't truly know which direction comics would've gone. These comics more than anything were a freedom of media that many people of oppression found solace in (whether they were of the LGBT+ community, women, or people of color), but they also were a complete freedom that wasn't aloud in main stream media.

That being said, and the importance of these comics acknowledged--

I don't really see the enjoyment in them personally.

I am not a stranger to raunchy jokes or sexual humor myself, but I found these comics to be too abrasive for me to truly enjoy. I personally didn't enjoy the art, and I found most of the jokes to be more gross than funny most of the time. 

Now with that being said, I feel like these comics also had a type of acceptance that media didn't really have in any other form at the time-- especially in main stream media. And although I didn't enjoy most of these comics myself, I will always remember the panel with the Russian and American astronauts just chilling out with each other on the moon.  Being produced during the space race and one of the heights of the cold war, it was more than nice to see these two kinds of people humanized instead of demonized.

Overall the underground comics were very strange but needed. I don't think I'll be picking up any to read any time soon, but I see the importance of them in History and thank the authors for producing something I personally would've made if I was around at the time. I applaud them for being so off beat- the industry needed it.

Week 5

For week five, the validation of the graphic novel, I read Blankets.  

Blankets tells an autobiographical story in a very imaginative way through the graphic novel medium while also being unique in its art techniques.  The way the book is drawn, it has a sense of graphical feeling that is conveyed through the simple shape language of the character and the boldness of the inking style.  The harshness of this style, shows the audience exactly what the author is feeling without having to always tell the reader through words.  I especially liked the way pages and panels flowed from one another, and the approach he took to them being strung together.  It really does feel like a story of someones life being told to you from a friend.  Its brutal and honest about what he felt, making it seem harsh, but therapeutic to how the author dealt with his troubles.

Personally, I connected this work to a similar work I read in highschool, Stitches by David Small. This was a graphic novel the author wrote about his journey he had with becoming an artist and dealing with the cancer he had as a child. Both authors struggled with religious families, and both authors also give a feeling of harshness and understandable resentment to the treatment they received growing up-- with the both of them having similar conflicts as they grew up.

Week 4

For week four, I chose to read  The Black Panther: King Solomon's Frog. As a fan of Black Panther since I was a kid, it was very interesting to see what his oringinal design as a super hero was. From how I know the Black Panther, he is the current King of Wankanda, and it's a warriors title that is passed down from each family heir. He is also more combat based, and a protector of his people. In this version, I'm not so sure of his origins, as he is more mysterious, and his "powers" are more like heightened senses and the ability to "sense" others like a cat.

 I also think it's interesting that in modern day representations of The Black Panther, he is very clearly defined as a African man, and they make sure to show his face and family multiple times as to better clarify his diversity as a protagonist. In the older comics, it seems like The Black Panther doesn't really talk, and they also don't show his face at all, so the readers don't truly know who he is. I think both versions are interesting, and very telling of the times in which they were produced.

Week 3

For week three, which was all about different newspaper prints, I chose to read some of the Micky Mouse Adventure Series comics. Specifically, Micky Mouse Dailies: Micky Mouse in Death Valley and some other miscellaneous Micky Mouse Dailies in class. 

First off, I really enjoyed the art style of these comics. They were reminiscent of the older Micky Mouse style (as they were being released at the same time, and had a very gestural look to them) and they had fun and adventurous narratives to them. These narrative were obviously set up in a way that worked well with weekly comics- keeping readers invested in the storyline to make sure they bought the paper each week to stay tuned.

I also think the nature of these adventure stories were very interesting. They weren't like the stories we used to read as kids with Mickey Mouse in them at all. These stories were much more adventurous and for a slightly older audience, and because of this they were aloud to get away with more more adult themes in the comics.  For example, I read a strip in which Micky Mouse held a villain at gunpoint.  To me, this is a comically striking image, as by todays standards Mickey would never be shown with any kind of weapon. Except possibly a sword of some kind if he was in a more adventurous settings, but more or less its still a rare sight in his modern day appearances.

Overall, I found these comics very fun and I didn't mind reading them at all. Despite the time differences from when it was produced to modern times, a lot of the themes and ideas were very readable, and the more adult and adventurous nature of the comics was an interesting experience. I could very easily see myself making sure to keep up with these weekly comics if I had been around when they were being produced on the weekly.

Batman: The Killing Joke Questions

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read? 

 

 - Having heard about The Killing Joke, the not read it up to this point left myself as an individual with many expectations for the comic.  As the Joker is often shown throughout the Batman comics, The Killing Joke is unfiltered, strange and a little more than slightly terrifying if taken seriously. By setting up all these major characters that frequent readers know and love in horrible situations, the writers effectively make the reader feel very helpless. Also, the ending with the other no name criminal shooting batman is an incredibly striking image, even though its hypothetical it still gives an incredibly large emotional reaction seeing such an iconic character being struck down.

2. What Connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.

 - The main connection the reader has with the work is the feeling of hopelessness and "random injustice" that comes from seeing their favorite characters going through these horrible situations, and the same hopelessness that it shows the Joker in his past.  This is to not necessarily give The Joker sympathy, (as the work mentions many times that what he's doing is very explicitly wrong and evil) but rather to show more of why he does these awful things and to show his point of perspective.

    The connections between Batman and The Joker himself are also pretty interesting as The Joker brings them up himself.  Being two sides of the same coin, both Batman and Joker had awful events happen to them, but instead of anger and twisted-ness like Joker, Batman instead turned to compassion and justice.  They are both locked into a balance of their own characteristics -- Joker will never stop being Joker, he will always strive to make others feel this random injustice, while Batman's sense of justice and true belief that he could rehabilitate The Joker keeps them at a self proclaimed stalemate. This in it of itself is the definition of madness - Doing something over and over again and expecting a different result.

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

 - If I were to adapt this into another medium, I would probably try to adapt it into an animated short.  Honestly, having watched many comic book inspired animated films, I wouldn't try to change much about this classic comic narrative wise.  Recently, an animated movie of The Killing Joke was released, but it was controversial in the fact that because the book was so short, that the creators added a sub plot of romance between Barbara as Batgirl, and Batman.  This ruined the movie for many viewers, and I think just making the comic as a short and not trying to reach for that feature film length with unnecessary sub plot would give this classic comic the love it deserves.

Understanding Comics reflection

When reading the Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud the reader is able to learn while also observing the techniques right before their eyes simultaneously, which is a rare experience to say the least.  The author does a fantastic job of breathing life into what is a explanation of how and why comics work and how they are constructed along with different theoretical ideas thrown in without it ever really being boring. 

As an artist, I of course look at comics more artistically and I don’t worry about the writing as much, but as Scott McCloud points out, writing and art have to be combined seamlessly for a comic to be successful and have a push and pull system that keep them in check. I also thought it was interesting about how he talked about letter being some of the most abstract ideas/symbols we recognize, and that are also art and should be treated as such.

I also thought the writing about how each person in the comics industry move up in the world and how far they are willing to go was interesting. He never comes across as thinking that the artists that just want to work in the comic industry and don’t want to be big artists are lazy or bad, but he also talks about the masters as if they always have things to strive for so there really is no end to learning in the comic industry. I also really appreciated the fact that the comic wasn’t super wordy so it made the read much more enjoyable.

Rough Translation of A Week of Kindness by Mark Ernst

A Week of Kindness is a strange work that leaves a lot of context as to what is happening to the reader. When reading, I thought that it was about the different kindnesses the different people were giving to the chicken or chicken-men, only to receive death or a horrible fate in return that seems to be not the doing of the chickens or the chicken-men.

We are also shown the chicken-men and other monster-like men later in the comic experimenting and being cruel to human women. So possibly there is a twist and the chicken-men do know why the women are being murdered or are the cause of their death?  We are also shown another picture of a human women hanging one of the chicken-men, which might imply that the "kindness" so to speak is given back at times. 

Whatever the true definition, the work has a good sense of checks and balances.  In which whenever something happens to one character, you will usually see them in the next panel either alive or not.

The Arrival

Reading The Arrival was a pleasantly interesting experience.  For one, the book doesn’t have any words, but that make the reader confused as to what’s going on at all – in fact, the author seemingly creates a much more powerful story without them.

The first page of the comic shows the context of the characters and how they are/what they are like before you even get to see them in the coming pages and in the last panel. These panels are all playing off of items/contexts that we know are of families and we know this because well – for the most part, we grew up with a family similar to this one.  We had our picture put up on the fridge as kids,  we lived with parents that had clothing or possessions close to the ones shown – or at the least have seen these as a common media trope in the west as to what a “normal family” should look like.

But then we are shown the father leaving on a boat and overcoming all different kinds of problems. And if you didn’t understand that the father was immigrating to another country, these panels show what immigration looks like to a lot of people in the west.  It shows actions/tropes that we associate with immigration such as health screenings, language and history tests, and the different documents that have to be recorded and taken during the whole process. And again, none of this is done with words but rather with imagery of the human experience. Ideas and imagery that we can relate to - even if we’ve never done it ourselves because we’ve heard stories or have read about it.   The Arrival is a personal story, but for the readers, they are able to project a story, even possibly their own story, on to this character because of the familiarity of his human experience with their own.

The Arrival also does a fantastic job of making the reader feel what the main character feels.  When the main character moves to this strange land, he’s obviously confused and overwhelmed by his own foreignness to the country.  The Arrival makes the reader feel this way as well no matter where they came from because the country is drawn in a surrealist type art style that makes the world look strange and fantastical to anyone.  This also means that for any type of interactions with the strange machines, foods, animals, or language of the country, the reader is just as clueless as the character – which I think is a very rare feeling in literature. Personally, one of my favorite panels (shown above on the right) shows the main character putting up posters as his new job, but because it was in a language he didn’t know, he glued them all upside down.  As a reader, at first  I wasn’t sure at first why the man was mad at him, and it took me a moment to realized what had happened, and this again is a unique feeling that is only achieved by the reader being just as confused as the character.