Eightball- Daniel Clowes

I'm not sure how I forgot to post on this comic, I spent most of class reading it instead of paying attention once I found it.

Again, it was the style. I just love skillful use of black and white. This used grey tones, but it used them well, and not as an afterthought. I was interested in how detailed the character got in key points in his face, such as his eyes and mouth, had plenty of wrinkles and detail, while the rest of his face was untouched.

The typography was incredibly irritating in some points, however, and I think it's worth noting that I skimmed Young Dan Pussey just becuase I couldn't be bothered with the typeface. What an issue to have, all that hard work and I won't read it ebcuase of their type face.

I can't really go on talking about this without talking about the absurd happenings that go unmentioned in this comic, of course. In Like a Velvet Glove Cast In Iron, thecharacter watches a very strange movie, I'm not all too sure we're meant to understand it at all. Afterwards, he goes to see his friend and borrow his car. after a very normal conversation about how obvious it is he only wants to borrow the car, we arrive at the friend's doorstep to find he has huge shrimp jammed into his eye sockets! The main character doesn't flinch, and eventually the friend explains they're cleaning bacteria. And without a break in between, the parking garage woman makes a move on his, spraying her drink in his face. We even see an alien prostitute. And it's all completely unexplained. If anything, the main character is dressed in a fairly retro manner, hair slicked back with a plaid jacket.

The following stories all follow the same formula of seeming to be based in reality and then pull crazy stunts. I suppose it's absurdist humor of some sort, but I rarely found it funny, more of a train wreck I couldn't stop watching, mostly because it was smehow compelling, and because the style was very interesting.

Webcomics

I've been reading webcomics a long time now, even if there was a period where I never seemed to understand the amount of effort it takes, what it was called, or that they probably existed beyond fandoms and fan comics.

Now that I have worked a long time on my own comics (though none are webcomics) I can finally understand the amount of work it takes to get a comic up and running online, let alone have it be successful..or well written.

The problem with the internet, of course, is what's best about the internet. Anyone can post whatever they want. And so, there's quite a pile to dig through! But after a few years, I have a small collection of webcomics that I will still check, even if no religiously.

Lackadaisy Cats.

lackadaisy.foxprints.com

Anthro cats in the 1920's bootlegging booze! Sounds awful, right. Wrong. And better yet, the thing with Tracy JB is that the job isn't just done well, it's done perfectly. The amount of life these characters have floors me every time I read it. They're charming, and they're extremely expressive. I love the designs, and I love the humorous, though dangerous storyline.

The comic itself has truly matured style wise, as most webcomics do. Interestingly, it seems to be pencil with a sepia tone, and edited with a digital program. And there's no ignoring the beautifully rendered backgrounds. They truly set the tone for the comic, and keep it rooted in the correct time period, instead of letting it seem to drift into modern day like I've seen other historical webcomics do.

There's not much I can say about this comic except that I've loved it a long time, and if things keep up the way they have been, I ill for a while yet. There have been no unnecessary lulls or plot twists yet, some thing I applaud.

Boxer Hockey

boxerhockey.fireball20xl.com


This guy is the king of amazing facial expressions.
Boxer Hockey is an example of precisely how important character design and expression is. While the writing has always been fantastic, never tiring humor, these characters didn't start to truly shine until about a year and a half ago, when they took on more polished, final designs, each with different plays on proportion and newly bright colors.

This comic is also another example of how absurd writing can be, as long as characters accept it! Boxer hockey is a professional sport that the main characters play in their boxers, beating bullfrogs with seemingly whatever they dag onto the field. No one so much as thinks twice about this sport, and that's half the charm of the set up.

The comic often makes abrupt turns into long segways that are seemingly unrelated, but that's never bothered me, and that's something that's hard to do. It never gets old, and serves to remind us that while there's a linear plot line in there somewhere, the nature of the characters is ultimately to be ridiculous and entertaining.

Hanna is Not a Boys Name!

hanna.aftertorque.com

This comic is incredibly new, and yet has an enormous, rabid fan following! It's really no secret why, either. (and I'm not referring to the mostly male cast that seems to dress to the nines all day every day with no explanation.) The art is gorgeous, and just, well, fun. The graphic design is fantastic. I never have trouble reading this, it's paced well, and it's just awesome to look at!

I particularly enjoy the writing. It's limited omniscient, following a character that literally knows nothing. A common technique, but not one I run across in webcomics all the time. our unnamed zombie is incredibly eloquent, but never over narrates anything. The worst of narration is unnecessary, cluttered TL;DR. Instead, the narration is used to compress time most often, which keeps things from dragging.

Better yet, the style seems to have streamlined itself relatively fast- so looking back to catch up on the plot doesn't take you on a time warp like some webcomics have a tendency to do. I adore this comic, and can't wait to keep reading and find out where it goes!

Love and Rockets- Los Bros Hernandez

Talk about a cool style! I've always been attracted to skillful use of black and white, so of course Love and Rockets would be an exciting read for me. There was plenty of framing nearly silhouetted vr extremely simplified characters with background. I particularly liked the use of black clothing on our cigarette loving friend, not sure what his name was. The implied mouth was always interesting, with a blank spot between the face and cigarette. Also, the different between light and day was incredibly obvious, and done only with how the characters were lit. Shadows rarely hit their faces, and their environments, though simple, were important in setting the scene.

Even more interesting was the striking resemblance to Archie! Certainly not in writing...the copious amounts of swearing and references to "wanting"each other. And certainly not in the absent color. But some faces, and expressions looked lie they came tumbling out of an Archie book I'd pick up at the grocery store. It thought that was really interesting, since, well, it's not something I expected. But it's also really appealing, to me. It's sort of nostalgic, but in a fresh way, with the balanced black and white.

The writing itself was sufficient to keep me entertained. There was nothing glaringly wrong with it, and the two boys and their various friends had a realistic feeling. They felt alive. Overall an entertaining piece of work.

Manga

Manga. Well. I'm going to have to say manga has to be the reason I'm in this class. I am no longer an enormous fan of manga. I was never incredibly into it. But it was the first comic medium that pulled me in and made me read it, while the superhero comics were essentially just lame. Not interesting. (At the time)

Looking back, manga was interesting to me for several reasons. It was that it was commonly published in volumes instead of episodes, meaning I could usually grasp a story within the book, instead of a needing to buy several copies several weeks apart. The stories also rarely involved superheroes as I knew them, (read: Superman and his inability to be any sort of interesting) instead had their own rendition of the superhero that was only noticeably different in age, and often gender. The characters had relatively realistic proportions, save for the face, and that was also something I didn't see in Also I was twelve, I'd like to add that to the formula.

My first adventure into manga was Sailor Moon. There was something about the long, elegant style that really interested me at the time, and a writing style that was pretty funny. I'd consider her the first super hero character to catch my attention, and it's the same old Peter Parker syndrome, being magical gets in the way of real life sometimes. Next, with the same draws, was Yu Yu Hakasho. Though the main character was the aggressive, humorous type, this time around.

I continued to pick up manga after manga, I'm sure I read at least half of the popular selection of the time. After a while I came to the conclusion that it is all the same, and moved onto finding american comic and graphic novels to read.

It wasn't until I had history of animation and was assigned to study Osamu Tezuka that I was able to find reason for the ridiculous faces in Manga and the long establishing shots, all the influence of one artist, who was heavily influenced by Walt Disney. Reading Tezuka's work was an eye opener. Gone were the shallow girls of shojo manga, replaced with their predecessors, thoughtful, steadfast heroes, among others. (or in what I read) I was interested to find that the long, cinematic sequences were a result of western influence on Tezuka, long after I'd been influence by manga.

I feel like what manga has to offer is still about the same. Long stories that follow a linear time flow, instead of heavily episodic. Extremely detailed backgrounds, and often, a relatively appealing style. While none of this is limited to manga, I think that manga is making a lasting mark on american comics, and that it will be an improvement.

The Killing Joke- Alan Moore

For Alan Moore I've read The Killing Joke, a one shot Batman story. I've been trying for a good while to get a copy of Watchmen, but the school library has it placed in open reserve, which essentially means it will never reach my hands and will instead be absorbed by the black hole that is the open reserve..Luckily, The Killing Joke is quite a read anyway, and I'm already a Batman fan.

What made The Killing Joke so effective for me isn't just writing- It's that the writing seemed natural, and wasn't pulling along the art, and the art wasn't outshining the writing. This is what comic books are meant to do.

Though a ride into the Joker's past is something I didn't expect picking this up, and would otherwise say is strange and ultimately unnecccessary, but it was handled well. The scene when Jack (the Joker) returns after another failed stand up act was especially interesting. He was so human, and so frustrated, and yet, be it the art or the writing, it still had a resemblance of the Joker.Granted, it was a bit heavy handed in some instances- The wife's sudden death, the loss of the baby- But in these areas, the artist's keen sense of expression pulled it through.

Of course, no one can talk about The Killing Joke without talking about Barbara! Moore's decision to have the Joker shoot and paralyze her is shocking, but fantastic. It's a reminder of who the Joker is, how cruel he can be while seemingly unprovoked.It left a mark on the Batman universe, and I feel like it's effect can still be seen in newer works, like The Dark Knight.

But better yet was how the final scene, the chase and fight between Batman and the Joker was handled. Good old fashioned laughing and dodging, fighting back, and of course losing to Batman's brawn. But in a very Joker fashion, he pulls a gun in a fist fight, but finds it empty. The following conversation was a fantastic read, as Batman attempts, just once, to offer help to the Joker, who instead tells a joke that compares the two to inmates that can't trust each other, and manages to get a chuckle out of a bemused Batman. There was something much more satisfactory in this scene than the typical throwing the Joker in a cop car, or leaving his tied and waiting for the authority, and I appreciate that it ends on the Joker and Batman alone in the headdlights of the oncoming police.


Though Moore himself has called the work clumsily done without much human element, I'm going to have to disagree with him. This was the Joker at his finest.

Asterios Polyp, David Mazzulcchelli

My first encounter with this book was in class, and I have t say I stopped paying attention for a good twenty minutes as soon as I opened it.

What immediately drew me in was the main character's design. Asterios's profile is so thoughtfully portrayed, so clean cut and descriptive. It is a perfect impression of the realistic type of face he would have. That in itself made me interested with out reading a word.

Next on the list is the narrator, Asterios's stillborn twin brother, Ignacio. Limited omniscient narration is certainly my favorite, if narration is needed at all. And to use one so close t o the main character

I can't talk abut this book without mentioning the play with type. It was very interesting, and really, the only time I've seen different texts for different characters work well. More often than not it wrks better in thery. Establishing each character's vice by their fnt seems like a fantastic idea. in thery. My best example of this failing (in a published wrk) wuld be Batman: Arkham Asylum. Struggling with reading the Joker's dialogue only hindered the experience. I found myself annyed, skipping dialogue, and only skimming parts. Mazzulcchelli used separate fonts right. Subtle, but effective. It was something that did not pull me out of the experience, but helped me have another way of recognizing each character. It also helped fuel one incredible scene in which Asterios and Ignacio seem to flip between each other's lives.

Less subtle, but incredibly effective is the portrayal of each character's individual view of the world, portrayed through style. Asterios, when in his own world, is geometric, cylinders, cubes and the like. His wife, Hana, is tiny, thin lines that make a whole. The idea itself is nothing new, but the use of it was so interesting and useful I don't really care. The characters are often portrayed in a simple style, but as on as they begin to have trouble understanding each other, or their differences separate them, they revert into their own styles. It never got old or gimicky.

And if the execution wasn't enough, the story is interesting! Again, it's nothing new, but each character has so much life and believably that it's not a problem.

I have to read it again.


REVISTED 05/2010

I passed through the library a while back and couldn't be stopped from picking up ASterios Polyp again. This time, without stopping to read the whole way through, I skimmed it and looked at pages that caught my attention.

The limited color scheme really caught me this time. I believe it used only a robin's egg blue, lavender, magenta, and yellow. I'm not sure why these colors were chosen, but there were of course patterns to be found in how they were used. Asterios was usually represented in blue, while Hana was in magenta. Interestingly, the yellow always seemed to signify present day, or a striking difference between Asterios's very real past, and his dream like present. It's worth noting that the first time we see a distressed, worn out Asterios, he appears in yellow, watching his building burn. And yet in the past and dealing with Hana, he appears in blue and purple lines. Whenever Asterios meets his brother Ignacio, the two are in yellow, and most of the environment of his new found friend's home is also covered in yellow.

OF Course I'd noticed these things before, but never with any real clarity beyond how appealing it was to me. I was interested to find that the use of color was exactly as we're told to do, to create contrast, and subconsciously direct the reader. (for example, as soon as I see Asterios in yellow and yellow alone, I know we are in a dream sequence) Mazzulcchelli is killed in using color, and I think that it is a huge force in the success of this book.

Maus

After picking this up at a Borders a few years ago, I've always meant to read the series in full, and finally had to. I found it hard to put down, just as everyone said I would.

I think what I enjoyed the most was the artist's decision to portray his relationship with his father as well as his father's story. Like Spiegelman mentioned, it grounded the story. Such insight into the artist's struggle with portraying it, and just dealing with his father on a day to day basis gave me a connection to the characters. It wasn't just a story, because by representing himself, it removed the distance that narratives sometimes have. It's hard to describe, but I think that it is what ultimately gives the piece its power.

I also enjoyed the active commentary on making the book. Talking about the difficulty of portraying the holocaust, or especially that he was concerned his father would come across as a stereotype. Best of all was his father's discovery of an older work, and that that work was sampled in Maus, to bring the reader further into the situation. Much like Blankets, the

Though certain parts of the humans being mice was awkward (Such as the human body with whitey tighties and a mouse head), I thought it was effective. It lent the narrative greater power..The simplicity of the designs meant that it was less about showing what had happened, and more about the experience. Kept it black and white (no pun intended) and gave the reader a better read. Sometimes comics are too concerned with the perfect drawing, with trying to portray exactly what's going on with the drawings alone. Maus is not and allows Vladek's story to rule, unchallenged by the art style.

Underground comics

This is based solely on the bit of comics on the class resource page. Underground comics are not very interesting or pleasurable to read. The style is ugly, and the plots aren't quite nonexistant, but rather just not compelling. Gosh, a woman addicted to sex, (five or six of these) or a handful of coming of age stories. Or that one with the cat? Some of these seem to be very feminist oriented, something I've hated with quite a passion for a long time. Ones without the feminist slant still stubbornly refused to be interesting, though.

Judging by the yellow background and the haphazard drawings, these were never meant to be quality creations. however, there's something to be said for a collection or all black and white comic creations. The different styles contrast each other greatly, but it was at least interesting to browse them. None really caught my eye as being very pleasing, but rather different ways of using ink and paper. Seeing as I work in black and white a lot but have never really considered myself very good at balancing values,it was good to look at different techniques, in the least.

It's shallow to judge on looks alone, but in a medium where half is visual, it's important. It's what draws us in, and hopefully keeps us running, if not the writing. None of them drew me in in either of those ways. I'm not sure what else to say.

Blankets Craig Thompson

While I didn't connect with the book in quite the same way as others have said they had, Thompson kept my interest up, and if not for classes in my way, I feel like I would've finished the book in one sitting. The characters were convincing, the art was beautiful, and the pacing was perfect.

Thompson's ability to let the lines flow and not to over correct them allowed Blankets to have a great energy to it. With out this style, the story could've been very boring. Even though the character rarely looks exactly the same, we could identify him with the simple shapes Thompson put together. And the same is true through out the rest of the book. I think the style is what I enjoyed the very most.

The simplicity of the characters had great power, (if we're sticking to the theory of the simpler faces being easier to project ourselves on) and I spent a lot of time marvelling at the skill it takes to get such expression out of button eyes. In particular, the bit in which the main character is faced with a pastor saying an art school made his relative "full of sin" or something, by becoming gay. The look on the character's face is the perfect description of the awkward moment, of being unwilling to debate a matter, but disagreeing so heartily. Thompson accomplishes these complex sort of expressions so easily that reading page after page wasn't trouble at all. It kept the characters interesting to follow.

In particular, I loved the girlfriend's dad. Such a real character, and exceptionally well portrayed.

Not to mention it took place in Michigan and Wisconsin, and being from Michigan, the landscapes and the people were familiar. It was my home, and so just reading it for that was a treat. The lose nature of the brush strokes really brought it to life, as well as his descriptions of the weather, and the people.

Little Nemo, Iceland

I was first introduced to Winsor McCay via history of animation, for his work on Gertie the Dinosaur. At the time, one of the most riveting things around, though he tended to book end the animation- Something I find very annoying. And again, he book ends Little Nemo with Nemo waking up. Every single page ends with him waking up for some reason. Granted, these were newspaper strips, and not everyone who picked it up would understand that it was a dream. However to read it in a book format, this became tiresome.

As for plot: Not exactly riveting. As it takes place in "slumberland", it has very little plot, like dreams often do. It travels from foriegn land to foriegn land, with the characters commenting here and there on what's going on. The thing with Gertie the Dinosaur is that it was widely regarded as the first character with a distinct personality in animation, and not just random things happening to the same "character". Nemo has no character. Nemo is a little boy that sleeps a lot.

What I liked most about these strips was the art style. Though faded over time, I really appreciated the character designs, and the attention to the backgrounds. I can only assume that most of the point of the comics was the Slumberland aspect, and so each panel is a beautiful illustration. I am also a fan of the design of the Imp. And to me he showed the most personality out of anyone, expressely stating what his wants were, and feeling for other characters. He had the most play on proportion, (he appeared to be about ten feet tall at one point) and did fun things like drive strange cars with running goats for wheels. I truly enjoyed parts that did strange things like that.

As far as comics go, this was not the best thing I've ever read- But a part of history that needs to be looked at.

Shaun Tan's The Arrival

I've just read Shaun Tan's The Arrival.

I enjoyed the ride. Never a dull moment, though the images successfully illustrate a long passage of time. No dialogue, and no narration. Not a single word of English. thought the story is vague, it has incredibly clear concepts. A man that immigrates for the good of his family, presumably to get a job and send money back, aid them in coming to the new world.

Though the world he leaves resembles our own more than the new world, the entire book has an other worldly sense, grounded only by the human forms, and their expressions.I took the dragon like tails, spirals and shadows over the city as a metaphor for destruction, war, perhaps depression or corruption in the city. And yet, when the man arrives in the new world, the imagery is not recognizable. And so, I can only assume that it was to keep an audience at the man's side, understanding his confusion. (What with the Internet, we can "travel" the world easily) I found that it was effective, and I appreciated the imaginative portrayal of everything the main character encountered. The simplicity and ancient art inspired design was beautiful. I love the designs of the animals that follow the humans. I'm not sure what they are. The closest thing I could think was a Golden Compass-esque "soul beside the body" deal. And yet, our main character find his in a bin. Nonetheless, they keep the sense of wonder as the story progresses, with each new character having one of their own.

The main character is beautifully rendered..realistic proportions, with a soft pencil edge. We do not hear this character talk, he only emotes. And with this addition, we're even more attached to this character, as he introduces us in to the new world as the audience travels with him.

Along with the main character's journey, the book occasionally dips into the life of the acquaintances he makes, a brief history of each. Whether they escaped a similarly threatened country, or fought in a far away war, the clarity of the images brings the same understanding and empathy.

Making Comics: Scott McCloud

Having read Understanding Comics beforehand, I chose to read Scott McCloud's Making Comics for this week of class.

I found the work to be similar to the original, in format and in basic humor. And the humor is something I can appreciate! I feel like Mccloud put a lot of effort into putting not only himself into the book, but a lot of gathered theory that has built how he does comics.

McCloud makes a point of using visuals to illustrate ideas. And not just the basics, such as composition and so on, but literally every point of the book is illustrated. And so, it allows another way to understand concepts I'm used to applying on my own, or had read somewhere else. Though I'm not a fan of graphs and charts and the like, McCloud builds from listing in a chart to illustrating a concept, to reaching further into each concept, illustrating as he goes.

In the example of a man finding a key, testing it, and an hungry lion jumping out, McCloud goes from explaining the basics of a story and cutting it down, to how to position a camera angle on the story, with out going overboard.

I wasn't exactly enlightened by the content of this book, but I really appreciated the rewording of familiar concepts. As I've learned to work with comics of my own, I've found things that work, things that don't work, and have picked up ideas from other artists. McCloud reiterated these concepts, but in new ways- and explained why they did and didn't work. I found this very interesting, and that's what kept me reading. There's something about hearing it from someone else's mouth. And needless to say McCloud is more experienced and eloquent than I am when it comes to articulating exactly what is going on in a comic. I've been feeling my way around, and this book gave names to what I've been doing, and reminded me of some concepts I've let fall by the wayside.

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I've created this blog for my graphic narrative class. It is for reading responses in the form of writing or art.