Web Comics

Octopus Pie is a web comic about two young adult roommates that live in Brooklyn. Stylistically its very cartoony and a little mangaesque. Its actually really smart and funny. The contrast of the two main characters is what creates a lot of the humor. One is very angry and edgy and the other is a free spirited stoner. A full page comes out every other day and its been online for a few years now. Overall it has a good story, decent drawings, and good humor so i would definitely recommend it.

The next one i read is When I Am King. This was more of what i expected when i first thought of web comic. It was a quick read, only took about ten minutes to read and it utilizes the scroll arrow in most computer's browsers which makes it an exclusive kind of comic. Sometimes you have to scroll down as the story unfolds and the characters actually move a little at some parts. When I Am King is a simple polygon shaped story that takes place in what looks like a primitive video game world. There are a lot of bizarre and over the top hilarious moments in this mini comic and even though its simple it still is a good story worth checking out.

Watchmen - Alan Moore

A few weeks ago I read a chunk of Watchmen. Having watched the movie first I have to say it sticks pretty close to the novel. (As far as i've read) Many of my friends who have read it entirely and watched the movie disagree with me completely. Visually the movie might be more appealing in my opinion. The colors used in the comic are solid, flat and make the world a bit static. This is probably the only thing that bothered me about it. The content itself is great. It's incredibly well written and reads like a really good crime/mystery novel. Even though i've seen the movie the comic gets deeper into the situation the heroes are in and gives you a closer glimpse into their psychologies and personas. I liked how they included pages from the fictional novel from the old Nite Owl, "Under the Hood", to develop the story more. I also like how actual historical events were influenced by the characters in the novel. Overall this is a more adult and sophisticated super hero comic than most out there and I can't wait to finish it in the future.

My New York Diary by Julie Doucet

My New York Diary is an illustrated memoir of the author, Julie Doucet. Its about moving to New York with her "boyfriend" and reliving the events through her eyes. The story starts off in Quebec, in the art school Julie attended. Here we get to know the character better and can relate to her. Julie is a shy and anxious pessimist and is really only concerned in fitting in and talking to boys. Her character to me was of an immature and weak person and the dialogue was boring and simple as well. This is probably why i didn't really enjoy the book.
The drawing style was very cartoony, (big heads, little bodies, exaggerated features) and all of the drawings were crammed into the small panels which was confusing at first but then I became accustomed to it by the end.
Some of the more dramatic scenes of the book were the most interesting as well. The scene in which the boyfriend wants to kill himself by slicing his wrists is suspenseful and the most entertainment i got out of this book.

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

Asterios Polyp has to be the most sophisticated and pleasant comic to read. This was my second time reading it and it asserted itself once again as a phenomenal work in my opinion. The strong and interesting characters like Asterios, Ursula, Stiff, the hippie musician guy and Hanna had all unique personalities. They were opinionated and the differing opinions created great dialogue and scenes. One example i'm thinking of is when Ursual and Asterios were talking about the cosmos and astrology. There is so much to talk about this book but another great thing about it is the art itself. Mazzucchelli created and clean, and simplified caricatured world that had graphic impact and used a limited palette. The subtle purples, yellows, and precise line work give the work a modern look that is suiting to the content.

The question that is asked by Ignazio (Asterios's dead twin brother) above brings up a really interesting idea. I found the way that Mazzucchelli handled this visually was genius. Its simple but yet delivers the idea of different people experiencing life subjectively and thus creating their own realities. Using different styles he uses this technique throughout the book. For example when Hana and Asterios are arguing over something Hana becomes red scratchy marks while Asterios is portrayed as cylindrical and rectangular prisms. Also when they flashback to when they first met in the party Mazzucchelli uses this technique again to differentiate all the different people in the party.

Guy Delisle's Pyongyang: A Journey into North Korea & Persepolis(Movie)

This week i read and watched some works relating to two of the scariest places to live in the world currently.
Guy Delisle's Pyongyang was drawn like an editorial or political cartoon but was full of quirky and witty information about the totalitarian state. The lack of privacy and the total devotion and obsessive admiration of the brainwashed people of North Korea is portrayed in somewhat of a light hearted way. I think this is because of the style of drawing i mentioned before as well as the panel above. Overall the book is an easy read with some funny moments and good information of a current issue happening in the world today.

I also watched the film Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It is a coming of age, autobiographical story of the author. The difficulties of being a girl in a fundamentalist Islamic country and just being a teen are the main focus of the film. The film does a very good job in teaching a bit of the history of Iran and it does so in a beautiful and powerful way.

Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka

Ode to Kirihito was awesome. It had great a great storyline, art, and dialogue. It was the complete package. I never thought too much of manga before. But this book definitely makes me realize that no matter what medium of art, there are a few greats that give it a good name and make it worth to check out.
Tezuka creates many intricate plots that follow different characters besides the protagonist. All the plots occur simultaneously and help the story develop and add extra suspense.
The book is really a cinematic experience that unfolds like a Tarantino movie on steroids. The brutality of some of the scenes that occur in the book are masterfully contrasted with the meticulous and beautifully drawn landscapes of Japan.

Fun House by Allison Bechdel

Fun House is a very smart and well written comic-memoir or graphic novel. In the story the narrator and main character, Allison Bechdel, a lesbian, struggles as a young girl to be feminine and is more inclined to be tomboyish. She admires rough, muscular, strength of men as well as men's fashion magazines, not for the men themselves but because of their traits and fashion. At the same time her father, Bruce Bechdel, is secretly an in-the-closet homosexual living a straight man's life. He is obsessed with antiques and treats his furniture like children and children like furniture.

Bruce always pushed Allison into dressing more girly and encouraged her to act her gender. This is a big theme in the book, gender confusion and identity, and is a frustration in Bruce's own life because he himself is a homosexual/bi person vicariously living through Allison. 

Alisson is also living her desire to be masculine through her father. She advices hes father on men's fashion secretly seeing herself in the clothes. I think this was an important moment in understanding what both characters are really made of and how similar they are.

Maus - Art Spiegelman

Maus was a great read in my opinion. It was informative and entertaining. I was intrigued at first as to how much of the atrocities of the holocaust they were gonna depict, especially since Spiegelman was using cute mice and cats as the main characters. The book wasn't too graphic in content but it definitely delivered some tragic and bleak moments.
It is Art Spiegelman's father's first hand account of the the holocaust in Poland and his stay in Auschwitz. In the story Art is a comic book artist trying to get information from his elderly father about his time in the holocaust. Their relationship is at times frustrating for both of them. Vladek, the father, is a bit of a greedy and stingy old man and is constantly fighting with his second wife Mala. Art's mother commits suicide years before the book takes place.
The story is pretty epic and I felt it read smoothly and quickly. The reader is taken in a grim adventure through nazi occupied Poland.
There are many reasons why Maus was and is so popular. The reason why i enjoyed it so much was McCloud's idea of putting one's self in the cartoon's place. You really feel part of the story both in the supposed real world where Art in interviewing his dad and in the memory of his tale.
Something that really caught my eye was Art's comic about his mothers suicide. It played into the story well but besides that it showed the reader how personal this whole graphic novel is to Spielgelman. It was meant in my view to pull the readers attention through his/her emotions. It was also an opportunity to show Spiegelman's other drawing style. Another similar thing that i found interesting was how he used a photograph of his brother at the beginning of the second book and also one of his father towards the end.

Underground Comix

This week I read Zap Comix and Robert Crumb's Mr. Natural. I found both works hilarious and really amusing. The content of both pieces are drugs, sex, raunchy comedy, and lots of profanity. Mr. Natural is a spiritual guru that is a bit of a jerk. I like how Crumb gave him human flaws and characteristics as well as his ridiculous humor and how he psychologically messes with Flakey Foont. Another interesting thing about the comics was that you could tell it came from the 60's because of the references to the drugs, fashion, culture and especially slang. Its a caricatured view into a past time.

Will Eisner's A contract with God

A Contract with God is a graphic novel that tells the story of a tenement building in the Bronx during the 1930's. They are a collection of different short graphic stories rather than one single continuous one. The stories deal with poor working class people and their scandalous and intriguing stories. Eisner's line work and wonderful city landscapes and settings is what caught my attention the most as well as his lively and cartoony characters. The work is suppose to portray "realism" and the raw and hard daily lives of the inhabitants of the tenements.

Craig Thompson's Blanket

Blankets is an autobiographical graphic novel that tells the story of Craig Thompson. The graphic novel shows the very real and often sad events of his childhood, family, first love, and religious environment. It takes place in the mid 80's and early 90's in rural Wisconsin and also in Michigan.
The story starts off with Craig as a young boy and describes the horrors and traumatic events associated with being an evangelical Christian. Craig is a frail boy, unsure of himself and often bullied by his peers. He is a loner all the way through high school. He is sent every winter to Christian camp but feels inferior to the others because he is poor. During his senior year he meets a few other misfits and a girl in the camp, Raina. He soon becomes infatuated with her and they begin a friendly relationship where they send letters to each other. Eventually Craig convinces his parents to let him stay with Raina and her family for a few weeks. Raina's family is dysfunctional in some ways. Her parents are in the process of a divorce, she has two mentally handicapped siblings, and her sister is married to jerk. Craig and Raina still manage to spend time together and fall in love. When Craig has to go back home he is distraught and depressed. He wants nothing else but to be with her but Raina needs her space because she is dealing with many difficulties. Craig realizes that he is harming himself with this fascination and cuts off contact with her altogether. He then faces other problems in is life like his faith, community, parents, family, and future. The story ends in an optimistic way with Craig growing and realizing whats really important.
The novel is full of metaphors and connections from biblical scripture and philosophy. It is a very well written and drawn, in-depth look at very important subjects such as childhood and adolescence, first love, religion, sex, and family.
What i like most about Blankets was how personal it is and how much you feel like you know Craig by the end of it. His past and present help develop the story and in it his characteristics. Many teens growing up face many of the same issues with themselves like questioning your faith, not fitting in, and family problems, which is why it is so easy to put yourself in his shoes and relate to him.

Comic Strips

This week the I revisited an old comic strips and discovered some new ones.

Peanuts by Charles Shulz - Peanuts is a comic strip created by cartoonist Charles Shulz in 1950 and ran till his death in 2000. Snoopy and Charlie Brown are iconic characters and loved by most children and adults. As a young child I loved Snoopy and the Peanuts universe. Revisiting the strips i found the content very interesting for a few reasons. I relearned why it is that these characters are so relatable to kids, reestablished an appreciation for Shulz's line work and iconic drawing style, and laughed and how most of the characters had adult traits and problems that made them unique and memorable.

Little Nemo in Slumberland 1905 - This was my first time reading Little Nemo and I can say i was impressed and entertained by it. The art in itself was spectacular, Winsor McCay's tight and precise line work, his soft colors, and great settings and places were enough to keep me glued to it. The dialogue was good but clearly intended for a younger audience. Nemo is a boy who goes to a magical places when he dreams. he has a few friends to help him in his adventures. The strip flows fast, mostly action-to-action transitions, and is full of movement, action, and quick and sudden scene changes.

Krazy Kat by George Herriman - Krazy Kat is unlike the other two in that it isn't intended for kids, in fact it was hard for me to really distinguish a specific fan base. It is the story of Krazy Kat, Ignatz Mouse and Offissa Pupp who have a sort of love/hate triangle relationship. It takes place in the surreal Coconino County. The strip is drawn in a very simple but messy and loose style.

Understanding Comics - Scott Mcloud

Understanding comics was fascinating to me because it made me rethink about cartoons and really figure out why they have such an iconic impact on people. The interesting thing was how he explained that the simpler the drawing the more we relate to it and envision ourselves through it. This is because we also see ourselves in a reduced simpler visual form, kind of like a cartoon. Another thing that was interesting to me was the process of making comic books. This was good for me because i' not a big comic book reader but learning the process makes me wanna jump into it more now and even make my own.

A week of kindness Max Ernst

The first panel displays a woman wearing a black robe standing on one foot with her arms extended to the sides. On the floor next to her there is a chicken and an egg. The darkness and mystery of the panel makes me think of some kind of ritual being performed.
The second panel shows a large chicken-man standing next to a woman, that could be dead or sleeping, in a room. He
The third panel is about the woman in the last panel being lowered in a casket somewhere underground. Another naked woman stands naked on the side while the chicken-man and now another creature look at her suspiciously. In the back there is an upside down cross hanging which might indicate that this is a human sacrifice being performed on the women by these creatures.
Fourth panel- She is laying half-naked on a rectangular slab of concrete. The creatures are talking and plotting what to do with her. The situation looks bleak, it looks like another step of the ritual is about to take place.
Panel 5- Woman on the floor appears to be dead and there is blood splattered on the floor.
There are important elements to this work that we know are the basic elements of traditional comic books. The only difference is that this work is more surreal and even though the panels are in order its more up to the reader to interpret the story as he or she wishes.

Shaun Tan's The Arrival

Wordless graphic novels like The Arrival by Shaun Tan prove that a story can successfully be presented with just images. The Arrival is the tale of a man who immigrates to a distant and foreign land in search of money, prosperity, and a better future for his family which he leaves behind. He is forced to leave his country because of a menacing presence symbolized as a shadow of a monster's tail.
 The story is very similar to many immigrants's stories and to their struggles and confusions in reaching a foreign land for the first time. The indecipherable and weird symbols Tan presents to the reader are his attempt to show how an immigrant feels and sees the world.
The Arrival works well because the sequence of events are clear and captivating. Every single square is so interesting and well drawn that it keeps you glued to the book and makes you wonder what is going to happen next. I think the lack of words adds an extra element to the book because it makes the reader use his imagination and play the story out in his/her mind.