Blankets Review 2

I finally got to finish Blankets and from the start I was entranced in the way the story was presented to me. Each panel was clear and concise and flowed beautifully. Some of the panels captured spirituality (based on his parents spiritual beliefs), love and hate in a way that was so eloquent. It was simply ure visual poetry. The pacing was exceptional. Enough time was given to each character that I was able to gain insight to each person and develop a deeper understanding for there place in Craig’s world, with out it becoming boring. The emotions that the characters expressed were engaging and this too helped me to understand the characters. As Craig and Raina’s developed, there was an emotional spark inside me that a book has never given me before. This emotion made me want to see Craig and Raina’s relationship last forever. (Spoiler Alert!) But as Raina so eerily stated earlier in the story all things come to an end.

It was at this point in the novel when all my heartstrings had been plucked that Craig breaks up with Raina, and no explanation was given. The only conclusion I made was that he needed a change in his life and that Raina wasn’t meant to be a part of it. So my analysis of this is that the author is exposing the harsh realities of life and that not everything has a storybook ending, and that sometimes we must go our own way. So with this anti ending I was left feeling disheartened, but as I look back, it was a nice change from the normal ending in most romance stories.

So for my last few words, I would recommend this graphic novel to those who are looking for a heartfelt story, and even though it ended in a way that didn’t leave me feeling good, it will resonate within me and I felt I learned a valuable life lesson.

Transmetropolitan : Back On The Street

Transmetropolitan can only be classified as radical. From the moment I was introduced to Spider Jerusalem my opinions of his character were far from ordinary.

At the beginning of the story Spider leaves the peace and quite of the mountains for a job in the city. On his way there he blows up the local tavern with a rocket launcher. His action left me speechless. What a way to start a story! The pacing kept the story interesting, there was time to breathe and absorb the world and Spider acts as a guide for the audience as they explore the underground working of the city.

The illustrations really caught my eye. Every panel gave a great sense of space and the actions and emotions were clear. An interesting aspect that I noticed was that each panel seemed to be conveyed as an iconic moment. This made all of Spider’s actions that much more memorable and important to the story. The world that Spider inhabits is very reminiscent of The Fifth Element and Blade Runner. There is nothing normal and everything is something more bizarre than the next. The people are living in a society where rebellion is a key part of life.

Among the forms of rebellion are extreme body modifications in which people fuse their bodies with animals or other sentient life forms. The only reasoning behind these modifications that was explained is that it was the cool thing to do. As the violence in the city increases Spider becomes a small leader who believes that his voice as a journalist is more effective that creating violence which has ravaged the city for years. In the end Spider is left beaten and disgruntled like the rest of the city, but his vision and his faith in the fact the people of the city are not to blame for the violence leaves me with many questions that I want answered. So for anybody who wants to go on a bizarre adventure and explore a place that is ultra stylized and downright outrageous, I would recommend Transmetropolitan.

Persepolis 2: The Story of A Return

From the first few panels I was immediately drawn back into Marjane’s world.

I had first been introduced to Persepolis in the movie form. The style caught my eye it was simplistic but the curves of the characters were used in such a way that each character was distinct but fit in the world. The curves essentially made the world more organic. A technique that was used that I noticed was the use of mainly upper body shots, and I found that the story became more personal, because I was on the same level as the character talking. This technique creates a great sense of immersion that kept me engaged in the story. The drawings are flat and I was able to relate to the character designs better because I tend to draw in a similar way. That’s when I noticed that the interiors were flat but were trying to give the illusion of space. I wondered about whether this was a stylistic approach to convey a sense of disorientation. The emotions were expressed with a sense of authenticity. The author is the character and this first hand experience brings a great depth to the character. To me she was an onion and I wanted to peel away her layers (mentally) but to my surprise she did it for me through very touching character interactions and the fact she ages throughout the novel, that gave me a great insight into who Marjane is how she thinks and why. Text was a really prevalent factor in the novel and I felt it could have been toned down, I just felt overwhelmed with mounds of text, but that relates back to my previous comment regarding the onion layers, if Marjane Satrapi had used more visuals and less text, would I have been able to get as much insight into the character as I did? The parts where Marjane was traveling seemed to be when her true character was revealed. This method was really interesting to see in action. Finally I thought the story had real depth because of the history backing it. The Iranian revolution and the various conflicts in the Mid East have rich history and vivid events that kept me really interested in the matters, and a curiosity to find out more about them. So to anyone who wants a first hand account of a major historical event or a good character development story Persepolis is a great read.

Asterious Polyp

Asterious Polyp was a fun read. The fusion of modernistic drawing styles in combination with a gorgeous color and graphic design motif throughout the novel gave a Asterious Polyp a unique voice that makes it stand out from other graphic novels. There are many factors that really made this novel shine. First and foremost were the characters who posses qualities that beg to be animated. The exaggerated proportions the overall design of the characters seems to me to be blueprints to a potentially wonderful animation, 2D would probably work best just so that the style is kept in tact. Moving on to Asterious as a character, he is one that I was able to connect with on a deep level but I felt I was always falling short of truly understanding how he felt, which I suppose relates back to the authors character profile. I enjoyed reading Asterious’s overly complicated analyzations of the world around him, and seeing how people around him responded really kept me engaged in Asterious’s character as a whole, so I found it funny that I was caring about a character that didn’t really care if he was cared about or not. A really great addition to the novel was the author’s use of space. When Asterious went to a vast expansive location, I felt as though I was immersed in that space, and I had to take a deep breath of fresh air and look around me to make sure I wasn’t really there. I think the contributing factor is David Mazzucchelli attention to detail and expressing the subtleties in the environments. Another wonderful aspect of Asterious Polyp is the timing in the humor. A factor that enhanced the presentation of the jokes was the use of arcs and direction of the characters along with appropriate text direction. The culmination of ancient stories with the characters in place of the people that existed back then worked as an interesting motif that I think could have been explored more perhaps going into the future as well would add some contrast to the overall piece. So from the simple beginning the ending that I never saw coming, I thoroughly enjoyed Asterious Polyp and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in character development, illustrations, graphic design or storytelling.

Alans’s War: The Memoires of G.I. Alan Cope

Emmanuel Guibert’s illustration of Alan Cope’s life is very innocent. As I delved into Alan Cope’s experiences during WWII I felt as though while Cope was generalizing a lot of the events that to me would have been more personal. The illustrations reflect that generality, and this was the weakest point of the novel. Every now and again there would be some panels that seemed to be illustrations of photographs taken along the way. This was the strongest element in the novel because it brought the events to a more realistic level and provided a more dramatic and compelling image. Throughout the course of the memoir I never truly connected with Cope on a personal level. The only brief connection I made was when he brought up Boy Scouts this sparked a few personnel memories of my time in Scouting but ultimately I still felt like I was an observer for the rest of the novel. I wanted to understand how Cope really felt about the events that happened to him, he never expressed much emotion. More exploration into Cope’s psyche would allow for more abstract illustration that help truly define Cop’s experiences during the war.

Cope’s experience in the war had a lot of civilianized elements for the majority of the novel. Cope seemed to establish relationships with some characters that were rarely ever seen but every time he did, Cope would drift away and he would be off on the road again heading somewhere else. On this note, I loved seeing all of the places

Cope went and this love for travel was one of the only genuine emotional connections that Cope and I had in common.

Any moments of action were very passive. From most novels that I have read in the past, visually the most intense moments are a blur, but the sensation is very unique to the person and that sensation is very tangible. In most of the cases the emotions were withdrawn and fell on deaf ears when Cope and another character would discuss such things.

As I read the last few pages and scanned over the pictures of Cope in the various locations I felt as though the novel should not have been presented in this format. A regular non-graphical novel would have sufficed with Cope’s personal pictures incorporated as they are presented in the graphic novel. So as a final note Emmanuel Guibert illustrated Cope’s experience on a very general level and this really stopped the novel from reaching his true potential.

King: Ho Che Anderson

King was a visually vivid read. In the authors introduction Ho Che Anderson lets his feeling’s loose and describes the motivations behind the creation of the graphic novel. His statements are very bold; he explains that he doesn’t care about what people think about his statements because they are true. He basically talks about all of the pointless violence that is prevalent in modern African American community. Getting this insight from the author really helped put me in his mindset and put me in the right gear to climb his mountain of a tale.

Anderson vividly illustrates most of Dr. Martin Luther King’s life. In the first volume Anderson delves into the life of Dr. King in black and white. The second volume introduces colors in individual panels that are dispersed through out the comic to emphasize speeches that MLK makes. The third volume is mostly in color and this is where Anderson shines. It seems part of his illustrations were based on Picasso, which I found to be a very unique blend that fit with the tone created an urban abstract style that fits with how I view African American society in the 1960’s. His exaggerated figures really define the work. The exaggerated proportions on the faces and limbs create various emotions that make the high points of Dr. King’s life mainly his speeches stand out. The arcs in the bodies in conjunction with sharp lines create clear definition of how the characters are thinking. The low points are expressed with darker colors such as blues and purples. King had some pacing issues when MLK would go to meeting with organizations, which popped up occasionally. I understand it has its place in that is accurately portraying MLK’s life, but I felt it could have been edited so that the story didn’t slow down so drastically but it added to the idea of MLk’s struggle to achieve his goals. After finishing all three volumes and to give it a score out of 10, it gets a 6 from me mainly for the story dragging out a bit. I would like to investigate other works by Ho Che Anderson to see how his art style translates to a different subject matter.

Battle Angel Alita

Battle Angel Alita jumps off the page and kicks you in the face!

Only very rarely do comic artists bring this much action to their work.

Battle Angel Alita starts off with a bleak post apocalyptic battlefield where the military seems to be policing the land.

A mad scientist is introduced and his goal is to create a perfect soldier. He is successful in his endeavors and unleashes a little girl who apparently is the perfect little killing machine. This bizarre character creation is another aspect that kept me reading.

The vitality of the characters is astounding. In every panel each character is positioned beautifully. The gestures convey weight effectively and bring dynamicity to the characters. The attention to character composition in the panel brought me through each panel at high speeds and kept me enthralled with the action. I was hooked! BAA is a beautiful blend of simplicity and chaos.

A great aspect of BAA is the scale of every object. From the floating cities to the giant robots There is a clear scale difference between everything and this helps during fight sequences with Alita. After Alita saves a small group of people from a giant robot, she states that while her body is robotic, she has the brain of a human. This unveiling opens up her rebellious nature and adds depth, which is important for any character-based story. Alita also reveals her past in the city of Salem. This portrayal of nostalgia also adds to her character.

BAA also delves into the psychology of war and its affects on people. Occasionally some graphic images of deceased people will be shown to convey a tone that I feel is vital to the comic; it just adds grittiness that gives BAA an edge.

Getting to read Battle Angel Alita has been a really exciting. I am sure his work will be around for along time and I am sure it will inspire all of his readers. I will definitely look into his other works soon.

Maus V1+V2

Art Spiegelman’s Maus created a lot of mixed feelings in me as when I read it.

Initially I was intrigued by a Holocaust story told with a different perspective. With the various races of people being portrayed as Mice (Jewish people) Germans as cats and the pigs as the Polish, I was interested to see how the characters interacted. A few panels in I realized that it was a human story. This choice of using characters specifically mice with no mouths to tell an emotional story is an unusual one.

I had a hard time reading the characters gestures so I had to rely on the dialogue in order to follow the story. I felt this aspect was the weakest part of Maus.

The strongest part of mouse was the theme of survival. I think because the story is based on a first hand account, there are certain details that create a hauntingly authentic atmosphere. This tone is prevalent throughout the entire story and while there are glimmers of hope they never shine through and bleak atmosphere. This makes it hard to read through and therefore hindered my experience while reading.

An aspect of the illustrations was that each panel seemed really cramped which when looking at the story as a whole fitting visual metaphor for the circumstances in which the Jewish people are put in when they reach the camps. An element I would have liked to have seen, would be to have a more expansive panel when the story shifts from the past to the present (captivity vs. freedom) this would provide a much needed element that would significantly enhance the visual aspect of the novel.

As I finished volume two of Maus I really didn’t walk away from it with much to think about…to me it was just another Holocaust story with a bit of an interesting visual layer, and even that doesn’t make it stand out significantly for me.

That’s not to say it wasn’t good, I just think there have been so many already and all tell the same

Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown was an insightful read. Charles Shultz has created a timeless classic that appeals to all ages. There is nothing disrespectful in it so anyone can read it. This aspect allows many interpretations of the comic to be made on different levels. While a child would see it as ordinary children living ordinary lives. I as an adult view it as a insightful study of the ordinary child living an ordinary life. I can relate to the actions that Charlie Brown and his friends take. This relation with the characters actions allows me to delve deep into the character’s mind and lets me see what there motivations are for them. Charlie’s mood for the most part is depressed he tends to let the little things in life get him down. This aspect of the comic can be a bit of a downer at times, but Charlie always has his friends particularly his best friend Snoopy. Snoopy is a very lighthearted character that expresses lots of emotions that often result in extravagant actions that lead him on various adventures to fulfill wild dreams. The brief adventures usually end with a lesson that left me with a warm feeling or small chuckle. After spending some time with Charlie Brown I felt I was really delving into Charles Shultz’s childhood and his imagination at the same time. The expressions used, clearly define the character’s emotions and reactions. These expressions are very authentic and can only be reiterated based on first hand experience as inspiration. This leads me to wonder what Charles Shultz’s life has been like, and what has inspired him to create such memorable characters. His childhood must have been very influential to his inspiration for his character design. I think that whenever I return to read Charlie Brown I will always walk away with something gained from it. This monumental achievement in story telling through comics rarely comes along and is a marvel to see when it does.

Underground Comics

Reading various Underground Comics took me on a wild ride. Amongst the crazy character designs often complete rip offs of legitimate Disney characters. These primitive designs lack any of the life (movements) that the characters they are based off of. These scary, surreal characters are expressed with abstract vocabulary and wild actions that left me in disgust afterwards. While reading underground comics for the most part I tended to lose interest mainly because of the insanity and blatant disregard for any consistent character proportions from panel to panel. I think the biggest folly in Underground Comics in general is the lack of character development. These comics rely to heavily on lollygags and crude humor and don’t give any real insight to the characters motives.

But to critique the positive aspects of Underground comics they give a new rebellious perspective on what a comic can be. I never really new what was around the corner while I was reading so in that aspect there was something in it that kept it fresh and unique. I enjoyed the application of the squash and stretch principles and how the characters followed some of the principles of animation when they had a thought, performed and action and then they had a reaction, which was over the top. The characters are very anima table they have odd proportions that allow them to perform the extreme antics that are shown seem possible for any given character. When I first read Underground comics I think I was only reading into the surface value, but now that I have explored the world more I understand more of what is being explored and I think I will use them as reference for animation ideas for my characters.

So to sum up my experience reading Underground Comics I think overall I was repelled by them, but with all of the vulgarity and insanity I managed to salvage a weird inspiration source, that I don’t know if I will ever really understand or ever really want too.

Blankets/ The Spirit

As I picked up and Blankets for the first time, I delved into it with high expectations, and as I began to read it I was not disappointed. From the first page I was engaged with Crain and Phil’s interactions with one another. They seemed natural and because of that it conveyed a light at the end of the tunnel for the two boys who seem to be living on the bare minimum and not much going for them. The drawings possessed a unique ebb and flow that strung the panels together in an engaging way. I can’t recall moving through a piece of sequential art so quickly and so clearly. It was enlightening to read. The drawings and composition of each panel relate to the emotions they are portraying with stunning clarity, it is as if they have delved into my mind and drawn depression anger or happiness and put it on paper. This aspect of Blankets is what keeps me thinking about it long after I put it down. This story of growing up and falling in love is one that I won’t forget for a long time.

The Spirit

I am really fond of The Spirit as a character, I saw the movie before I read the comic so I came into it unsure of what to expect. The wacky humor falls flat for me and only has surface value. I felt that he was interacting with characters that weren’t very memorable or interesting.

But the gestures of The Spirit really helped to keep me interested in the characters actions so I would almost prefer 50 pages of the Spirit beating up the average robber.

I think a darker version of the Spirit would interest me …I guess I can always turn Batman for that if I wanted a darker detective story. So with this it seems that The Spirit is a more light hearted Batman. I have to say that Will Eisner has created a classic character and comic that I am sure will inspire the comic crowd for generations to come.

Tin Tin in Tibet/ The Moon

This week I chose to read Tin Tin. The thing I enjoyed most about reading it was getting to explore our world and beyond it. To Tin Tin the world was his oyster. He seems to love exploring with his dog. To keep the story going, Tin Tin constantly has cases of bad luck but in the end he usually ends up on top. The text fits in really well with the drawing style. The text resembles scripts from the Far East which helps reinforce the setting and even the events that take place. Another Tin Tin I read they went to the Moon! and the text had a digital clock typeface, which reinforced the technology, they were using in their adventures. Something that bothered me is that Tin Tin hardly changes clothes. Whether he is trekking through the desert or freezing in the mountains he is always wearing his polo shirt and Capri pants.

I will just assume for now that it is easier to print or draw when creating the strip.

An aspect I enjoyed was the consistently clear placement of the characters in the scene. It was consistently clear and interesting from panel to panel, and I felt like I was along for the ride with Tin Tin.

Tin Tin in Space was really long so I decided to skim through it. The story seemed to stay pretty strong through out. The same color palette and props were used, which the only drawback for me.

Occasionally they would bring in a new character. But for the most part they would keep the same four characters in a given adventure. I enjoyed this aspect for the most part, because it gave deeper insight to the character but out of that the characters would have similar reactions to completely different events.

In the end the quirkiness grew on me throughout the story was fun and there were some really well written parts that helped me connect with Tin Tin and added to my enjoyment of the comic as a whole.

Little Nemo In The Palace Of Ice

This week I chose to read Little Nemo In Slumberland by Winsor McCay. The minute I opened the first pages I was engrossed in the color spectrum that was presented to me. Along with the colors some other aspects of the comic that stood out were the composition (how each panel lead my eye through the event) along with the perspective and the scale. Each character has a distinct placement in the scene. They appear as if they have been pasted in, and this style seems to give each character equal importance in any given panel. Winsor McCay, the author has created extravagant environments that I think has stemmed from extensive traveling or intense research. His manipulation of the environments takes the characters on wild journeys that in my eyes would be great to see in a movie.

Winsor McCay while using youthful characters conveys dramatic adult situations that bring excitement to the story. One example was a naval battle at sea.

The characters such as Nemo and his friends are all dressed in extravagant clothes that complement each panels color scheme. McCay must have been influenced greatly by the circus. In the majority of the stories I read, McCay had a ring master character that was rather large. He had his nimble acrobatic female characters and the children always seem to be being guided by a native of the region they are exploring.

I found it interesting that every time Nemo and his friends reach a new environment they encounter a creature that has a suitable creature with corresponding line work. For example Nemo and his friends explore an ice palace and in that palace they meet a monster (Jack Frost) that has the physical appearance of a bunch of icicles. These creatures that appear help to convey the tone of the environment and deepen the world that the characters and I were exploring.

A really neat story telling aspect that I encountered was that Nemo explores his dreams and that at the end of every wondrous journey he wakes up in his bed.

This consistent ending note keeps a running theme that helps to end the journey on a high note. In the future when I go to design a character in my animations I will keep note that McCay has some really neat character designs that I am sure will inspire me while in my design process.

Understanding Comics

As I read Understanding Comics, I felt a sense of security while being taken through the world of comics that Scott McCloud not only writes in, but also lives in. It was as though I was on a museum tour and he was the witty tour guide. The nine chapters that he takes to run through the world of comics are clear and concise.
He starts off with an overview of history and how it relates to comics. He talks about the structure of story telling and how the images are placed in sequence to form a meaning, such as a story. McCloud breaks down the text and the pictures and talks about there history and how they have evolved over time. McCloud has an interesting part that I found was talking about the artists behind the comics and the journey they take to achieve their life long goals, and how there work evolves.
His breakdown of the different stages of the learning process for most artists was clear and concise stating that most artists begin at the 6th Surface level then move on to the 5th Craft, 4th Structure, 3rd Idiom, 2nd Form and finally 1st Idea/ Purpose. This breakdown of the artist’s journey showed understanding of this aspect of the artist and had a subtle inflection of Scott McCloud’s’ journey on his creative path.

As a Computer Animation student, I enjoy watching motion and how the parts of that motion come together as a whole. One of my favorite sections regarded motion lines and there evolution through time and across cultures. Watching the evolution of motion lines from the works of Duchamp when motion lines where being conceptualized to the dynamic high flying actions of Bill Everett and Jack Kirby’s characters, to Japan’s compositional techniques really gave me a good understanding of how motion has been perceived around the world over the last century.
Now that I have finished Understanding Comics and enjoyed it, I think I will investigate Scott McLeod’s’ other books specifically Making Comics to gain some new insights into the world of comics