Week Six

This week we exported the strange and nonsensical world of underground comics. These were comics that were written, published, and distributed with out the approval of any rating or approval system used back in that time. Because of this artists were free to explore taboo subjects in comics such as sex, war, etc. This also shows how anyone could write a comic if they so desired such as people do now on the internet, however it doesn't mean that they will of should be appreciated. This also caused a lot of the drawing to possibly be bad, as many of these people were not trained artists like those who did main stream comics such as Carl Barks, Will Eisner, or Jack Kirby.

I had read some of the Tijuana bibles, Air Pirates, and yellow dog comics in and out of class. I actually couldn't finished most of them because after reading only a couple of pages I was either extremely offended, angered, or confused beyond belief. For example a lot of these had scenes involving inappropriate sexual situations that not only were offensive to many but also glorified some of these acts as if they were all over our culture, which may or may not be true, which I found disturbing that people would think about it and actually write and draw about it. Like I said earlier though I can decide whether or not I want to read them and whether or not I want to appreciate them either so I do find that trait admirable.

Week Five

For this week we were studying the graphic novel which was the extension and the next evolution of the comic book. We were particularly supposed to look at the work of Will Eisner and Craig Thompson. For this weeks homework I read Will Eisner's "Contract with God".  I was immediately interested at the title as I am a fairly spiritual person myself and have my own relationship with God that at times has it's highs and more often it's lows. I found it interesting to see how Eisner portrayed all varieties of people and how they lived their lives, in relation to how God had intended.

The real interesting subject of this week is actually the advancement of the graphic novel itself. It is interesting to what is essentially a book represented in the form of comics and drawings instead of just words, or even no words similarly to the "Arrival" which we read at the beginning of the course. Similar to comic books these larger extended novels also had a variety of subjects. Some like Eisner's "Contract with God" deal with interesting yet very unique concepts that were rarely even found in other forms of media at the time, and others could just be collecting a particular storyline in a comic book series.

Week Four

For this week we were introduced into the next advancement in comics which was the comic book. We learned in class about the advancement from the strip to the larger pamphlet or book comic layout. For homework I had read some Batman, Action Comics, and some of Carl Bark's work. In class I also had the opportunity to read some military comics and a Roy Rodgers comic as well. I wanted to read a variety of comics as at the time period we learned about was all about the variety from everything from comics made about movies and television shows, super heroes, adventurers, westerns, sci fi and real life things such as war.

One of the ones that really caught my attention was Roy Rodgers, which was based on the Roy Rodgers film and tv series. I was interested in it as it portrayed old western style living with fifties, and sixties modernity which was confusing at first. I was also interested in the discussion of comics censorship at the time which I found very intriguing. I found myself playing devils advocate as I believe each side of the arguments had some valid points such as I don't think younger kids should have access to comics that portray sexual situations or overly realistic war violence, however I don't think that comics should have been censored the way they were either.

Week three

For this week we were studying the comic strip and were asked to read a variety of different comic strips. I ended up reading Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, and some Little Nemo as well as some Mickey Mouse dailies. I chose to read Peanuts as it has always been one of my favorite comic strips growing up whenever my family had gotten a news paper, and I had also grew up watching the peanuts cartoons as well. After learning about Shultz and the peanuts gang I fell a little more in love with the strip. I had always connected with Charlie Brown in a lot of ways growing up, but learning that this strip was somewhat autobiographical made me feel more connected with the concept.

The other strip that I read that I think needed to be discussed was Little Nemo. After reading about three of these stories I was moderately annoyed with the comic. I was extremely confused at the beginning of each story as it had absolutely no continuation what so ever. After figuring out each story was about how a boy was having strange dreams I was slightly amused as it was an interesting concept, that quickly got boring and tiring. I was also a little appalled by the way the kid's parents treated him after waking up at the end of each strip, however I do believe that Little Nemo could benefit from some intense psychotherapy.

week one

For the first week of this class we were asked to read "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan. To me when I first read through it I was a little confused about what this book was about. I spent the entire first attempt of reading this trying to figure out what the author or artist was trying to convey with this work. I thought about it at first I figured it was about immigration, as it turned out to be, however I had enough self doubt in me to keep trying to over analyze every little thing about this graphic novel.  As I figured it out I felt that this kind of comic book while very interesting was not the right kind of literature for me.

Like I said I do think it is interesting just for the sake that it is attempting to communicate something from someones personal experiences. I however felt that this was asking to much for the audience to figure out. This feels weird saying as I know my personality type and I normally have no problem reading body language, but this has to much unfamiliar imagery such as the spiked tails in the first part of the book.

Week Two

For the second week we were instructed to read "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud. I was very amused by the style in which it was written, in which it was written as a comic. I thought that this was a genius way to write about understanding comics, by actually writing it as a comic book. I think that this is genius as it allows the reader to literally connect to the material and visually see the concepts that are being explained, which when you think about explains comics perfectly write there.

I was particularly interested in the section about the how we as people recognize cartoons, compared to other forms of art and drawing. It was really interesting about how it was explained how we attach emotions and identities to these drawings and characters despite the fact that they are non-existent in real life. I also strongly disagree with this as we as people make these creations using our emotions and hope to transfer these characters and their emotional connections with other people which makes these things tangible and relevant to other people in their individual lives.