"Palestine"

first off, I feel like this comic is quite different from the others that we've read. I do like how it's set in a different atmosphere and environment than something I would normally read about. I don't know a whole lot about the Jewish/Palestinian/Arab (?) situation (surprise!...lol) but reading about something and somewhere different is refreshing. I understand that the author is a journalist, and you can definetly pick up on that in certain areas, such as pages 41-50. It resembles more of a newspaper/magazine article here than it does a comic or graphic novel. (which all the text was quite time consuming and honestly, not fun.) I also feel like the panels, and even the plot of the story is very unorganized, kind of like the notes of a journalist before his finished article or story. But, for some reason, teh way he tells the story is not like a journalist. He's not very unbiased in certain situations and toward different groups. And honestly, for some reason I havent figured out yet, I find myself not liking the autho/narrator at all. I dont know but I fnd him rude and jsut not very nice.
ps....I added a comic at the top to indicate the sort of violence and its unrealness that some moments in the book represent in this place.....

Final Project

So, this si my post for Wed. Seeing as we are focusing on our final projects I was thinking of switching things up a bit and asking for advice on it. I am doing my final project on how photgraphs may form people's opinion of a story and how they work in a graphic novel (such as "Fun Home".) Does anyone have any suggestions on how to concentrate my thesis moe on a focused point? I'm going to had several pictures to people and ask several questions, such as how they perceive them as a story or if at all. I'd look to look at the subjectivity of indivisuals and how they perceive them. I'm having trouble maybe relating back to graphic novels. I'm waiting for the brilliant lightbulb to come on over my head, but Im also waiting for someone to maybe help me turn teh ligtbub on with some stellar advice! thanks!

"Berlin"

On page 136, in the bedroom, when she is trying to draw Herr Severing, several of the panels really interest me. Some of the panels of her are blurry, almost sketch-like. Severing keeps saying he cannot see her, and he does not have his glasses on, so these panels/pictures may be from his point of view, from his eyes. He cannot see her clearly because he is not wearing his glasses. But in my opinion, the blurry pictures look more like sketches. Even though the pictures are of her, I believe they are from her as well. They are sketches, and that is what she does. She is the artist, sketching what she sees. But one thing that disturbs me, is one panel on pg. 137. It is another sketch of her, but she looks not like how the other illustrations in the book portray her. She looks angry, calculating, and honestly, evil. Maybe this si just how I perceive the picture, but that is actually what I am doing my final project on. How pictures can tell a story, how people piece the story together for themselves (thir own, individual interpertation) and how different people perceive the pictures differently. While I may look at the specific panel on page 137 as evil and malicious, others might view her as just looking stern or concentrating. That is one of the great things about comic books and the pictures they provide. The story and pictures are interperted in many different ways to each individual person who reads them.

More on "Berlin"

On page 88, the story of the family slighty confuses me. I guess I still dont understand who is who? How could the father kick the wife out? And what newspaper was she reading? One that supported the Nazis or Jewish people? And this is right before World War II and the Holocaust, correct? Isnt Adolph Hitler in charge? I guess I was expecting Germany to be in more of an uproar?

"Berlin"

After jsut reading the first couple pages of "Berlin," I already like the hitorical aspect of the story and the change of atmosphere. Since we've already seen America in catastrophe and change in "stuck rubber Baby," it will be interesting to see Europe during their time of change in 1928, right before Worl War II. I like on page 16, the usage of the diary excerpts in the panels. It makes the story more personal. While the woman's cursive writing off sets the man's (the journalist's) personal view on a type writer. I like the opposing views, the contrast of perspectives the city. The single panel on page 18 that shows the overview of the city seems tto portry the city as already overwhelming and taking over. The small details of the single panel are amazing, to the people riding bikes, the double decker buses, and even two women in the bottom right corner shaking hands.
AS the traffic conroller says, teh German people are sheep. That is why they are following the Nazis after World War I. They dont want to end up like the beggar that Marthe saw on the streets of Berlin. That is why no one is paying attention to the building of the planes, the planning of war, and the deliberate violation of the Treaty of Versialles.

Wrap up of "Fun Home"

Soooo.....I was sick all last week, so that gave me time to finish the book. I still dont like how she writes. For a graphic novel there are too many words, and reads too muchy like a novel. The pictures are very simple, which was refreshing and interesting how it connected with teh text, but most of the time I felt like I could just skip the pictures and not really miss anything connected to the story. (But dont worry, Spencer, I didnt skip the pictures....lol) Also, I did not enjoy all of her literary references to Proust. Maybe it's just me who's never read the book that she was refering to, but I couldn't make the connection. (I did like her referal to "The Importance of Being Earnest" bc I'm reading it for Eng 210, and I never would have picked up on the homosexual aspect of the play if she hadnt refered to it.) I still didnt like how at the end of the book her father's death and own sexuality was linked to hers. I think the argument of one's sexuality as hereditary is very interesting, yet, in my opinion, unfounded. One person si there own, unique, individual. And i thought it very selfish of the author to link her own unique exploration and journey with sexuality with her father's. She cannot have known everything that he went through. And I found it very selfish the way she spoke of her father's death. There is no possible way she could have known what was going through his head at the time, even if it was an accident or on purpose. And in one point in the book she finds a way to link his death with her sexuality....I found that rude and unfair.
ps....There were several panels that were WAY too graphic for my taste....

More on "Fun Home"

First off, not a big an of how she writes. She uses too many big words and crams too much into a sentence. Soemtimes less is more. I just feel as if she's trying to hard to make her story important and trying to make an impact on somebody, but it's actually making it worse. I appreciate he underlying sotry behind all the meaningless words, of how her life interconnnects, yet doesnt, with her father's. Yet I also find her outlook of her father selfish and self-centered. She connects everything about her to him...he was his own person too. But the coming of age, finding myself story is getting a little old, jsut because we've read so many of them. Something a little different would be nice....

Man or Woman?- Alison Bechdel

So....looking at the author's name on the cover of the book, I thought, cool, we can hear a woman's atory, written by a woman, change of pace. And then looking at how the character was drawn in the book, i was like, hmmm...that loosk like a little boy. then i dismissed it and thought that she was jsut in a tomboy stage as a child. But then I had to look up a picture on the internet....Is the author a woman or a man??? I cannot tell...and the story int he book is not too discriminatory, in my opinion. Unless I'm missing some key pronouns...I dont know.
Also...another coming of age, finding myself, this-story-is-all-about-my-life-and-childhood story....cooome on. Is that the only thing graphic novelists write about?

Stuck Rubber Baby- Wrap up

Soooo....I totally thought that what happened to Sammy Noone was devastating and traumatic. The author went into really good details that jsut horrified the reader...especially about the part about how Toland ran into his swinging legs and that is what haunts him to this day. I also found the part about how Orley came back later in life as a hippie, totally stoned out of his mind, and apologized and admitted his mistakes. It gives me hope that people and the human race can change for the better...or did he jsut admit to it because he was too stoned to know what was going on? You never know.....I really liked how this book went back inot history and dealt with an individual's inner conflict during a time of social conflict. This area in history si jsut intersting to me as well. The one thing I did not like aboutt he book was the ending....the reader never really finds out who the narrator is speaking to and why he's telling this story. We can all assume Toland is telling this story to his new lover, but...Why?

Howard Cruse

So, after looking more closely at Howard Cruse's website and reading farther into "Stuck Rubber Baby," I started thinking about what the author was trying to say to his readers...and then I started wondering if he was really saying anything at all. Looking at Howard Cruse's website, there are some instances of desperation. For example, at the botom of the page, one of teh biggest eye-catchers is a link to buy his art. And in his novel, yes he covers important topics, such as homosexuality and race equality, but is he really trying to something to his readers? Or is he jsut trying to grab people's attention by covering touchy subjects, trying to make people buy his work? Is Howard Cruse a sell-out, desperate for income?

"Stuck Rubber Baby"

On the first page, I really like the art. The large picture of the man doesnt even seem to be in a panel or box. This makes him seem like he's in the background, commenting on what he experienced in his past. I also reallylike how they introduced the Southern man character with a beer in his hand...lol. But it really disturbs me the hypocritical view the parents take on page 3. The father says that it's "Scientifically proven" that white people are smarter and brains are more developed than black people, yet says to respect black people by not using the "n word." Doesnt he realize that what he said only moments before was also humiliating and degrading?? It's like the father is building himself up as not being racist, but he clearly is. A lot of other moments in this bookt he author utilizes to make the reader uncomfortable. Like on page 4, after talking about the main character's mother's plan to teach their father how to read, but not getting to it because she died in a car crash. The character's sister says, "so much for that plan," and there's a picture of shreds of metal and torn up cars from the wreck. In the beginning of the book, the author uses the tact of making his readers uncomfortable to get a reaction from them and to interest them to keep reading.

"Portraits from Life"- Definetly A Graphic Novel

I feel in this book that there's a lot more reading than the last that we've read. It definelty reads more like anovel. One kid in our class (I cant reemeber his name) says that he doesnt believe in the category of "graphic novel." But I feel like Collier's work is defintely a graphic novel! Sure, it may have pictures, which is a trademark of a comic, but the stories themselves dont read as comics, such as Alan Moore's work might. Collier's work focuses mroe on the story lines, which are more serious than say following the adventures of a giant blue man. While I understand that Moore si critiquing certain aspects and giving a certain view in this way, Collier's novel is much mroe straightforward and serious. And his utilization of the history aspect has a different vibe than how Moore used it. Also, the use of black and white art only gives more of an antique feel as well. Maybe this isnt a very good definition of a graphic novel,but maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. It just FEELS like a graphic novel. It jsut gives off this vibe of being different from Moore's work and definelty from the recent installment of X-Men, etc (again, not quite sure if there are recent installments of these...someone correct me if I'm wrong, please....)

Side-note: I enjoyed the story of Grey Owl, but I don't feel like the story of Ethel Catherwood was the right one to open with. It dragged a bit. I didnt really understand the ending of Richard Collier's story...it kinda gave me the creeps...why was that girl who was not his granddaughter singing that song and then hugging him? It made me think of some episode that should be on Law and Order or something....

David Collier

Above is an image of the back of David Collier's book from "Portraits from Life." Just skimming through the pages of the book, youcan see that his illustrations are completely different from the ones we've recently read, particularly "Watchmen" by Alan Moore. On first glance, they kinda made me think of the "Doonsbury" comic strips in the newspapers. Maybe it's just me....

"V for Vendetta"

In class on Mon, when Spencer separated us into groups, my group discussed several ideologies that were being criiqued in teh book that grabbed my attention. One of the institutions that I felt Alan Moore is crtiquing is marriage. The two marriage that are ainly focused on in the book is the marriages between the Almonds and Conrad and Helen. Both marriages are very dysfunctional because of abuse, both mental and physical. But these two marriages are very different. Mr. Almond, terrorizes and controls Mrs. Almond, even after death. It is the typical controling man and battered woman. Even though he beats her, humiliates her, and even threatens her by gun point, once he's dead, she does not feel free or rescued. She misses him, depends on him. While in the other marriage between Helen and Conrad, the dominant and submissive are switched. Helen controls Conrad, even in his job. The only reason Conrad hass made it as high up in his job and career is because of Helen's ambitions and manipulation. Conrad is completely dependent on his wife, and I like how Moore switched the gender roles around for the reader to see.

"V for Vendetta"

In my last post I commented on how I was hoping Alan Moore would prove me wrong again about the comic book genre thing, like he did for "Watchmen." Well, unfortunately, he did not. I was not a big fan of this book. I did like how it was faster to get through; there was not so much information, whether in the content or in the pictures, to get through as their was in "Watchmen." And I really liked the idea of the whole "Big Brother", government-all-powerful thing. (I'm a fan of Geourge Orwell's "1984," which this story line was slightly reminescent for me. But I felt like there were so many loose ends just not tied up. Maybe that is the way he wanted it to be, but I like my stories to finish full circle, in completion. I don't know, I'm left with a sense that maybe I jsut didnt get it completely? For example, I get that Evey took over as "Codename V" and that his complete identity was not revealed when he died because maybe it would have let us down as readers, but I wanted to see his face! I wanted to know his significance, and how did he get all that stuff, like his own version of FATE? I wanted to know why they out him in Larkhill. Was he gay, Jewish, or just did the wrong thing? I was jsut left with so many questions, not really understanding or getting the "whole picture" I guess. I guess, I was just left not satisfies, wanting more.

Calling All Watchmen fans.....

Ok....after reading the first book of "V for Vendetta", I couldn't help myself from missing "Watchmen." I know they are written by the same guy, so they have some of the same traits, but I guess I just go tinvolved with the characters of the book. When I first opened "Watchmen," I'll admitt, I judged it as a pure comic book, plain and simple. The vibrant colors and cliched superheroes were so predictable...I judged a book by it's cover. But it proved me wrong! I actually really enjoyed it, and it sucked me into the comic book world. Once, I opened "V for Vendetta," I was disappointed. I ACTUALLY miss the distracting, vibrant colors, the jolly blue giant, the people who took it upont hemselves to dress up as owls and kick semi-serious criminal butt. I think the colors of the illustrations are dull and boring, but then again maybe I'm judging this book by its cover too, like I did before. Hopefully, Alan Moore will prove me wrong again. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm gonna become an avid comic book reader hanging out at the local corner store, thumbing through the new edition of X-Men (which I don't even know if they are still coming out with new editions of that???....lol)....Sorry Spencer, but I have become a fan of Alan Moore, and maybe the comic book, superhero genre in general....Hopefully, Alan Moore does not disappoint again...

P.S...I promise next post will have more on the material of the story. This interested me and I fel like ranting for a bit...Sorry to whoever had to read this...lol

The Scott McCloud we see, and then the Other

So, just for the record are we done with Scott McCloud and understanding his comics? I know my following post isn't on the material, persay, but it is on images, and isn't that a large part of comic books? I decided to look up a picture of the "real" Scott McCloud, and I think he was pretty generous in the way he drew himself for our image. I realize that he was very minimal on the details of the drawing of himself, but it still wasn't at all how I would have pictured him. That's kinda the issue I have with comic books. I don't like how they give the pictures to you, I want to imagienthem for myself. It's kinda like when you see a movie after you read the book. The characters and the scenes and landscape aren't at all how yoiu imagine them, so it's kind of a let down. I understand that images and pictures are what makes comics unique from other forms of literature, but I enjoy the freedom of imagining things for myself.

P.S. I also found this image of Alan Moore who wrote "Watchmen." Doesn't he look like Charles Manson, the serial killer?.....lol

The Watchmen

So, I saw this on YouTube and I thought it was kinda creepy....lol. Especially the song they picked to use for background music in it....Yeesh! And I also thought that the one guy who's supposed to be playing Daniel (or the Nite Owl) kinda looks like Spencer (our professor, for those of you who don't attend class)...Enjoy! Ps....sorry if people have already seen this or I'm like way behind on the times and everyone's watched it already, lol!)

McCloud and "Understanding Comics"- or Should it be called "Comics: A Guide to Confuse you Even More"

I've never posted a blog on McCloud before, but since that's the only reading that's due in class tomorrow, I guess there's not another choice. As you can probably tell from my title of this particular blog, I'm not a very big fan of this book.
First of all, as most of you can probably tell by now, I'm not afraid to admitt that I'm a complete comic book "virigin." I've mentioned in class before that I have never read a comic book or graphic novel before this class, I have no idea how to go about reading them, and I'm basically trying to muddle my way through. Call me sheltered....But when I first picked up this bookand read the title, I was like, "Sweet! A guide to help me understand comics!" And so far, I dont think it's been very helpful. He's assuming that people who know the structures of comics and the such are reading this book, well, hi, that's not me. I feel as if he's throwing way too much information at the readers all at once. I get easily lost and distracted. Overall, it's a very good guide on how-to read and understand comics.
I do like, howver, how McCloud does relate comics back to everyday or even advanced things. For example, he relates comics, or the pictures in them, to photographs or to even famous paintings. I like how he's adding in history, giving the readers something to draw on and compare to. And the example of a famous painting, such as one by Edvard Munch (pg. 122) connects comics to history, literature,a nd the fine arts, which makes me go back to the discussion we had in class on Wednesday. Are comic books literature? Here, I think McClud is taking a subtle step in that direction, tactfully linking comics in readers' minds with art, which also encompasses literature.

Watchmen Chapters 1-4- "A Punch in the Face"

So, I'm gonna try this a little differently from my last several posts. Spencer, in class, said we can create a voice for a blogs and it can be informal or even short if we'd like. I was approaching these blogs as mini responses or essays....Here's to thinking a little differently or outside the box...

First off, as soon as I opened this book, it freaked me out. All the colors, the detailed images, there's so much going on. And it looks a little violent. I liked how "Blankets" was drawn. It seemed softer, not so much as this one, which is kinda like a punch in the face. The author just seems to want to make an explosive impression as soon as you see the front page. Especially with sentences such as, "The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will faom about their waists and all the WHORES and POLITICIANS will look up and shout "save us!"" (pg. 1)

I Like That Sentence......

Blankets- Chapters 8-9

In Chapter 8, I loved the example of "Socrates asking his disciple Glaucon to imagine human beings living within a dark cavern," on page 495. I loved how the humans accepted everyhting that was shown to them as truth, and when it turned out to be false, they believed that they were not in the wrong but the truth. The humans believed that the truth must be wrong or misleading. I also loved the images of fire and shadows that this mini story showed. The images of shadows made me think of something hiding and lurking, which I think the author used perfectly to connect these images and thoughts with Raina. The story and Craig, "realize what he'd known as a human was merely the shadow of a statue of a human" (pg. 501.) Craig not only realized that she was fake and not human, but she was doubly fake, a SHADOW of a STATUE of a human.
The scene where Craig is being lectured to by the adults at his church on attending art school is hilarious to me. The exaggerated facial expressions of the adults and the exaggerated noises, such as the sniffs, gulps, and gasps, were hilarious. In some cases, they could be cliched and overplayed, but here I felt the author used them perfectly to portray the narrow-mindedness of Craig's church and the community where he lived. Another aspect of the novel, pages 564 and 565, linked with the narrowmindedness of the religion taught at Criag's church. I found it interesting that the author depicted the Jesus figure as dark and forboding in the Bible stories taken straight from the Bible, but the Jesus figure depicted when Craig is doing what he feels is right and putting his own individual ideas into religion and belief, such as kissing Raina or remembering her blanket, is ablazed with light and smiling in approval. The smiling and warm figure of Jesus shows that Craig is deviating toward a more personal and independent faith that is not narrow minded and restricted like his church and community's.
I did not really like the end of the story. I felt like it just stopped mid-story, with no real ending. I wanted to know what happened to Raina and even to Craig. I just felt like there were so many ends left open, nothing explained. I understand that this is what the author may have been going for, but I'm mroe the type for a concrete ending.

Blankets- Chapters 6-7

Not particularly in chapters 6-7, but in the earlier chapters, mostly in chapter 5, I noticed one aspect of how Raina was drawn that caught my attention. Her lips, nearly every time she is depicted in the panels, are intricate, delicate, and always stand out. While other characters' lips are drawn as striahgt lines or with little to no detail, hers are always exquisite and drawn to stand out. On page 257, when her and Craig are kissing in the woods, int he bottom larger panel, Craig's lips disappear, while Raina's seem to encompass, swallow, and make his disappear.
On page 346 and 347, i loved the author's different uses of font for the speech bubbles. When Craig tells Raina she loves him, it's personal, almost hand-written, like her original poetry sent to him through the mail, but when she replies, it's in the type-writer, impersonal font. The font of her response makes the reader feel the coldness and the distance of the response. It also seems to me the coldness and distance that Craig is feeling seeping subtly from Raina, and growing between the two.
As I continue to read this story, there's so much going on in each panel, on each page, in each word bubble, and between each character. I see so many undiscovered and barely touched on connections betwen each character, so many symbols, situations, and dialogues that are barely touched on or explained by the autho, yet presented. I fel as if each little tid bit the author gives, he gives to each individual reader, letting us make our own connections and explanations. I feel like he doesn't explain everything or make it clear or just give us little pieces of each so we can connect to it in our own ways, putting a piece of ourselves and our stories into his.

Eng 300- Blankets- Chapters 2-5

Craig as a teenager is very similar to who he was as a child. In both stages of his life, he's timid and easily overpowered by others. He also constantly has a fear of reaching his next stage in life hanging over him. As a child, he's constantly afraid of becoming a teenager, linking it to the sexual abuse he enduredd from his teenage baby-sitter. When he becomes a teenager, he fears his own sexuality, getting incrediby nervous whenever Raina tries to touch him or kiss him. He links the sexual abuse he endured from his babysitter to every sexual thought or action (such as masturbating on pgs 146-147) as dirty and sinful.
Craig's drawings, I believe, are linked to his religion. He also seems to think his drawings are sinful, drawing his passion away from the love of God. Adults, such as his Sunday school teacher, (pgs 136-137) draw him even farther away from his drawing, dismissing it. His drawing is his escape, who he is. Essentially, his religion is drawing him farther and farther away from his true self. Throughout the story Craig sticks towards his religion with only subtle details giving away his doubts, such on pgs 217 and 218, Jesus is drawn to describe a story Craig is reading in the Bible, but Jesus is not drawn or depicted in a light, warm, and loving way. I viewed the drawing if Jesus as dark, sinister, and mysterious. A shroud of darkness always seemed to shroud is face, especially his eyes. In some panels, Jesus' face or body was blcked out completely, hiding i from the reader.
Throughout the book I also noticed a symbol that interested me. It almost looks like a sea shell. I'm not quite sure what it represents, but it appears on pg. 293 in an image of his naked babysitter, in the middle of his chest, where his heart should be. It appears, in many other places, but also on the border of the panel on pg. 311, depicting a loving image of Raina. This symbol also links Craig's very different images and experiences of his sexuality together.