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....