Re-Write The Arrival

Seeing that we have to do a we-right for our last blog I have decided that I would just bring it full circle and end with the graphic novel that launched the whole course. Plus I really enjoyed the story and the illustrations so I thought it would be fun to see what I find different about looking at the novel now.
The fist thing that I noticed this time around is that he uses a cooler or warmer tone to the images in reflection to his mood at the time. When he is not so happy working fast or on an unknown new journey the images are cooler and harsher, but when things are on the up and up he is happy and especially when his family makes it to finally be with him again the images are much warmer and happier in feel. I really like the grainy texture to his images as well it makes everything more peculiar which I think is good because the whole story is a bit peculiar in itself. I really like that he sticks to his standard grid and varies the size of the panels based on time, when things happen quicker the images are smaller and when he takes a moment to really look and see what is going on the images are larger. I still really love when he is traveling on the boat in the beginning of the story how he shows time traveled through the weather making the images warmer to cooler based on night and day. He also does an amazing job showing expression tone and mood through the facial expression that he gives the characters, I really enjoyed the section when he is trying to communicate with someone you can see the confusion in both of their faces but once the man starts drawing images to describe the words that he is trying to explain you can instantly see a change in their expressions and the clarity of the two men being able to understand each other. The reality of the story and the surrealism of the images gives a really interesting intrigue to the whole book. It is so familiar but yet so different that you are able to plug in the cities that he maybe in and I feel that this really helps draw the audience in because there is just one more level that we can relate to and interact with. I can see myself in the new city that he finds himself in, to me it's like i'm in chicago or Minneapolis. I just wish we had balloon transportation as well. Wrapping this up I also want to say how I really enjoyed his use of symbols where words should be its kinda cheating on the wordless comic but without that the city would not be as real as it should be. I also really enjoyed the way he shows story telling throughout his traveling and how it just kinda flows in and out, It is a slight confusing transition but once the story is over and you return to where you started from imagery wise you understand that there was a story being told.

Asterios Polyp

Just from looking at the cover and flipping through the pages I was instantly intrested in this books, the colors for one got me so excited but the way he drew the comic was beautiful. The variety of style and the simple ways of showing action in a still frame. Like when his wife is wafting smoke from her face, simple, priceless, and easy to read. I also really enjoyed the variety in the typography I found it to be beautiful as well and to really fit with the flow of the book it also really helped show the mood/feel he was trying to translate. I also really enjoyed the panel variation and page set ups it also really helped give this book a really nice rhythmic feel.
I kinda like the traumatic beginning to the story and the struggles that Asterios goes through, It so much can relate to anyone's everyday life. I know I could relate to his emotional rollercoaster. It really gives the character a super human feel, and really helps get you involved, and keeps me sucked in hoping that he will see blue skies again. throughout the book he struggles with almost a duality problem in everything that he encounters. Apollonian vs. Dionysian, destiny vs. free will, and nature vs. nurture, reason vs. emotion. Nothing can ever just be for him.

Persepolis2/movie

The second book is about marjane's new life outs side of iran. She moves around from place to place never really fitting in and being confused by the western culture that she is being introduced to. She is introduced to many new things such as smoking sex and drugs. She feels a little disgusted in herself at first because she feels as though she is betraying her country and her mothers honor by not being the best she can be, later she starts to join in more but only pretends. It isn't until things continue to go wrong that she finally decides to join in and actually starts participating in drug use. The more things go wrong for her the more she uses. Having troubles in school and with money she calls her mom and asks her to pray for her marjane gets a job and is also selling drugs when confronted by her instructor she quits selling drugs but starts doing more of them herself this turns her boyfriend off and she falls apart. Living on the streets for 2 months she gets sick and then ends up going back to iran.
In the movie the first half is soo much like the first book but when they introduce the second book it starts out by her smoking and briefly talking about what she had went through and then she goes home and they ad some new parts to the story. I'm not sure why the second half doesn't follow the book as closely as the first half does but I enjoyed the movie regardless.
I love how in the second book she still sticks to the black and white images and I also love how she depicts herself in the story. the attitude that she shows in her face throughout all of her tough times. I feel that if she would have switched it up and added color that it would have lost a lot of its energy and would have put a cheerful attitude to something so gloomy.
Even in the movie she holds true to the black and white imagery I just love it. Over all I just love the whole story and how she sticks to her style so well. It's honestly really well done and gets me really excited. I wish there was more to it than just the 2 books and the movie, maybe someday with time she will add a story about her in her old age.

Buddha/mermaid saga

I found the history in this comic to be very interesting, especially not being familiar with Manga or Buddhism at all. It was interesting to see the history of Buddhism portrayed in this manor. I found that this comic had quit a bit more nudity than other comics I have previously read in the past. I also found it strange that it was mostly the children that were running around in the nude, but I guess that must be a part of their traditional history. I am assuming that the only reason why I find this interesting is because I am an american and this is not as socially accepted here as it is in china. The story had a great pace and kept me very entertained throughout the story. The characters and their quest were also very dynamic and left a good impression on me.
I found the art in this novel to be extremely heavy, and intense there is a lot going on and they are very detailed which for a story that is about the beginning of the quest of the enlightened one I found that it was very suiting considering Buddhism is very intense and detailed. The foreground has just great pen detail I really loved the style of the drawings, It's simple in the places where it needs to be which balances out all of the heavy details through out the rest of the spreads. I feel that with the detailed backgrounds that it really helps the characters stand out, and draws you right into the most important part of the page. I also really enjoyed the way that the panels were divided into shapes that were not always square.

I also looked into the mermaid saga, I found this story really awesome just because it was so unpredictable the main character dies and comes back to life and spends the whole time traveling across japan trying to find a cure for his imortality. Along the way meeting other people in his situation. I also liked that it put a whole new twist on what I believed to be such a beautiful creature that was just blessed and beautiful, I never thought of them to be the slightest bit bad or evil. And the myth of eating flesh weather mermaid or human to stay young and or live forever to be fascinating. I also loved how vibrantly beautiful the colors were in this comic. they were super impressive, it was a nice changed to see such a vibrancy.

American born Chinese

I found this story to be extremely entertaining. I loved how it was more like a movie with the 3 different stories each having their own individual problems. The monkey king and no shoes who tries to learn the 12 disciplines of kung fu. Chin-Kee and Danny, Danny having problems with a girl and his cousin, and Jin Wang who fits the american stereotype for a Chinese American in everything that his does, wears, and down to the way he acts. I love that all of the stories come together at a twist right when the climax happens. Its actually a great fit for this novel.
The art work I feel was very fitting for the story and I love how they showed the influences and the chinese sterotypes through the images that were used in the novel. I really loved the use of the bright yellow throughout the novel I think it really helps show the energy that is in the book. The color palate is small and I think that it helps keep the story dynamic and flow well.

Percepolis

In reading percepolis the first book, It really struck me how young she was when the book started and how involved with the war she actually was. It really took me by surprise to see them acting out the war on the school yard when they were on the playground. It was kind of sad actually to see how much it effected the children as well as the adults. It was a whole new perspective that I never really looked at. I love the way she uses black and white throughout the hole comic. I feel that if she would have added color that it would not have been as impactful as it was. It helps show an intensity, and a friction that would not be present if it was a full of color.
She has so much to say and so much descriptions to all of it. There were many places where I connected with Marjane through her rebellions and through her struggles but I found that her struggle with God had to be where I most connected with her. She was so back and forth on weather she could trust him or not. I also really loved the way that she depicted him, he almost looked more like a cross between santa and father time.

Maus

In reading Spiegelman's Maus I found his story to be fascinating. It was almost that because Spiegelman didn't have the best relationship with his father and with the suicide of his mother, all he wanted was answers to find out what, why,when. I feel that him investigating his families history and that in writing this graphic novel that it was a way for Spiegelman to try to find out answers to his life questions. Not necessarily the questions to what happened to his family, but more to answer questions in his own mind, maybe to sort out his feelings of his mothers suicide, and the cruel actions of his father, and how these things effected him. To me it was like Spiegelman used the characters because it was easier for him to talk about the story using figures that were not human. In parts it seems to be playful and fun, but over all it is quite a dreay story and I think it is over emphasized by the contrast that he uses in illustrating the novel. 
In the first half of the story with it focusing on his father and the back and forth banter that they took part in, I feel that this is the first stage of Spiegelman sorting out his childhood issues. I feel that in some ways Spiegelman really relates to his fathers attitude and his crudeness it's almost like he is trying to point out the fact that he is better than his father, that he can handel himself better than his father ever could. It almost feels more like he is resentful. As I worked through the book and move into the second half and more of Spiegelman history unfolds. It's almost as Spiegelman resentments fall apart as he talks about the camp and what they went through, I think this is when he really starts to understand the reasons why his father was so bitter and mean. And when his mother commits suicide and him depicting it so much differently its showing a different understanding for her and her actions. I love the way that Spiegelman calls up the past to talk about different run ins that his father had. It's a nice way to introduce new characters and to help form the story as a whole, and allowing us to see the other people that were effected by the holocaust but not necessarily in the camps. It gives us a better understanding of his fathers time through his time while hiding and a better feeling for his time after he is released from the camp. I did rather enjoy the way that Spiegelman showed the ending of a person with the smoke stacks, i felt that it was a  really nice way to describe it without it being overly horrifying. 
I really enjoyed the way that he gave his characters a voice, and the way that they told the story however sometimes I found myself a little confused on who was who, and that muddied parts of the story for me, but even though some parts got muddy due to my confusion the over all impact of the story to me was very powerful, and a really refreshing new look and way of telling his story. 

BareFoot Gen

The movie was really intense when talking about the war and showing how the times had been. You feel so much pity and sorrow for the people, but still laugh along with them. As intense as the story line was it still had a very light hearted way about it. Not only are they starving but the mother is pregnant and not well, Her family is all very sweet and gives up everything they can to help save their mother/wife survie. I found the drawing of the movie to be simple with just the right amount of details where they needed to be to make the story as real life as it can be from a graphic stand point. There was also a small color palate used through out the movie. Maybe it is because they are younger and this is their beginning, but in the second half after the bomb hits there seems to be a larger color palate and more intensity to the treatment of the film. I really liked how it gave a feeling of their actual struggles and how kind and cruel it made people. I feel that by keeping the film more light hearted in style and voice of the characters that it made it easier to relate to the characters and their situation. This is also our first feel for a type of feel for a completely different kind of style in comics and definitely touches more on a Japanese feel but still with an american touch. I don't feel that it quite hits anime status but that it is more a touch on their style.

Underground comics

In taking a look at the underground comics and Robert Crumb I forgot how iconic he was for me when I was younger. Mr. Natural and Keep on Truckin where comics that I remembered the but didn't actually remember the content, I just remember it being funny but not why. My long board actually features R. Crumb keep on truckin'.
Anyways on topic I find that mr. Naturals cynical ways and bad temper to be fairly entertaining. It was easy and quick to read through being that their are not a lot of words just mostly a pictorial story. I find that R. Crumb's imagery to remind me of popeye. Maybe it's the strokes of his drawings and the gestures, but it really struck me when I was reading through Mr. Natural. Honestly it reminded me most of my dad's attitude and all of the other men that I use to interact with when I worked at 3M. I love the jokes and the crude attitude of all of them, the jokes are very similar to the ones that run through the underground comics.     I like the simplicity of how crumb illustrates Mr. Natural to his other comics, it feels more like the mind of a "guru" Yes some of the backgrounds get more complicated from panel to panel but the text still has simplicity. I also love the simplistic use in color, their is a very small color palet. I loved that attitude of Fat freddy's cat haha...It made me giggle and reading through it at times it was more like reading a poem or almost the lyrics to a song. Only because it had a rhythmic way of being written and spread out through the panels. I really like the back and fourth play of the looseness in the drawings. His owner fat freddy is totally was the type of man that doesn't remember the 60's today. Fat freddy has some really expressive faces and uses them often, He interacts with everything and everyone. Mischief is definitely his nitch. I loved it when he plays the detective and while answering the phone he smashes his head between his women's breasts. haha... the jokes and attitudes are very entertaining. I feel that underground comics for the time where just kind of branching out into how the media is run today, yes that makes the shock value for our generation less powerful today than it was then but it can still be entertaining and respected. Glancing over a quiet a few of the underground comics they were all crude, sexual, and embraceful of the time period wither it was mind altering for the writers or not.

Tin Tin in Tibet

I found this personal adventure story to be very colorful and engaging. I feel that the color and the way that the characters are drawn are fun and kept me in interested in the story. As much as I liked the plot line it wasn't my most favorite story that I have read so far.
However I want to talk more about the way the comic is laid out and put together. I felt that the comic was very wordy and I'm not a big fan of the type face. But still the colors in the book and the loose character drawings are just so fascinating. I think it's so cute that they all have flushed faces, and it's on all of the characters. I love the diversity that he shows in all of the characters of different ethnicities. The action and the movement that you see from panel to panel are intriguing, all of the backgrounds have very clean neat lines. I also love how he shows the emphasis on the important events by zooming in on the situation. I do also find it entertaining that the main character seems to get shat on a lot, and the boy is always helping him out like his guardian angel. The way he shows the struggles and the intensity in the faces of the characters really helped me get the feeling of what he was trying to say. It was also very cute and comical how he shows the variations on the dog and when he is thinking.

Blankets

In reading this book I found that I could relate to the religious reality very much, I grew up going to a catholic school and being raised by roman catholic republicans, definitely put "the fear of god in me'' As a young kid anyone in a religious setting like that looks up to and believes in the world of religion, when that is what the adults and authority tell you to do. But just as we all do Craig grew up and started to rebel and question the teachings and life style that he was raised with. In meeting Raina I feel like they are using her to represent sin in some ways, even though they illustrate her with extreme beauty you can see the relationship between her and sin. Craig questioning everything is afraid to get super close to her, but I feel like when he does he feels like he gets a little bit closer to god. 

A contract with god

There is a lot of pre-text to get this story flowing, I felt it to be quite a bit in fact but it was a good background. I also found the story to be kind of sad in the beginning it is really sad that his daughter dies, and it's right away. And it is true how can god go back on his contract, or did he get his full filling years? He made a pact and god didn't follow on his end. It's only right that it rains through his entire mourning period. It is sad however that he breaks the stone that he wrote the contract on. The passing of his daughter changes everything he lies and cheats, and does things he never thought he would do. Once he did this he became a very rich man buying up property after property. He tries to re-write another contract. I feel like he kinda of looses his mind a little bit. The young boy that saves the day, finds the old stone with the contract and decides to keep it.
I really enjoyed the section about the street singer. He starts out so innocent meets the diva, has a baby with another lady, beats her apologizes and moves on with the day. He gets drunk often and falls asleep in the funniest of places. Gets kick out and continues on singing.
The super is a really messed up section. Of a creepy angry old man who is tricked by a little girl who steals his money and poisons his dog at the end of it the super shoots himself and the girl keeps the money.
The last section is all about city goers who live the city for the country over the summer. All with their own problems but most of them having the same problems money. They all seem to be in a search for more. Most of the town packs up and gets on a train and heads for the country. A class difference is shown, and expressed in a big manner. I mean it fits the time period. At the end of the last section it's all about sex and cheating and it is quit pornographic.
I would have to say over all I really enjoyed the style of this Graphic Novel. I love that there is a lot of free space on the page and that your not overwhelmed with the text. I find his characters to be extremely interesting in drawing style, and I think it's funny how the side view of one character varies so much from the front view.

Plastic Man

I really enjoyed reading the plastic man I found it to be very adventurous I loved that it was a superhero comic it makes it feel more like a comic. I loved the imagery it gave the comic so much movement. It was almost more like a stop action film. Sometimes the text was a bit heavy, and some parts felt a little politically correct, but I found that comical. I guess over all I just really loved the imagery and the story line of the comic. It was my first action adventure and I really enjoyed reading it. 

Film: The Adventures of Prince Achmed

I really enjoyed this film. I felt that it was intence with the music but I also found the imagery to by beautiful. From the beginning to the end of the film, Reiniger kept me involved and so interested, I really just couldn't wait to see what was going to come next. Visually this film was incredible with all of the silhouettes, It's amazing to think that they were all cut out, I loved the emotional content that was given to each character were amazingly clear and even over dramatized. 

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Krazy Kats

Smaller panles, more overlapping between frames in the begging as you move through the years Krazy Kats develops into having bigger frames. From the first panel to the last you know what to expect, he leads you right into it. The text varies from heavy to nothing, as do the images themselves in their style. Some of them are very open and clean but then you'll have frames that are super heavy and condensed. As you move further through the years, he drops the frames down to 3 for quite sometime then, He goes back to six panels per page, and then he goes back to how he started with overlapping panels. Sometimes the text and image work together and sometimes the text seems to be overpowering to the image. In some cases the text is really heavy and overwhelming, not being quite sure what to look at first. It's expected that you are always going to be led through the comic and that at some point you will be overwhelmed by the story.

Dreams of the Rarebit fiend

Over all the style goes from a clean line to a messy line. It seems that when he is closer to a frame where he is in a bed that it tends to be more scratchy than in other frames. The type matches the style of the drawing in most cases. The text kind of in just hovering wherever it can find space. I don't feel that it is integrated to well. When they are dreaming everything is line work. When they are awake there are blocks of black color. It is expected that while dreaming you will see thing presented in line work, but the closer they get to waking up the darker the blocks of black get. The main character of each page seem to be so dramatic to the point where if something happens to them eveything stops.

Calvin and Hobbs

I chose to read the first calvin and hobbs book, being that I own the book their is something under the bed and it's drooling (which I personally always thought Calvin just wet the bed). It's been a long time since i've read a calvin and hobs comic and I was excited to take another look at it. I forgot how funny and straight to the point he is in most strips. In 5 short frames he can basically tell you almost everything he needs to say. I love that most of the strips are so short and sweet. This comic is funny and entertaining for lots of reasons. Mainly I like that they mix some politics in there in a really childish way, and calvin is always spot on with his remarks. Growing up when I did read comics it was Calvin and Hobbs and the Peanuts. Maybe I was so interested in the Peanuts because they were everywhere in Minnesota especially after Charles died. Anyways, back to Calvin and Hobbs. It's a super witty comic that really brings in the modern family, and how kids can be. I like that they show Calvin as being an intelligent person that is not so good in school because of his lack of intrest. But that he makes life so entertaining to himself by turning adults and people that he is not so interested in, into monsters. When I took a look at this book I instantly asked myself where hobbs came in, I was thinking that he was Calvins imaginary friend, and then I saw Hobbs drawn as the stuffed tiger and went "OHHhh YEAH! That's right" It's funny how you remember things. I got a good kick out of reading this book, some good chuckles, and a nice walk down memory lane. The whole time comparing my thoughts of Calvin and Hobbs and reading it now, to what I thought about it when I was younger, and I keep trying to remember if I really caught on to what he was getting at. I definitely now understand it completely.

Flash Gordon

This comic was so detailed and beautiful, I love that you can see them living out their life together like one continuous story. It's more like a story book in that way. With the images being so detailed you really get a feel for who the characters are and what they look like and a real idea of their personality. You can relate to them but I don't really see myself as being any of the characters. I really liked how he showed the seasons and how he portrayed his idea of early settlement. I feel that with the images being so detailed that you really get a good image of what he is trying to say without having to read the comic, which is good because it's not written in english :)

Little Nemo

I was excited to read this comic being that I had watched Little Nemo Adventures in Slumberland when I was little. I was a little disappointed to be honest. I love the imagery but the story was nothing like the comic strip. When the man comes to tell Nemo that he has been requested to see his majesty and he rides off on a horse gets in a race and wakes up in bed and that's it, it's just not far. I wanted the oomp to come back and have him try again or something. I was expecting the comic to show me this epic journey, because of the influence the movie has had on me. In all honesty it's a creepy kid movie, but I loved it.

Understanding Comics

I really like that in reading this book that I can relate a lot of it back to the things I need to know for my Graphic Design courses. Especially the part about making Icons. It really did help me understand why icons work so well. But I must say that I find it fascinating when he was explaining why he drew himself in such a simplified way. He's right it does make it easier for me to listen to what he is saying. It is so much easier to relate to the character and to become apart of the character. As I'm reading that I just keep thinking how it doesn't really matter what the show is we all pick out a character or characters that we relate to the best with and we take on their roles as our own because we understand the character so much as to say we are them. I never really thought about that being something that was strived for in a story but it really does make sense because we really only invest into something that relates to us and makes us eventually feel better about ourselves and our surroundings. Icons give us something else to look up to, they give us role models to follow, but really only by giving them an outline. We fill them in to be exactly what we want them to be. I really enjoyed the way that he talked about closure, and explains how time moves in comics, stories and movies. It was kind of comical how he uses the scream and relates it to being a scary moment in history. It's just so nice how he relates to history and explains it, and I love that he only uses color when they are actually talking about color. The book really helped me understand more about what was going on with comics, and how they work and what makes them work, and why they work.

Ernst

1. It's almost like the woman is trying to scare the rooster off an egg, or maybe that they are having some sort of a contest.
2. Rooster at a funeral? I think it is very entertaining that there is a rooster in each of these panles.
3. They now barry the woman, she is so beautiful, but in a land of rooster, it seems to be even more tragic because of this. She has heavenly angels and rooster watching over her.
4. It seems that the first tragedy of the woman dyeing has caused everyone else to go down as well. Yet the rooster man and a rooster faced man still stands over her.
5. Did this woman get clucked to death. Two rooster in this one, maybe they were having a cock fight, and the woman got in the way. A rooster faced man comes in the room and finds her in a pile of blood on the floor.
6. A very tall man and a woman seem to be singing and dancing. With the rooster (fate) hiding behind the door waiting for the right time to strick. It doesn't seem to me that these 2 people shall go on living after the other panels. If there were any more I would expect to see the woman dead on the floor very soon.

The Arrival

I really enjoyed reading the Arrival it was interesting and I thought it was really amazing the way that just by showing the story in pictures could get the whole story across. I think what I loved most about it was that this book can be understood by many different people who speak many different languages. Everyone has family struggles, and the family struggle that is shown here was really common for the time that the book was set it. But through time, meeting new people, seeing new things and a lot of hard they all get to be happy again. The illustrations were beautiful I loved how they represented framilar places to me but that they were still abstract enough to be an unreal place of mystery and different beauties.
The book was really consistant everything followed the grid, which made the flow of the images easy to follow. I especially loved how when the man from the beginning of the book with the wife and daughter, when he is on the boat and they show time pass, by showing weather, and differences from light and dark in coloring to show the passing of days.