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.