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.