Final Blog Post:

Revision of Blog about Shaun Tan's 

The Arrival

The longer I have been in this course, the more I have come to appreciate this book. It delivers on every level without the use of text. I know that I hit on continuity before, but let me go a little deeper.
     Put simply Continuity is just a series of actions or events that take place in a narrative. Early in the evolution of the Comic Book / Graphic Novel there was not much need for continuity, either by the creators / publishers or the readership. Plots and story lines seemed to wonder here or there in most cases. As changes in the comic and graphic novel took place continuity became more of a result rather than the problem. This book uses continuity to define its message, and does so with elegance in my opinion. Shaun Tan takes it to a new level, even though the graphic novel is compared more closely to film than it is to comics. His use of frame by frame and time / space continuity sows masterful understanding of the craft.
     The Narrative is put together surrounding a man who has left his family in what looks like a normal environment and after he arrives at his destination there are all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures and architecture. The inhabitants are more than helpful assisting the man in everything he needs (lots of pointing and use of symbols at this point in the book). After a few brief mishaps and some money being sent back home the mans family arrives as well. The very last image in the book is the mans son pointing the way to a new immigrant fellow who has just arrived as well. Altogether the narrative is built around a feeling of community and helpfulness coupled with adventure and all of the emotions that come with being apart from ones family. This wonderful narrative would not be possible without text if continuity was not involved. It is literally the glue that binds this book together.
     I also very much enjoyed his use of color scheme. The desaturated browns, and blacks / whites gave a real ... "through the looking glass" feel to this book. After reading it for the third time.. (do I say looking at it ...or reading it...hmmm) I realized that there were parts that I noticed that I must have glossed over the first two times. I looked at the full page abstracts much more intently and saw many things that I didn't before, which I liked very much.
     I plan to order this book for my five almost six year old son so that he may enjoy it as well. It has been a wonderful semester and thanks for all the new reading material that I can reference in the future Dr. Steiling.
   

The future of Comics &

Web Comics:

Octopus Pie

by: Meredith Gran

     Before Coming into this class I did not know of web comics. I was content with the seldom viewing of Garfield or Calvin and Hobbes from the rare Sunday morning paper. I now know of web comics and seek them out regularly... I don't even have to buy a newspaper.

     I read a lot of Octopus Pie because it was what was recommended, and I see that it deals with topics that might be a little to risky for conventional Sunday Comics. It is in fact this aspect that draws me to it. I will probably always be drawn to whatever is trying to break convention because that is my nature as well. I appreciate the blunt nature of most web comics and see it as a leading comics platform in the future.

     I enjoy the format and it's environmentally friendly nature. Although I do think that comics in the from of the Sunday morning paper will persist as long as there is a demand for newsprint. I think that wen it is all said and done interactive web comics will be at the top of the heap. 

     It is interesting to think of where comic books will go in the future in the internet arena. I imagine flipping through pages and being able to interact with each panel in some form or another, or to think about what virtual reality will bring to the comics genre and all the ideas that image conjures up.

     Web comics lends itself completely to independent artists, which I am very grateful for. I love the idea of being able to publish anything your heart desires, and as long as you have an audience your work will be recognized.

     

  

The Watchmen

      

Relevance of the 21st Century 

Super Hero

     The Watchmen is The book that got me into the whole Graphic Novel genre. I saw the movie trailer and was taken in by its visualization. I felt like I had to read the book before watching the movie and I was glad that I had. Alan Moore created a very successful book in that he created a world with characters that were relevant to the time that they were made, even if it was a period piece from the 80's.
     The movie was very accurate to the book, much the way that Frank Millers The 300, and Sin City reflect the graphic novel almost page for page. The Watchmen pays homage to the Authors style on the page, but Moore himself is a very outspoken hypocrite of Hollywood. On the one had he disparages any and everything having to do with modern cinema, and on the other he readily sell the rights of his work to be produced by the very thing that he seems to hate. He has done much to keep the idea of the super hero relevant, but it is hard to look past the imposing duplicity of Moore.
     Before taking this class I never would have given the relevance of the modern super hero much thought. For me it felt like they were always around, but I think that is due to me growing up in the pinnacle of the age of the comic book either independent or corporate driven. I feel that the story of the super hero will always be a legitimate source for new work in the graphic novel and comic book environments, I mean after all it was on their backs that the industry was built.
   






 

Persepolis

by Marjane Satrapi

   
     This week was a study of women's influence on Comics and the Graphic Narrative. I chose Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I chose this work because I knew nothing about it. After and during reading it I could not help but relate it to Maus. It was set in the Iranian Revolution of 1980 and takes place from the perspective of the Author (who at the time was 10-ish years old). It imparts on me a feeling of liberation of women in general from all forms of oppression, or at least women who are not sucked up into the ideologues of the machine of religious reform.
   A part of the book I found very interesting and similar to Maus was that at one point her mother is criticizing others for taking to much when there is no food on the shelves in the sores, and when they get outside she asks how much rice she managed to carry out. When she sees that it is enough to last them she then says they need to go to the next store to see if they can find more. Much the same way in Maus that the Grandfather was criticizing African Americans while explaining the persecution of his Jewish people by the Germans.
     I think this book sheds a whole new light on Iran for me. In fact I never new it to be the progressive nation that it was. Even if that was due to European Imperialism. It is nice to have the story told to me from this angle because it gives me another perspective to consider when thinking about how I feel about Iran in the current role it is playing in Geo-Politics.

Asterios Polyp

by: David ­Mazzucchelli

A quick Review

     This is a story of a journey of perceptual awakening. Asterios is just traveling along trying to interpret information about his surroundings that he views in specific black and white dualities. 

     Asterios Polyp is a paper Architect / Academic whose house gets burned down and he then relocates to middle america where he has a very introspective reflection of his past life with his wife, a first generation Japanese American artist named Hanna, who tries to motivate him into a broader view of the world and the people in it.

The book is packed with graphic art as context, and by that I mean Mazzucchelli uses the way he lays out a page with the colors and lineweights and style to bring about an emotion response from the reader. Like when Asterios and Hanna are having an argument he becomes much more cyan and geometric looking and Hanna becomes much more hand drawn looking with red shading all around her and her surroundings.

     Overall I found this book to be a very nice read, I liked the use of the graphic style to relate context of the emotion that was being carried out in whatever scene I was reading.

     

Promethea

Response to 3 questions

1) Are there any prominent symbols? If so what are they, and how are they used?

     There are quite a few symbols in this comic, to name a few are the Sun symbol, as well as the Circle, and a weeping Gorilla were the most prominent symbols I could see. The Sun may be alluding to monotheism of the side of the story that is overtaking, or attempting to overtake the old gods. The Circle I am sure represents the way that all of Prometheus's stories come back and repeat, as in when he story is in the past, then the break into many, and then the culmination of passing from one form to another.  I am not exactly sure about the Gorilla and I don't have a lot of time right now to sit and stir on it.

2) Discuss elements of the story you were able to connect with.

     I was able to connect to this story in a visual way more so than in a narrative fashion. The way that the pages were laid out and composed was pleasing to look at. Also the coloring was very good along with the line work. If I had to try to connect with the narrative it would probably be that I am well aware of college mid-terms coming up and sympathize with Sophie's frustrations. I can also connect with the metamorphosis aspect of this story, to change from one thing into another when Sophie was not even expecting it, is a very strong motif and makes for a great story.

3) What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

     I am in GAD so of course my first inclination is to turn this into a game. I think I would adapt this my coming up with a  different way for Sophie to meet Mrs. Shelly. I would also make the Smees less of a dark shadowy figure and give it more physicality, for the sake of interacting with it in a game. In fact I may just rethink the Smees and their origins altogether so that I could come up with some antagonist Boss for Sophie to have a climactic end to.

Manga

     I found it facinationg the percentage of anime / manga that was sold in Japan. When you see that it takes up almost 1/3 of the printed material market in the whole country, you kind of have to just stand in awe of it for a second. 

     As I was groing up I was introduced to anime by way of Unico and Voltron before school, but my interest in it sort of stopped there, until recently I picked up Battle Angel and could not stop reading it. The plot is interesting and appeals to my love of sci-fi. The illustration also drew me in, and when I think about how much work a manga artist kicks out or the quality of each and every panel I feel like I have nothing with my life up to this point; a little depressing, I know.

     I did have a brief moment in my 20's where all I wanted to watch were anime features like Akira and Vampire Hunter D to name a couple. Both of these titles gave me an appreciation for anime that makes me search out new titles for features today.

Wide world of comics

     When it comes to my kind of "Graphic Novel" anything by Moebius fits the bill. His fantasy art is what inspired me at a young age to enjoy art and all of the things that are possible with it. The cinimatic scope of the paneling and the ratios he uses along with panel placement gives me a deeper feeling of what is happening in the story. I like the idea of how uncensored things are when it comes to the European artwork in their style of graphic novel. It gives a sense of freedom of expression to pass onto the reader and to let them be enveloped by the unfolding narrative. 

     This week I read a lot of Euro-style "albums" and graphic novels, everything from the Papyrus albums to Heavy Metal to Moebius, and I laugh at myself for noticing things like how much Tin-Tin I see in the Papyrus  works. I would have never picked up on such a thing as how realistic the background looks in comparison to the rest of the image. I feel like I was almost comic blind before ccomingto this class.

American Born Chinese

by: Gene Luen Yang

     This week we are to blog about the use of stereotype in comics and the graphic narrative.

 I looked at quite a few of the suggested reading but found this on particularly enjoyable. It employs the use of some cleaver plot lines to get the story across, and a lot of it made me laugh. There were different points of view in the book on stereotype, one from a Chinese boy trying to fit into white suburban culture and the other a glaring representation of what some Americans view as the "typical" Asian person. It was dealt with mostly with humor, but I believe that the implementation of stereotypes in comics and the graphic novel are best used to get a point across quickly, but to its own detriment. As soon as we begin to stereotype, we limit the possibilities of that character immediately and leave little room for advancement. It had it's place long ago with the development of the "white super hero" to sell some comics because that what the demographic was. Now it is a very different story when it comes to the readership of comics and the graphic narrative, and stereotyping really has no place anymore, mostly due to the way our culture has changed so much over the last decades to praise the individual over all.

Maus

by: Art Spiegelman

     As soon as I started reading this book I could not put it down, I read the whole thing in one setting. The way that the narrative is driven forward by interactions with Arts' Grandfather motivates me to keep going because I fell like I am getting two stories in one book. His use of personification in the use of Mice for Jews and Cats for Nazis is pretty straightforward along the lines of a stronger opponent taking advantage of a weaker prey. I think his use of Pigs for the Polish could be a little of the authors own prejudices coming though. This book is very well done because it relates so much of this story with such few text, but there were times when all I was doing was reading the text and the images were just in my peripherals. 

     The subject matter was mostly about Art's Grandfathers experience during WWII and how he was persecuted for being a Jew. There is a segment of the book that describes very well how people just don't understand themselves in a lot of ways; Arts' Grandfather does not want to pick up a Black man, a "Shvartsher" hitchhiking because he was afraid that the Black man would steal all of the groceries. It is amazing to me that someone who has gone through everything in life that Arts' Grandfather did that he could still be a generalist when it comes to race. 

     Both Maus I and II are now sitting on my bookshelf. I enjoyed them so much that I went out and bought them.

Underground Comics

     We took a look at Underground comics and their impact on the overall legitimizing aspect they brought to the Comic book. I found it interesting that they were not available to the general public by way of the conventional comic book shop. People had to seek them out at local head shops.

     I read a lot of Fat Freddy's Cat. It reminded me of Fritz the Cat. It was very raunchy in its delivery of the life and times of Fat Freddy's Cat, but I guess that is what made it "underground." There was no holding back on nudity and the throwing of fecal matter which did make me laugh. I enjoyed the local warfare between the Cat the Mice and the indigenous Cockroach battalion. 

     I also looked at a lot of Robert Crumb (who did much work for the Subgenius Foundation in the way of Illustrations). I read the Comic "Whiteman" in which a suburban man gets lost on a camping trip and gets hooked up with a yeti princess.... lots of beastiality here in a no holds barred... pardon the pun epic sex scene between man and Yeti. It pretty much summed up the whole midlife crisis in a nutshell, with a kind of twisted perspective I might add. 

     I enjoyed this section very much as I used to be very into Heavy Metal and found a way to dive back into it.

The Comic Book

     This week we looked at the natural next step in the comic strip, ... the comic book. The development of the comic book took form with the creation of serial episodes of strips the were sold as a pamphlet of combined strips with continuity that could be taken in all in one sitting as opposed to having to wait for the sunday newspaper. When I was younger I would scoop up any comic book I could get my little hands on and try to emulate the drawing style. This is what fueled my ambitions to be an artist.

     I still own comic books to this day and reference them often for composition and color ideas. I enjoy looking at all the different page layouts that are out there, and will sometimes do some original page work myself.

The Comic Strip

     This week We delved into the comic strip and read quite a few. I remember them very much from my youth. My father used to call them "The Intellectual Section." I remember feeling grown up because I had a mug of coffee, and was reading the comic strips like him. I enjoyed the seamless continuity they created with very little line work and color, at the time it seemed so effortless, but now I understand just what a huge undertaking and pressure it must have been for a comic strip artist to always have something fresh and funny every week. 

     There was no particular assignment posted for this week, so I figured I would just relate a story from my youth and something I have learned since.

Understanding Comics

by: Scott McCloud

     There is one idea in particular that I enjoyed thinking about while reading this book, Scott's description of the space he calls "The Pictorial Vocabulary." This space is viewed as a triangle with each corner representing one of three aspects of a comic. Lower left being the Reality extreme where we would see much more photo-realistic comic imagery and to the far right more of a Language area with letters and some icons to the other extreme. Finally at the top would be the picture plane where the most abstract ideas in the form of visual art would reside, their extreme being the pinnacle of the triangle.

     I had never thought about being able to group every piece of art ever in quite such an understandable way. It made sense how you could basically carve out a little section of real estate for every artist that ever existed on this triangle  simply by delineating what their particular style was according to these three governing corners of the pictorial vocabulary triangle

The Arrival 

by Shaun Tan

To specifically say how a book like "The Arrival" can tell a story with no type is an explanation in iconography. The beautiful use of continuity in this book is brought to us by repetitive use of familiar objects
( or objects that become familiar throughout reading the book). Also the way an idea is related from image to image makes it very easy to follow along. At times it seemed as if I was looking at frames of a film reel in that the image that I looked at next almost nothing had changed except maybe a glass moving a few inches, or a cloud formation was just a bit different from the previous. Tan makes great use of the family photo to keep everything tied together from beginning to end as well.

Also his composition of each image makes great use of being able to lead the readers eye exactly where he wants it to go to move the narrative along from one image to the next. His use of all of the different types of composition make for a very easy read. It all seems effortless while "reading" this story, but to know that Tan spent four years working on this shows to me the level of planning and contemplation of how to convey this story without words really was.

I enjoyed reading this graphic narrative, and I do not feel that words would even be able to explain this story well. It runs together so seamlessly all due to the strong narrative that is easily relate-able for almost anyone who sees this book. As it went along, I came to the conclusion that this book would be more apply be called "The Journey" because that what it felt like, Tans' use of the idea of continuity glued together with master narrative made an impact on my understanding of narrative in a deep way and I appreciate the opportunity to have it brought to my attention.