Week 14: The Future of Comics

Webcomics, in my opinion, have always been a very understated and underappreciated medium. Just the notion of creating entire comics (usually alone) and posting them online for millions to see, sometimes for no profit at all, makes me really respect and appreciate webcomic artists. I believe that, among comic artists, they are probably one of the most admirable kinds of all.

Of course, there are pros and cons making webcomics compared to going the traditional route. For one, you don’t get paid regularly, and you’re not sponsored by any publisher and therefore need to come up with advertising yourself. However, working yourself means that you’re allowed to come up with your own hours and deadlines, and that you don’t need any editor’s seal of approval.

I am familiar with some of the webcomics posted on the litcomics blog, but among the names there, Girl Genius and Hark! A Vagrant stand out to me the most. I’ve heard of and read a little of Girl Genius, but I started falling behind updates and eventually dropped it. On the other hand, I doubt there is anyone out there who hasn’t heard of Hark! A Vagrant due to its massive popularity. I always liked the humor employed by Kate Beaton and often got a laugh out of whatever comic she posted. I also appreciated that they were short and usually fairly standalone so I didn’t feel like I missed to much whenever I skipped a comic or two.

Though these titles aren’t mentioned in the blog, I have also read and liked Lackadaisy, Nimona, and Cucumber Quest. The first is exceptionally drawn and about cats, which is always a huge bonus in my book. I’ve lost track of it recently, however, but I occasionally come back to read the comics for the beautiful drawings alone. Nimona is a webcomic done by gingerhaze, an artist with a sense of humor I also appreciate. The story is interesting and the art style is very charming and cute. The last comic, Cucumber Quest, is only a few years old, but is also very entertaining in its own right. I found the artist (hiimdasy) first through her very humorous comics about other video games, but when I discovered that she had started a webcomic series of her own, I decided to give that a try too. I ended up liking it much more than I expected due to the cute art and light-hearted plot.

                I’ve always enjoyed webcomics and appreciated the effort put into them, and I’m glad that they’re becoming more and more popular these days. It takes a lot of courage to put up your own comic so that essentially everyone can read it, and I especially like that basically everyone can be a webcomic artist if they tried hard enough.

Week 13: Reconsidering the Superhero

Honestly, superhero comics are pretty much the first thing that comes to anyone’s mind as soon as the word ‘comics’ is brought up. At this point, it’s pretty much inevitable due to the sheer amount of superhero comics there are. That isn’t even mentioning the even greater number of superheroes that star in those aforementioned comics.

When it comes to superhero comics, Marvel and DC are naturally the first two names that pop up. As the two leading companies in the comic industry, both Marvel and DC have achieved astonishing success in marketing their characters. As a child I was more familiarly acquainted with DC as they were marketed more in Asia. I would see cartoons of Batman and Superman (though I recall that my favorite had always been Robin) on television, but not so much of Marvel characters.

I am glad to see Marvel making a resurgence in other mainstream media these days however. I think a lot of its success can largely be attributed to the popularity of Marvel movies these days. With titles such as Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man hitting movie theaters left and right, each earning critical box office success every time, it is no wonder that there is a new interest in Marvel characters once again. When I was younger, the in-thing on Cartoon Network was Justice League Unlimited and Teen Titans. Now, I’m seeing more and more spin-offs of the Avengers appearing on just about every medium possible.

I’ve also heard of Watchmen before, naturally, though I’ve never actually read it. It wasn’t a DC title I was familiar with as it wasn’t as mainstream as, say, Batman or Superman. I did hear good things about it when it was brought up, however, and I know for a fact my dad liked the movie they produced for it, but I never got around to actually reading them. The first thing that struck me when reading it was that Watchmen  had clearly been intended to be a deconstruction of whole superhero trope, which was fascinating to me because Watchmen was also very clearly a superhero comic. I liked the spin of superheroes being used as propaganda for wars and later being sanctioned as government soldiers because I believe a scenario like that is actually a more realistic portrayal of how a superhero would behave like in a world like ours.

I’ve always liked superhero comics for the sense of escapism they gave. It’s always fun to read about amazing people doing amazing things, and it gives me a personal sense of catharsis living vicariously through them. 

Week 12: Comics by Women

Like many other professions out there, the comic industry is one that favors men. While I understand that there are many male readers out there, I also know for a fact that comics are something that women enjoy just as much as well. So I suppose something that I never understood was why there were so little female artists working in the comic industry. After all, it just makes sense that, to attract female readers, comic book artists would hire more female writers and artists alike, wouldn’t it?

Unfortunately, that seems very far from the case. I do believe that Japan is more successful that integrating both genders in this regard. There are plenty of female manga artists in the market today, hence the success of the shoujo and jousei genres, which are predominantly drawn by and read by women. On the other hand, female artists in the Western comic industry are practically unheard of. Most of the writers and artists there are men, and it shows.

For one, blatant fanservice is abundant in many a comic, so much so that I’ve become mostly unaffected by it. I still do find it tasteless to see a lot of boob and butt shots in so many comics, especially if the plot interests me. I cannot count the number of times I’ve tried to read and appreciate a comic, only to drop it when the fanservice got too out of hand. I suppose that this is something most male readers could appreciate, but I often find that kind of thing very tasteless and boring. This is especially when all the figures look like they came out of the same cookie-cutter character mold and that everyone’s boobs and butts are essentially the same shape and size.

Women are a bit more tasteful in that, I believe. This is not to say that women don’t appreciate or draw adult subjects, but it’s always pretty obvious to me what gender the artist for a comic is when I flip it open and read its contents. I liked reading This One Summer a lot simply because I absolutely loved the general atmosphere of the whole comic.

It felt nostalgic and as someone who also grew up with many summer traditions with my family and friends, I especially enjoyed seeing what Rose would get up to as a child and in the years to come. Coming-of-age stories are a favorite of mine because of how close they usually hit to home, and This One Summer is of no different. I loved the diverse characters and how, for all the quirkiness that Rose had, she ended up being very relatable and down-to-earth. I have to say, however, that I ended up relating to Windy more in the end.

I especially liked the way that these characters were portrayed and how none of them felt too fake. I think the main issue with women being written by men is that far too often, they would be shown as bland or as an artifact to the hero. Women have a better understanding of them and therefore write them better as a whole, though sometimes their portrayal of men make me cringe just as badly. With This One Summer, however, I didn't have to worry about anything like that and simply enjoyed it for the light-read that it was. 

Week 11: Comics as Contemporary LIterature

I’ve always wondered how people who weren’t into art would appreciate comics, and now I’m glad to know that they are slowly becoming a medium which is becoming more and more accepted over time. Growing up, I admit that I was among the people who had thought of comics as a form of entertainment which, if popular enough, might get its own movie or animated series. I hadn’t really taken them seriously before, though I changed my mind after reading enough of them as I got older.

One of the first comics I read that wasn’t purely for entertainment was Perspecolis. My mother had bought the book for me and asked me to read it. I had no idea what it was about before reading its contents, but I had heard of it before. To say that it surprised me would be something of an understatement. I was used to humorous comics with tales of adventure; jumping into the world of Persepolis was a huge leap from what I was used to.

All the same, I appreciated Persepolis simply from the medium it came from. I liked comics a lot, and the fact that Persepolis was nothing like the other comics I’d read did little to stop me from liking it. The subject matter was very grave and gave me a lot of insight into Iranian culture. I thought it was interesting reading about how the revolution affected so many lives, and I felt bad for those who were executed for being spies.

It also gave me a lot of insight into the way Iranian culture treated women. Many cultures believe women to be of a lower social standing than men, and I noticed that this trend was also very much present in Iranian culture. I also noticed that social standing had a lot to do with what you could do in life. The part with the maid, for one, was quite interesting to me for that reason. That the other boy lost interest in her completely after discovering that she was a maid subverts a lot of tropes I was used to seeing in other media.

Among the many scenes that I have seen, I thought the part where Marji tried to sit in the bathtub for a long time to feel what her grandfather felt while being tortured struck out to me as one of the more memorable scenes. In general it was a pretty heavy read at the age of when I first read it, but reading it again has given me a better understanding and appreciation for it.

Week 10: Manga and the Japanese Comics Tradition

Though I grew up with European comics, I really learned to appreciate manga and anime when I was in my early teens. I watched anime far before I read manga, however, because they would often air in the local channels. Among the very first anime I watched were Akazukin Chacha, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Pokemon. Among the three, the first two were of the shoujo genre (lit. little girl). As the name suggests, the target audience for the show was for little girls.  I got bored of television and by extension, anime, for a time, but I got back into it when AXN started airing anime as part of their television schedule. By then, the shows I watched were of the shonen genre.

I cannot recall the first manga I read, likely because I read them first in Bahasa rather than in English. Part of the reason for that was probably because I read them in the format of weekly or monthly manga rather than in individual volumes, which meant that I read single chapters of multiple manga titles rather than many chapters of one. I read them because my dad liked to read them too; he used to buy a few volumes when we went back to Jakarta, and I would read them after he was finished. In the same vein that my mother introduced me to European comics, my father was the one who first inspired me to read and appreciate manga.

Even though I’d been an avid reader of manga for many years, I hadn’t read much of Osamu Tezuka’s works. Reading it now, however, has brought me a new appreciation for manga. It was nice to see the origins of manga (which many believe to be Astro Boy) and especially interesting to see how it would later evolve as more and more people began to draw manga as well. I had also heard of Bakuman before, though I am more familiar with the artist’s previous work, Death Note. It was fun reading Bakuman, though I didn’t get very far with it. To my understanding, drawing a serialized manga is a lot of hard work and involves a lot of planning and cooperation with other professionals. It’s nice to see a manga focused specifically on that, as we learn to appreciate just how much work it takes to make a successful comic.

I will admit to having manga being my main driving force for making art when I was a kid. When I was much, much younger, I used to draw cartoons based off of the shows I watched – Mickey Mouse, Powerpuff Girls and so on. Then one day, I saw my cousin drawing in the style of Japanese manga, and I was so impressed by it that I tried to emulate her (even though I had no idea it was manga back then, just that I knew it was very pretty and that I wanted to try it too). And so I grew up drawing with that kind of style, and for the longest time, people were impressed by it and liked what I did.

…Which, of course, made moving to an international school and then studying art in Ringling all the more jarring. Suddenly, it wasn’t cool to watch anime or to draw manga anymore; in fact, in Ringling it is blatantly discouraged, and we are outright told not to do it. Coming from a culture where manga and anime played extremely large parts of my childhood and upbringing, I couldn’t help but find it extremely insulting to be told something like that. We discussed weeks ago about stereotypes affecting people negatively, and I believe that this is one such example. Many are often dismissive of manga because they lump them all into one collective lump of moe and eroge, while that is obviously not true in the slightest.

While I still don’t exactly appreciate the general bad consensus anime has around here, I do think that it has ended up affecting me positively as well. I had to develop a new style to avoid being called out by my teachers (a fairly large number of them), but it soon became one that I grew comfortable and familiar with. In a way, I’m glad I came here because I learned how to deal with an environment which forced me to adapt my skill set and forced me to broaden my art style.

Week 9: A Wide World of Comics

As a child, I grew up with European and Asian comics and as such am the most familiar with them. In fact, it wasn’t until I went into an international school that I was truly exposed to American comics. To my understanding, Europe is one of the first places where the comic originated and as such have one of the richest histories in that aspect.

I mentioned before that I read Tintin often as a child, but there is also another European comic that I frequently read when I was young. I used to go to the library often to borrow new volumes of Asterix and Obelix until I had read almost every single one. It has been a long time since I’ve read any Asterix comics, but I recall that I had enjoyed them greatly as a child.

I liked the adventures the two Gauls would find themselves in, the different people they would encounter and the various places they travelled to. I supported the Gauls, of course, but I also couldn’t help but like the bumbling Romans even though they were supposed to be the antagonists. Even Caesar, the main antagonist, was portrayed as not entirely evil, and I suppose I appreciated that.

My personal favorite was Obelix simply because I appreciated his constant hunger for food (namely wild boar). Little me thought that the way the artist drew the wild boar was so delicious, and I would always ask my mother if we could have it one day (and to this day, I still haven’t). I also enjoyed the many drawings of food and the way Asterix and Obelix enjoy whatever was served to them no matter where they were. Aside from the protagonists, I also enjoyed the many side characters such as the druid, the bard, and their village leader. Each had their own vibrant personalities that made reading the comic all the more enjoyable.

Both Asterix and Obelix and Tintin were the first ongoing comics I read as a kid and I remember them both fondly today. For the former, I never really cared what order I read them in, which meant that I was a little confused about the characters initially. However, I quickly learned their names and idiosyncrasies. In Tintin’s case, I didn’t read the first volume first, but as they were mostly standalone I didn’t have any problems following the plot. After reading enough of them, I decided to start over from the beginning and read them in order. It was far easier to understand what was going on afterwards.

I suppose that is one thing I appreciate about European and Asian comics. In American comics, there are so many artists for the same comic and in that vein, so many interpretations and reboots based on the aesthetic of each artist that it is very different. In European comics, there is usually only one artist per series and so there is a consistency that makes the comic and plot easy for me to follow.

Week 8: Stereotypes and the Ethnics of Representation

Stereotypes are so omnipresent in today’s society that we don’t even realize it’s there most of the time. For the most part, I’ve been so exposed to them that I barely even notice them unless they’re blatantly obvious. I don’t actually mind having stereotypes in our mass media unless it has a negative effect on the culture they’re portraying. It can be dangerous, however, when all a person knows about a culture is simply based on the stereotypes they’ve been fed alone.

A stereotype can be defined as a widely spread, oversimplified image or idea of a particular culture, person, or thing. The first thing that comes to mind is culture stereotypes, such as the notion of the burger-eating, loud-mouthed American, or the squinty-eyed, extremely intelligent Chinese, or even the beret-wearing, wine-sipping French. We’ve been so exposed to these ideas that as soon as someone mentions a race or country, we almost instantly make up an image of how we expect their people to look like, even if it isn’t particularly true.

Most of the time, these stereotypes aren’t too dangerous, provided people don’t take them too seriously. Sometimes, however, they have adverse effects on the people in question. There have been instances of blatant racism and lack of understanding of certain cultures because people have decided to base their opinions on stereotypes alone. I’ve seen firsthand of perfectly nice and reasonable people disliking an entire race simply based on a few stereotypes, and it is not pleasant at all in the slightest.

On the other hand, stereotypes are also highly marketable. Some stereotypes are largely harmless once we step away from the whole cultural minefield – the notion that cats are mean, and that dogs are dumb, but heroic. Those tropes are extremely commonplace and generally not harmful to either cats or dogs. It’s stereotypes like these that I don’t mind, because they’re highly exploitable, usually amusing, and don’t harm anyone.

I also admit that they are a necessary strategy in character design and representation. People like seeing new things, but they also like seeing how old ideas can be reinvented. By fixating on a stereotype, creators can develop new designs and have people understand its origins or intentions as long as they include a little of the stereotype along with it. For example, a new character can be designed and look entirely non-Asian, but all the creator has to do is put something associated with the culture (a paper fan, a ninja star, etc.), and viewers will instantly see it as being part of that culture. It’s a very simple but effective strategy and sells very well to fans of that one particular culture or idea.

I have been affected by stereotypes, though fortunately none too badly. A lot of people think I’m clever simply because I’m Asian (and wearing glasses, for that matter – surely a sign that I’m highly intelligent). They also tend to be surprised that I speak fluent English because they had expected me to have an accent based on appearances alone. The one I find most disgruntling is the stereotype people form of me based on my religion. I wear a cross around my neck – just a small one, hidden most of the time – to show what religion I belong in. Some of my friends had mentioned that they were surprised that I was personable and open-minded because of the general stereotype that all Christians were narrow-minded, gay-hating, and pushy. This is, of course, not true – it only represents a small part of the Christian population; but such an image is so widespread now that it is the first thing people think of now.

While I do admit that most stereotypes have at least a grain of truth to them, I don’t think that we should judge people or things too much based on stereotype alone. It’s alright to make light of them, to appreciate them sometimes as a joke. I personally think that as long as we don’t cross the line, stereotypes can be perpetuated and spread around in mainstream media. 

On Promethea

Upon reading Promethea, I noticed a lot of allusions to myths and legends that I've read about before. The first thing that struck out to me as an important symbol was the Sun symbol on every single page. Looking back now, it seems that its expression changes depending on the page's content. Before Sophie's awakening, its eyes are shadowed; in flashbacks, its eyes are open and glowing; after she discovers her new powers, its eyes open once again (brown instead of gold for a distinction between past and present). It seemed a little strange to me that it was so heavily used, as I associated the sun more with other cultures instead (namely the Aztecs, whose religion focused greatly on it). Even more interesting were the symbols or items in Promethea's possessions. The Caduceus, for example, was a staff that belonged to Hermes and used more for the sake of symbolism than any direct purpose. I also noticed a Scarab and an Ankh on Promethea's clothing. Interestingly enough, while the Caduceus is an item associated solely with Hermes, both the scarab and the Ankh are associated with Egyptian Gods in general (and not just Thoth). The Caduceus symbolizes the presence of Hermes, God of trades, travel, and occupations; the Scarab symbolizes death and rebirth, and the Ankh represents the Symbol of Life. I also found it quite interesting that Promethea's patron gods were Hermes and Thoth, rather than the two sun gods of both religions, Apollo and Aten respectively.

My favorite part about Promethea thus far was on how the title of Promethea was passed down across the generations. Her origin story didn't strike to me as anything spectacular or original, but I liked the concept of the way Promethea as a title was passed down person to person by sheer belief alone. It ties in with the whole concept of death and rebirth, a la the Scarab and the Ankh. The concept that Promethea would never die as long as someone believed enough in her that they would become her next vessel was quite fascinating. It also accounted for the inconsistencies among each fable Sophie has heard about thus far, because each Promethea was a different individual. I thought it was a nice touch. I also liked how Sophie, for all of her powers that she would later possess, started off as a really normal college student. She isn't depicted as some kind of bombshell, or someone particularly special - just an average college student worried about her next assignment. Another minor detail that I appreciate is that she isn't introduced with a love interest. I'm not sure now much that will change in the next chapters, but the fact that she is shown thus far as having no real relationship with anyone in particular means that the artist and writer will have time to develop the bonds she'll make with her other friends in future volumes.

Personally, I wouldn't know what medium to change it into. I think it works best as a comic, as that is where the symbolism (like the changing sun) can be shown the most prominently. If I had to change the medium, however, I believe that it could also work as either a live-action movie, or a cartoon. For the former, I would focus more along how she obtains the title alone, and maybe bring elements from the second volume if I wanted more content. Obviously, it would be difficult to emphasize the symbolism as much. I would also show most of the origin story in the beginning, possibly even all at once, just so there aren't too many jumps in narrative and timeline that would be sure to confuse viewers. There would also be the issue of costume and props. The Caduceus is relatively easy to draw on paper, but would be a fairly difficult prop to replicate in real life. I think it would be better as an episodic cartoon (like the Justice League or any of the Batman cartoons) simply because it removes the problem of having to translate a cartoon object or human into real life. Also, if the comics have one strong plot line per volume, it would be very easy to change it into an episodic cartoon. Things like continuity among times and places would also be easier, as there could be an episode set in the past and a completely different episode set in the present day as two completely separate events rather than trying to connect them. Of course, the cartoon characters will have to be simplified; the comic book rendering and character detail will have to be lost for the sake of efficiency. The comic seems to lend itself pretty easily into being an episodic cartoon already, in my opinion. I would probably look forward most to seeing the fight scenes being animated, and depending on how nicely its done, there is potential for Promethea to become a truly stunning animated work. 

Week 7: Maus and the Legitimization of the Graphic Novel

I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying Maus after reading it. The art style and story were far from what I usually read, hence my initial hesitation. All the same, I became deeply invested into the story barely a few pages in, and by the end of the book I found myself wanting to read more. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to obtain a copy of the second volume online, but I might pick it up the next time I go to the library.

While the art style put me off at first, I eventually grew used to it. I initially had thought it strange that Spiegelman would use such a simplistic, cartoony art style to depict such serious and horrifying events. I later grew to appreciate it, however. I understand that using cats, pigs, and mice instead of humans was pretty effective, in its own way. In some scenes, such as depictions of the holocaust victims being hanged and displayed for the public to see, it was even more surreal to see them as mice rather than humans.

I also wasn’t expecting the story to be so personal. The story told by Art had a lot of his and his father’s very own experiences. While this is hardly the first firsthand experience being told through a holocaust prisoner’s eyes, it is the very first one I read that came in the form of a graphic novel instead of a memoir. It’s also interesting to note that the author of the story wasn’t told by Vladek, the victim, but instead through his son, Art.

There were two parts in particular that stood out to me. The first was the scene with Art yelling about his mother turning him into a murderer while he was behind bars. Add to the fact that he had been institutionalized, and one can’t help but feel sorry for him. The next is the scene where he calls his father a murderer. Both were very chilling scenes and left the deepest impressions upon me after finishing the book.

I was also heavily affected by the movie we watched during class, Barefoot Gen. I recall watching it just last year in another class of mine, though at the time I hadn’t known that I didn’t finish the entire movie. Back then, we had stopped at the part where the bomb just set off; I had no idea that there was a continuation afterwards of the surviving members of the family. At the time, I recall being shocked by the absolute mood whiplash and equally abrupt ending, but I understand now that it ends on a more hopeful note.

This week in general had touched on topics that are very heavy such as the bombing of Hiroshima and the Holocaust. I’m glad that the mediums they were portrayed through were anime (and initially manga) and graphic novels. It just goes to show how effective it is when people can use visuals to aid and further their understanding of the topic, and connect with the author in a much deeper level.  

Week 6: Underground Comics

I have to say, I was not the least bit prepared for our recommended reading this week at all. Mr. Natural started out like almost any other humorous comic I've seen before, but I quickly came to understand about midway that it was anything but.

For one, I was very surprised that it was published with uncensored genitalia. Or that it had so many crude jokes. Or that there were so many tropes involved that people would consider offensive. Or basically the entire book in general.

I was absolutely astonished by the way it went from quite the standard slapstick humor prevalent in Western comics to being downright sexual in just a few pages. Perhaps I am somewhat prudish, but there were many moments while reading the book that I felt so uncomfortable in what I was seeing that I actually had to balk a bit and wonder if I hadn't just read it all wrong.

It started out innocuously enough, too, with a humorous, if somewhat irritating and insensitive, man just harassing people. This in itself is pretty standard in most comics. But then they went on to show uncensored genitalia, and featured a number of characters doing wholly inappropriate things. As a kid who’s grown up reading Garfield, Foxtrot, and Calvin &Hobbes, seeing a cartoon of an old man manipulating a giant baby to essentially give him multiple blowjobs was so astonishing that I actually had to close my laptop for a minute or two.

Regardless, I suppose that I can appreciate how revolutionary drawing and publishing a comic like this is (even if, for the most part, I found it rather distasteful and unnerving). But perhaps that was the intention? To make the reader utterly dumbfounded with the audacity of what is in the comic? To shatter the barrier of ‘what is socially acceptable to print’? While I do appreciate and approve of comics being more liberal in what they show in terms of sexuality, I also think that this crosses the line just a little bit.

Whatever its purpose, I can’t deny that it certainly left an impression on me. While you probably won’t find me twiddling my thumbs in anticipation of reading the next Mr. Natural comic anytime soon, I definitely will have strong impressions of it in my mind for a long, long time to come. 

Week 5: Body Talk: Eisner and Thompson

Upon reading Blankets and most of A Contract With God, I was absolutely astounded by the sheer amount of emotion that was portrayed into both works. Blankets, in particular, left quite a deep resonance with me.

I’ve always appreciated works that dealt with human relationships without making them appear too banal or trite, and Blankets was a perfect example of that. In (far too) many works today, interpersonal relationships seem to be portrayed in a way that’s far too shallow or predictable. It’s one of the main reasons why I cannot follow many live-action dramas for a long period of time; I find it hard to invest myself in characters that I care so little about because I simply cannot overlook how seemingly shallow or cliché they and their relationships are.

Such was not true with Blankets. For one, nothing seemed over-the-top cliché or unrealistic, which is always a huge plus in my books. Since it’s narrated in a first-person point of view, I felt a deeper connection with the main character. The way he faced a lot of problems were also pretty realistic. He wasn’t brave enough to confront those who bullied him, but clearly resented the treatment enough to think of up highly unsavory situations involving them. I’ve never been a personal victim of bullying per se, but I can understand the feeling of being pushed into situations which made me very uncomfortable.

His relationship with Raina was also sweet and poignant in many ways. It really captures the essence of being a young adult in love, without being over-the-top dramatic or cringe-worthy. It also ends up being rather bittersweet, but I imagine that he learned from the experience and became a more mature person for it.  

I was also surprised that one of the biggest themes in the book ended up being about religion. As a child, I was raised Catholic, but I’ve never been a very ardent believer. I went to church when my mother prompted me to, and while I do think there is a God out there, I’m also fairly casual in what I believe in or do in terms of religion. Seeing someone whose life predominantly revolves around their religion, especially my religion, made me appreciate reading Blankets just a little more. 

Week 4: The Comic Book

The reading assignments for me this week was basically one huge blast to the past, and you can’t imagine how delighted I was when I discovered that Tintin was among the comics listed this week. As I child, I absolutely loved the entire series, and I have many fond memories of reading the comics when I was younger.

For one, it was introduced by my mother, who also loved the series and wanted to share it with her children. She’s not an avid comic reader, but she greatly enjoyed the Tintin series due to the interesting plots and whimsical characters. When I was a little kid, I used to borrow the comics from the library; I ended up liking them so much that my mother agreed to buy me the whole series. Since my first real experience with Tintin involved me having to read them from a library, I never really read them in order at first, and therefore didn’t have a proper sense of continuity. Often, I would be confused when they brought up characters or events that happened in prior books. It wasn’t until I had the whole series that I could enjoy reading everything in order.

While I greatly enjoyed the series as a whole, my definite favorites were The Seven Crystal Balls and its sequel, Prisoners of the Sun. Looking back now, I appreciate them because they were the most interesting (the plot had been largely about a group of archaeologists falling into comas under the influence of voodoo after returning home with foreign, sacred memorabilia), but as a child I’d liked them the most because they were the funniest.

I also liked The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure because those two books were the first to introduce Captain Haddock. I had once mentioned in class that Donald Duck eventually became my favorite in the Disney Franchise; the same applies for Captain Haddock of the Tintin series. The two tempestuous, socially awkward, but surely good-hearted characters gradually endeared me over the more two dimensional characters, Mickey Mouse and Tintin.

My favorite part about Tintin has always been the interesting plotlines and especially the humor interjected throughout the story. Tintin’s Explorers of the Moon, for example, had never been a favorite, per se, but I enjoyed the difference of setting in this one. As most of Tintin’s adventures occur on Earth, the fact that the majority of the main cast were able to travel to the moon to have explore it is a nice change of pace. Professor Calculus was also a prominently featured character in this story as well, and the absentminded professor has also always been one of my favorites.

I simply can’t stop mentioning how glad I am to be rereading Tintin. There are so many fond memories attached to the series that I’m happy to be given a chance to revisit it all over again.

Week 3: The Comic Strip

I recall there being a period of time in my childhood whereupon I was absolutely enamored with comic strips. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve always liked comics in almost every single shape or form, but there was a period of time where I read comic stripes almost exclusively.

Prior to this class, I hadn’t heard of, nor read, both Little Nemo and Krazy Kat before, but I have to say that I rather enjoyed both comics. I preferred Krazy Kat because I felt that it reminded me of the comics I used to read when I was younger. One strip I particularly enjoyed involved Krazy Kat trying to hide its diary under a rock, believing it to be safe from prying eyes, only for the rest of the cast coming back at night to read it. I’m not sure why I liked it quite so much, but it stuck with me even after I’ve forgotten most of the other strips within. I suppose reading Krazy Kat brought back a sense of nostalgia regarding the days where I used to read comics upon comics with quirky characters in ridiculous situations.

I believe that I started out by reading the funnies page in the newspaper. Back then, I couldn’t understand the humor in at least half of the comic strips, but I recall liking the Garfield strips well enough. My first real love for comics began with Calvin & Hobbes, however. I had always been charmed by the characters, and I suppose being a child at the time helped me appreciate what went on in Calvin’s head. At the time, I also had a stuffed animal which I loved very much. Seeing Calvin interact with his own as though Hobbes was a real life friend not only greatly entertained me, it left me with a lingering sense of warmth, too.

As I grew up, I also learned to appreciate other comic strips such as Foxtrot, Sherman’s Lagoon, Baby Blues, and Get Fuzzy. I also redeveloped a new liking for Garfield strips. Most of the comics I mentioned above were discovered through the funnies page. I hadn’t understood the humor in most of them at first, but I gained a new appreciation for them as I grew older.

My favorite thing about the comic strip is the lack of continuity and, for the most part, the lack of a real plot. It means that I can start off just about anywhere and not feel like I’ve missed much, if anything at all. Reading comic books are great, but it’s very difficult to gain an understanding of what’s going on if you don’t start with the first book and read them in order. With comic strips, you don’t have to worry about anything like that at all. Occasionally, the strips would carry on with the same mini-plot for a while, or throw in a callback, but they are, for the most part, standalone.

Another thing I like about comic strips is that each and every single strip is funny in its own right. There’s always a small joke and punchline, and they’re a great way to pass time and simply entertain yourself all the while. 

Week 2: Understanding Comics

I have seen the book Understanding Comics before in many a bookstore before and heard its name pop up on occasion, but I’m afraid that I hadn’t had the opportunity to actually read the book until now. I have to say, the content of the book certainly didn’t disappoint.

Before reading the book, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I liked reading comics enough, sure, but I’ve never considered reading about the mechanics behind them. As it turns out, people actually put a lot more thought into creating comics than I thought. While I never had any illusions that drawing and writing out your own comic was easy, I also never knew how truly intricate the art truly is.

There were many interesting points about the book, but one part I found to be interesting was the discussion about relatability to a character based on its looks. It was the first time I’d heard of such a concept, but thinking back on it, I now see the reasoning behind such logic. It makes sense to be able to relate oneself to, say, a stick figure than to a detailed portrait of someone who is definitely not me.

The part about our brain filling out the blanks was also quite fascinating, because most of the time, we don’t even know we’re doing it. We assume that the man has eyes behind his spectacles and legs beneath his torso in his upper body shots because our brain is hardwired to think that way. I recall, on one occasion, learning that the human brain is capable of reading scrambled words and understanding them near perfectly as long as the first and right letters are correct. Everything in between can be a jumbled mess, and we’d still be able to read them almost instantly. Tkae tihs for exmalpe; taht dndi’t tkae so lnog to raed, did it?

And yet another interesting point that was brought up, if only for a couple pages, was the differences between Eastern and Western comic. As I grew up with both influences, I enjoyed reading both in my childhood. I was certainly more interested in the former due to its prevalence in Asian bookstores, but I also read many Western comics when I was younger. I found the comparison of panels to be interesting, and now, I can see the differences between them so clearly that I wonder how I could’ve missed it before. In fact, the whole part about ‘capturing the moment’ in Japanese manga, or simply dedicating complicated and detailed panels simply to describe a certain moment in time, is one of my favorite things about Eastern comics.

All in all, I thought Understanding Comics was a highly entertaining, informative read. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who’s even considering creating a comic of their very own and to those who simply want to understand or appreciate comics better at all. 

Thoughts on The Arrival

The Arrival was a pleasant read and stood out against various other graphic novels, one main reason being that it was completely wordless. Rather than make the storyline confusing, however, the lack of words actually enhanced the novel’s narrative. The Arrival was well-paced, rich in both cast and background, and open to various interpretations.  Another nice perk about wordless comics is that there is no language barrier to block anyone from reading it. Just about anyone in the world can understand what is going on precisely because there are no words to dictate the actions in the book.

One thing that particularly stood out about The Arrival was that many of the pictures blended in together so seamlessly it was almost like looking at a film reel, or at a storyboard. One page in particular was dedicated solely to a man throwing bottles into a pipe, and another focused on the motions of hands tying a parcel. Sequences as such greatly added to the storytelling and contrasted nicely against the larger pictures that took up entire pages. In most graphic novels, such detail and the intricacy required to draw out every single action would be deemed unnecessary because the dialogue tends to fill the readers in. Without any text, the readers were able to come up with their own interpretations of different scenes.

Another enjoyable aspect of the book was the larger pictures in the book which served as juxtaposition against the small, detailed scene-by-scene drawings. The monsters in the book were also a nice touch and served as physical representations of the family’s feelings upon moving to a new location. In several pages, the monsters were portrayed as leviathans looming over the city, symbolizing their fear and anxiety in a new place. On the other hand, the little cartoonish monster that accompanied the father around seemed to symbolize hope and companionship, especially when it develops a friendship with another family’s monster. These metaphorical monsters were a good way of filling in what words would; they served as visual guides to the feelings of the family in lieu of actual words.

The Arrival is truly a good example of what a wordless comic should be like. The lack of words allowed the graphic novel to be abstract in a way that wouldn’t have been possible had there been words narrating what was going on throughout.