I read some Persepolis a while back and also got to see the movie quite recently. I've always been very interested in Iranian culture, but Persepolis was the first chance I got to see it from the perspective of someone so similar to me. Marjane Satrapi is an awesome writer and personality and she has certainly led a really interesting life. Persepolis is one of my favorite graphic novels, along with Maus, because of the powerful context behind them. The autobiographical content in this graphic novel just makes the whole story so much more enjoyable and personal for me.
In a sense, her work reminds me a lot of Isabel Allende's work. Even though they are completely different writers/artists, I feel like the female characters they write are very strong, independent, but still very feminine. I think it's very interesting to see, in some of the earliest "feminist stories", the authors would write the women very manly and tomboy-ish; as if, strength only comes in the image of the alpha male. Writers like Marjane have definitely shattered this stereotype and have portrayed a wide range of female characters. All women are strong, whether they are petite and feminine or tomboys! The main character in Persepolis certainly falls somewhere in between that spectrum.
Monday, April 27, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Webcomics
This week I read a little bit of a lot of webcomics. Prior to this week, I'd never read a whole lot of webcomics and the only ones I did read were fairly popular and not very serious like Cyanide and Happiness. After reading a little bit of everything (like Octopus Pie, Oglaf, and Riceboy) I realized why webcomics were so powerful. Although they are expensive to maintain alive, it seems like webcomics give the artists ultimate freedom to tell the stories they want to tell and how they want to tell it. It's also great because anyone with a phone or laptop can have access to this material and it's not something that you have to collect in paperback.
With some of these stories, I felt like they also moved forwards very quickly because it seemed more about telling the story than about selling issues (like some of the published comics we read in class). A lot of them reminded me of the newspaper strips we read towards the beginning of the semester, in the sense that they were short and concise and, in the case of Oglaf, it interjected different stories into it.
I definitely see a clear future for comics in this web form. It's accessible and there's so much room for collaboration and conversation between artists. There's something very special about being able to reach out to artists as easily as shooting them a tweet or an email. Artists having a big internet presence just makes this world feel more collaborative as a whole!
With some of these stories, I felt like they also moved forwards very quickly because it seemed more about telling the story than about selling issues (like some of the published comics we read in class). A lot of them reminded me of the newspaper strips we read towards the beginning of the semester, in the sense that they were short and concise and, in the case of Oglaf, it interjected different stories into it.
I definitely see a clear future for comics in this web form. It's accessible and there's so much room for collaboration and conversation between artists. There's something very special about being able to reach out to artists as easily as shooting them a tweet or an email. Artists having a big internet presence just makes this world feel more collaborative as a whole!
Hellboy and Reinventing the Superhero
Being a huge fan of the Hellboy movies, I decided to read some of the original comics. I never quite thought about the Hellboy character as a true superhero or at least I didn't put him in the same world as Superman. After reading a little bit of it, I found it was very interesting how much more I could connect to the son of the devil than any other superhero I had read of before. I think something that has made comics like Hellboy and Watchmen so popular is that the characters feel a lot rounder and they actually have flaws. It's very exciting to read about really epic and different characters that are also very relatable.
Also, the style of Hellboy has been very influential to me for a while now. Even though this is my first time reading a full issue of it, I'd usually look at Mike Mignola's art for reference and inspiration when designing characters. He has a very appealing sense of shape and composition in his work and even though I was really engrossed in the story I was reading, sometimes I would take a little longer to read the pages just to admire the art and how/why he did certain things.
Also, the style of Hellboy has been very influential to me for a while now. Even though this is my first time reading a full issue of it, I'd usually look at Mike Mignola's art for reference and inspiration when designing characters. He has a very appealing sense of shape and composition in his work and even though I was really engrossed in the story I was reading, sometimes I would take a little longer to read the pages just to admire the art and how/why he did certain things.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Preacher Questions
1. Were there any prominent symbols in Preacher? And how were they used?
I noticed there were a couple of symbols in Preacher. For the most part they seemed sort of subtle and the artist/writer didn't call too much attention to them. The first symbol I noticed was the mushroom cloud. Both when the church explodes and the cops are killed, there's a very clear mushroom cloud that forms over the scene. It seems like the saint of killers was provoked both of those things. Another symbol I noticed was the skulls and how they are present in the tomb and in the explosion that hits the priest.
2. Is there an aspect of the story in which you were able to make a personal connection with and what was the nature of this connection?
I think the characters and they way the panels were constructed were very 80's and I could almost imagine epic synth music and heavy metal solos playing at some parts. That's definitely something that kept me engaged. I made the heaviest connection with the killer character because he's like a badass zombie Clint Eastwood and being a lover of spaghetti westerns and the archetypes of it, I could really appreciate his nature. Overall, my connection to these aspects were very superficial and mostly based on aesthetics.
3. If you were to adapt this story to another medium, what changes would you make? and why?
Regardless of Moore's wishes, I can actually picture this comic being an awesome movie filled with very interesting and stylized special effects that merge it with its comic counterpart. I don't think I would change a lot about the story but definitely the way it's shot. I could also see it as a really cool cinematic videogame that's very story based and that occasionally you have to stop the story to fight some cops.
I noticed there were a couple of symbols in Preacher. For the most part they seemed sort of subtle and the artist/writer didn't call too much attention to them. The first symbol I noticed was the mushroom cloud. Both when the church explodes and the cops are killed, there's a very clear mushroom cloud that forms over the scene. It seems like the saint of killers was provoked both of those things. Another symbol I noticed was the skulls and how they are present in the tomb and in the explosion that hits the priest.
2. Is there an aspect of the story in which you were able to make a personal connection with and what was the nature of this connection?
I think the characters and they way the panels were constructed were very 80's and I could almost imagine epic synth music and heavy metal solos playing at some parts. That's definitely something that kept me engaged. I made the heaviest connection with the killer character because he's like a badass zombie Clint Eastwood and being a lover of spaghetti westerns and the archetypes of it, I could really appreciate his nature. Overall, my connection to these aspects were very superficial and mostly based on aesthetics.
3. If you were to adapt this story to another medium, what changes would you make? and why?
Regardless of Moore's wishes, I can actually picture this comic being an awesome movie filled with very interesting and stylized special effects that merge it with its comic counterpart. I don't think I would change a lot about the story but definitely the way it's shot. I could also see it as a really cool cinematic videogame that's very story based and that occasionally you have to stop the story to fight some cops.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Asterios Polyp
This week I read some Asterios Polyp and I absolutely loved it. It has a very interesting and engaging style. As cooky as this sounds, I really feel like the style reflects Asterios tone and voice. From the first panels I could already tell that architecture was going to be somewhat involved in the story. Something about the quality of the lines really reflect that. It's also so interesting how it can jump to different style in the same page! It's jarring, but at the same time makes a lot of sense in context of the story.
In general the story is very interesting. The changes in timeline make it very compelling to hear about the rise and fall of Asterios's career and life. Also, the fact that the objects he picked up during the fire in the beginning kept coming back in the story really kept me engaged and wanting to know more about them.
Overall, Asterios was a very interesting comic and I know I'll definitely look back at it for color palette and style inspiration for future projects.
In general the story is very interesting. The changes in timeline make it very compelling to hear about the rise and fall of Asterios's career and life. Also, the fact that the objects he picked up during the fire in the beginning kept coming back in the story really kept me engaged and wanting to know more about them.
Overall, Asterios was a very interesting comic and I know I'll definitely look back at it for color palette and style inspiration for future projects.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Battle Angel Alita
This week I read some Battle Angel Alita and I was instantly hooked. There's just something about cyborgs fighting and strange cloud cities that really appeals to me. I'll be honest, I've always preferred manga to western comics, so this week's reading was a lot more interesting to me. I always appreciate how much detail goes into the work and how the stories feel deeper and more complex.
In Alita, I really appreciated the themes of purpose and "humanness". The characters are constantly questioning what makes someone "human" and for the majority of Volume 1, it seemed like those who qualified to most were the least human. Like Gally implied, even those with brains and hearts can be monsters. This element in particular made the story even more interesting to me and not just random cyborgs fighting each other.
I still have a lot of story questions about this manga and I'm interested to read more of Alita. I just want to find out what Dr. Nova's intentions are and what's waiting for Gally in Mars!
In Alita, I really appreciated the themes of purpose and "humanness". The characters are constantly questioning what makes someone "human" and for the majority of Volume 1, it seemed like those who qualified to most were the least human. Like Gally implied, even those with brains and hearts can be monsters. This element in particular made the story even more interesting to me and not just random cyborgs fighting each other.
I still have a lot of story questions about this manga and I'm interested to read more of Alita. I just want to find out what Dr. Nova's intentions are and what's waiting for Gally in Mars!
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Underground Comix
Underground comix were very influenced by sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. From a distance, it's pretty obvious these guys were doing lots of dope and LSD; a lot of the work from this period was very psychedelic and trippy and usually didn't have a very interesting story or relatable characters.
I read a bit of Tits and Clits before class and got to see some Zap and Dopin' Dan in class. Tits and Clits was definitely an introduction to this genre; nothing is censored and all the stories are very sexualized (obviously). I was not a huge fan of most of this work, just because I couldn't get myself interested in the stories. But there was one story that really caught my attention and that was I Was a Sex Junkie!". This series deals with a woman who's addicted to sex and turns to drugs to get the money she needs to pay male prostitutes. Even though the story was a bit strange and not really my style, I enjoyed getting some perspective from female characters. This character treated rape and drugs like it was nothing and it certainly gave me an idea of the type of people who would go nuts for these underground comics at the time.
I thought these works, while not taken very seriously and usually considered crude, are super important to understanding the people of the era and the work that followed it. Everything came back to the Vietnam conflict and the pop culture of the time.
I read a bit of Tits and Clits before class and got to see some Zap and Dopin' Dan in class. Tits and Clits was definitely an introduction to this genre; nothing is censored and all the stories are very sexualized (obviously). I was not a huge fan of most of this work, just because I couldn't get myself interested in the stories. But there was one story that really caught my attention and that was I Was a Sex Junkie!". This series deals with a woman who's addicted to sex and turns to drugs to get the money she needs to pay male prostitutes. Even though the story was a bit strange and not really my style, I enjoyed getting some perspective from female characters. This character treated rape and drugs like it was nothing and it certainly gave me an idea of the type of people who would go nuts for these underground comics at the time.
I thought these works, while not taken very seriously and usually considered crude, are super important to understanding the people of the era and the work that followed it. Everything came back to the Vietnam conflict and the pop culture of the time.
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