Hannah Berry's Britten and Brüligtly is truly a unique work. The film noir vibe of the comic is fused with the a hint of surrealism. Surrealism in the fact that one of the tile characters, Brülightly, is a tea bag. A talking, crime solving, tea bag. And only Britten can hear him, or at least Britten is the only one who talks to him. Which begs the question, is Britten crazy? Is this some bizarre alternate reality where tea bags are sentient? Is Brülightly in fact a dead soul inhabiting a tea bag? What is going on? And yet the oddity of Brülightly's form is never explained, nor is it ever really mentioned as something odd, it's just something that is, like a person having a nose or a dog barking, it just is.
The rest of the novel is a typical film noir detective story starring Britten. Known as “The Heartbreaker” Britten is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of one Berni Kudos. The late Mister Kudos' fiancé Charlotte Maughton suspects foul play and is convinced that Berni would never have killed himself. And so she contacts Britten to assist her, unaware that his nicname and his reputation stem from his prowess as uncovering cheating spouses.
The whole book plays out in traditional detective story fashion, the internal monologues of Britten, the constantly rainy weather, the backstabbing, and all the lies and secrets are just par for the course, pretty much what you'd expect, but the inclusion of Brülightly just adds that little bit of extra bizarreness that intrigues you enough to keep reading because you want to know what the deal with him is. And then you never find out, he's the one mystery in the book that remains unresolved, left for you to figure out yourself. Another interesting facet of the novel is the writing. All of the writing I the book appears to be handwritten, Berry's cursive script shifting in legibility depending on what it is vocalizing. For Britten's internal dialogues the script is very cramped and hard to read, causing you to have to look harder for insight into the protagonists thoughts.
Really aside from just the handwriting the entire artistic style of the piece has a very hand-made vibe. The art looks like watercolor over ink and everything has those little ticks and imperfections that make art truly human. And so you can connect because when you look at the frames you see little flaws and small pieces of true beauty that intrigue you and leave you wanting more,
As far as Hannah Berry's being a woman is concerned, it's really not any sort of a big deal. The story is one that could've been written by and can be read by people of either gender, it's universal in its appeal. The author info is also incredibly vague, causing the story to stand further on its own. Al the publisher tells you about Miss Berry is that she is in her mid-twenties, has contributed illustrations to magazines in the UK, and Britten and Brülightly is her first novel. Nothing else is really needed, the story is strong enough to hold up without any knowledge of the author, it stands apart from her as a unique entity unto itself.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
The Phoenix Requiem
When it came to picking just one webcomic about which to write I had great difficulty narrowing it down. Initially I had planned to write about Hanna is Not a Boy's Name, but when I glanced at the course resources page I saw that someone had already recommended that. So I went with one of my two second choices, The Phoenix Requiem. It was a toss up between this and The Meek, and both have great merit, but I already sort of talked about The Meek in terms of the authors refusal the reveal their gender when we had our discussion over women in the comics industry and art in general. So I picked The Phoenix Requiem, coincidentally written by a woman, an Australian woman named Sarah Ellerton.
When Sarah began The Phoenix Requiem she already had a large following from her previous comic Inverloch, which ran from June 2004 to mid 2007. Almost immediately upon it's completion she began work on The Phoenix Requiem which she had had in development for a good while whilst Inverloch was wrapping up. The lack of down time between projects meant she didn't lose too many readers in changing projects. In fact she's become even more popular with The Phoenix Requiem than she ever was with Inverloch.
Sarah's main job is not being a webomics artist though, she is actually an IT worker in Queensland and so is able to support herself with a steady job as well as her comics. She doesn't sell too much merchandise, just occasional prints of chapters from the story and limited runs of statues of a few of the characters, so she doesn't make enough off of that to live off. Unlike say Penny Arcade or Questionable Content her story doesn't generate the kinds of jokes and visuals that make a good t-shirt so she simply doesn't make any.
As far as the story of the comic goes, Ellerton traditionally works in an actual plot, not just a daily or weekly gag-strip. There is an overarching story in the traditional sense, the characters are thrust into a situation and the plot carries them through a development of themselves and their environment. Webcomics with plots don't have as much longevity as strip comics because they have a definite stopping point whereas strips go as long as the creator wants to keep drawing them. PvP has been running every weekday since 1998 for Pete's sake. That's a long time in terms of the internet, over a decade.
This blog entry really ended up being more about webcomics in general as opposed to The Phoenix Requiem specifically, and for that I apologize. So I'll leave you with the synopsis as Miss Ellerton herself puts it.
“The Phoenix Requiem is a Victorian-inspired supernatural fantasy story about faith, love, death, and the things we believe in.
On a cold December night, a gentleman stumbles into the town of Esk, gunshot wounds leaving a trail of blood in the snow behind him. Despite making a full recovery at the hands of an inexperienced nurse - and deciding to make a new life for himself in the town - he is unable to escape the supernatural beings, both good and bad, that seem to follow him like shadows.
As they try to discover why, the nurse must question her beliefs and risk her own life in order to protect her family, her friends, and those that she loves.”
-Sarah Ellerton, The Phoenix Requiem, requiem.seraph-inn.com
When Sarah began The Phoenix Requiem she already had a large following from her previous comic Inverloch, which ran from June 2004 to mid 2007. Almost immediately upon it's completion she began work on The Phoenix Requiem which she had had in development for a good while whilst Inverloch was wrapping up. The lack of down time between projects meant she didn't lose too many readers in changing projects. In fact she's become even more popular with The Phoenix Requiem than she ever was with Inverloch.
Sarah's main job is not being a webomics artist though, she is actually an IT worker in Queensland and so is able to support herself with a steady job as well as her comics. She doesn't sell too much merchandise, just occasional prints of chapters from the story and limited runs of statues of a few of the characters, so she doesn't make enough off of that to live off. Unlike say Penny Arcade or Questionable Content her story doesn't generate the kinds of jokes and visuals that make a good t-shirt so she simply doesn't make any.
As far as the story of the comic goes, Ellerton traditionally works in an actual plot, not just a daily or weekly gag-strip. There is an overarching story in the traditional sense, the characters are thrust into a situation and the plot carries them through a development of themselves and their environment. Webcomics with plots don't have as much longevity as strip comics because they have a definite stopping point whereas strips go as long as the creator wants to keep drawing them. PvP has been running every weekday since 1998 for Pete's sake. That's a long time in terms of the internet, over a decade.
This blog entry really ended up being more about webcomics in general as opposed to The Phoenix Requiem specifically, and for that I apologize. So I'll leave you with the synopsis as Miss Ellerton herself puts it.
“The Phoenix Requiem is a Victorian-inspired supernatural fantasy story about faith, love, death, and the things we believe in.
On a cold December night, a gentleman stumbles into the town of Esk, gunshot wounds leaving a trail of blood in the snow behind him. Despite making a full recovery at the hands of an inexperienced nurse - and deciding to make a new life for himself in the town - he is unable to escape the supernatural beings, both good and bad, that seem to follow him like shadows.
As they try to discover why, the nurse must question her beliefs and risk her own life in order to protect her family, her friends, and those that she loves.”
-Sarah Ellerton, The Phoenix Requiem, requiem.seraph-inn.com
The Kindly Ones
I've been working my way through the Sandman series for a few years now, and I like it more and more with each issue. The Kindly Ones threw me off initially however, both in the art style and the writing.
Firstly I made the mistake of reading the forward by Frank McConnell, which basically told me the plot of the novel. Not the best plan on my part. And so since I knew that the young boy was going to become Dream and that the Dream with which I was familiar was going to die I kind of didn't really enjoy the story as much as I ought to have. With every twist and turn in the plot I knew the ultimate goal and so could see where it was going, sort of like when I watched Fight Club and already knew that Tyler Durden was a part of Edward Norton's character's mind, or when I saw The Sixth Sense already knowing that Bruce Willis' character was dead. It was one of those kinds of things.
All spoilers aside I still did enjoy the novel, though the art threw me at first. This volume is so bold and graphic and the others have slightly thinner, more sketchy lines and coloring. But it sort of lends itself to the tale. As the story progress's the art shifts and becomes darker and slightly more gritty to fit the mood of the murder and destruction of the Dreaming and its inhabitants.
Focusing on the selfish tale of Hippolyta and having her be the catalyst for Dream's ultimate demise lends a sense of humanity to an otherwise supernatural story arc. You feel for her having lost her baby and you can understand her pain when she thinks Loki burnt him alive, so her search for the Furies seems justified. But then the Furies take it too far. They see an opportunity to destroy Dream and they go for it despite Lyta's protests. So in the end her child becomes the new Dream through her own actions, and she can never see him as she knew him again.
This book feels like an end to the Sandman series with the demise of our familiar title character and ascension of one to take his place creating a nice close to the otherwise disjointed narrative. But there are two volumes left. The title of The Wake of course gives me a clue of its story, but knowing Gaiman it won't go at all as I expect. However Endless Nights is still a mystery in terms of plot for me. With the protagonist dead where can it go? I'm Neil has something up his sleeve, something new and unexpected. As long as I don't read the introduction.
Firstly I made the mistake of reading the forward by Frank McConnell, which basically told me the plot of the novel. Not the best plan on my part. And so since I knew that the young boy was going to become Dream and that the Dream with which I was familiar was going to die I kind of didn't really enjoy the story as much as I ought to have. With every twist and turn in the plot I knew the ultimate goal and so could see where it was going, sort of like when I watched Fight Club and already knew that Tyler Durden was a part of Edward Norton's character's mind, or when I saw The Sixth Sense already knowing that Bruce Willis' character was dead. It was one of those kinds of things.
All spoilers aside I still did enjoy the novel, though the art threw me at first. This volume is so bold and graphic and the others have slightly thinner, more sketchy lines and coloring. But it sort of lends itself to the tale. As the story progress's the art shifts and becomes darker and slightly more gritty to fit the mood of the murder and destruction of the Dreaming and its inhabitants.
Focusing on the selfish tale of Hippolyta and having her be the catalyst for Dream's ultimate demise lends a sense of humanity to an otherwise supernatural story arc. You feel for her having lost her baby and you can understand her pain when she thinks Loki burnt him alive, so her search for the Furies seems justified. But then the Furies take it too far. They see an opportunity to destroy Dream and they go for it despite Lyta's protests. So in the end her child becomes the new Dream through her own actions, and she can never see him as she knew him again.
This book feels like an end to the Sandman series with the demise of our familiar title character and ascension of one to take his place creating a nice close to the otherwise disjointed narrative. But there are two volumes left. The title of The Wake of course gives me a clue of its story, but knowing Gaiman it won't go at all as I expect. However Endless Nights is still a mystery in terms of plot for me. With the protagonist dead where can it go? I'm Neil has something up his sleeve, something new and unexpected. As long as I don't read the introduction.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Britten and Brülightly
Hannah Berry's Britten and Brüligtly is truly a unique work. The film noir vibe of the comic is fused with the surrealism of the fact that Brülightly is a tea bag. A talking, crime solving, tea bag. And only Britten can hear him, or at least Britten is the only one who talks to him. Which begs the question, is Britten crazy? Is this some bizarre alternate reality where tea bags are sentient? Is Brülightly in fact a dead soul inhabiting a tea bag? What is going on? And yet the oddity of Brülightly's form is never explained, nor is it ever really mentioned as something odd, it's just something that is, like a person having a nose or a dog barking, it just is.
The rest of the novel is a film noir detective story starring Britten, who is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of one Berni Kudos. The late Mister Kudos' fiancé Charlotte Maughton suspects foul play and is convinced that Berni would never have killed himself. And so she contacts Britten, who is best known for catching cheating spouses, to assist her.
The whole book plays out in traditional detective story fashion, the internal monologues of Britten, the constantly rainy weather, the backstabbing, and all the lies and secrets are just par for the course, pretty much what you'd expect, but the inclusion of Brülightly just adds that little bit of extra bizarreness that intrigues you enough to keep reading because you want to know what the deal with him is. And then you never find out, he's the one mystery in the book that remains unresolved, left for you to figure out yourself.
As far as Hannah Berry's being a woman is concerned, it's really not any sort of a big deal. The story is one that could've been written by and can be read by people of either gender, it's universal in its appeal. The author info is also incredibly vague, causing the story to stand further on its own. All the publisher tells you about Miss Berry is that she is in her mid-twenties, has contributed illustrations to magazines in the UK, and Britten and Brülightly is her first novel. Nothing else is really needed, the story is strong enough to hold up without any knowledge of the author, it stands apart from her as a unique entity unto itself.
The rest of the novel is a film noir detective story starring Britten, who is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of one Berni Kudos. The late Mister Kudos' fiancé Charlotte Maughton suspects foul play and is convinced that Berni would never have killed himself. And so she contacts Britten, who is best known for catching cheating spouses, to assist her.
The whole book plays out in traditional detective story fashion, the internal monologues of Britten, the constantly rainy weather, the backstabbing, and all the lies and secrets are just par for the course, pretty much what you'd expect, but the inclusion of Brülightly just adds that little bit of extra bizarreness that intrigues you enough to keep reading because you want to know what the deal with him is. And then you never find out, he's the one mystery in the book that remains unresolved, left for you to figure out yourself.
As far as Hannah Berry's being a woman is concerned, it's really not any sort of a big deal. The story is one that could've been written by and can be read by people of either gender, it's universal in its appeal. The author info is also incredibly vague, causing the story to stand further on its own. All the publisher tells you about Miss Berry is that she is in her mid-twenties, has contributed illustrations to magazines in the UK, and Britten and Brülightly is her first novel. Nothing else is really needed, the story is strong enough to hold up without any knowledge of the author, it stands apart from her as a unique entity unto itself.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Ghostworld
Oh lord, I had so much trouble reading this. The main characters were just so darn frustrating. I tried to sit down and read it straight through but I got so pissed off I just couldn't do it. By the end I was fairly okay with the characters and the people they had become but throughout most of the novel I had serious difficulty willing myself from panel to panel.
The girls in Ghostworld are just so immature. They refuse to show that they like or are interested in anything for fear that showing legitimate interest will cause them to be ridiculed. And so they mock everything and everyone just to make themselves feel better but it doesn't work, it just leaves them feeling more empty and confused about who they are and what they want to be. And I understand that, but having come out of a similar phase relatively recently, wherein I was trying to define myself and my likes and dislikes the characters were irritating on a deeply personal level, showing me what an idiot I had been and how obnoxious I must have seemed.
Despite its brevity, the novel is only 80 pages, there is a huge amount of story within a short amount of volume. Though perhaps story is not the best word as there is no traditional plot in any sense, rather the reader just gets a glimpse into the lives of two individuals and their interactions with the world with which they are trying to come to grips. The world of love and adulthood is looming and the protagonists are caught practically unawares as they are thrust into something for which they are completely mentally and emotionally unprepared.
Though they may be incredibly and intensely grating on the nerves the main caharacters of Ghostworld give a bit of an excellent insight into the mindset of a teenager coming of age in America and trying to come to terms with their place in the world.
The girls in Ghostworld are just so immature. They refuse to show that they like or are interested in anything for fear that showing legitimate interest will cause them to be ridiculed. And so they mock everything and everyone just to make themselves feel better but it doesn't work, it just leaves them feeling more empty and confused about who they are and what they want to be. And I understand that, but having come out of a similar phase relatively recently, wherein I was trying to define myself and my likes and dislikes the characters were irritating on a deeply personal level, showing me what an idiot I had been and how obnoxious I must have seemed.
Despite its brevity, the novel is only 80 pages, there is a huge amount of story within a short amount of volume. Though perhaps story is not the best word as there is no traditional plot in any sense, rather the reader just gets a glimpse into the lives of two individuals and their interactions with the world with which they are trying to come to grips. The world of love and adulthood is looming and the protagonists are caught practically unawares as they are thrust into something for which they are completely mentally and emotionally unprepared.
Though they may be incredibly and intensely grating on the nerves the main caharacters of Ghostworld give a bit of an excellent insight into the mindset of a teenager coming of age in America and trying to come to terms with their place in the world.
Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea
Guy Delisle's autobiographical story about his own experience living in North Korea is a truly fascinating insight into a country about which very little is known as far as the day to day lives of its people.
Guy was sent to Pyongyang to supervise animation being produced there for his company. Like all foreigners he was assigned a guide to show him what he was supposed to see. North Korea is very controlling of the way their nation is perceived that they have required places all visitors must see, all of which celebrate the glory of their eternal president Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il. The propaganda of the state surrounds everyone, all music is related to the party, positive slogans are posted on every wall and shouted at workers in construction sites and rice fields.
Guy's experience is presented matter-of-factly, with no real political spin. He just recounts what happened to him as it happened, though he is fairly appalled by the extent to which the North Korean population buys the crap they are fed by the government. They seem hugely moved by the shitty anthems to the glory of Kim Il-Sung, crying with national pride when visiting the friendship museum.
The Friendship museum is an interesting organism in and of itself. It is a gigantic bunker bored into the side of a mountain filled with gifts to Kim Il-Sung from various nations. It is as though they are trying to prove to themselves how important they are by showing how other nations “respect” them by sending them gifts. The people must constantly be reminded of the greatness of their homeland though displays of power and international strength. The museum is a moving experience for North Koreans, a sort of confirmation of their countries might in their own eyes, reinforcing what they have been told their entire lives.
Guy's experience in North Korea appears to be a fairly typical one in terms of the visits of foreigners in North Korea. You are shown what they want you to see and if you ask questions or try to do anything out of the ordinary you are politely but forcefully led away from the subject and brought to something approved by the party. The government in North Korea is watching, always watching, and if you make one false move you will be caught and you will be punished.
Guy was sent to Pyongyang to supervise animation being produced there for his company. Like all foreigners he was assigned a guide to show him what he was supposed to see. North Korea is very controlling of the way their nation is perceived that they have required places all visitors must see, all of which celebrate the glory of their eternal president Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il. The propaganda of the state surrounds everyone, all music is related to the party, positive slogans are posted on every wall and shouted at workers in construction sites and rice fields.
Guy's experience is presented matter-of-factly, with no real political spin. He just recounts what happened to him as it happened, though he is fairly appalled by the extent to which the North Korean population buys the crap they are fed by the government. They seem hugely moved by the shitty anthems to the glory of Kim Il-Sung, crying with national pride when visiting the friendship museum.
The Friendship museum is an interesting organism in and of itself. It is a gigantic bunker bored into the side of a mountain filled with gifts to Kim Il-Sung from various nations. It is as though they are trying to prove to themselves how important they are by showing how other nations “respect” them by sending them gifts. The people must constantly be reminded of the greatness of their homeland though displays of power and international strength. The museum is a moving experience for North Koreans, a sort of confirmation of their countries might in their own eyes, reinforcing what they have been told their entire lives.
Guy's experience in North Korea appears to be a fairly typical one in terms of the visits of foreigners in North Korea. You are shown what they want you to see and if you ask questions or try to do anything out of the ordinary you are politely but forcefully led away from the subject and brought to something approved by the party. The government in North Korea is watching, always watching, and if you make one false move you will be caught and you will be punished.
Buddha
Despite it's title Osamu Tezuka's first volume of Buddha has very little to do with Buddha indeed. He is only mentioned a few times, and the references are to his birth at that. The main story follows a young monk, two slaves, and a pariah named Tatta. Rather than giving a biography into the life of Siddhartha Tezuka chooses to give an insight into his teachings and ideals.
The story begins by following a Brahmin, or monk, who is sent by his master to seek out one who would be a god or a king. In his quest the Brahmin discovers that the person for whom he is searching is from the lowest class, below even slaves, a pariah. But this pariah, Tatta, has the greatness to become a god or a king with his wisdom. He can take over an animals mind and command its body and speaks to them. Tatta sees all life as his equal, human and animal alike. Because he is of such low standing he has nowhere to fall to and so he sees himself as one of the animals. In his life Tatta has befriended a young slave trying to save his mother. Their village is attacked by a neighboring monarchy and Tatta's friends and family are killed. Chapra (the slave boy) winds up saving the enemy general and is adopted as his son. So the Brahmin, along with Tatta and Chapra's mother set out across the desert in search of Chapra.
Chapra ignores all ideals of Buddhism in his rise from slave to noble and thus his life is not as positive as it would seem to be. However Chapra is marked as a slave by a brand on his foot and so he can never truly escape his past. He is a slave and will always be a slave. You cannot be anything besides what you are.
And even as Chapra abandons his past his mother, Tatta, and the Brahmin continue to search for him, to rescue him. And along the way they face great hardships, the most poignant of which is when Tatta sacrifices himself to be eaten by a snake in order to make a trade wherein the snake would give some of its eggs to Chapra's mother and the Brahmin so that they may eat as a plague of locusts came and devoured everything around for miles.
Tezuka's style leant to this story is slightly off-putting at first but as you adjust you begin to see the poignant and expressive nature of the artwork. The story of Siddhartha, his life and his teachings, is a very important one in Asian cultures and Tezuka's telling of it is very clear and respectful, allowing non-Buddhist people to read and understand the story of the founding of the religion.
The story begins by following a Brahmin, or monk, who is sent by his master to seek out one who would be a god or a king. In his quest the Brahmin discovers that the person for whom he is searching is from the lowest class, below even slaves, a pariah. But this pariah, Tatta, has the greatness to become a god or a king with his wisdom. He can take over an animals mind and command its body and speaks to them. Tatta sees all life as his equal, human and animal alike. Because he is of such low standing he has nowhere to fall to and so he sees himself as one of the animals. In his life Tatta has befriended a young slave trying to save his mother. Their village is attacked by a neighboring monarchy and Tatta's friends and family are killed. Chapra (the slave boy) winds up saving the enemy general and is adopted as his son. So the Brahmin, along with Tatta and Chapra's mother set out across the desert in search of Chapra.
Chapra ignores all ideals of Buddhism in his rise from slave to noble and thus his life is not as positive as it would seem to be. However Chapra is marked as a slave by a brand on his foot and so he can never truly escape his past. He is a slave and will always be a slave. You cannot be anything besides what you are.
And even as Chapra abandons his past his mother, Tatta, and the Brahmin continue to search for him, to rescue him. And along the way they face great hardships, the most poignant of which is when Tatta sacrifices himself to be eaten by a snake in order to make a trade wherein the snake would give some of its eggs to Chapra's mother and the Brahmin so that they may eat as a plague of locusts came and devoured everything around for miles.
Tezuka's style leant to this story is slightly off-putting at first but as you adjust you begin to see the poignant and expressive nature of the artwork. The story of Siddhartha, his life and his teachings, is a very important one in Asian cultures and Tezuka's telling of it is very clear and respectful, allowing non-Buddhist people to read and understand the story of the founding of the religion.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
American Born Chinese
In “American Born Chinese”Yang takes three seemingly unrelated stories, the story of the Monkey King, the story of his own transition into American culture, and the story of Bobby and his cousin Chin-Kee and brings them all into one cohesive tale.
The book starts with a chapter in the life of the Chinese folk hero the Monkey King. The King wishes to be invited to a party with the other deities, but is not allowed in because he is a monkey and doesn't wear shoes. Because of this rejection the subsequent chapters with this character illustrate his attempts to conform to the other deities standards and how no matter how hard he tires he never really “fit's in.”
Next come the story of Gene Yang himself, though he is referred to as Jin Wang in the story. Jin is also trying to fit into a society that doesn't quite “get” him as he transfers from a school with a large Asian-American population to one where he is the only Chinese person in his class and is subsequently mocked on all fronts for cultural differences. Chapters on Jin show him attempting to assimilate into what he views as proper American society as he grows up and as two more Asian-American students join him at his school.
Bobby and his cousin Chin-Kee is an interesting story arc, and the one that seems to fit in least in the book initially as the other two, while perhaps not celebrating Chinese heritage do not outright insult it. The name Chin-Kee is just a thinly veiled version of chink, which is possibly the most insulting term that can be used for a Chinese person. Chin-Kee is also the stereotype of a Chinese person, uneducated, poorly spoken, drooly, and crass with buck-teeth and eyes so squinty he doesn't appear to have irises or pupils. Bobby on the other hand is the all-American teen, tall, muscular, plays on the football team, gets along with the girls. He is ashamed of Chin-Kee so much that he transfers schools every year after Chin-Kee visits.
As the novel progresses and each of theses tales unfold it is revealed that they are all reall just facets of one story. Bobby is really Jin and Chin-Kee is really the Monkey King, and the all must realize that they need to accept who they are for themselves and not try to conform to some kind of standard. Jin needs to accept his heritage and embrace his identity as a Chinese-American citizen.
The book starts with a chapter in the life of the Chinese folk hero the Monkey King. The King wishes to be invited to a party with the other deities, but is not allowed in because he is a monkey and doesn't wear shoes. Because of this rejection the subsequent chapters with this character illustrate his attempts to conform to the other deities standards and how no matter how hard he tires he never really “fit's in.”
Next come the story of Gene Yang himself, though he is referred to as Jin Wang in the story. Jin is also trying to fit into a society that doesn't quite “get” him as he transfers from a school with a large Asian-American population to one where he is the only Chinese person in his class and is subsequently mocked on all fronts for cultural differences. Chapters on Jin show him attempting to assimilate into what he views as proper American society as he grows up and as two more Asian-American students join him at his school.
Bobby and his cousin Chin-Kee is an interesting story arc, and the one that seems to fit in least in the book initially as the other two, while perhaps not celebrating Chinese heritage do not outright insult it. The name Chin-Kee is just a thinly veiled version of chink, which is possibly the most insulting term that can be used for a Chinese person. Chin-Kee is also the stereotype of a Chinese person, uneducated, poorly spoken, drooly, and crass with buck-teeth and eyes so squinty he doesn't appear to have irises or pupils. Bobby on the other hand is the all-American teen, tall, muscular, plays on the football team, gets along with the girls. He is ashamed of Chin-Kee so much that he transfers schools every year after Chin-Kee visits.
As the novel progresses and each of theses tales unfold it is revealed that they are all reall just facets of one story. Bobby is really Jin and Chin-Kee is really the Monkey King, and the all must realize that they need to accept who they are for themselves and not try to conform to some kind of standard. Jin needs to accept his heritage and embrace his identity as a Chinese-American citizen.
Maus
I'd heard a lot abut Maus leading up to my finally reading it, and it had been on my To Read list for a couple of years so when I finally got the two volumes I wasn't completely sure they would live up to my expectations. I needn't have worried however, as both lived up to any bizarre standard I may have formed for them in my brain, though they were different than I had expected.
Firstly, I didn't realize that Maus was told in two separate volumes, I thought it was just one book. So when I saw that I had to pick up either two volumes or the complete Maus I was a bit startled. I went for the two books option since that's the way they were originally published and also because that came out to be the cheaper option on Amazon. I love how the two books have similarities in their binding such as the image of the crowd on the inside of the cover, but these similarities are tweaked to fit the book to which they are attached, such as the crowd shot in “My Father Bleeds History” showing a crowd of Jews on the street in regular clothes of all different shapes and sizes versus the crowd shot in “And Here My Troubles Began” illustrating the mice in their uniforms in the death camps, each identical in their emaciated and terrified figures.
The telling of the story is also different than I had expected. I thought it would just be told as a Holocaust story from the pint of view of a Jew, I didn't realize that it was told from the author's point of view as he is told the story by his father. But I feel that the inclusion of the modern life bits builds up the story, makes it more relatable in a way. Everyone can understand having difficulty dealing with their parents and getting frustrated with things they do, so seeing the son's struggle and concern about his father helps the reader become even more emotionally invested in the tale being told.
The use of animals to represent the different nationalities lends a bit of a softening to the tale. Spiegelman still creates a sense of despair and horror, even using “funny animals” as his style, but the representations of nationalities as animals makes everything, in a way, more relatable. When we were children many of our stories centered around an animal protagonist, like Arthur the Aardvark or the Very Hungry Caterpillar. As children even the trivial plights of these characters seemed monumentally life-changing in our eyes and so we related more to them with the wide-eyed innocence that is childhood. Now, as adults, the funny animals style can be used to invoke strong emotions as we see a caricature of humanity playing out horrors and plights we can only imagine.
Most “scholars” believe Maus to have heralded in the legitimization of comics, but really it's just continuing and expanding on the long-standing comics tradition. Art Spiegelman was an underground comic artist before going “mainstream” per say with Maus. In underground comics, like those of Aline and Robert Crumb, difficult issues are addressed in an uncensored and unapologetic way and Art is just taking his experiences in the world of the underground and translating it into a sort of double biography for the masses. I say double biography because the volumes tell the reader just as much about Art as they do his father. Because it is told from Art's point of view we see his take on his father's life and his interactions with a man whom he never really understood.
Maus is very much a ground-breaking comic in terms of subject-matter and popularity, but within it is contained years of previous comic traditions.
Firstly, I didn't realize that Maus was told in two separate volumes, I thought it was just one book. So when I saw that I had to pick up either two volumes or the complete Maus I was a bit startled. I went for the two books option since that's the way they were originally published and also because that came out to be the cheaper option on Amazon. I love how the two books have similarities in their binding such as the image of the crowd on the inside of the cover, but these similarities are tweaked to fit the book to which they are attached, such as the crowd shot in “My Father Bleeds History” showing a crowd of Jews on the street in regular clothes of all different shapes and sizes versus the crowd shot in “And Here My Troubles Began” illustrating the mice in their uniforms in the death camps, each identical in their emaciated and terrified figures.
The telling of the story is also different than I had expected. I thought it would just be told as a Holocaust story from the pint of view of a Jew, I didn't realize that it was told from the author's point of view as he is told the story by his father. But I feel that the inclusion of the modern life bits builds up the story, makes it more relatable in a way. Everyone can understand having difficulty dealing with their parents and getting frustrated with things they do, so seeing the son's struggle and concern about his father helps the reader become even more emotionally invested in the tale being told.
The use of animals to represent the different nationalities lends a bit of a softening to the tale. Spiegelman still creates a sense of despair and horror, even using “funny animals” as his style, but the representations of nationalities as animals makes everything, in a way, more relatable. When we were children many of our stories centered around an animal protagonist, like Arthur the Aardvark or the Very Hungry Caterpillar. As children even the trivial plights of these characters seemed monumentally life-changing in our eyes and so we related more to them with the wide-eyed innocence that is childhood. Now, as adults, the funny animals style can be used to invoke strong emotions as we see a caricature of humanity playing out horrors and plights we can only imagine.
Most “scholars” believe Maus to have heralded in the legitimization of comics, but really it's just continuing and expanding on the long-standing comics tradition. Art Spiegelman was an underground comic artist before going “mainstream” per say with Maus. In underground comics, like those of Aline and Robert Crumb, difficult issues are addressed in an uncensored and unapologetic way and Art is just taking his experiences in the world of the underground and translating it into a sort of double biography for the masses. I say double biography because the volumes tell the reader just as much about Art as they do his father. Because it is told from Art's point of view we see his take on his father's life and his interactions with a man whom he never really understood.
Maus is very much a ground-breaking comic in terms of subject-matter and popularity, but within it is contained years of previous comic traditions.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir
When I first got Need More Love I was a little skeptical. Firstly it was a huge book, and flipping through I could see that it wasn't actually a graphic novel, but more of an autobiography utilizing comic strips, prose, art, and photos. And I saw that it was 383 pages of that. But, I managed to read it all anyway, probably because the life of Aline Kominsky Crumb is a surprisingly fascinating read.
Going in to this I had no prior knowledge of Aline or her husband Robert, so I was a little lost when in the beginning of the book Aline talked about having a famous husband and how that affects how she is perceived as an artist. I had no idea who Robert Crumb was so I was going into the whole deal blind. However, as I started to read I understood more and more of things she had alluded to in earlier chapters. She repeats a lot of stories and phrases (specifically her father telling her “You can't shine shit.”) and each time a specific event is mentioned she adds a new layer to it, giving greater perspective in to her life.
One thing about Aline that is very clearly evident throughout her work is her lack of self-confidence. She constantly puts herself down in terms of her physical appearance, her artistic skill, her personality, her parenting skills, everything she does really. Even the way she draws herself makes her seem hideous, overweight with a big nose and awful skin, when in reality the pictures of her show a beautiful woman, very thin and attractive. But in her own mind Aline is hideous, a monster of a person. As the book goes on her depiction of herself improves for short phases as she goes through periods of higher confidence, especially after she moves to France. But still, her persona as “The Bunch” is not the most attractive thing to look at.
But that's the thing about Aline's art, it's not attractive. Nothing in the entire book could really be described as beautiful, her art is intentionally crude and scratchy. And perhaps that's done to evoke a feeling of discomfort in the reader and perhaps Aline does it as a way to portray the world as she sees it, but it's the way she draws regardless. And some people have trouble getting over that. Some people would look at the cover of the book with it's gaudy drawing of Aline eating a heart and immediately put it back down. But if you get past the art you come to appreciate the person behind it, the blunt honesty and self deprecation of the person that is Aline Kominsky Crumb.
And maybe you'll be better for it.
Going in to this I had no prior knowledge of Aline or her husband Robert, so I was a little lost when in the beginning of the book Aline talked about having a famous husband and how that affects how she is perceived as an artist. I had no idea who Robert Crumb was so I was going into the whole deal blind. However, as I started to read I understood more and more of things she had alluded to in earlier chapters. She repeats a lot of stories and phrases (specifically her father telling her “You can't shine shit.”) and each time a specific event is mentioned she adds a new layer to it, giving greater perspective in to her life.
One thing about Aline that is very clearly evident throughout her work is her lack of self-confidence. She constantly puts herself down in terms of her physical appearance, her artistic skill, her personality, her parenting skills, everything she does really. Even the way she draws herself makes her seem hideous, overweight with a big nose and awful skin, when in reality the pictures of her show a beautiful woman, very thin and attractive. But in her own mind Aline is hideous, a monster of a person. As the book goes on her depiction of herself improves for short phases as she goes through periods of higher confidence, especially after she moves to France. But still, her persona as “The Bunch” is not the most attractive thing to look at.
But that's the thing about Aline's art, it's not attractive. Nothing in the entire book could really be described as beautiful, her art is intentionally crude and scratchy. And perhaps that's done to evoke a feeling of discomfort in the reader and perhaps Aline does it as a way to portray the world as she sees it, but it's the way she draws regardless. And some people have trouble getting over that. Some people would look at the cover of the book with it's gaudy drawing of Aline eating a heart and immediately put it back down. But if you get past the art you come to appreciate the person behind it, the blunt honesty and self deprecation of the person that is Aline Kominsky Crumb.
And maybe you'll be better for it.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
A Contract With God
It is very evident looking at A Contract with God that it is a new sort of art form in and of itself. Before this book the graphic novel was not really a known thing, nor in fact a term that even existed. Eisner coined the phrase, or at least claims to have, for the purposes of marketing the book to publishers. The work appears fledgling in its attempts to fully explore a medium as the medium itself has only just been invented and the ideas of the limits to which it could be stretched have not even begun to be fathomed.
As the first of the stories of Dropsie Avenue begins Eisner plays with the idea of open paneling and exclusively uses caption narration to tell the first several pages of Frimme Hersh's tale. Instead of solid black borders around each panel he uses an implied border created by the gradually fading raindrops of the emotional storm surrounding Hersh. In later tales the panel borders become the more generic black lines as well as the fading implications of borders and the arrangement of panels varies throughout from basic square set ups to experimental flowing arrangements to better depict the emotional content of the page.
The choice of a short story format as oppose to a continuous narrative gives character more to the setting than the tenants, allowing Dropsie Avenue to become an entity in and of itself. Each tale shows a different angle of the tenement, various aspects of its intricate personality made up of all of its inhabitants. The stories are all about money, trying to move up in the world and perhaps failing, or succeeding in ways that you had not initially intended. The whole shows that life does not always turn the way you expect it to and not all things turn out for the best, or what you would've hoped for the best to be.
A Contract with God is a revolutionary work for its time, creating a new art form in the graphic novel that continues to be explored to this day.
As the first of the stories of Dropsie Avenue begins Eisner plays with the idea of open paneling and exclusively uses caption narration to tell the first several pages of Frimme Hersh's tale. Instead of solid black borders around each panel he uses an implied border created by the gradually fading raindrops of the emotional storm surrounding Hersh. In later tales the panel borders become the more generic black lines as well as the fading implications of borders and the arrangement of panels varies throughout from basic square set ups to experimental flowing arrangements to better depict the emotional content of the page.
The choice of a short story format as oppose to a continuous narrative gives character more to the setting than the tenants, allowing Dropsie Avenue to become an entity in and of itself. Each tale shows a different angle of the tenement, various aspects of its intricate personality made up of all of its inhabitants. The stories are all about money, trying to move up in the world and perhaps failing, or succeeding in ways that you had not initially intended. The whole shows that life does not always turn the way you expect it to and not all things turn out for the best, or what you would've hoped for the best to be.
A Contract with God is a revolutionary work for its time, creating a new art form in the graphic novel that continues to be explored to this day.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
The Arrival
The Arrival, for me, did not arrive when it was supposed to. Since I started this class in the second week I had missed its assignment as required reading and spent the subsequent week scouring the town for a copy to no avail until I resorted at last to Amazon. After I finally did get a chance to read it I now understand what everyone was talking about in that, or perhaps because of it, The Arrival is a powerful novel.
The panel structure is very expressive, there are no real defined edges, rather the frame simply fades off into whiteness in a square shape, or the panel is the entire page, its edges stated by the edge of the paper.
The inability of the reader to understand the dialogue and alphabet of the new country the protagonist enters puts them into the same situation as that man, makes him more relatable. We are in his shoes, we've no backstory or understanding of what this new place is or why he came there or what to expect. And the world that Tan creates is so whimsical and surreal with only vague hints of the familiar that it is almost impossible to comprehend what's happening at any time.
The stories of the other immigrants who help the protagonist adjust to his new life further illustrates how this city is seen as a new beginning for so many people and they are kind and understanding in helping the protagonist adjust to his foreign surroundings. Despite the fact that the stories from the other immigrants are never really stated as being stories the reader can tell through the easy reading of Tan's images.
The Arrival is an excellent illustration of what an excellent storytelling medium pictures alone can become. Within its pages there is a whole fantastic realm to be inspected and the images are so rich that you can come back and read it over and over again and find new tidbits and angles of the story to give it more depth and meaning.
The panel structure is very expressive, there are no real defined edges, rather the frame simply fades off into whiteness in a square shape, or the panel is the entire page, its edges stated by the edge of the paper.
The inability of the reader to understand the dialogue and alphabet of the new country the protagonist enters puts them into the same situation as that man, makes him more relatable. We are in his shoes, we've no backstory or understanding of what this new place is or why he came there or what to expect. And the world that Tan creates is so whimsical and surreal with only vague hints of the familiar that it is almost impossible to comprehend what's happening at any time.
The stories of the other immigrants who help the protagonist adjust to his new life further illustrates how this city is seen as a new beginning for so many people and they are kind and understanding in helping the protagonist adjust to his foreign surroundings. Despite the fact that the stories from the other immigrants are never really stated as being stories the reader can tell through the easy reading of Tan's images.
The Arrival is an excellent illustration of what an excellent storytelling medium pictures alone can become. Within its pages there is a whole fantastic realm to be inspected and the images are so rich that you can come back and read it over and over again and find new tidbits and angles of the story to give it more depth and meaning.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Worlds' End
Besides just reading this weeks required works I picked up the eighth issue of Sandman and read through it so I thought I would share my thoughts on it with you here.
Neil Gaiman is a master storyteller and his Sandman series never ceases to amaze me. I recently finished reading the 8th installment entitled “Worlds' End” which had a lot to live up to since it was following “Brief Lives,” which is one of my favorite stories ever written. However “Worlds' End” more than lives up to my expectations.
The format of the story is very much like that of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in that the narrative consists of a group of travelers telling stories. However the travelers in Gaiman's tale have become caught in a “reality storm” and have converged on the inn called Worlds' End from many varied places and times to take refuge until the storm ends. The price for lodging at the inn, however, is a tale to help pass the time and so the travelers each take turns in recounting a tale from their home.
With the stories is where Gaiman really gets to work. The tales he chooses to tell are based largely on the artists who will represent them in visual form. There were six individual artists who worked on this issue of The Sandman, each bringing his or her own unique style to the telling of their tale. Bryan Talbot keeps the whole thing grounded with his representation of the inn, leaving Mike Allred, Michael Zulli, Alec Stevens, John Watkiss, and Shea Anton Penson free to explore their art form in the tales of the travelers.
However simple you might think the setup of this story might be in its Chaucerian styling Gaiman has managed to complicate things quite a lot. We see the whole as a tale narrated by Brant Tucker, recounting the experience of his time at the Worlds' End and what led to his arrival. At the end however it is revealed that he is indeed telling the tale to a bar tender in Chicago, and so really that bar and not Worlds' End is the true setting for the entire story, and that's only the first bit.
The six tales told by tenants at Worlds' End increase in complexity as they go. The first is simply one story with one character and one plot. However, each subsequent tale adds either a character from a previous issue of Sandman or a story told within the story. Some have both in fact, like the tale told by the young seaman called Jim. Within his tale Hob Gadling, previously seen in Sandman volume 2 “The Doll's House”, is a prominent player and is told a tale of fickle women by Gunga Din, a character from a Kipling poem. There are many literary references sprinkled throughout tales in Worlds' End besides Gunga Din such as Gaheris, a character from Arthurian legend, and Prez Rickard, the lead from a four issue comic by Joe Simon.
The most complex and rewarding of the tales is the final one, told by a young journeyman from the Necropolis Litharge named Petrefax. In the tale he is ordered by his master Claproth to attend an air burial and at that burial the workers performing the ceremony each tell their own tales. There are three workers and each tells one tale, but the final tale, recounted by Hermas is of his mistress Veltis, is one in which she tell him a tale of her youth. If your keeping track that's a story told by Veltis within a story told by Hermas, within a story told by Petrefax, within a story told by Brant Tucker. So yeah, things get a bit complicated.
Overall this eighth issue of Sandman is an excellent addition to the overall mythos of the realm of Sandman, and even though he never appears as a key player Dream and the rest of the Endless are there in the shadows as they always are.
Neil Gaiman is a master storyteller and his Sandman series never ceases to amaze me. I recently finished reading the 8th installment entitled “Worlds' End” which had a lot to live up to since it was following “Brief Lives,” which is one of my favorite stories ever written. However “Worlds' End” more than lives up to my expectations.
The format of the story is very much like that of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in that the narrative consists of a group of travelers telling stories. However the travelers in Gaiman's tale have become caught in a “reality storm” and have converged on the inn called Worlds' End from many varied places and times to take refuge until the storm ends. The price for lodging at the inn, however, is a tale to help pass the time and so the travelers each take turns in recounting a tale from their home.
With the stories is where Gaiman really gets to work. The tales he chooses to tell are based largely on the artists who will represent them in visual form. There were six individual artists who worked on this issue of The Sandman, each bringing his or her own unique style to the telling of their tale. Bryan Talbot keeps the whole thing grounded with his representation of the inn, leaving Mike Allred, Michael Zulli, Alec Stevens, John Watkiss, and Shea Anton Penson free to explore their art form in the tales of the travelers.
However simple you might think the setup of this story might be in its Chaucerian styling Gaiman has managed to complicate things quite a lot. We see the whole as a tale narrated by Brant Tucker, recounting the experience of his time at the Worlds' End and what led to his arrival. At the end however it is revealed that he is indeed telling the tale to a bar tender in Chicago, and so really that bar and not Worlds' End is the true setting for the entire story, and that's only the first bit.
The six tales told by tenants at Worlds' End increase in complexity as they go. The first is simply one story with one character and one plot. However, each subsequent tale adds either a character from a previous issue of Sandman or a story told within the story. Some have both in fact, like the tale told by the young seaman called Jim. Within his tale Hob Gadling, previously seen in Sandman volume 2 “The Doll's House”, is a prominent player and is told a tale of fickle women by Gunga Din, a character from a Kipling poem. There are many literary references sprinkled throughout tales in Worlds' End besides Gunga Din such as Gaheris, a character from Arthurian legend, and Prez Rickard, the lead from a four issue comic by Joe Simon.
The most complex and rewarding of the tales is the final one, told by a young journeyman from the Necropolis Litharge named Petrefax. In the tale he is ordered by his master Claproth to attend an air burial and at that burial the workers performing the ceremony each tell their own tales. There are three workers and each tells one tale, but the final tale, recounted by Hermas is of his mistress Veltis, is one in which she tell him a tale of her youth. If your keeping track that's a story told by Veltis within a story told by Hermas, within a story told by Petrefax, within a story told by Brant Tucker. So yeah, things get a bit complicated.
Overall this eighth issue of Sandman is an excellent addition to the overall mythos of the realm of Sandman, and even though he never appears as a key player Dream and the rest of the Endless are there in the shadows as they always are.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Little Nemo in Slumberland
Having never read any Little Nemo before, “Little Nemo in Slumberland” was an experience I went in to completely blind. The story was really very rewarding and I fully intend to read more Little Nemo when I get the chance. I read the few strips in the issue of Nemo: The Classic Comics Library available for download and this is what I garnered from the small taste I got.
The comics may be considered classic due to the time period in which they were created but the strips are groundbreaking and revolutionary more than old-fashioned, setting the tone of comics for years to come. Many of McCay's techniques in the Slumberland arc, such as that of changing the sizes and shapes of panels to reflect the action of the strip, have been used so much in modern comics that contemporary readers hardly think anything of it. However McCay was drawing his Little Nemo strip in a time when the idea of comics was merely in its infancy and most artists were trying to get a handle on simple square frames for use in narratives.
Each strip in the overall Slumberland series is one dream in and of itself and so all end with Nemo awaking, usually to the sound of his mother calling him or commenting on his behavior. Because of this each dream is highly abbreviated but even the single page limitation cannot contain the surreality and simple grace of McCay's lines as he explores the human psyche through the medium of Nemo. Overall Nemo is more of a secondary player, he has no real personality, instead being an observer of the fantastic things happening around him. This is more to allow the reader to be immersed in the fantasy of Slumberland and not get caught up in the personal situation of Nemo, whose name literally means “no one.”
In each strip of the Slumberland story McCay pushes and morphs the medium of comics into an effective means of telling intricate stories. He begins by using awkward captions under each numbered panel along with the speech bubbles coming from the characters within said panels to attempt to clarify the actions within. However he later realizes these captions are unnecessary and gets rid of them, allowing the panels to speak for themselves. This allows the reader to focus more on the actions of the story as opposed to being distracted by trying to follow a continuous verbal narrative. He also, as previously mentioned, gradually plays with the idea of changing the length and width of the panels to better illustrate scale and movement in the story. With each strip he adds something new to the vocabulary of comics, things that are still in use today, like breaking the fourth wall by having the character be aware of the artist as an entity and knowing that the world in which it exists is merely a fictional construct.
All in all Little Nemo as a whole, not just the Slumberland arc, is a brilliant experiment in the infancy of comics into the vast potential of a fledgling medium for the telling of brilliant tales.
The comics may be considered classic due to the time period in which they were created but the strips are groundbreaking and revolutionary more than old-fashioned, setting the tone of comics for years to come. Many of McCay's techniques in the Slumberland arc, such as that of changing the sizes and shapes of panels to reflect the action of the strip, have been used so much in modern comics that contemporary readers hardly think anything of it. However McCay was drawing his Little Nemo strip in a time when the idea of comics was merely in its infancy and most artists were trying to get a handle on simple square frames for use in narratives.
Each strip in the overall Slumberland series is one dream in and of itself and so all end with Nemo awaking, usually to the sound of his mother calling him or commenting on his behavior. Because of this each dream is highly abbreviated but even the single page limitation cannot contain the surreality and simple grace of McCay's lines as he explores the human psyche through the medium of Nemo. Overall Nemo is more of a secondary player, he has no real personality, instead being an observer of the fantastic things happening around him. This is more to allow the reader to be immersed in the fantasy of Slumberland and not get caught up in the personal situation of Nemo, whose name literally means “no one.”
In each strip of the Slumberland story McCay pushes and morphs the medium of comics into an effective means of telling intricate stories. He begins by using awkward captions under each numbered panel along with the speech bubbles coming from the characters within said panels to attempt to clarify the actions within. However he later realizes these captions are unnecessary and gets rid of them, allowing the panels to speak for themselves. This allows the reader to focus more on the actions of the story as opposed to being distracted by trying to follow a continuous verbal narrative. He also, as previously mentioned, gradually plays with the idea of changing the length and width of the panels to better illustrate scale and movement in the story. With each strip he adds something new to the vocabulary of comics, things that are still in use today, like breaking the fourth wall by having the character be aware of the artist as an entity and knowing that the world in which it exists is merely a fictional construct.
All in all Little Nemo as a whole, not just the Slumberland arc, is a brilliant experiment in the infancy of comics into the vast potential of a fledgling medium for the telling of brilliant tales.
Understanding Comics
I first read Scott McCloud's “Understanding Comics” two years ago, but it was well worth the second look. At the time of my first reading I was working on a research paper for my high school English class and my teacher had given us the ability to choose any subject we wanted as long as it interested us. I had been beginning to look in to the comics culture for a little while and thought that perhaps a paper over the idea of comics as an art form would give me a better idea of just what I was getting in to. A quick google search on comics research material led me to “Understanding Comics” and in reading it I discovered a lot more than I thought I would.
At that time I had never really read any comics aside from occasional newspaper serials and a lot of web comics. However, since Understanding Comics was written before the eve of the web comic it opened my eyes to the world of comics before those with which I had become familiar, the ideas within it led me to want to read more and more of what came before and inspired web artists like Scott Kurtz and Jeph Jacques.
In reading through it again after a few years and a lot more comics I picked up on things that I hadn't before, and I recognized names and comics that I hadn't known the first time round. The idea of closure and Scott's broad definition of comics seem ever more acute when put into perspective with my history classes. This is the sort of book that is improved upon as you read it when put into juxtaposition with your own personal experiences. Even if you have no experience with the world of comics the book is a great primer, a wonderful introduction to the huge realm of possibilities that emerges from comics.
The ideas McCloud presents allow the everyman to understand just what it is their getting in to and allows them to appreciate it on a deeper level. Having an awareness of the history and structure of comics increases the joy of the experience by leaps and bounds. Understanding the concept of closure and the highly flexible nature of time in comics makes reading that much easier to enjoy. Knowing just how varied the contents of the medium of comics are can allow people to see that there's something in it for everyone, that comics aren't just superheroes in spandex and Garfield lamenting Mondays, there's so much more to it.
I sound a bit like I'm writing a promotional ad for this book, and for that I do apologize, but in my life this book really jumpstarted my introduction into the vast world of not just what I thought comics were but what they really could be. I really feel that, despite how out there McCloud's ideas can sometimes get, this book is excellent for anyone interested in starting to read comics more seriously, wanting to upgrade from casual browsing to really getting it as a medium. The book is really great in the way it presents the ideas and how it is a textbook over comics without looking like a textbook about comics because it is, itself, a comic book, and comic books can't be textbooks. Or at least that's what you think until you read it.
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