Week 15

Original:
I read a majority of Little Nemo in Slumberland, not just the Palace of Ice. In the beginning I found myself reading word for word and then scanning over the page again to look at the images. After a while I began to just look at the images and quickly scan the word bubbles. The imagery flowed so well that my mind was able to create its own dialogue to match the imagery based on the past pages. Nemo would go to bed and be asked to hurry to the Palace because the princess was crying and needed to see him, only to get scared by something and get into some trouble ultimately calling to his parents where he'd wake up to himself fallen out of bed and one of his parents/grandparents scolding him for eating something before bed that resulted in the dream.

Revised:

I read a majority of Little Nemo in Slumberland, not just the Palace of Ice. In the beginning I found myself reading word for word and then scanning over the page again to look at the images. Because each story was similar in the way it started and ended, after a while I began to just look at the images and quickly scan the word bubbles until I was able to get the heart of that particular story where different characters and dialogues were introduced. The imagery was so soft and had almost a fairytale feel, it flowed so well that my mind was able to create its own dialogue where the parts seemed similar to previous pages. It was comical in the beginning where Little Nemo would get into trouble for screaming in the night for help and the family saying they wouldn't him certain things to avoid these dreams instead of really listening. Little Nemo would go to bed and be asked to hurry to the Palace because the princess was crying and needed to see him, only to get scared by something and get into some trouble ultimately calling to his parents where he'd wake up to himself fallen out of bed. To see this as a film would be amazing especially when he's in Slumberland. I can imagine the highly detailed castle and all the animations moving around in a soft and light fashion that you too would feel as if your dreaming. But instead of Little Nemo waking up every time, it would be more of an adventure like Alice in Wonderland. 3D aspects would make even more epic and exciting.

Week 14

I grew up reading Johnen Vazquez's work such as Squee and Fillerbunny. So i was excited to be able to read another piece of Johnen's craziness. Johnen has such a unique style that speaks to most kids in their awkward teenage years, although JTHM  isn't something really suitable for the age, its a very funny read. From his  rampages on seemingly innocent people to his extreme facial expressions that people grasp onto to add to their own funny meme's or short comics in todays age. The graphic style is very well done here, it can be busy in a frame but not overwhelming to the eyes which makes the story move, especially since it involves no color. The number one detail that impresses me the most is the blood splattering, its sharp black dead space is so intentionally detailed in a way to represent blood its impossible to mistake it for something else. A very easy read and humorous break from all the serious comics was a relief.

Week 13

I chose to read Watchmen, having seen the movie first I knew the storyline and the characters. So it was interesting to see the similarities between the comic and film. A lot of the camera angles were dramatized in the film compared to the comic which already had pretty dramatic angles to convey space and height. It was fun to read the parts that weren't involved in the film for time reasons. I really enjoyed reading the comic, Finally being able to read the original format which the story was written made me love the film even more but also gave me a huge appreciation for the comic in itself, since there is so much to it in the details that animators took their time to really nail down certain aspects of it, considering my major is motion design I look for those pieces of eye candy which get me all excited and happy. From my viewpoint, when i think of comics this is the traditional style I think of when comics are mentioned. The story has a classic flow, from a sudden opening into softer but intense moments that would lead you deep into the heart of story, before you realizing your halfway through the story and hours have past because your so immersed into the story as if you were actually there with the characters. The extreme graphic lighting and shading to define the contouring of people's faces and bodies to the background elements. Strong and very masculine characters no matter the gender, because in our eyes here in America, we are the land of strong and our depictions of who we see as heroes are tall, fit and incredibly strong. This comic is definitely something everyone should read, the emotional flow of the story is probably the strongest part that drives this and grabs onto every last person that reads it because it has a mix of history and science fiction and fantasy, whether the reader enjoys it or not it grabs you and drags you right into the story without your realization.

Week 12

This week I chose to read Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry. Drawn to it's beautiful use of line work, I dove in extremely excited only to be terrorized by the tiniest of scribbly writings as text. It works well with the artwork but does not work for this reader, I personally avoid cursive writing like its the plague, but i digress. I really felt the imagery spoke on a filmic sense, I could hear the words being spoken by a narrator in a soft but deep voice, while rain lightly padded the ground of this muted color world. It reminds me of Casablanca meets an old detective movie, considering its about a detective. The story moves rather quick, with poetic narration and simplistic wording. There were instances in this very serious story where little funny moments happened, like when the woman says"fucking weather", something we say on a regular basis since the weather here in Sarasota can change on the flip of a dime, or  the man points a gun at Britten about feeding the cat. Because the artwork is so highly detailed, I would have loved to see this turned into a film or animation, either being a silent movie with only dramatic and subtle sounds clips or even just a soft narration but no actual character speaking. I fully enjoyed this piece, It was so serene and peaceful in sense that it flowed very naturally.

Week 11

Going further into the class, the readings are becoming longer and longer. Choosing to read Alice in Sunderland became quite the task, it had so much text to read that was extremely small for the panels themesleves. That being said, what drew me in at first was the two pages with some quick pencil drawings, like a storyboard. And the fact the white rabbit appears in the third page, bringing those that know the story of Alice in Wonderland deeper into reading. With it's dialogue introducing classical stories and people and/ or character references created this whirlwind of information which to some, can confuse and disorient the reader. The imagery is what really drives a story, the chosen style in which to illustrate was beautifully realistic in a sense and the moment s were so graceful it was easily to under the movements and see them as if a film were playing before my eyes, although in these pages it was extremely difficult to focus on something for so long without straining my eyes. Each panel was filled with such immense detail that i had to pull my eyes away before finishing a panel only to feel the same way every next panel. So much was happening I could hardly keep up with the pacing without losing interest.

week 10

I read Osamu Tezuka's Budda Volume 1. The story was written very dramatically, but it was written so that each new detail to the story brought the reader deeper in. There was several story lines that intertwined with each other, never really meeting but always showing some kind of connection between them. The character designs are very simplistic and easily readable especially their expressions which drive the emotion of the piece. The backgrounds were sometimes a little overbearing with the details, especially when the speed lines were added ontop when the running scenes happened.
Knowing the story had a more cultural start in india, it didn't come across in the actual story which could be a good thing or bad thing depending how you view the situation. I thought the cultural background gave it substance but didn't necessarily drive the story, it was kind of like readable candy. Little details that just added extra flavor to really set the stage and drive the story forward. Overall a fun read, wordy but fun.

Promethea

1.Are there any prominent symbols? It so what are they and how are they used?
2. Discuss elements of the story you were able to connect with.
3.What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

While reading Promethea a few prominent symbols occurred. One was the golden sun shield that appeared on most pages when Promethea was around in ancient times, which then fast forwards to modern times the sun becomes less detailed as if trying to simplify itself for the weaker minded modern world.

The main character depicts an average college student wanting to get a paper done for class, which by far is the most normal thing anyone can relate too. The comic its self is a heroine type story, rather then a male stereotype, which grabs the female audiences attention even more so then other comics. The way the language is written for the comic is interpreted easily into modern times, theres nothing crazy or obscure in the way the characters speak to each other making it very easy to lose one's self in the comic. Basing a story off of real world mysteries is a very easy way to grab attention, and the fact that the story starts with Egyptian era aesthetics and builds a myth off of it, has already won my attention.

If the comic were turned into film, I would either dive right into the beginning in rush to build the audiences anticipation or give then more history of why this horrible death had to happen. For the viewers sake I'd have to simplify the amount of camera shots so the viewer doesn't have a seizure while watching. And although the sun is prominent on every page of the comic, the easiest way to keep it in the picture is to sneak the images onto buildings tattoos or other areas that it could be drawn or carved into. The modern age where the story begins would have to be modified to what our current designs are for the futurisic world. Alien based ships for police is a bit concerning. And some of the darker scenes i would use a heavier low light to really give depth and use the contrast to build on the confusion and tension in the moment. The images are full of exciting camera angles that most the work is done for the director.

week 9

This week I read Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese. Although the comic was in Italian, and most of time while trying to decipher the material, I found myself just trying to figure out each illustrated panel rather than continue attempting to read the text. The illustrations were clear and highly detailed like a animators sketchbook. There was a definite era time difference, From the way the people held themselves to the the ships using large sails to travel, along with the type of clothing the characters were wearing. I had to reread the comic several times just because the imagery suggests a faster pace in movements when a fight begins to brew. Altogether the comic was enjoyable to read in a sense. Stories that have a historical semi-plot can usually grab a readers attention faster just because of the years of history we take while attending grade school. The imagination can develop the pacing faster and what the rest of the environment may look like just based on few artifacts in the comic.

week 7

Maus was a very easy read in itself, but emotionally difficult. The story starts out in a sweet manner of son visiting his father and his new wife, but asks his father to tell him the story of the war with the nazis. You follow his story from the moment he meets his wife into marriage and having their first child, all the normal everyday life stuff. But when he starts to tell the story of how he became a prisoner of war, I felt myself getting anxious knowing death and torture would soon enter the storyline. He stayed strong while living in the cold tents, until he was able to be relocated to a place that had warm beds and food to eat as long as he worked each day. He was able to sneak upon a train and convince a polish officer to hide him from the germans, using their disgust of germans to his advantage. When he's finally reunited with his family, as is well for a moment. Soon he finds himself working on the black-market for whatever he can find to help bring in food for the entire family. Then the camps start, and the grandparents are being taken away, the family starts to be split up. The family had been hiding where they could in bunkers or attics with secret compartments where the dogs couldn't find them. Even when people had protected them in their homes, the germans would raid it and he and his family would have to leave to find another safe place. But as things became worse he set a plan to escape to Hungary, but his wife nervous as ever, felt they didn't need to leave because they had a safe house. And eventually the police figured out he was hiding his gold watch in the bottom of shoe polish and arrested him, sending him to a camp. The second volume continued on with the son going to visit his father again, but this time in the summer home. The father assumed his son and girlfriend would stay for the entire summer. And then the father continues his story of the camps, how at first he had complained the shoes were too big, and he got hit. But he was thankful that the showers were not gas showers, it was another day to try and live. He began to lose hope in life until a priest had explained the numbers of his arm each a had meaning, bringing life back into him. One of the officers was interested in learning english and kept him to the side while feeding him a feast of food. And through his connections he was able to help friends with getting items such as belts or shoes. During his time in the camps he did various other jobs that benefitted both hims and his wife, when the germans needed something fixed or done. But eventually he lost his jobs, and had to begin help with building the gas chambers. As the war came to the end the people from the camps were taken to woods or other random places and let nature take its toll, or even some soldiers would shoot them on the spot.
The comic is very fluid in its design and storytelling, but on a more personal level it was difficult. I have heard too many personal stories from my own family members when they're parents and grandparents were in the camps and trying to fend for their lives. But the story does give you a deep sense of sadness by the way the story cuts back and forth to the son and father discussing little things going on in the daily life and how the father would rather not tell something so sad for a book, but does it anyway for his son.

week 6

Robert Crumb, The book of Mr. Natural is interesting in the way they design the characters so simply, but then give the backgrounds and or environments more detail. But also in this comic, they illustrate the black people very crudely. The stories are very quick to read and understand but have a almost messy disorganized feel to them especially in the 3rd comic with the man on the street meditating while Mr. Natural gives away his money and he becomes more agitated.  The messy-ness that i feel could be just the amount of black in certain panels. Reading further the comics became explicit and downright revolting, the drawing of the genitalia was bad enough but for the story to continue and him getting off on a baby looking person was the point where I had to stop.

week 5

Reading The spirit #2 issue, I immediately realized the era in which it was wrote. The design for the assistant was extremely racist. The small uneducated blackman was depicted almost as a monkey like creature. The story begins with a masked man know as The Spirit, crippled walking down the sidewalk when a man throws his entire body into hims and knocks the spirit down. Realizing the severity of the injures the man phones one of the mobsters up to let them know its the time to attack since he's so weak. The spirits sidekick runs off to the detective to tell him whats become of Spirit. They both set off to wait for the mobsters at one of the known locations. The spirit meanwhile was picked up off the street and thrown into the back of the car of the mobsters. where they twist his arm in pain. They bring him back to one of the other locations where the mobsters keep their loot. Once the Spirit is in the building he throws a punch to one of the mobsters. He had fooled them into thinking he was injured so they could lead him to their hiding place. He knocks out the mobsters and ties them up and drives them to the detective to be thrown in jail. Besides the racial depiction of the characters, the story is very fluid and very easy to read. The story takes an unexpected turn to save the day.

week 4

Unable to find Art Spiegelman's Jack Cole and Plastic Man  comic without purchasing something online, I opted out and read The adventure of TINTIN adventures on the moon. Tintin  and the group wake up on the rocket mid space. They had fell asleep during takeoff and as ground control tries to call on them, Snowy the dog hears and the voice and wakes Tintin. Two detectives had stuck aboard the ship and thought they were being clever only to discover that the ship had already taken off before they could get off. The captain upset with the two knuckleheads yells at them for coming aboard the ship since they had only contained enough oxygen for four people and now theres six. The captain sends them off only to drink whiskey in the cabin with snowy.  The detectives seem to be the catalysts for things going wrong on the ship as the story continues. The captain is so drum he decides to climb out of the ship and Tintin must go outside and retrieve him. Towards the end they land of the moon and explore it and find the bad guys and capture them. The comic has a lot of text to read, which draws out the story to be longer for the viewers,but some of the panels aren't different enough to really show a movement thats important, leaving very little to the imagination to bring the story to life even more.

The Haunt of Fear, the first comic tells the story of the werewolf who fell in love with a vampire. The werewolf who was once a man had been traveling through the woods only to fall and be scratched by wolves bane and by the next full moon he changed. When he was feeding on his victim, a beautiful  woman came around and started to drink the blood of the victim. Instead of fighting, they shared their first kill and fell in love. Eventually the towns people found them, thinking they had killed the two brought them to the devils graveyard where they lived in the moseleum  where they married with the dead around them and they gave birth to a baby. Who turned out to be the witch who tells the story.

week 3: Little Nemo

I read a majority of Little Nemo in Slumberland, not just the Palace of Ice. In the beginning I found myself reading word for word and then scanning over the page again to look at the images. After a while I began to just look at the images and quickly scan the word bubbles. The imagery flowed so well that my mind was able to create its own dialogue to match the imagery based on the past pages. Nemo would go to bed and be asked to hurry to the Palace because the princess was crying and needed to see him, only to get scared by something and get into some trouble ultimately calling to his parents where he'd wake up to himself fallen out of bed and one of his parents/grandparents scolding him for eating something before bed that resulted in the dream.

week 2: Understanding Comics

In Scott McCloud's "understanding Comics", one of the things that stuck out to me was the how we tend to see the human face in everything and can relate the simplest and most generic cartoon face to someone we know. Simply because as humans we want to create everything in our own image. And although we think we see ourselves in mirrors or photos, we have never actually seen ourselves, we notice small things like out hair or eye color, while others see the real us since we like to examine everything in small details.
 And because the simplest of details can mean so many things to the human eye, a cartoon that has no actual specific image can be related to basically half the planet even though the artist just intended it to be  one person based on a possible friend  or passerby. As the cartoon gains more detail people may lose interest because they can't relate the character to themselves or friends visually. We like to assign everything upon appearance and create a side story in our own minds, like the kind of person they are, or where they work, or even if they have a job. All based on the slightest image of a person. With the least amount of detail a lot disappears and our curiosity grows and the story becomes more interesting.

Week 1: Shaun Tan's The Arrival

Wordless comics have the innate ability to push past the spoken word by simply showing gestures through simple gestures towards something or someone, as well as the expression on characters faces. In Shaun Tan's "The Arrival", he was able to show a characters conversation with another, through multiple panels to show a gesture. Not using so many to show the exact movement like an animation but just enough to get the point across, so that the individual person could piece together the scene as it plays through.

Too little panels and the reader could lose interest quickly, the writer has to pick and choose which panels are vital to the story. Just like in films where each scene is carefully planned out, in the storyboarding precess, each scene had its camera angles and contrast and value drawn out perfectly, so that it felt easy to read, almost as if watching a film on tv. Interactions with other characters show the reader what kind of personality the main character has which would lead to, the almost certain mindset of how the character might react in another scene. The backgrounds of the panels were kept simple, as to not take the attention away from the focus of the scene, unless something was relevant in the moment in which the background would have more presence, like a change in scenery or location or even a flashback into the main characters past that would have ed him to this point. A characters expression is the main focus of the comic as you read, so you can gage which emotion you should feel like following their story. As humans we like to feel connected to things, so being able to jump into the story and understanding the emotions that could be swimming through this characters mind, makes us feel like we are part of the story in the long run. We also look for words on anything that could give us a clue, by having a the gibberish lettering on objects, it may confuses the reader for a moment but at the same time it could give them purpose to keep reading figure out the mystery of whats going on.