Literature of Comics In-Class Assessment

"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" by Alan Moore

1. What is your reaction to the text that you just read? 

"I felt like the interview set up for the story was really good. It was a good decision to tell this story in that form. As far as content goes, I felt a little confused in some places with how the actions of the villains sometimes overlapped one another. I also feel like this affected the pace in that it might have sped the story up too much only in some areas. I felt like the drama of the story wasn’t expressed enough in the text partly because in some moments where there was a lot of action happening I feel like there was too much text. But overall, the storyline was very unique and is told from an interesting point of view."

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the story you were able to connect with.

"The only thing that I could think about that I could relate to was the code that Superman lived by and the sort of penance he gave for breaking this code. I felt like it connected to me because I always try to right the wrongs that I commit. I also connected with his moment if self reflection in the end when he mentioned that Superman was overrated suggesting that he felt like the world couldn’t make it without him as if he were the only hope."

3. What changes would you make to adapt the story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

"I think that I would incorporate more silence into this work because this story is really dramatic. I felt like the text sometimes took away from the potential of this story emotionally grabbing the viewer. I wanted to feel the moment and live in it more rather than to just read about it. I would adapt it into either a graphic novel or a film because I feel like this heart-grasping story should be told in a more lengthened medium and over a longer period of time so that the emotions can be felt more."

Review of Donald Duck, The Master Mover by Walt Disney

As I read Donald Duck, The Master Mover, I really enjoyed how light and whimsical the story content was. I also enjoyed how right from the beginning Walt Disney established a character arc for Donald Duck, as a cocky mover was really good at his job. Disney laid the foundation for a good story by allowing Donald to be great at all of his moving jobs except for his last one. I did notice though that there was a lack of character development in Donald's nephews, but I don't have a problem with that though. Maybe Disney just wanted them to function as a group just for the sake of all of the emphasis going on Donald and the story.

I really enjoyed looking at the style of the drawings. I found them pretty interesting because of their flat nature mixed with overlapping forms to create depth. I think that this design choice really helped. I also thought that the color palette was really suited to this story because the idea of it was absolutely absurd and all over the place. Because of this, I feel that the wide variety of color fit the playfulness of the story.

I also found it funny that Donald retired the moving company, which was the only occupation that he was good at. I think this fact helped to bring Donald Duck back to his character arc of being terrible at everything else he does.  Overall, I thought the story was lots of fun and I would be interested in reading more. 

Review of Whiteman by Robert Crumb

When I read Whiteman by Robert Crumb, I didn't know what to expect. It started out with a normal family going on a camping trip. But there was so much more to meet the eye. This story was about a man who wanted to be free from the responsibilities and burdens of city life to just enjoy the simple life in nature. I don't think anyone would have been able to anticipate how this would take place.

I think what is true with most underground comics and definitely Robert Crumb was the desire to not sugar coat information. Robert Crumb told this story with such acuteness that he could not help but get his point across. Even though this story came with quite a bit of shock value and utter rawness, I find Crumb's point of view very interesting. He told a very convincing story not so much about how man grew to love the Bigfoot, but more about the simplicity of life that it stood for. Now who could not relate to that? I think that reading this comic helped me to overcome some biases that I had about the comic book and see the story beyond its surface level.

I think that the gritty art style really helped evoke the mentality of the 60's to tell it like it is and I think that this story is on of the hallmarks for this era. I also think that this story was a trailblazer for the movements in comics that would follow. Because of its lack of censorship, storytellers could tell more true to life and convincing stories that could be relatable to the reader whether young or old. I think that this work really helped expel the notion that comics were just for kids, but were for anyone who was interested in stories.

Review of Maus by Art Spiegelman

I really enjoyed reading Maus by Art Spiegelman for many reasons, but I think my favorite reason is that he chose to use animals to portray people in this story about surrounding a tragic event. It really put a twist on how the story of the Holocaust is portrayed. I think that Spiegelman who is Jewish used the animal representations so that the viewer would not identify with the specific characters and would not assume that the story of the Holocaust is going to be told in the same way. This made it easier for Spiegelman to tell his personal story and to allow the viewer to be more involved in his world. 

I think that this story is a layered masterpiece due to the fact that it is based on his father's experience of a tragic event in world history–the Holocaust. It showed how this event affected his shaky relationship with his father. Funny enough, it also helped Spiegelman to understand and empathize with his father more. 

I think that the storytelling device of him interviewing his dad in every day life was very effective. As a viewer, I found it effective for the story to jump back and forth from past to present. It really helped me to empathize with all of the characters with all of their flaws. There was an interesting excerpt in the second volume of Maus that shows Francoise, Artie, and Vladek (Spiegelman's father) riding home from the supermarket. When they passed an African American, Vladek started to express his hatred for them and his prejudices against them which sort of parallels the German's prejudices against the Jews. I think that if it weren't for moments like this intermingled with the flashbacks from the Holocaust, this relationship would not have been made for me right away. 

From a design standpoint, I thought that it was pretty cool that the style of the art mimicked the tone of the story as it progressed. I noticed that it was cleaner in the beginning, but as the story unfolded, it became grittier. This quality created a lot of visual interest and complemented the content too. It was interesting noticing that because the content was so weighty that Spiegelman chose a lighter art style.

I was intrigued by how this story was a triumph because Spiegelman's mother and father survived the Holocaust, but also a tragedy because of how drastically it changed their lives forever and created emotional barriers between them that caused their relationships to grow cold. This was a truly layered story and a wonderful read.

Review of Blankets by Craig Thompson

I thought that Blankets by Craig Thompson was a wonderful example of the emotion impact of the graphic novel medium. This coming-of-age story truly expresses the struggles of growing up and the issues that we run into physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I could sense a tone of discovery of one's self and the search for own purpose. I could feel the sincerity in the emotional responses. This autobiography was so immersive and genuinely heartfelt. I also enjoyed how the story was laid out from the storytelling and design point of view. 

I think that Thompson set the story and its content up in a way that would give the graphic novel so much air and room for the viewer to be fully involved as the story develops. This can be attributed to the graphic novel form, which grants the author a lot more freedom for pacing and to just take his time with the story. I really like how the story unfolds in a non- linear way. It's like he progresses us through the story in a way that only gives us vital information about the past only when it is absolutely necessary to propel the story and add another layer of depth. I really was taken on a rollercoaster with all of the emotional ups and downs. Also, another tool I think that Thompson really used silence as a tool and it really resonated. 

From a design point of view, I am amazed that Craig Thompson wrote such a compelling story and illustrated it so beautifully. The drawings feel very direct and straight to the point. There is a sense of immediacy in his ink drawings to capture the moments as they were (or as he thought them to be) and the applications of his knowledge of composition made for really believable, thought provoking and emotional moments.  The drawings are very expressive and the perspective of the scenes is sometimes pushed to really stress the feeling of some of the moments. For example, when Phil was being dragged out of the room by the father, perspective of the father's legs were forced more to really get the motion and emotion of him dragging phil. Also. I think the wonky outlines of the borders of each panel echoes Craig's emotional instability. I also feel like the design of the panels was very personalized and creative. They were definitely used to propel the mood of the story. There was a particular scene in the beginning of the novel when Craig was being bullied and the page layout with the type was arranged in a way that they created a half page image of his bullies standing over him. 

I think that Blankets is a powerful, moving, must-read.