Well we finished up our comic and I'm pretty sure it's safe to say, ours is by far the best we've seen.
Brian's artwork was seriously ridiculous and captured our story perfectly.
Anyways, so for the first time in a while I'm actually enjoying the novel we're reading. Fun Home has some of the typical graphic novel themes we've been dealing with, ex: nudity, homosexuality, but for some reason I'm enjoying it much more than Stuck Rubber Baby. Maybe because Bechdel is constantly referencing Camus, who is one of my favorite authors, and maybe because her family owns a funeral home, which reminds me of my ex-boyfriend. His dad owned a funeral home, and his mom.... was a clown. seriously. She went to clown college. Needless to say, that was an interesting family. They had fourth of July parties at the funeral home and they used caskets as coolers for the brewskis. Anyways, Bechdel's attitude towards death reminded me of my exes family and seemed real and kind of funny.
I also like the art in Fun Home. It's alot more 'comicky' than the other novels and I think it just sets it up as a more comfortable read. It's also interesting that the narration occurs above the frames most of the time rather than in them. Overall, I'm enjoying this novel. One of my only complaints is in the frames that have written letters in them. Most of the writing is illegible and it's frustrating not being able to read it. At the same time though, I think that's kind of a clever technique.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Stuck Rubber Baby
So I'm pretty sure I'm the only person that actually enjoys the art in this novel. I really enjoy the pointilism and cross hatching the artist uses, it shows such a wide variety of different shades with only black and white. I'm not as freaked out by the ridiculous jaws on some of the characters as other people seem to be, but I can't help but notice that the narrator's sister keeps getting bigger and bigger.
The storyline is interesting and I like how the internal struggle of the narrator's homosexuality parallels the external struggle of the civil rights movement occurring around him. So far I'm kind of apathetic to this novel. It has interesting work and a decent storyline, but I'm not really interested in any of the characters. Plus, the present day narrator looks like a scary bum. And I'm spent on this topic.
The storyline is interesting and I like how the internal struggle of the narrator's homosexuality parallels the external struggle of the civil rights movement occurring around him. So far I'm kind of apathetic to this novel. It has interesting work and a decent storyline, but I'm not really interested in any of the characters. Plus, the present day narrator looks like a scary bum. And I'm spent on this topic.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Finishing up Portraits from Life
Well the second half of Portraits from Life was significantly better than the first three stories. Possibly because drugs and murder mysteries are slightly more fascinating to me than fake Indians and old war vets. But really, when reading the fourth story in Portraits I couldn't help but be interested as I kept thinking back to the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where they take most of the drugs the narrator talks about. The story was more interesting because the visuals in Fear and Loathing are way trippy and sparked my interest in the narrator. This clip is a scene where Depp is messed up on mescaline and other intense drugs.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=b_EvWIlEix4&feature=related
The last story was also pretty interesting because it has the whole overlapping of storylines that I've grown to love about graphic novels. Plus, I'm obsessed with Law and Order and the whole mystery was reminiscent of that kind of plot. I started to pay more attention to the type of art in these two stories, such as the crosshatching lines and what not that we discussed in class. Very cool technique. I also found the stories somewhat more interesting after finding out that they were all based on true events. Overall, Collier redeemed himself for the first three stories.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=b_EvWIlEix4&feature=related
The last story was also pretty interesting because it has the whole overlapping of storylines that I've grown to love about graphic novels. Plus, I'm obsessed with Law and Order and the whole mystery was reminiscent of that kind of plot. I started to pay more attention to the type of art in these two stories, such as the crosshatching lines and what not that we discussed in class. Very cool technique. I also found the stories somewhat more interesting after finding out that they were all based on true events. Overall, Collier redeemed himself for the first three stories.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Portraits from Life
So it took me awhile to get a grasp on Portraits from Life... and I still don't like it. A compilation of short stories that have absolutely no point? Not so much. At first I was kind of into the whole style like on the first 2-3 pages that had overly comic-stylish elements. I really liked the whole 'CAYUGA!' bubble and whatnot, but then the story ended without ever really going anywhere.
The second story was a little more appealing as it had a bit more substance, and definitely kicked the shit out of the third story which just sucked. Seriously the end of the third story? What the hell was that girl doing to her grandpa? She was like singing and jumping on him? Weird. But thats not the point. The point is, while although the art of this graphic novel is pretty intricate and interesting, I found it hard to even want to look at it due to the lame content of the stories. Short stories are sweet, but not when they are about old men becoming senile and reliving their glory days to younger people that really don't want anything to do with them.
The second story was a little more appealing as it had a bit more substance, and definitely kicked the shit out of the third story which just sucked. Seriously the end of the third story? What the hell was that girl doing to her grandpa? She was like singing and jumping on him? Weird. But thats not the point. The point is, while although the art of this graphic novel is pretty intricate and interesting, I found it hard to even want to look at it due to the lame content of the stories. Short stories are sweet, but not when they are about old men becoming senile and reliving their glory days to younger people that really don't want anything to do with them.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
V for Vendetta
So the end of V for Vendetta... pretty cheesy. And alot of unanswered questions. Could V have prevented himself from being shot, but didn't? Is Evey going to train that boy to be the new her and she will be the new V?
In our smaller group discussions in Mondays class, we came up with a couple of interesting ideas. Throughout the novel, I had a hard time keeping straight which political figure was which. Someone in my group kind of brought to my attention that this might have been intentional, to kind of say that all government people are interchangeable and equally corrupt. Like who's wife became the whore when she was widowed or what was the deal with the guy's wife who was all conniving and hookerish as well?
One of the most frustrating things for me was the way that the thuggish street bullies spoke. I honestly could not understand their dialect and skipped over all of their bubbles, which may explain why I'm still a little confused by some of the end events.
My group especially appreciated the color in the novel. I really liked how certain environments had certain hues and definitely contributed to the atmosphere of the frames. Although to me the art was a bit too sketchy to fit my "comic-style" stereotype, I did think the art was clever and fit the novel well.
My original vision of comic art compared to the art in V for Vendetta.
Bright vs. Dark
Distinct lines vs. Sketchy
Traditional muscular hero vs. Unusual masked figure
In our smaller group discussions in Mondays class, we came up with a couple of interesting ideas. Throughout the novel, I had a hard time keeping straight which political figure was which. Someone in my group kind of brought to my attention that this might have been intentional, to kind of say that all government people are interchangeable and equally corrupt. Like who's wife became the whore when she was widowed or what was the deal with the guy's wife who was all conniving and hookerish as well?
One of the most frustrating things for me was the way that the thuggish street bullies spoke. I honestly could not understand their dialect and skipped over all of their bubbles, which may explain why I'm still a little confused by some of the end events.
My group especially appreciated the color in the novel. I really liked how certain environments had certain hues and definitely contributed to the atmosphere of the frames. Although to me the art was a bit too sketchy to fit my "comic-style" stereotype, I did think the art was clever and fit the novel well.
My original vision of comic art compared to the art in V for Vendetta.
Bright vs. DarkDistinct lines vs. Sketchy
Traditional muscular hero vs. Unusual masked figure
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Back to blogging...
So that SCUM manifesto? Wow. You've gotta be pretty pissed about something to be a manifesto writer. My manifesto? Not so much. Yes, I have a strong dislike towards Craig in Blankets, but I suck at manifesto style writing. I am way too used to formal essays to write in a different style. Regardless, I don't think it's too bad.
So V for Vendetta. I've seen the movie and honestly, was not too excited to read this novel. The movie was alright, but I felt like it wasn't pieced together correctly. However, so far, I really enjoy the graphic novel. I'm starting to realize that a medium such as a graphic novel can so way more than books or movies. I noticed this in the Watchmen too, but I really enjoy how a frame can be narrated by something that is occurring in a completely different time or scene. Like when Mrs. Almond's thoughts are being said over the frames of her acting contradictory. This happens a few other times and it really is a technique that can be used explicitly in graphic novels.
I'm not crazy about the art though in V. I much rather preferred the art in Watchmen, as the page texture and colors were more suited for a comic. I like V as an unusual type of superhero, as he doesn't seem to fit into the usual stereotypes. I like that he physically can do superhero like things, but looks totally unfit as a typical hero. A Guy Fawkes mask with longer hair? Kind of weird. I mean, would you usually want to be rescued by a guy that looks like this?
So V for Vendetta. I've seen the movie and honestly, was not too excited to read this novel. The movie was alright, but I felt like it wasn't pieced together correctly. However, so far, I really enjoy the graphic novel. I'm starting to realize that a medium such as a graphic novel can so way more than books or movies. I noticed this in the Watchmen too, but I really enjoy how a frame can be narrated by something that is occurring in a completely different time or scene. Like when Mrs. Almond's thoughts are being said over the frames of her acting contradictory. This happens a few other times and it really is a technique that can be used explicitly in graphic novels.
I'm not crazy about the art though in V. I much rather preferred the art in Watchmen, as the page texture and colors were more suited for a comic. I like V as an unusual type of superhero, as he doesn't seem to fit into the usual stereotypes. I like that he physically can do superhero like things, but looks totally unfit as a typical hero. A Guy Fawkes mask with longer hair? Kind of weird. I mean, would you usually want to be rescued by a guy that looks like this?
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Watchmen Chapters 5-12
Watchmen was awesome.
There were so many intertwining and subtle elements that made me respect the hell out of this graphic novel. I thought the overlapping of narration between Shea's comic book along with the conversations held amongst the individuals at the news stand fit so perfect and showed an awesome parallel between the insanity of both worlds. The whole overlapping of two different story lines was also clever when Dan and Laurie were attempting to get it on and the news was playing in the background. It reminded me of Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 with sexual narration going on from an outside source. Kind of humorous, but also, pretty embarrassing for Dan.
After Thursday's class, when we talked about whether the graphics of the panels were better analyzed when there was no text, I started to pay more attention to the art. I noticed that in many of these chapters, there were several pages that included no text at all. At first I made a conscious effort to study these panels, but as I continued reading it became natural. I also noticed that throughout random conversations in the novel, certain words were in bold. I tried pathetically to draw a connection between the words, however, I'm still hella confused. Overall, I really really really hope the next graphic novels we read resemble more of Watchmen and no more pathetic girly men like sad old Craig.
There were so many intertwining and subtle elements that made me respect the hell out of this graphic novel. I thought the overlapping of narration between Shea's comic book along with the conversations held amongst the individuals at the news stand fit so perfect and showed an awesome parallel between the insanity of both worlds. The whole overlapping of two different story lines was also clever when Dan and Laurie were attempting to get it on and the news was playing in the background. It reminded me of Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 with sexual narration going on from an outside source. Kind of humorous, but also, pretty embarrassing for Dan.
After Thursday's class, when we talked about whether the graphics of the panels were better analyzed when there was no text, I started to pay more attention to the art. I noticed that in many of these chapters, there were several pages that included no text at all. At first I made a conscious effort to study these panels, but as I continued reading it became natural. I also noticed that throughout random conversations in the novel, certain words were in bold. I tried pathetically to draw a connection between the words, however, I'm still hella confused. Overall, I really really really hope the next graphic novels we read resemble more of Watchmen and no more pathetic girly men like sad old Craig.
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