Week Six: Underground Comics

Hmm underground comics, I must say they are not at all what I'm interested in. I understand their intention however I'm not entertained by the reoccurring theme of sex and drugs. It comes across crude and cheap. But I feel like that's the intention of the artists and writers. Most of the main characters are rather simple characters in a rather simple world. From the one's I looked through there isn't a lot done with the environments. Throughout the comics certain characteristics are emphasized on different characters that immediately let the reader know the intention of the character. Whether it's small eyes and a large nose to make them appear stupid or a huge butt to show that their reason for being in the comic is to be seen as a body, the artists drawings very honestly show who the character is.

Mr. Natural was interesting. His whole existence is rather strange, he has these powers and abilities but he's not really good, but he's not really bad. In the ones I read through he wasn't really doing much, just conversing with other characters. It's not clear but Mr. Natural is, as far as why he has these powers. It doesn't appear like he does much with them except make other characters feel stupid. It'd be interesting to know more about what Crumb's inspiration was for Mr. Natural and if what kind of statements he was trying to make through this simple, "magical" character.

Week Five: Eisner and Thompson

It's nice finally understanding who Will Eisner is because for years I've seen his signature and just thought dang that looks a lot like Walt Disney, who is that? I really enjoyed learning more about Will Eisner and how he approaches the graphic novel. His work "A Contract With God" was really beautifully drawn. Though I wasn't really fond of any of the individual stories, his technique and approach to each page was really intriguing. Both him and Thompson have a wonderful way of breaking away from the normal approach to a comic page. The work I've seen before this was all based around lines, rectangles, squares, occasionally circles, it's refreshing to see an illustrator really use the whole page to tell the story rather than a certain amount of space. Thompson's ability to simplify his characters but put in details to their surroundings really shows off his line work. Though I am not a fan of the "slice of life" stories, I admire his technique. Both artists did a lovely job making their graphic narratives read like a film rather and a comic strip.

Week Four: The Comic Book

For this week I read through a few different things. I was having a difficult time getting some of them to open? but I was able to open up a few. The first one I read I'm having a hard time relocating to name, but it was about a boy who had the ability to want something and he could have it. He wasn't a super hero but wanted to be included in their meeting, so he was able to wish himself there. While he was there he asked some of the super heros about adventures they'd been on. The comic was okay, I wasn't crazy about the line work or the colors, it just felt heavy and saturated. The stories were fine, probably appealing to a 12 year old boy (though maybe not in this day and age). I also read through Tin Tin "Explorers On the Moon." It appealed more to me than the first one, but it started feeling really long. The characters were fun, and towards the end I really did want to keep reading to figure out how they'd get back on the spaceship and make it to Earth but I don't think I'd read it again. There were points were it felt wordy and personally I prefer when the image is at least telling just as much of the story as the script. Haha the Barbie and Ken comic was just a little ridiculous. It was all about different kinds of Barbie (nurse Barbie, bride Barbie) and basically how all these little girls wanted to be like her. Strange. I hope they didn't sell too many, seeing that comic made me concerned for girls idea of who they think they should be. Sure there's nothing wrong with any of Barbie's career choices but her whole being is unrealistically perfect. In the same way that boy don't need to be looking through violent comics, I don't think young girls should be flipping through comics may make have unrealistic expectations for themselves (in the physical sense, not the career sense).