jacereadssomecomics-blog

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

To-Read

1. Motor Crush by Babs Tarr, Brenden Fletcher, and Cameron Stewart

2. America by Jason Aaron and ACO

3. Batwoman Rebirth by James T Tynion IV and Marguerite Bennett

4. Rose by Meredith Finch

5. Lackadaisy by Tracy J. Butler

6. Tank Girl Apocalypse by Alan Grant, Andy Pritchett, and Philip Bond

7. Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

8. Dykes to Watch Out For by Allison Bechdel

9. Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson

10. Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Responding to The Killing Joke

1. What is your reaction to what you just read?

After I had read The Killing Joke for the first time, I was kind of left to sit back and think about it. I hadn’t ever read a Batman comic before, nor had I ever sat through an entire movie, but I was familiar of their existence and their relationship, but it was really interesting for me to learn how the Joker came to be, especially when it’s revealed that it was Batman himself who played a hand in the Joker’s origin. Because of how big of an icon the Joker is in pop-culture as his evil clown self, it’s hard to wrap around the thought of him once being a normal guy with a job and a family.

2. What connections did you make with the story?

I really felt how different the characters were and how it showed how different people can be when you compare the Joker’s story and how he cracked, to his own attempts to turn Gotham’s mayor as mad as him. The Joker may have leaped into a pool of acid, pushed into the predicament by his failing career and need to care for his wife, but it was a seemingly fast and easy emergence of his new infamous identity. However, he put the mayor through a great deal of psychological trauma, but he was not broken so easily.

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into a different medium? What medium? What changes?

I do know that the story was adapted as an animated film, and though I haven’t seen it, I feel like that would be both the best, and most obvious, choice, from one graphic medium to another. Unfortunately, animation has become so heavily considered by the masses as a medium solely meant for children, that it would be hard to properly adapt the story the way it is. Children don’t respect ratings and parents don’t listen, a perfect example was Deadpool when it released to theaters. Due to this, a lot of what makes the story what it is would more than likely have to changed to make it safer for younger audiences to consume.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Reconsidering the Superhero

Thinking about how comics have progressed most particularly in superhero stories, Batwoman immediately came to mind, and I decided to revisit it. Maybe I’m biased due to having a character I can identify with, but Batwoman is my favorite superhero. For this entry, my focus was on the changing in writing through the New 52 reboot, and how it portrays modern superhero comics, with a particular look at LGBT representation.

In the first half of the New 53 Batwoman, Kate Kane was on a perfect and beautiful track to marriage with police officer Maggie Sawyer. In fact, it would have been DC’s very first lesbian marriage. Writers J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman had big plans for the comics and Batwoman’s story arcs, but were ordered by DC to change a lot, including ridding the of Kate and Maggie’s marriage.

The writers behind Batwoman felt that DC was taking over and modifying their plans for the story and the character’s development so much that they decided to leave after issue 26, saying in their official statement, “The eleventh-hour nature of these changes left us frustrated and angry— because they prevent us from telling the best stories we can.”

The story was picked up by a different set of writers, and the breakup of the two love birds was fueled entirely by Maggie’s homophobic ex-husband, who began holding their daughter’s custody over her head. Kate made a deal with the man, agreeing to leave Maggie if he would drop his plans to take full custody of their daughter. After this, Kate wound up in an abusive and manipulative relationship with Natalie Mitternacht, aka Nocturna.

DC tried swearing up and down that their edits forced on Batwoman’s story were not a direct attack on same sex marriage, but it’s a real fishy situation, especially considering Batwoman was originally created as a love interest for Batman, to fight claims of his alleged homosexuality. New 52 Batwoman was my first comic, and I was quickly disappointed. Hopefully Batwoman Rebirth won’t play out the same way.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Women’s Comics

When I first scrolled through the course’s resource page at the beginning of the semester, the only listing that jumped out at me as much as Tank Girl was Allison Bechdel’s Fun Home. It might be accurate to say that I’m an aspiring fan of hers, I had heard of Dykes to Watch Out For and have read a good few strips, and I knew of the Fun Home musical, but not that it started as a graphic novel. Needless to say, I was very excited to read this. My ex girlfriend was a theater kid in high school, so anyone who knows the musical wouldn’t be surprised at my how quickly I took to “Changing My Major” as my ex would belt it out during our car rides before quickly moving on to Hamilton and Heathers.

This was the second graphic memoir in a row that I’ve read that focuses on the writer’s father and how their relationship had affected their childhood, following right after Maus. What stood out to me the most in the way Bechdel decided to portray her family’s story, is the way she illustrated her character’s expressions. Whatever the time period focused on at the moment, her family was shown with very bleak, unhappy expressions. This really got across the tone and feeling she wanted, without dramatic coloring or compositions, something I had never considered in my own work, but seems so obvious a solution now that I’ve seen it.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Contemporary Comics

For this topic, I was drawn to Sin City purely because I remember seeing my parents’ copy of the movie adaption laying around the house. I had never watched it-- I even thought I wasn’t allowed to, because they never mentioned it. The stark black, white, and red color scheme of the movie case stuck in my memories.

I was immediately attracted to the design of Marv. A rough and ugly main character certainly stands out, and though I do appreciate my pretty people, there’s something special to me when a story doesn’t rely on beauty to draw in an audience, and I wish I could see more of it as part of the main stream.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Manga

Learning about manga in a class is almost a comical idea, especially at a place like Ringling, where a good many of students cringe at the memories of their ‘anime phase.’ Jokes aside, manga is still an important part of the whole of comics, as it has brought with it a wave of influence. I picked up my first manga books at a convention, including Death Note, and +Anima.

For this week I took a quick look at Phoenix by Osama Tezuka, and Ranma ½ by Rumiko Takahashi. I only got to read a bit of the first book of Phoenix, but the execution of the storytelling was very interesting. The story was depicting an early tribe, but the writing included a lot of contemporary references, many of which were very locale based. It was interesting to take a look at such an early entry in the timeline of manga, as I never would’ve been attracted to it on my own without the push of an assignment. As for Ranma ½, I remembered seeing advertisements for it in other books, more than likely something like Fruits Basket, so I was eager to check it out, and was quickly surprised by the story, placing a gender-changing character in the spotlight that included both male and female love interests for this person. Considering gender movements today, it was really interesting seeing a story revolving a similar, however sometimes somewhat offensive in today’s standards, concept to genderfluidity. I can imagine it would have been fun to write such a story, where even today there aren’t many others like it.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Wide World of Comics

This week, to explore comics in the wider world, I read a lot of Tank Girl by Jaime Hewlett and Alan Martin, including some of the original comics, and a bit of Tank Girl Apocalypse. Tank Girl takes a very different route than most typically appreciated comics here in the U.S., in that the British story is very over the top, very punk, and very crude. Tank Girl is a woman who is very in charge of herself, her story, and her body, which is a rarity in female characters in any media. Nothing is held back as she and her various sidekicks run amok the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, partaking in sex, drugs, violence, most often while drunk. The comic fit perfectly with the rise of Punk culture, and the pages are often littered with British pop-culture. Despite the regional references, Tank Girl reached popularity in many countries, and the rights to reprint were even fought over in the United States.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Stereotypes and Representation

In today’s media, stereotyping is a form of laziness. While doing my senior project in high school, I did a little research and was easily impressionable by Will Eisner’s Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, and regrettably so. Now that I have two years of creating with art school to my name, I will confidently say that anyone who relies on stereotyping for their stories cannot create something that is unique, creative, or fresh. Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason, and using a stereotypical character to tell a story is just beating a dead horse- it’s already been done, and all the work has already been done for you. Not to mention, audiences are already becoming fed up with it, if even for the purely social issues that come attached, particularly with offensive depictions.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Maus

Maus by Art Spiegelman was an important turning point for the world of comics, and if anything was going to do it, Maus was perfect for the job. I’ve heard mention of the novel throughout high school, but never picked it up to read, but I’m glad it was included for this, not only because I was never given a proper lesson on WW2 and the holocaust in school, but because it was a hard-hitting story that miraculously busted its way onto bookstore shelves.

What’s extra unique about the story, is how it’s told. Maus’ success could very well be due solely to it’s use of animals to portray the characters, giving the heavy story a lighter, more family-friendly feel to it. The connotation with cute everyday animals made the war story much easier for audiences of many ages to digest, and was accepted much more openly. If the story was illustrated using regular ol’ human characters, it might have been viewed as more controversial, and not given the same game-changing chance as it was.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

History of the Comic Book

To delve into the history of comic books, this week I started out with Batman #1, and moved on to The Killing Joke issue.

The art of the older comics distracted me very easily, but I appreciate it all the same, and I really love getting to see how the art improved and styles changed throughout the history of comic books. The story progression, too, seemed to lack a bit of depth to me, which very easily pushed me along to seek out something newer, which gave me a good standpoint for comparison. After Batman #1, I got to thinking about the Joker, about how Suicide Squad hinted at his backstory, despite how bad that movie counterpart may have been, and that bit of information was enough to push me along to Batman: The Killing Joke. I honestly don’t know much about most super heroes, I don’t even watch the movies very often, so the Joker’s story was completely new to me.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Comic Strips

This week I read a bit of Krazy Kat, Peanuts, and Little Nemo. I started with Krazy Kat, memories of Tom and Jerry in mind, and came out with less of an understanding of the story than I started with. Although silly and seemingly simple, I personally found these comics hard to follow, and was confused by the way they progressed. I did think it was neat, though, that Krazy referred to as both ‘he’ and ‘she’, and is shown to have feelings for Ignatz regardless of gender.

After trying my best with Krazy Kat, I moved on to something more familiar. I have a lot of memories of pulling apart the old newspapers we had gathered next to the fireplace to get to the comic section on my boredom days as a kid, and there was always Peanuts. My mom loves Peanuts from her own childhood, so of course I always sought the strip out. I loved Snoopy the most then, but now the girls of Peanuts have definitely become my favorite, with their snark and stubbornness.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

Understanding Comics

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud uses an interesting, and obvious, way to break down and explain the way that comics work, which proves to be helpful for both readers and artists alike. By using a comic to talk about comics, McCloud effectively walks the reader through each of his points in a very easy to understand way, literally showing his audience, rather than just telling. What better way to talk about pictures, than with pictures?

Coming into this, I expected it to be more about the literary part of comics, or a historical explanation, so reading this constructive break down of how comics work on very technical levels was very new and opening for me, and proposed new concepts that I wouldn’t have discovered on my own or found elsewhere.

[jacereadssomecomics-blog]

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Learning about and reading through The Arrival by Shaun Tan was a bit of a surprise to me. When anyone thinks of comics, more often than not they imagine all the pictures, with words, but this story is one with none. A picture is truly worth a thousand words, as Tan has proven, and his use of imagery works wonders to convey the story to the readers.

Tan masterfully included key motifs that tell us about the characters and identify them throughout the story, and bring back a feeling of familiarity to the character. Personally, I often found myself lost without words to explain what was happening or who was doing what, but each time I was brought back by the man’s hat, or the little creature who followed him around.

The lack of words gives the story a very distinct feel to it. Even when the characters are shown to be communicating, it feels very quiet. Everything is a mystery to us, because it is also a mystery to the character. We aren’t given a detailed look into this new place the man has arrived in, we don’t know its history or its culture, and all we can do is take in the sights.

My favorite part, however, is Tan’s emphasis on what is foreign. If he decided just to show us a man moving from one country to another, it wouldn’t give us the same feeling as the character gets in the story. Instead, he shows the man in a whole new world, something that’s just as different to us as it is him, something none of us understand but have to learn about. In doing this, he enabled readers who do not share in these experiences to relate to the story.