LITERATURE OF COMICS AND THE GRAPHIC NARRATIVE

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read? I really enjoyed reading the killing joke. I'm a bit surprised how dark it got compared to other Batman medias like the animated show or even the live action DC movies. Usually the first image that pops into my head when I think Batman is the cartoon targeted toward a younger audience. I recognized elements of lore in this comic from another Batman media; the Batman: Arkham video game series. The video game borrowed a lot of elements from this comic in particular; Gordon being kidnapped by the Joker, Barbara being handicapped and shot, the Joker running through a chemical plant with the red hood. It was all reworked to fit a modern setting and the violence is toned down.  2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect? I connected with Batman and Gordon's philosophy. They always aim toward bringing villains to justice, but not kill them. Gordon

This week I read Fun Home, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, and Rat Queens. Overall, comics by women differ a lot when it comes to the female perspective or female characters in general compared to comics written or drawn by men. With Rat Queens or My Favorite Thing is Monsters, there isn’t a need to keep the female characters attractive all the time. When I look at Bone or Blacksad, the female characters seem like they’re mainly eye candy and their proportions are meant to fit a pin-up look. They’re also mostly just side characters helping the main male character reach their goal. Rat Queens for example has a big variety of body types for their hero characters, who are mostly women. They also have some unflattering panels of their faces when they’re struggling in a battle for example, which is realistic. There’s not a need for the characters to look sexy in every panel. Fun Home does the same with a realistic portrayal of women. Bechdel also offers us a unique female perspective with he

This week I read Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, One Bad Rat, and Bone. Jimmy Corrigan had me blind sided when I went in not knowing what to expect. From the cover, it looked like a kid’s comic book that would be on the shelf at a scholastic book fair in grade school, but then Jimmy, the main character, was swearing at his mother, there were depictions of suicide, and it followed a dark path down Jimmy’s life. It’s a non-linear story, but it packs a lot and is almost biographical as we unveil pieces of Jimmy’s life. One Bat Rat was my favorite of the three. I grew attached to the main character Helen and I the way her past is revealed to us is very creative. I may be biased because I’m a big Beatrix Potter fan too. The book Helen “found” in the wall at the end made me smile. I’m glad she was able to overcome her trauma and come out happy in the end. One Bad Rat follows a nonlinear timeline too, and it is literary. It clearly tells a story and the character arcs. Were it a bo

This week I read Tezuka’s Dororo. I got hooked on the story right away. It’s very unique compared to western comics, and it follows a ruler who made a deal with demons and the result is his son being cursed to have no limbs or eyes until he was just a shell of a person when he was born. Then as he grows older, he’s haunted by ghouls who try to kill him. He soon meets his companion, Dororo, who he saves. One thing that caught my attention was the art style. From what I’ve seen from Manga today, Tezuka’s style is far from where manga has evolved. It is very recognizable as an older style for Japanese media. I’ve seen some of the Astro Boy cartoons and other older Japanese cartoons, so the style is recognizable. I looked into the newer Dororo anime and the style is redone to fit today’s anime style. There’s not really any new media with the old style, which I think is a shame. It’s more appealing in my opinion. The other thing I noticed while reading that threw me off was the text read fr

This week I read the first issue of Blacksad. I didn’t expect to like it much, but it was good. I’m always up for a good detective story, I might read more when I have more time in the summer. My only issue with it was the whole using sexy pin-up girls for the lead female characters. It was especially weird with everyone being animals, but the female counterparts may as well be human. If I didn’t read that Blacksad was a foreign comic first published in France I would have thought it was an American comic. It’s the same format and the art style isn’t much different from American comics. It's also set in the US even.  The other graphic novel we discussed reading was Persolpis. I only read a little of the graphic novel, but I watched the animated movie. I think the fact that Persepolis has reached such a large audience is great.  I appreciate learning about the Iranian Revolution from someone who experienced it. Persepolis also stands as a work that may squash some false percep

King by Ho Che Anderson was a good read. I learned a lot more about MLK than I thought I knew. The only history I got about him in school was watching Selma and a 30 minute documentary in grade school. King  is a good example of a comic not using or relying on stereotypes to tell a story. The novel is a biography and because it’s so based on reality the visual component matches it in realism. The style is almost photographic, in fact I noticed there are real photographs comped in at some parts. The black and white vector style also takes on a serious tone. The subject can get gritty and raw. The civil right movement faced scrutiny and racism is a prevalent subject, so the style matches well. The one time there was color was when King was stabbed and he seemed to be dying and having visions. I thought that was really cool. On the topic of stereotyping in comics, I think it’s good that comics stay away from harmful racial stereotypes like the aggressive black male, Arab terrorists, or dr