Gabby's Blog

This week I got to read some of "Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack" and "Megg and Mogg" and they were quite interesting in the weirdest way. We also watched "Scott Pilgrim" in class ,which is a comic I've wanted to read before, and the movie was really funny but also hard to follow.  "Scott Pilgrim" is a comic that has been around  for a bit of time and I have seen it pretty much every time I go into a bookstore. I never have gotten to read it but after watching part of the movie, I went and read some of it. It seemed like the movie was pretty close to the comic and I guess the story is just weird in general. I thought the movie had made it more confusing because I thought they took out a lot of key parts and was one of those movie where they are geared more towards people that know the comic, but it seemed like the comic and movie were pretty similar. I think they did a good job of getting the characters right in how they looked and how the

For this week I read "Batman The Killing Joke",  some Black Panther, and "Saga". I have read "The Killing Joke" before and I got to read it again in class, so I really got to understand it more. I have also read a little of the first "Saga" before but never got to really read it fully, so I was glad when I saw it on the list. The only thing I have seen of Black Panther is the movie, so it was cool to read where it came from originally. In class we watched some of the 60's Batman and I was super happy because I love Batman and this show is really funny to me. One of the best scenes to me is the part with where Batman is being attacked by a shark, and I'm glad I could watch it again today. This show is really funky because it takes Batman, which is a more so dark and mysterious character, and adds this whimsical and hilarious element to it. The catchphrases always make me laugh and although it's really different to what is normally

This week I got to look at and read a couple of different stories. Some of the stories were "Persepolis", "Fun Home", and "Ms. Marvel". "Persepolis" was a story I had heard of a lot in the past but I never got a chance to really read it. The style is simple. with black and white panels and characters that are slightly different from each other. The story takes place after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and it talks about Marjane's life during this time. I like that because her parents were more modern, Marjane struggles with wearing a veil or not. I like Marjane because she becomes more rebellious and speaks her mind as time goes on, and this story is interesting because of the history it shows. "Fun Home" is a story I have somewhat read in the past and I don't know if I love this story, but I do like certain themes in it. I do like how it shows Alison Bechdel's journey of her life and how she figured out her sexuality a

This week I was able to read "Asterios Polyp" which right off the bat is a weird name for a graphic novel and "Every Girl is the End of the World for Me"  which is another title that caught my attention because I wanted to understand what that meant. "Asterios Polyp" was a title that I definitely wanted to read because the name sounded so weird to me. I was immediately intrigued the moment I started reading, one of the reasons being the sort of poetic style of writing. My favorite part was when it is explained how people get along and how the art style was different for how different people are. I like that some were similar to show how some people think the same and how it showed some worlds blending together. After learning the main characters name is Asterios Polyp, there seems to be a sort of underlying mystery in his life. When his home is burning up he says 'not again" which really made me want to figure out what that meant and what his li

This was probably one of my favorite topics to learn about because I already read manga and watch anime in my spare time. I think it was really cool learning more on how these Japanese comics started, and how it displays a different kind of culture. One of the manga I read was called "Dororo" and I found it to be really good. I originally clicked this link because Dororo has become an anime recently and I was able to watch the 1st episode, which I enjoyed a lot. So when reading the manga, they did a very good job so far in my opinion of getting the anime pretty close to the original manga. The style though of the manga and anime is very different but makes a lot of sense because of the time difference. I think "Dororo" the manga is very interesting with its style because to me it has more of a childish vibe to it, but has themes of death and killing people. It's kind of a weird mix in a way but I ended up really enjoying reading the first volume of it. In cl

Heavy Metal is definitely a topic of comics I have never dabbled in at all and I was a little hesitant to. I never really knew it existed but also it doesn't seem like something I would read purely based off the covers. But I did try giving "Ranxerox" a try. Ranxerox to me, just from the first page alone, had an interesting feel to it and the art style was definitely different.  It has this weird way of shading that I'm not really sure how to explain except that it kind of makes me think of airbrushing in a way. But like a mucky kind of airbrushing. There was more explicit scenes and cursing but I think it worked well with the style of it overall. I liked the grimy feel to it and I thought parts of it were interesting, but I don't know if I would read more. Another comic I read was by Moebius called "The Black Incal" volume 1. Off the bat the art style was completely opposite to Ranxerox. This comic by Moebius specifically was a lot brighter. It also

I see stereotypes all the time, in the books, movies, comics, shows, in real life, and I have always felt they were super negative. I did think it was interesting that they can play an important role is how we perceive people or things, and we have this mental image of how something  looks because of these stereotypes. When reading about "Toxic Masculinity" by Luke Humphris, I really liked the meaning it had even though it was very short. I knew already that men do have this feeling of having to be masculine but I didn't know to what extent. I felt sad reading how the author felt all his life that he was never able to cry and had to hold everything in. Seeing that his own brother took his life due to this feeling of having to be masculine made me sad yet angry because it's dumb that they have to feel this way, but also I'm not sure where this stereotype came from.  I think stereotyping isn't ultimately necessary to character design and representation because

Reading "Maus", I thought it was interesting that the main characters were mice, and other characters were different animals. It seemed like the Jewish people were mice, while the Germans were cats, the Polish were pigs, and so on. I wasn't exactly sure why these specific animals were used except maybe as a stereotype, which is somewhat what it is and somewhat symbolism. Apparently the main characters are mice because it plays off the stereotype of Jews as being pests or vermin and the Germans are cats because they feed off the mice. I like stories that bring in symbolism like this because it adds a lot of underlying meanings and messages, which really brings more context to the story. I also like the simple style that was done for the story because it can get across a more complex subject in a easier way for many different people to understand. "Maus" is based on the story of Spiegelman's father, and this story really tells us how it was during the Holoca

Underground comics are something I didn't really know about and didn't really read before until now. I read a comic called "Gay Comix" and enjoyed some of the stories for the portrayal of gay characters. The 1st story was a lesbian story but had a happy ending which I enjoyed. Most of the time when I read more gay stories, they usually ended in a sad way. I'm not sure why it was like this but I assume because during the time lesbians were more accepted then gay men and these stories sought out to illustrate that. it definitely made me feel bad for some of these characters because it showed a realistic way people like this would feel at the time because they weren't as accepted as they are today. I also got to look at "Four Sketchbooks" which is a bunch a funky sketches compiled together and some little stories done by different artists. I thought the styles were so wacky and weird, but I like how it was pushing the boundaries. I think it was cool t

When reading "Contract with God" I thought it was done really interestingly with how the text is done and the style of the work. The text is sort of integrated with the design of each panel, and there's not really any text in a box type way that most comics usually use. Will Eisner really utilizes the space he has and he does it well with how things flow together. There is also a hatching style with pen and ink that really helps set the mood of the whole piece, and it really gives this vibe that the story is sad and depressing, and rather hopeless at times. I also really enjoyed the story overall and I like how each character was portrayed. I think though that the first part of the story was my favorite for the reasons that this man, Frimme Hersh, started out as a kind man and gave up himself because of the loss of his daughter. This part in itself is sad but I like the portrayal of how there are good people but can easily change because of a tragic event. Reading "

This week in class, we were able to watch some older animations of Betty Boop whilst also being able to read comics like "The Secret Defenders" and "Spirit". I also was able to see Archie storyboards and the process of making a comic. Although overall I enjoyed the material for various reasons, there were some things I didn't enjoy mainly with Betty Boop. When the animations of Betty Boop first started, I enjoyed them but then as they went on I found myself not liking them because they had themes of sexual harassment and death, particularly by electric chair. I guess it definitely speaks more for the time but also I can't imagine children watching this. I think it was funny how the animations started because of the fun movement of characters and especially the circus one, I really liked how each character came in. But I found myself really disliking the ending because of the progression of events that happened. Personally, some of the animations became a l

Reading a bunch of different comics in the library I discovered some new comics I've never heard of and what I like versus what I don't. Some of the ones I found I liked are "Calvin and Hobbes", "Peanuts", and "Archie" although I wasn't too fond of some like "Tarzan" or "The Phantom." I think the reason I didn't automatically fall in love with some of the comics is because I noticed that the older comics have humor that sometimes goes over my head. It could be because the humor suited the time and I don't personally find it as funny now, but I do appreciate the effort went in to make these comics. I really liked how detailed "Little Nemo" was and I think it's such a cute story that I can't believe all the text was handwritten by Winsor McCay because that was something so different from most comics. I realized I also like the comics more so when there is a little less dialogue or sometimes whe

I really enjoyed reading about how comics are made and the huge amount of effort put in. I think one of the parts that stood out the most to me was the part where Scott talks about faces in comics. In the panels about faces he shows us how humans can take 2 dots and a line to make it seem like a human face. This is especially interesting to me because I enjoy making characters and I wondered why sometimes even the simplest characters can become so impactful. Learning that sometimes making a character more simple can make us more likely to put ourselves into that characters shoes because we can see ourselves in them easier. I liked the use of the "picture plane" which helped to express how language and the picture represent the graphic novel or comic. Both are important in their own way. I also really enjoyed learning about the panel-to-panel transitions and how each one has a specific function. When reading about moment-to-moment, I recalled my reading of "The Arriva

1 st Panel- It looks like there is a man in the back who has died and he his soul resides in the rooster, so the lady is trying to send him off to also help those who have died. 2 nd Panel- The woman has died and it looks like the bird man or maybe an angel has come to take her away. 3 rd Panel-These rooster people are laying these women to rest. 4 th Panel- The rooster people are figuring out what to do with the bodies. 5 th Panel- A man walked in to find his wife has died and the roosters were collecting her soul. 6 th Panel- The man has gone crazy and now he is being collected for death. 7 th Panel- The rooster people are telling the women the fate that they have. 8 th panel- The women are trying to escape death and get back.

The Arrival is a very interesting story that is able to clearly explain a narrative without the use of any words. Although it has no words, I think pretty much anyone can understand this story and those who have had a similar experience can especially feel that way. One reason The Arrival is able to tell a story without words is because it gives off such specific emotions. By that I mean you can see it in how the main character interacts with other people or even when he is trying to understand the language of this new place. The expressions he has are so relatable and realistic that I even found myself laughing at the man squinting and acting confused just trying to figure out the time. I also could relate really well to when he was trying to figure out where to go because I myself get lost a lot and confused by directions, so seeing it amplified by him not even knowing the language made me have a better sense of how the character felt. The body language of th