I found the Phoenix series as a whole to be an amazing concept, I would love to read another volume that takes place in the future and compare the two. As I am unable to read another volume in the series I'll just do this review on Karma, which is based in japan in the 8th century.
This was a completely new manga experience for me, I have read a few in high school but nothing that was very deep. The complexity of this story blows most of the books I have read out of the water, I feel like there was a real story there. Most manga now seems too commercial and they all seem to use the same formula but Tezuka really makes something unique with his Phenoix series. Not only is this an amazing accomplishment for manga but he does it so early in it's development.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Persepolis
Persepolis is about a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. I read this book in high school but decided to go back and reread it because it had been awhile. I found that the book was still interesting to me which was surprising because I didn't really like it that much in high school.
I think the appeal came from the child's prospective on a very serious issue and how she had to deal with what was going on in Iran. It wasn't the kind of story you would hear about in the news but I think it was much more interesting because she told it as someone who was still innocent when everything around her was going crazy. I feel like a story must show me something new to hold my attention and even though I have already read this book it still presents a unique situation for a perspective that I could not normally see. I also find it a good read considering Iran recent elections and protests, there could very easily be another girl going through the same things right now in Iran and it is a great insight into how people there live. I never get to see that part of the world very close and this book is a great learning experience to teach people like me about the Middle East.
I think the appeal came from the child's prospective on a very serious issue and how she had to deal with what was going on in Iran. It wasn't the kind of story you would hear about in the news but I think it was much more interesting because she told it as someone who was still innocent when everything around her was going crazy. I feel like a story must show me something new to hold my attention and even though I have already read this book it still presents a unique situation for a perspective that I could not normally see. I also find it a good read considering Iran recent elections and protests, there could very easily be another girl going through the same things right now in Iran and it is a great insight into how people there live. I never get to see that part of the world very close and this book is a great learning experience to teach people like me about the Middle East.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Complete Maus
I must say, of all the comics I have read so far for this class Maus has really been the most moving. I was expecting another story of the holocaust but Maus really turned out to be much, much more. The story is about Art going to talk to his dad and getting his story about the holocaust so he can make it into a comic book, the one you are reading which I thought was an interesting concept. It is a modern tale, told through the eyes of the author, which I think makes it easier to relate with. Art struggles to understand what going through the holocaust was like and I think that is something that everyone who didn't go through it feels. He also is very truthful in his writings, Maus has a very real feeling to it, because it is not just his father retelling his story but also how Art and his father don't always get along and how his father and his second wife Mala do not get along. Speigelman don't hold back on his details, he even includes how he struggled with depression while writing the book, which I found to be very courageous of him, it takes a lot of guts to put all this personal information into a comic.
My step-Grandpa Sam was also a holocaust surviver and Vladek really reminded me of him. He wouldn't throw away anything, My step mom had to spend a week at his apartment cleaning it out after he moved into an assisted living home closer to us. He also remarried after my step mom's mother died, and his new wife Gloria seemed very much like Mala, but I think they got along better than Mala and Vladek. Sam would only give Gloria an allowance that was very small and was very tight with his money. In many ways it seemed that Vladek was a very stereotypical holocaust survivor. Many of his habits made no sense to me but his life was so different from mine, so much harder that I don't think I'll ever be able to understand. I like to think that survivors don't want to to completely understand what they went through, it was just to horrible.
In Maus Vladek recounts his story, that includes more than just the holocaust, but also his life before the war broke out. It starts out before he even meets Art's mother Anja, when he is in Czechoslovakia buying and selling textiles. Later his cousin introduced him to Anja when he went to visit his family, and they stated talking on the phone and sending letters. They eventually got married and her father was very wealthy so he help Vladek start his own textile factory. They have a boy named Richieu but after this Anja becomes sick and depressed and Vladek takes her to a remote sanitarium and when they come back a few months later much has changed. Thier factory has been robbed and Jews are being persecuted. Vladek then gets drafted, then captured by they Germans and put in a POW camp. he is then released from the camp and sneaks back to his family. They are then relocated to the getto. When this happens they decided to send Richieu to live with a friend but the Germans are taking the Jews around where the lives to she poisons herself and the children. Vladek and the family move from different hiding places trying to evade the Germans but are ratted out by one of the people that they help. Vladek and Anja then spend much of their time moving around and hiding with different people until they are captured and sent to Auschwitz. There Vladek and Anja get separated but write letters to each other and another prisoner carries them. In Auschwitz Vladek works as a tinsmith and in a shoe shop but is then sent to do black work, hard manual labor. It is almost the end of the war and all the prisoners that are healthy enough to make a trip to Switzerland are sent to exchange for German POWs. On the trip they are stopped in a train yard for days without food and many people die here. then they are released and are free to go. After this Vladek and other get captured by German partols but the patrols flee each time. Eventually they meet the American soldiers and they help the Jews with food and health care. Vladek then returns to his hometown, Anja is there and they are so happy to finally se each other again. This is where Vladek stops his story, but while this is going on another story is running parallel to it, the one in the present day for Art.
It starts with Art going to his father house to get the story from him about his life and living through the holocaust. It shows the struggle Art goes through with his father and their clashing personalities. Also Vladek is having marriage problems and Mala his second wife leaves him and takes the money from their accounts. Art has to go help his father and Vladek eventually goes to Florida to she Mala and they get back together. Then Vladek has some medical complication and has to go to the hospital in Florida and Art flies down to see him, the 3 of them thne fly back to New York to go to a hospital there and the Doctor says he will be ok. Later after the first volume of Maus comes out Vladek dies and art has a hard time getting over his fathers death but with help from a theripist he finishes the second volume and puts out, what I would consider one of the greatest graphic novels I have ever read.
My step-Grandpa Sam was also a holocaust surviver and Vladek really reminded me of him. He wouldn't throw away anything, My step mom had to spend a week at his apartment cleaning it out after he moved into an assisted living home closer to us. He also remarried after my step mom's mother died, and his new wife Gloria seemed very much like Mala, but I think they got along better than Mala and Vladek. Sam would only give Gloria an allowance that was very small and was very tight with his money. In many ways it seemed that Vladek was a very stereotypical holocaust survivor. Many of his habits made no sense to me but his life was so different from mine, so much harder that I don't think I'll ever be able to understand. I like to think that survivors don't want to to completely understand what they went through, it was just to horrible.
In Maus Vladek recounts his story, that includes more than just the holocaust, but also his life before the war broke out. It starts out before he even meets Art's mother Anja, when he is in Czechoslovakia buying and selling textiles. Later his cousin introduced him to Anja when he went to visit his family, and they stated talking on the phone and sending letters. They eventually got married and her father was very wealthy so he help Vladek start his own textile factory. They have a boy named Richieu but after this Anja becomes sick and depressed and Vladek takes her to a remote sanitarium and when they come back a few months later much has changed. Thier factory has been robbed and Jews are being persecuted. Vladek then gets drafted, then captured by they Germans and put in a POW camp. he is then released from the camp and sneaks back to his family. They are then relocated to the getto. When this happens they decided to send Richieu to live with a friend but the Germans are taking the Jews around where the lives to she poisons herself and the children. Vladek and the family move from different hiding places trying to evade the Germans but are ratted out by one of the people that they help. Vladek and Anja then spend much of their time moving around and hiding with different people until they are captured and sent to Auschwitz. There Vladek and Anja get separated but write letters to each other and another prisoner carries them. In Auschwitz Vladek works as a tinsmith and in a shoe shop but is then sent to do black work, hard manual labor. It is almost the end of the war and all the prisoners that are healthy enough to make a trip to Switzerland are sent to exchange for German POWs. On the trip they are stopped in a train yard for days without food and many people die here. then they are released and are free to go. After this Vladek and other get captured by German partols but the patrols flee each time. Eventually they meet the American soldiers and they help the Jews with food and health care. Vladek then returns to his hometown, Anja is there and they are so happy to finally se each other again. This is where Vladek stops his story, but while this is going on another story is running parallel to it, the one in the present day for Art.
It starts with Art going to his father house to get the story from him about his life and living through the holocaust. It shows the struggle Art goes through with his father and their clashing personalities. Also Vladek is having marriage problems and Mala his second wife leaves him and takes the money from their accounts. Art has to go help his father and Vladek eventually goes to Florida to she Mala and they get back together. Then Vladek has some medical complication and has to go to the hospital in Florida and Art flies down to see him, the 3 of them thne fly back to New York to go to a hospital there and the Doctor says he will be ok. Later after the first volume of Maus comes out Vladek dies and art has a hard time getting over his fathers death but with help from a theripist he finishes the second volume and puts out, what I would consider one of the greatest graphic novels I have ever read.
Underground Comics
This week I read a couple Underground comics. The first one I started to read was Air Pirate Funnies. I couldnt even get past the first story in this comic, it was just so hard to read and all over the place. I was really struggling to stay focused and by the time I finished the first story I had no idea what I had just read. I really did not enjoy this comic, the text and images were just so hard to understand that it really put me off.
After my failed attempt at reading Air Pirate Funnies I moved on to another underground comic, Four Sketchbooks and a Table of Useful Information. This wasn't much of a comic but more a collection of sketches from artists and at the end it does include a table of useful information, mainly conversions. I actually like this one quite a bit, I found many of the drawing interesting and I love looking through other artists sketchbooks. Sometimes there would be short comics in the sketchbooks but it was rare, mostly they consisted of drawings. Spain's part of the book was by far my favorite because his art style felt very contemporary. This comic, as a whole though I would still not consider very good, compared to the other comics I have read in this class, I just dont see the appeal in many of the underground comics but I guess that is why they are underground comics.
After my failed attempt at reading Air Pirate Funnies I moved on to another underground comic, Four Sketchbooks and a Table of Useful Information. This wasn't much of a comic but more a collection of sketches from artists and at the end it does include a table of useful information, mainly conversions. I actually like this one quite a bit, I found many of the drawing interesting and I love looking through other artists sketchbooks. Sometimes there would be short comics in the sketchbooks but it was rare, mostly they consisted of drawings. Spain's part of the book was by far my favorite because his art style felt very contemporary. This comic, as a whole though I would still not consider very good, compared to the other comics I have read in this class, I just dont see the appeal in many of the underground comics but I guess that is why they are underground comics.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
A Contract with God
A Contract with God by Will Eisner is a collection of short stories including "A Contract With God", "The Super", "The Street Singer", and "Cookalein". Each story has to do with different residents of a tenement in New York City. The first story, "A Contract With God", is about a man who looses his adopted daughter and creates an apartment empire. The next Story, "The Super", is about the super in a tenement who is hated by the residents and he ends up killing himself. "The Street Singer" is about a street singer who is also a drunk he ends up getting a gig but can't remember where it was because he was drunk. The last story, "Cookalein" is about a family who goes to the country for the summer and how everyone is cheating on each other and their sexual lives.
One of the most interesting parts of this graphic novel was how the panels are set up. Eisner doesn't stick with the normal layout of panels used by many comic artists of the day. Many pages are single panels but instead of out lining them he leaves the edges open making them feel less condensed. He can make big panels and use white space because he doesn't have to fit his entire story into one comic strip, he has an entire novel to tell his story.
I enjoy how expressive his characters bodies are portrayed, they show an amazing amount of emotion. I think this is the best part of any Eisner comic, he can really get his emotions across and he doesn't just use facial expressions like most artists but he uses their entire body to show emotion. My favorite use of this is in the first story when Firm yells to God "We had a contract!".
One of the most interesting parts of this graphic novel was how the panels are set up. Eisner doesn't stick with the normal layout of panels used by many comic artists of the day. Many pages are single panels but instead of out lining them he leaves the edges open making them feel less condensed. He can make big panels and use white space because he doesn't have to fit his entire story into one comic strip, he has an entire novel to tell his story.
I enjoy how expressive his characters bodies are portrayed, they show an amazing amount of emotion. I think this is the best part of any Eisner comic, he can really get his emotions across and he doesn't just use facial expressions like most artists but he uses their entire body to show emotion. My favorite use of this is in the first story when Firm yells to God "We had a contract!".
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