For the second week of class I read Little Nemo in the Palace of Ice, among other comic books. From just the cover I didn't think I would like it very much but once I got into the actual book I was surprised that I actually liked the idea quite a bit. I liked how it really played with the readers imagination, in Slumberland anything could happen. The adventures that Nemo and his friends went on were very whimsical and I enjoyed the transitions, they were very dream like and fit the story well.
The biggest problem I had with this comic book was that the characters were extremely flat. Nemo, the main character of the story, never really says much or does anything for that matter, he is just... there. The only time he actually does anything is it the last panel, when he wakes up, which I'll elaborate on later. Then there is his friend Flip who is the mischief maker of the comic, always getting into trouble some how. I would say that I didn't read enough of the strip to see changes in the characters but it was an entire story arch contained within the book so I am a little disappointed. It is based it a dream world so there is no excuse for the characters not to change at least a little. The shell of a character that Nemo is reminds me of the Twilight series and how Bella is just a shell for ever little girl to identify with so they can make money and it seems like that what the author is doing to Nemo so it is easy for little kids to identify with him. I can't really say it is a bad plan but for a more advanced reader it is annoying when you see Nemo for what her really is, it's kind of a let down. But the comic wasn't all bad, I did enjoy the large format not normally seen in comics these day and the ending panel of the comics.
One part of Little Nemo I found interesting and I feel the need to elaborate on is how the last plane of every comic is him waking up in bed. Each comic ends with Nemo waking up in bed, usually in a different way. There were a few comics in which he was falling in slumberland and when he would wake up he would be on the floor. I found this transition between the sleeping world and his reality very interesting because it kept s degree of continuity in the story but also added a fun panel at the end. This was a great way to bring the reader back to the read world and pull back from each story also. I think the transitions form different scenes and places within the book are done amazing and waking up has to be my favorite.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Perry Bible Fellowship
Ah finally, web comics, my favorite kind of comic right now and above all the others I love Perry Bible Fellowship. It is the origin of all my sick internet humor, I have always been drawn to Nicholas Gurewitch's sense of humor. I have been reading PBF since early high school because I had seen his comic linked on other sites that recommended it. after the first one I read I was instantly hooked. If I remember right, the first one I saw was Astronaut Fall which is where an astronaut falls to earth and a child eats the one flake of ash that is left of him thinking it's the first snow flake of the season. humor like this was very new to me at the time, most of the jokes in the online comics I was reading were about video games or were very corny but this was something completely new to me. Later I would start reading White Ninja too because it uses the same approach to writing jokes as PBF. The writing style of these comics is something that is still unique to me, and he manages to keep it in all the comics while getting amazing jokes it there. I can randomly click on the archive and I will always laugh. The art of the comic is nothing too special, it doesn't detract from the story and it doesn't scream over the story either. I would like to take this blog post to analyze why the writing style appeals to me so much.
The comedic value in the comics does not come from one line jokes or other traditional ways to bring humor into web comics that I see everywhere else. The situations that Gurewitch presents in his short comics are where the comedy lies and how his unique characters interact with the situations. Many of the ideas brought up are easy to identify and are often thought about but Gurewitch puts a new spin on them, he presents them in a new way that I dont think most people would ever imagine. This is where I find the true value of PBF comes from, the ability to take the ordinary and give it that extra push and turn it into something I find really funny. They also seem to have a cynical undertone to most of them which also makes the comic stand out for me. I have really taking lessons from this comic and apply them to how I see the world around me and I believe that is why I have a very unique sense of humor. Perry Bible Fellowship is by far my favorite comic I have read this semester.
The comedic value in the comics does not come from one line jokes or other traditional ways to bring humor into web comics that I see everywhere else. The situations that Gurewitch presents in his short comics are where the comedy lies and how his unique characters interact with the situations. Many of the ideas brought up are easy to identify and are often thought about but Gurewitch puts a new spin on them, he presents them in a new way that I dont think most people would ever imagine. This is where I find the true value of PBF comes from, the ability to take the ordinary and give it that extra push and turn it into something I find really funny. They also seem to have a cynical undertone to most of them which also makes the comic stand out for me. I have really taking lessons from this comic and apply them to how I see the world around me and I believe that is why I have a very unique sense of humor. Perry Bible Fellowship is by far my favorite comic I have read this semester.
Y the Last Man
I found this book before it was actually reccomened in the class at the beginning of the semester while looking at a list of comics that the author believed could not be made into movies because of how they are formatted perfectly. This book stood out on that list because I found the plot idea to be interesting, I think it is often a male fantasy to be the only male in a land of women but this comic takes a real look at how that is really not that good of an idea. I feel that Y takes a very real approach to how being the only man would work and I think that's a great concept.
The analysis of an odd male fantasy it a great jumping off point for a comic, it gets common ground with the vast majority of comic readers and pulls them in, one of the best hooks I have seen in comics. It the story builds off of this idea and how being the only male would work and presents it is a fashion that is not at all like the fantasy that most men would believe it to be, maybe because of how it happens or just because that is how it would actually happen. I feel the author sets a a great senaerio for how being the only male could be possible, without just letting it go to magic or some kind of wish/fantasy, which I think is much more challenging but also much more rewarding in the end because I feel it makes the story a lot stronger. It feels to me like an advertiser came up with the idea for this book because the introduction is so well thought out and it really sucks a male audience in, the author definitely knows what audience he is going for and how to lure them in. I was not able to get that far into the series but it was enough to hook me and I plan on finishing it during winter break
The analysis of an odd male fantasy it a great jumping off point for a comic, it gets common ground with the vast majority of comic readers and pulls them in, one of the best hooks I have seen in comics. It the story builds off of this idea and how being the only male would work and presents it is a fashion that is not at all like the fantasy that most men would believe it to be, maybe because of how it happens or just because that is how it would actually happen. I feel the author sets a a great senaerio for how being the only male could be possible, without just letting it go to magic or some kind of wish/fantasy, which I think is much more challenging but also much more rewarding in the end because I feel it makes the story a lot stronger. It feels to me like an advertiser came up with the idea for this book because the introduction is so well thought out and it really sucks a male audience in, the author definitely knows what audience he is going for and how to lure them in. I was not able to get that far into the series but it was enough to hook me and I plan on finishing it during winter break
Sandman
I found Sandman at the top of a list called "comics that can not be made into movies" before entering the class and after reading the first few on the course resource list man I couldn't agree more. Sandman has such an interesting story that can not be fully explained and I feel that it is so well written as a comic that it really shouldn't though I have heard talk about it. I find the sequences of dreaming to be amazing and how could one really film that? In today's age of technology it is much closer than when the story was first written. The constant change of epic scenes would be amazingly hard to recreate and build for a movie. The transitions of a dream would also be an interesting feat to film, in the book things will just change, which appears natural in dreams but in a movie the viewer would notice such changes and it would seem very old in a constant motion where as the reader places what they know about dreaming in between the panels in the comic. I think the parts that are not shown are some of the most important parts of the is comic and it is why that a comic is a great medium to write a story about dream, you can read between panels. I feel that many of the time changes not only scene changes would contribute to making a film about the comic increasingly hard and would confuse an audience, many of the characer are immortal and appear through out different time periods which might be odd to a movie goes who does not grasp the whole story. Also the story has to be told in a two hour time period which would be amazing hard to explain all parts of this amazingly in depth and interesting series. In conclusion I agree that this comic would make a very difficult movie but at the same time I would love to see a team try to tackle this amazing project.
Love and Rockets
One of the more interesting reads of the semester, Love and Rockets by Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez. It contains multiple story lines but the 2 main ones are Gilbert's Palomar stories and Jaime's Hoppers 13.
One of the most interesting things about Love and Rockets is that it is not written like most male comics authors write, it actually treats the woman in it like real people and they are also the main focus of most of the stories. The girls are not some kind of fantasy proportioned people who are just objects of lust but complex characters who do not have perfect physic. They actually change over time realistically and gain weight something that doesn't normally happen in comics which is pretty amusing. I found that the authors where realy able to appeal to both males and females with theses comics and judging by what I have read of them they are actually geared for woman, but I was still able to enjoy it even still. I found that realistic female protagonists are most common in works that are meant for women.
One of the most interesting things about Love and Rockets is that it is not written like most male comics authors write, it actually treats the woman in it like real people and they are also the main focus of most of the stories. The girls are not some kind of fantasy proportioned people who are just objects of lust but complex characters who do not have perfect physic. They actually change over time realistically and gain weight something that doesn't normally happen in comics which is pretty amusing. I found that the authors where realy able to appeal to both males and females with theses comics and judging by what I have read of them they are actually geared for woman, but I was still able to enjoy it even still. I found that realistic female protagonists are most common in works that are meant for women.
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
Scott Pilgrim, one of the more interesting reads for me lately. It is about a 23 year old guy who falls in love with a girl but must defeat her 7 evil ex-boyfriends before he can date her. I instantly loved this comic for reasons I still don't fully understand.
One of the most interesting part of this comic to me is the fact that Scott doesn't know anything that is now presented in the comic. At one point he attacks his brother because Scott thinks he is an evil ex but then his brother yells at him. At one point him and his roommate go to pay the landlord and he tells them the lease is up, they some how forgot it had been a year. There are other times where Scott doesn't seem to quite know what is going on in the world around him and I find this an interesting way for the reader to relate to Scott because they have about the same knowledge of the story, any plot twist would be just as much of a surprise to Scott as it is to the reader. I also like that he is not phased by any of the crazy things that go on in his life, which a normal person would freak out about but in the comic it just seems so natural. I can't wait to finish this series, I am 4 out of 5.
One of the most interesting part of this comic to me is the fact that Scott doesn't know anything that is now presented in the comic. At one point he attacks his brother because Scott thinks he is an evil ex but then his brother yells at him. At one point him and his roommate go to pay the landlord and he tells them the lease is up, they some how forgot it had been a year. There are other times where Scott doesn't seem to quite know what is going on in the world around him and I find this an interesting way for the reader to relate to Scott because they have about the same knowledge of the story, any plot twist would be just as much of a surprise to Scott as it is to the reader. I also like that he is not phased by any of the crazy things that go on in his life, which a normal person would freak out about but in the comic it just seems so natural. I can't wait to finish this series, I am 4 out of 5.
Alan's War
After Reading Maus I was prepared for the worst with Alan's War but the resulting story I found not nearly as gruesome and a much easier read. Alan's War is about G.I. Alan Cope and how he deals with being in the war.
It recounts all parts of the war for Alan. They don't skip any of the small things that, in the end, are what really matter. He details all of his experiences in great detail and it really gives you a feel for what is was like to be there in his shoes. I found his recounting to be interesting at first but the length of the entire book was too intimidating to finish, the story was good but not that good. I found that after a while it seemed to drag on, and it was a biography so lots of details had to be included but I ended up not being hooked into the book like I was with Maus. The entire thing seemed too generic to really read all of it, it got predictable but I should have expected that fro a biography but it was a little disappointing because just judging by the cover the book seemed like it could be really interesting. I dont think there is much the author can do to change this though being a biography and all which is unfortunate so I'd live it that if you want to get into the life of a G.I. in World War 2 Alan's War is a good read but if you are just looking for a new graphic novel to pass the time I would suggest looking else where.
It recounts all parts of the war for Alan. They don't skip any of the small things that, in the end, are what really matter. He details all of his experiences in great detail and it really gives you a feel for what is was like to be there in his shoes. I found his recounting to be interesting at first but the length of the entire book was too intimidating to finish, the story was good but not that good. I found that after a while it seemed to drag on, and it was a biography so lots of details had to be included but I ended up not being hooked into the book like I was with Maus. The entire thing seemed too generic to really read all of it, it got predictable but I should have expected that fro a biography but it was a little disappointing because just judging by the cover the book seemed like it could be really interesting. I dont think there is much the author can do to change this though being a biography and all which is unfortunate so I'd live it that if you want to get into the life of a G.I. in World War 2 Alan's War is a good read but if you are just looking for a new graphic novel to pass the time I would suggest looking else where.
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