Wordlessness

Throughout the semester I have been playing around with crating a few comics of my own. Here are some rough ideas I have come up with.

Maus

Art Spiegelman's Maus translated comics from a relatively narrow genure into a more literary one, which caused many more people to respond to this story than previous graphic novels. Maus's success is due to the fact that the story appeals to a broad spectrum of people beyond those who had been invested in comics up to the date of its publication. Characteristics that allow for Maus's popularity are the fact that the author closely incorporated his personal experience with the work, the iconic imagery that is used throughout, and the particularly humanistic nature of the dialogue.

Maus tells the story of Art Spiegelman gathering information about his parents' experience with the Holocaust, which lends itself seamlessly to artist vulnerability. It is often the case in the arts that the closer an artist is to their work emotionally, the more successful it is because that personal inner content is somehow translated directly to the audience who in turn responds more actively. Spiegelman addresses themes such as family and the importance of memories throughout--particularly in discussing his mother's suicide--which have a universal basis which stirs our inner human in one way or another. Because the themes that Maus depicts hold value in any human experience, the audience can become much more easily involved, and thus interested, in the happenings of the book.

The iconic nature of Maus also provides the audience with a strong base with which to connect to the story. Because there are no human characters in the book, each reader can more easily empathize with the personalities that Spiegelman illustrates. Fully developed humans as a means for conveying the plot would have placed this graphic novel among the array of literature that has already been created, and further alienated the audience. Specifically, the love story between Art's father and mother and the struggles it entails is general yet personal enough to evoke meaningful emotions. These feelings because they are two sweet looking mice as opposed to humans.

Although Maus contains purely animal characters, it retains a human quality through the dialogue which further connects the reader to the story. Art's father has a heavy accent due to his heritage, which is translated through the written speech within the panels. Art as the protagonist has distinct speech habits as well. Despite the fact that he does not have an accent like his fathers, the audience witnesses the development of his character regardless due to the casual nature of his words. His uninhibited exposure of his true personality lends to closer relationship with the audience and progresses the success of the novel as a whole. Overall, Spiegelman's effort in making the text unique and true to actual speech adds a deeper level of intimacy to Maus.

In conclusion, the elevated level at which the reader can connect with Maus is what makes it such a notable work in the world of comics. Spiegelman is unafraid to show his personal involvement with the piece, capitalizes on the benefits of iconography, and takes care to include many human details: all contributing to the holistic success of this piece of literature.

Underground: Mother's Oats

The experience of reading underground comics threw me into new territory in the world of comics, and art in general. Startling as it was, I found myself quite attracted to the selection I read not because of the subject matter, but the ideation and attitude surrounding it. The personal liberation that accompanies the creation of comics allows for complete inhibition in expression, particularly concerning subjects such as sex, drugs, and other obscenities that are otherwise taboo to mainstream culture.

Mother's Oats had parodies of advertisements filling pages before the comics that stood out to me as particularly entertaining because of their ruthlessness. One ad depicted two elderly people and stated "Getting old? Try LSD! I mean like what the hell? If you're that far gone why not?" This message signifies both the culturally defiant nature of underground comics and the adoption of drugs as an acceptable--perhaps even valuable--part of everyday life. I may respond to this idea positively because it is one that many of my dearest friends would be quick to advocate, but I also see great value in the openmindedness that it signifies. The uncensored tendencies of underground comics provides for a broad range of honest self expression, which I believe is the most valuable aspect of this genre.

Craig Thompson & Blankets

Craig Thompson's Blankets was a wonderful experience for me. I understand why there are varying opinions surrounding it, but I personally find it to be very impressive, and beautifully crafted.

Some of my favorite parts of the story were when Thompson recalled his experiences of sharing a bed with his younger brother. Thematically, his relationship with his brother represents his holistic struggle between submitting to the influences of his past and facing developing himself as he grown up independently. Craig also has similar conflicts concerning Raina, and his religion.

Often, Craig and his brother's experiences are cut short in some way by "reality," or facing adult expectations, which illustrates how he must ultimately defy dependency. Occasions which best represent this theme are when the boys create electric sparks with their bed sheets, pee on each other, and eventually get their own beds. For the first, the boys are disappointed when after sharing their exciting discovery with their parents, are told that it is not "little glittery sprites" in their bed, but merely static. Next, when their mother discovers the boys peeing on each other, Craig mentions that taking a shower to clean up rather than a bath signified an unspoken--and arguably unwanted--transition into adulthood. Lastly, after finally getting their own beds, the brothers end up sharing by choice, until "seeking refuge in each other's beds became completely inexcusable," which highlights the influence of outside pressures to grow out of childish behavior. As a whole, Craig's relationship with his brother is the most light hearted avenue of addressing individuality, a major theme in Blankets.

The Comic Book: Carl Barks

While reading for the forth week of class, Carl Barks' comics with Donald Duck were the most surprising to me. Although I grew up knowing Donald Duck's character, I had only watched the cartoons, and never read the comics. As a kid I found myself annoyed by Donald, mostly because of his voice but also his general manner of conducting himself. When it came down to my juvenile judgement, I always preferred other cartoons above Donald Duck.

However, I found that I did not have those hints of disgust while reading the comics. The Mad Chemist was one story that I read, and although Donald was still quite aloof, I found that it was enjoyable, and that the comics are much more appealing to me than the television cartoons. I think that this difference is due to the increased participation that is required of the audience in reading comics.

This characteristic relates the idea of audience participation with different kinds of media. With digital storytelling such as movies or television shows, the activity is external, and all that we have to do is ingest what is in front of us. Comics become much more personal because we fabricate the missing aspects of the story in our minds, which activates our imagination and increases our personal investment in the story. In other words, my experience with Donald Duck varied between the cartoons and comics because of the distinction between projected reality [comics] and physical reality [animation]. I believe that because of my imaginative nature, I am much more drawn to the internal activity that reading the Donald Duck comics allows as opposed to the forced imagery of animated stories.

The Comic Strip

Winsor McCay has remained one of my favorite illustrators ever since I was first introduced to his work last year. Conveniently enough for the purposes of the Literature of Comics and Graphic Narratives class, Little Nemo in Slumberland and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend are among my favorite bodies of work that I have come across not only for their artistic merit but the substance in their subject matter.

Upon a general reading of either strip, the audience can clearly understand that McCay presents us with dream sequences. However, after closer reading there is much more to be appreciated than a mere group of pictures.

The structure of the panels reflects the plot within them, as their size and shape often change according to the state in the dream, the characters within the dream, or the difference between being awake or asleep. Not only does this characteristic provide more meaning to what is happening within the strip, it also makes for a more visually interesting page. McCay also composes each frame to subtly indicate what may happen in the next panel, and thus creates a relatively seamless path for the reader to follow. For example, a character continuing to slump or fall over during the course of several panels may be leading up to the final "awakening" panel in which we see that the dreamer has fallen out of bed. McCay is able to combine finesse in all aspects of visual storytelling to produce a beautiful and sophisticated work that stands out as the pinnacle of comic strip creation.

I also found the differences between Little Nemo in Slumberland and Dream of a Rarebit Fiend to be intriguing. Although they both are categorized under "dreams," the two strips adopt contrasting approaches to how they address the subject. Little Nemo centers around children, seeing as Nemo himself is a small boy who wanders throughout his own dreamlands. Although he seems quite alarmed at certain points, the general tone is one of wonder and discovery. Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend on the other hand deals much more so with fear and insecurities. The latter also has adult characters, which I interpret to be a comment on the differences between adult and child mindsets. Whereas children typically approach the unknown with an absorbent mindset, adults are much more rigid in their uncertainty which results in much more frantic reactions to the situations presented in their dreams. But in both cases, the comic strips bring to surface issues that are relatable in the sense that many people have felt or thought about the subjects that McCay addresses, but never voice. Because of the universality contrasting the personal secrecy of McCay's subjects, readers can easily place themselves in the characters situation and can easily become emotionally invested in the episodes which is a valuable quality in any good piece of work.

Scott McCloud - Understanding Comics

Reading a text book in the format of a comic book itself was a new and thrilling experience for me. Hell yes, this is another reason why I love art school was the first thought that came to my mind as I considered the fact that most of my friends from back home were pouring over hours of writing lab reports while I was cozying up with some tea to read a comic about comics.

And indeed, it was a pretty pleasant experience. Coming from someone who doesn't know much beyond the surface level of comics, I feel much more knowledgeable after reading Understanding Comics, and a few aspects were particularly interesting to me. The first topic that stuck with me was the difference between Eastern and Western comics. Although I have always noticed that there is a clear visual difference between eastern and western comics, I had never pondered the reason behind why those variances exist. For example, McCloud mentioned that eastern comics are often characterized by more realistically rendered backgrounds contrasted by stylized and simpler characters. Up until this point, I assumed that anime, manga, and things of that sort were just different, and a little strange to be honest. It was interesting to hear, however, that this difference is due to the fact that Western comic culture rejected the new and radical pairing of different styles, which left Eastern cultures to embrace it as their own. I feel like this topic illustrates a key difference that exists between these two groups that is relevant beyond the world of comics and can be applied to a lot of current events.

The idea of the icon was another topic that I have been thinking about after reading Understanding Comics. While my instinct tells me that more realistic and rendered images are easier for audiences to relate to, McCloud argues that icons, or subjects shown at a basic level hit much closer to home. His reasoning behind this makes a lot of sense, because the lack of specificity in icons allows for our minds to fill in the details, and often place a part of ourselves in the characters or story.

Over the course of this class so far, I have enjoyed viewing comics on a deeper level and have grown to be interested in how they can comment on our society at large or even address humanity as a whole.