Reading Little Nemo in Slumberland was a blast. I was completely surprised at how good it was for a comic made so early in the history of the medium. I liked seeing how the captions progressed out of the panels, and how the panels were no longer numbered. It was amazing to see the variety of panel sizes and shapes and how Winsor McCay put them to use. The subject matter of dreams was perfect for exploring
the possibilities in regards to panel sizes and the outlandish stories
that would fit them. To me, it seems that some of the comics that came after Winsor McCay didn't really look back and utilize what McCay had learned. Although the stories were all essentially the same in a way, it allowed McCay to focus on the artistic aspect of comics and that really shines through. The quality of the art was really high as well. Overall I was incredibly impressed and thoroughly enjoyed reading them.
I also read Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton, which is hilarious. I honestly wish I was better read in the topics she covers to properly understand the context of her jokes. Some of my favorite strips include the ones about the French Revolution, Crusoe, the Nancy Drew Cover interpretations, and the Mystery Solving Teens. Her infusion of ridiculous modern humor to stale subject matter piqued my interest. The exaggerated expressions of her characters really bring home the humor. The quality of the art really impressed me. It had great costume design and it was a breath of fresh air in contrast to what I usually think of as "the funnies". I find it really interesting how the web comic has become the replacement for the funny papers. It's also disheartening that they don't get paid very much and move on to other projects once they get recognized, which only makes sense. I hope that comics of quality, such as Kate Beaton's have a place out there.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Week 2: Understanding Comics
Every reading of McCloud's Understanding Comics rekindles in me an excitement about comics as a medium of expression. One of the most interesting points in the comic is when McCloud broke down comics into its essentials. The triangle diagram he drew, where that showed the different ways that realism can be abstracted, is something every artist would need to see in order to better understand the capabilities and scope of the medium. Overall, my favorite section is the one on closure. To me, the space between panels and how a sequence is understood by the mind is really fascinating. That section had my mind racing, thinking of which type of panel progressions would be best to elicit what kind of mood. I started thinking about moment-to-moment transitions to make the reader note the more subtle aspects of a character's physical tics or to experience an action scene moment by moment as if time had slowed down. The fact that the mind connects two separate images, and more particularly makes the contextual assumptions it makes in assuming the time that passes between them is great evidence of what pattern following story-makers humans are. The charts he made of the frequency of certain specific panels was really as well interesting, since it showed how many artists have explored the territory and which grooves they settled into.
On this second reading I did notice that I had a few quibbles with McCloud. I didn't quite agree on his idea that the more iconic an image is, the more likely I'm to be immersed in that world. If that were true I'd be immersed in the world of mickey mouse, as opposed to the strange world of Moebius' creation, which is what preoccupies my mind right now. I wonder how do movies factor into this equation, because I know I get thoroughly immersed in them, even though they present photo-realistic imagery. I'm not sure whether audience involvement is so highly determined by how much "the audience identifies with a story's characters" as McCloud states. Some stories have thoroughly repulsive characters, but still lead to an engaging and involving story.
On this second reading I did notice that I had a few quibbles with McCloud. I didn't quite agree on his idea that the more iconic an image is, the more likely I'm to be immersed in that world. If that were true I'd be immersed in the world of mickey mouse, as opposed to the strange world of Moebius' creation, which is what preoccupies my mind right now. I wonder how do movies factor into this equation, because I know I get thoroughly immersed in them, even though they present photo-realistic imagery. I'm not sure whether audience involvement is so highly determined by how much "the audience identifies with a story's characters" as McCloud states. Some stories have thoroughly repulsive characters, but still lead to an engaging and involving story.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Week 1: Wordless Comics
How can wordless comics like The Arrival tell complex stories without using words?
In The Arrival Shaun Tan tells a complex story without using words by employing a variety of visual devices. These devices hold the reader's hand during the more complicated parts of the story, and tell him that everything is going to be okay. Near the beginning of the story, a simple sequence of zooming panels focusing in on a picture of a character's younger self avoids an overt notation of a change in time and successfully initiates a flashback. A similar flashback occurs later with the juxtaposition of two panels, each of which shows a man holding the exact same pose, but the men differ greatly in age. This juxtaposition effectively links the two as the same person in the reader's mind. The similarity of the character's clothes within the flashback to those worn in the present reinforces that idea, as does the repetition of the technique to exit the sequence.
Other plot elements such as long passages of time and feelings of monotony are created by the repetition of identically sized panels. A beautiful example of this is right after the character proceeds to send money he got from work back to the family, where a plant of some sort is shown to transform and change with the seasons over a two page spread. That section, along with the consequent changes that might occur over such a time, such as the birth of children for the flying creature outside the main character's window, reinforce the idea that the plant wasn't just going through the transformation over the period of a single day.
Alongside these techniques, the limited conversations between characters are handled mainly through gesture or, as in one instance, by the act of drawing the message. The story, being one about immigration, lends itself to having little character to character conversation. The lack of understandable written words both for the character and the reader groups the two together. This immerses the reader into having a shared experience with the character.
I was fully immersed in the story and, to me, the synergy of the message of the story with the approach of telling it is what struck me the most. It's very well orchestrated. It's done so well that while searching for some semblance of meaning within that strange world, I, just like the character, slowly began to get used to it.
In The Arrival Shaun Tan tells a complex story without using words by employing a variety of visual devices. These devices hold the reader's hand during the more complicated parts of the story, and tell him that everything is going to be okay. Near the beginning of the story, a simple sequence of zooming panels focusing in on a picture of a character's younger self avoids an overt notation of a change in time and successfully initiates a flashback. A similar flashback occurs later with the juxtaposition of two panels, each of which shows a man holding the exact same pose, but the men differ greatly in age. This juxtaposition effectively links the two as the same person in the reader's mind. The similarity of the character's clothes within the flashback to those worn in the present reinforces that idea, as does the repetition of the technique to exit the sequence.
Other plot elements such as long passages of time and feelings of monotony are created by the repetition of identically sized panels. A beautiful example of this is right after the character proceeds to send money he got from work back to the family, where a plant of some sort is shown to transform and change with the seasons over a two page spread. That section, along with the consequent changes that might occur over such a time, such as the birth of children for the flying creature outside the main character's window, reinforce the idea that the plant wasn't just going through the transformation over the period of a single day.
Alongside these techniques, the limited conversations between characters are handled mainly through gesture or, as in one instance, by the act of drawing the message. The story, being one about immigration, lends itself to having little character to character conversation. The lack of understandable written words both for the character and the reader groups the two together. This immerses the reader into having a shared experience with the character.
I was fully immersed in the story and, to me, the synergy of the message of the story with the approach of telling it is what struck me the most. It's very well orchestrated. It's done so well that while searching for some semblance of meaning within that strange world, I, just like the character, slowly began to get used to it.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Max Ernst: A Week Of Kindness
1st page:
A man fell down some stairs, a woman is gesturing in front seemingly taken aback by a rooster balancing on a ball. She dropped her basket of eggs.
2nd page:
A half bird half human creature looks over the body of a woman on a table. He seems to be in a laboratory of some kind, noting the books and the bottles on the bunson burner. The creature is probably ready to study this woman.
3rd page:
Rooster headed men opened up a coffin in a crypt of sorts. One of whom is holding a lantern and
4th page:
Two rooster-heads are examining some piece of fabric while a woman lays on the cover of another crypt
5th page:
A rooster-headed man shows high emotion at the sight of the murder of his wife. A rooster sits on the bed and the ground, they are either a portent of doom, or they pecked the poor woman to death.
6th page:
One woman tries to block a rooster headed creature from coming into the room by pushing against a cabinet that's against the door. Another woman in the room is looking a bit upset.
A man fell down some stairs, a woman is gesturing in front seemingly taken aback by a rooster balancing on a ball. She dropped her basket of eggs.
2nd page:
A half bird half human creature looks over the body of a woman on a table. He seems to be in a laboratory of some kind, noting the books and the bottles on the bunson burner. The creature is probably ready to study this woman.
3rd page:
Rooster headed men opened up a coffin in a crypt of sorts. One of whom is holding a lantern and
4th page:
Two rooster-heads are examining some piece of fabric while a woman lays on the cover of another crypt
5th page:
A rooster-headed man shows high emotion at the sight of the murder of his wife. A rooster sits on the bed and the ground, they are either a portent of doom, or they pecked the poor woman to death.
6th page:
One woman tries to block a rooster headed creature from coming into the room by pushing against a cabinet that's against the door. Another woman in the room is looking a bit upset.
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