Graphic Literature: Getting longer. (3pts)

Some of my earliest memories of graphic literature are from the Geronimo Stilton books I read back in elementary school. I guess you could classify them as an illustrated novel, since the pages would alternate between having drawings and then words, going back and forth with the occasional spread to emphasize a climax in the story. Most stories were self-contained, and the first spread of every book had an illustration of Geronimo’s workplace showing off all the characters of the series, and each book that you read you’d be able to recognize more of them.



The reason I bring this up is because the work I chose to read this week, Jeff Smith’s bone, gives me very similar vibes to the Geronimo Stilton franchise. They do differ in one way though, while Stilton feels like an evolution of a picture storybook like Goodnight Moon or If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Bone feels like an extension of a comics strip like peanuts or Ducktales. The humor is quick and snappy, most of it being driven by visual gags. From a tiny bug having an enormous older brother to an entire foot of snow falling at once to show off the foretold rapid change of seasons, bone has a tight sense of humor. Jokes are fired off rapid fire, so even if one gag isn’t all that funny the next one might land better. I think that some variance in panel layout could add a bit more to the gags but even as it is Bone works well and is easy to read, much like its Sunday funnies forefathers. 


As for past experiences with Literary Classics as comics, my high school library had a few manga styled copies of the scarlet letter, and from what I recall it was used by a few people whose only form of reading was manga & comics. For this class I looked at Journey to the center of earth. While the art is a little rigid, it is counterbalanced by the quickened pace brought out by the 60 page limit. I think it does a good job at communicating the story and I especially like how it communicates darkness by using line art in contrast to full color in the light.   


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comics By Women: Different perspectives. (12 points)

Image
  Comics by women: Different perspectives. (12 points)  Back in elementary school, I always assumed that girls were better artists then boys, since girls had some pretty nice handwriting while us boys often got work sent back to us because the teacher couldn’t read our chicken scratch. Even today, I attend an art school where my female peers outnumber the males by quite a large margin. As such, it makes me wonder how many great artists were suppressed throughout history because they were women. Picasso, Dali, Da Vinci - All men hailing from a time when art made by women was not publicly accepted and this left out of the pages of history. Today however things are finally different and girl creatives can finally have their work published and recognized by the public. Reading the featured comics this week has my interests for varied perspectives piqued.   This One Summer by Jillian and Marika Tamaki is a really interesting coming of age story exploring a wide range of emotions and how the
Read more

Craig Thompson & Will Eisner: Nothing to hide (9 Points)

Understanding. A desire that exists deep within all people. We want to be able to bear our full selves to someone and have them understand and accept us. It is such a strong desire we often expect people to understand our actions and expectations, because deep down we’re all the same… right?  And if we can’t find acceptance or understanding we close ourselves off, until something inevitably breaks down the doors once again. It is this concept that I believe is explored to an intimate degree in Eisner and Thompson’s works. Einser's Novels can be considered case studies into the lives of his subjects, most of them being tragedies. “Contract With God” explores the life of a man who had convinced himself that he had made a deal with God, if he does good, no bad will befall him. He spent his life adhering to a contract that only he had signed, and when his adopted daughter met an unfortunate and early death, he felt betrayed beyond belief. An intimate and private contract between him an
Read more

The Arrival: Stranger in a Strange Land (3 Points)

Reading "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan is a rather unique experience for me in more ways than one. Everything from its lack of legible text, be it transcribed character dialogue or written word within the story, to its extremely detailed and surreal imagery, to its heavy reliance on moment to moment action and expression to tell a story, it is certainly not your typical comic book.  I would like to talk about its extremely strong visual based worldbuilding. Without an ounce of text to explain the workings of this unusual almost alien world that our assumedly human cast lives in, the locals manage to feel tangible, real even. I think this is because of the feelings that the places give off are rather universal and relatable, rather than their appearance. The “food shop” family’s story of escaping these enormous, featureless men with unstoppable vacuums that deposit their victims directly into their flaming backpacks is not only a fearsome and awe inspiring image, but it is also re
Read more