The Arrival- REWRITE

I believe that wordless stories are truly underestimated, considering how few of them are around.  The silliest aspect of this is that it most likely derives from the thought that “picture books are for children”.  However, I don’t think a mere child would be able to understand Shaun Tan’s The Arrival because they quite simply haven’t experienced enough in life to decode what was happening in the pictures. 

Actually, I think it’s rather sad that our library put the book in the children’s section just because it has pictures and no words.  It reminds me of when I was a kid and loved to look at illustrated books because I loved to look at the artwork and yet my parents would refuse to buy them for me.  They told me that I needed to “start growing up” and getting chapter books as was required of my age level.  Is it immature to appreciate story telling on a more basic level? I have always believed that picture books are in fact MORE thought provoking.  Isn’t there a saying that a picture is a thousand words?  Drawings can be interpreted any number of ways and can also be universally understood.  Words have a lot more restrictions. 

Considering the majority of our majors in this class are in the visual arts, we all understand the importance of visual communication as well as comprehend just how difficult it can be when we can’t put language into the work.  Even children’s book illustrations take a lot of thought and redoing so that the finished piece evokes in the readers the emotions and thoughts the author wants them to…and that’s for children.  Imagine how many times Shaun Tan had to redo just one of those panels to do the same thing for adults, even if he had his short cuts.

I wonder if anyone outside of the “art world” appreciates this work as much as we do?  I mean, this particular novel did win awards since it’s obviously well done, depicting a clear and concise story in an absolutely extraordinary world that he created himself.  On the other hand, we know how much effort goes into just planning such a project.  Therefore, I feel as if everything, from the composition in each panel to how Tan masterfully paced out the super complex pictures from the “breather” pages, is kind of lost to the general public…and that is truly a shame.

Teh Webcomics

It was nice to see that on the list of URLs we received from teach, I had already read at least two of them.  This allowed me to get familiar with one more new comic so that I could make a comparison of what I have already known against something I wasn’t expecting.  Thus, we have the melding of YU+ME, Shadoweyes, and Hark A Vagrant all in one post. 

           

The biggest thing about webcomics is that they are entirely self-motivated so anything goes with updating.  I have followed a few in the past where they update once a week and a fair amount of story happens per page, which makes following the comic online very enjoyable because you have something to look forward to per week.  However, most that I have started have fallen to the hiatus monster where the artist just had no idea where their own story was going or it was taken up too much of their time.  Even YU+ME fell under this trap for several weeks and I was very worried that it was never going to come back to finish.  Thankfully, it did because the story in that comic is beautiful and weird at the same time.  The primary reason for this fall from grace is most often caused by the fact that the author is trying to make a full web comic page, lined and colored, once per week without fail…with no money income from it other than a few outside commissions.  Not only that, but there is a ton of pressure coming in from the fans to make a fantastic page each week or they may lose viewers.  At least in a print comic, what you buy is what you get for that issue and you must understand how quickly they need to make the artwork.  Self-published webcomics don’t have the understanding from their readers most often.

 Many of the traditional webcomics fall under this fashion where it is trying desperately to be like a real comic book but online and free to the general public.  Shadoweyes also does this even though it is a newer comic.  What is nice about Shadoweyes is that the artist brings a new style with the paneling and line-work; mimicking the progress we have seen in the more recent print comics such as Batwoman. All of the characters are so squishy! And the action scenes plus the design of the hero look super cool and edgy. 

Hark a Vagrant I initially wouldn’t have even considered a webcomic at first glance because of how many traditional comics I had been reading.  They aren’t even one panel!  They are a few drawings if that.  However, if you consider what most comics do and apply it to what this webcomic is doing you can see how it matches it’s title.  In the traditional graphic narrative we have set characters always in a line of motion display and carrying out a story line through a two-dimensional space-time continuum.  Hark a Vagrant also does this with a few key medieval characters floating in space that look as if they jumped off a thousand year old tapestry.  They are from the time line that then follows beneath their feet in an absolutely hilarious narration.  I do believe that this qualifies as a full graphic webcomic and a very good one at that.  Not to mention that it is unconventional and successful.  I would much rather read something like this per week that I know will have a start, finish, and be entertaining every time it updates.

I am greatly looking forward to the future of comics if it is going to keep progressing this way!

Batwoman- Greg Rucka and J. H. Williams III

I had been putting off reading the Batwoman comics for some time and I don’t know if it was because of being too busy or not wanting to get invested in a new series just yet.  I think I was also a tad bit scared of the style that was displayed on the cover.  So, I was really appreciative of this class for half forcing me to pick at least the Effigy up because I had no idea what I was missing out on.  It only took the first couple of pages to have me completely and utterly hooked on this series to the point of putting all things to the side until I can finish what I can get my hands on.  Everything that I loved about Asterios Polyp is displayed in this super hero comic but to more epic proportions.

First off, the dependence of color use and line to not only carry the narrative but also reinforce the character of the protagonist is mind blowing because this is now something that is happening constantly in graphic novels.  The colors are minimalistic but have a punch to them such as the fire engine red used for the protagonist’s hair as well as her alter-ego displaying how she must always carry that other side of her WITH her at all times with no stop.  This is mirrored in the narrative itself when she can’t rest or let herself heal until she has defeated the major threat to her city.  That is another thing I love about the writing in the novel.  The main character is strong with weaknesses that don’t really hinder her but just create another challenge for her to over come and grow from.  This isn’t seen in many female super heroes even now in days.  Also, her superhero design isn’t nearly as risqué as many of the other female heroes showing that she even deserves more respect from her male audience. 

Next, the layout of the registers and difference in panel structure has a very new and fresh approach without overstepping the boundary into fine arts, much like Arkham Asylum did when displaying the madness of the Joker’s mind.  It is very graphic but it becomes one with the narrative which is new to the professional super-hero comic industry.  Even now in school, many teachers will advise students drawing comics not to do anything more than the box layouts because nothing else sells in the industry.  Therefore, it is nice to see them being proven wrong in what I can easily say is the best new super-hero comic out to date.  If the reader looks closely, the pages actually have foreshadowing BUILT INTO the panels without the audience realizing it, creating a sense of foreboding and that they are missing something crucial. 

All I can say from here is that if this is where the future of the printed comic book industry is going, they will be getting a lot more of my money so that I can collect these brilliant works of art.  

Asterios Polyp

Right off the bat, I can tell you that I love love LOVE the artistic style of this comic and it captivated me from just the cover.  I feel that if a quote on quote “normal” person wanted to really see the world through an artist’s eyes, they need not look further than this book on the shelves.  I think the line work and color use in total are what give it the edge above the other competitors as one of the most beloved graphic novels.  Obviously, the credit for that success isn’t purely because of the artistry and the writing is pretty fantastic as well.  In fact, the text itself copies the interesting things the registers (or lack there of!) does throughout the novel to carry the narrative in a fun and interesting way.

I think my favorite thing about this particular artistic style is that everything is about the structure of the layout, which strengthens not only the narrative but also the character of the protagonist and that is an entirely new experience for me.  Polyp is an architecture artist purely focused on the design on said building on paper.  Therefore, the world of the comic is shown in a very structural yet unconventional way, for you can’t be a world renowned artist for doing what everyone else did.  His brother also EXPLAINS this to the viewer so that even the dullest person can understand how different people see the world in very different ways.  I think those pages were my favorite because it visually represented the challenge of people trying to meld their worlds with others when it is visibly obvious that it wouldn’t work.  I feel like that was the last step before every reader could relate to this work.

Speaking from an artist’s standpoint, I could also finally see what our instructor was talking about while comparing comics with animation.  Before, I could only kind of see it.  Yeah they are both kinds of graphic narrative that goes frame by frame, choosing “camera” angles for every panel to reinforce what the author wants the reader to be feeling.  However, there was a final piece missing that could have only been found in this novel.  The style of character drawing for this piece of work is almost an exact replica of what is favored by animators.  I would know, I am dating one.  There is a seamless line quality that I have always appreciated from animators’ drawing styles that perfectly displays the character’s movement, personality and expression without ever having to change a line.  Also, the play on shapes to build underlying character comes so naturally to them that I sometimes get jealous.  All of this I found in the art style of Asterios Polyp and it keeps making me want to come back for more.

Persepolis

The greatest thing about reading Persepolis is that you can tell right off the bat that the comic wasn’t about the quality of the drawing, but instead the quality of the storytelling.  Much like Maus, the style is very blocky with heavy-handed lines and even less detailing in the surroundings.  However, what is truly important to understand comes across immediately which is very important for this kind of story because if the audience is not familiar with the history they need to still be able to submerse himself or herself in the retelling of the author’s life.  For instance, I had no idea what this woman was talking about concerning the Islamic Revolution but I could still go on reading the comic because of how simple and direct both the visuals and the writing was.  All of the important factors were still there and it was actually really interesting to see the small details that were deemed worthy enough to make it through the graphic representation of her people.  For example, you can easily see the differences between different characters even if it is simple changes in a few lines in the face since most were wearing veils.  Even with this style that most would consider child-like at best, it can quite easily demonstrates very strong ideas with just one panel.  If it were too detailed the book wouldn’t have worked. 

It is also easier to see such details such as the blatant differences in culture between her nation on ours, even if that wasn’t what the author had intended with this piece.  In fact, I am almost sure that she was simply attempting to be as honest as she could with her storytelling that she did her best to document what her people are actually like, which is absolutely fascinating.  These are small observations such as the blatant difference in body types and obvious graphic patterns in everything and everyone.  If it were an American telling this tale, I don’t think it would have been as beautiful even if the technical skills were better.  Sad to say, I don’t feel as if we have as much culture as the other nations because we are a hodge podge of many different nations.  This girl’s culture is so infused with her sense of being that I don’t think she gave a second thought to some random tiger being in a panel with her or the organization of people to look like a textile pattern. 

Last but not least, as I mentioned before, the honesty of her storytelling is exemplified in everything she did for the comic.  The greatest thing I realized was that she made it quite clear she wasn’t trying to make either side of the conflict look pretty.  She easily pointed out all of the hypocrisy in both her arguments and those of her parents as being part of the Islamic Revolution.  It makes for quite the emotional roller coaster of a reading experience.