Salem Drago

One thing I thought that was very interesting about "Understanding Comics" is how the author said the more simplified a face is, the more we relate. I never thought of this before but it makes a lot of sense. Though hyper-realistic drawings are impressive, in the world of comics, they don't really belong. We may be able to have a connection with a character that is drawn in a very realistic style and admire them. However, when a character in a comic is more simplified, almost a simple circle with eyes, the reader cannot help but put themselves in that character's shoes. I also really liked how this book was written as an actual comic. Many books that start with "Understanding" or "The History of" tend to be very text heavy and often times boring. As soon as I simply saw the first page I knew this was nothing like an ordinary history book. Still being informative and educational but also a very fun read. Truly flipping the "history is boring&q

Right away I already really like that the people are draw as humanized mice. I also really like the style of it, using thick black lines to show shading. It makes every small panels seem like it is moving do to this way of shading.

The first comic I read was Mr. Natural and right away you can tell this seems to be an original copy as the pages seem to be yellowed with age. It also seems to be hand drawn, even the panels, due to the wobbly lines of them. As soon as you start reading it, presumingly Mr. Natural, is a strongly disliked character. Straight from the get go you see Mr. Natural steal from a beggar on the street to buy himself food, despite being well fed. Another thing I noticed is how cartoonish and almost child-like the illustrations are in this particular comic even though this is an underground comic. The next short comic within this same book is even more so out there and not afraid to be offensive. This the last one it heavily stereotyped African-Americans. However with this one it is heavily stereotyped of African-Americans and has strong sexual undertones / plot.