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...

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.

Early on reading Will Eisner's "Life on Another Planet", I noticed one major difference between previous comics we've read in class. The one main difference being the lack of borders. Many of the panels either blend into the page or fill out into an environment-like panel. Speech bubbles also do not follow the "rule of borders" as they overlap other parts of the page and even panels. In "Blankets" written by Craig Thompson, it also plays with the use of panels. In the sense that there are only really 3-5 panels on a page at a time. This graphic novel also often has a full page of a panel almost like an illustration. The graphic novel also has a different style compared to the usual comic style we've studied previously. The style is almost a thick scratchy-like line weight.

In "Jack Cole and Plastic Man" the style of the comic is different. Instead of the usual plain paper used, it made up of a dot-like pattern. Previous comics read in the past would be colored flat. However in this particular comic, it is all dot work. This dot-work technique is one that was continuously used from this point on. From many other comics to even fine art during the pop art era.

In the "Little Nemo: In the Palace of Ice" shows an interesting comic technique of having a narrative-like text in the spaces of each box. The text serving a purpose of explaining a deeper explanation into the scene dialogue doesn't tell. The text is written almost as if the comic is the script for a movie and the narrative text is directive notes of each scene. In "The Complete Peanuts Vol. 1" each page has multiple stories in it as each comic strip (4-5 panels) tells a encounter or small story. Some comic strips being as simple as showing the weather and the passing of two characters without proper dialogue to each other. One thing particularly interesting about this comic is how different the style is compared to the Charlie Brown we know of today. Despite the different style, we are still aware this is a Charlie Brown comic. The next comic I read was "Calvin and Hobbes: Something Under the Bed". With this comic we get closer to how we see most...

"The Arrival" by Shaun Tan is a beautifully orchestrated comic that is able to have an in depth story whilst having no dialogue. Simply by showing facial expression, having the pages themselves change color and the use of backstories help the reader get a complete understanding of the story.  The story starts of with either the husband or older brother going off to a new country he doesn't know the language of. Being an immigrant or even simply visiting a new country can be intimidating. Especially when you don't know the language spoken there. Throughout the story, the man goes around this foreign place encountering natives as his journey progresses. Each person he comes across has a dark backstory about their lives. We know we are witnessing backstories because of the paper of the comic turns a different color and the overall mood changes. By simply having these small details within the comic, it brings this simple comic to a whole new level of genius artwork.