Week 7: Maus and The Legitimization of the Graphic Novel

This week I re-read Maus (after reading it for class in middle school). And found that I enjoyed it just as much the second time, as I did the first. That being said, this time around I was reading the graphic novel from the viewpoint of an adult. And it meant a lot more to me then it did when I was young.

I've always heard that Maus was an important novel. I assumed this was because of the story it tells–which is incredibly important–but also because of the way in which it is told. After learning more about the history of comics, I knew more of what to look for while re-reading this story.

What struck me the most by this story, is its ability to tell a difficult and serious story, in a way thats palatable for younger audiences. Perhaps Art Spiegelman is successful in this because of his use of symbolism in representing characters. The individuals in the story are human-like, but not human. Spiegelman uses cats to represent nazis and mice to represent jews. This clever portrayal dehumanizes a sensitive subject. The reader is still struck with incredible emotion while reading, but since the subjects aren't human, the images don't seem as graphic. The author represents himself in the story, as he interviews his father about his experiences in the Holocaust. In this presentation, the story feels more personal and it allows the reader to put themselves in Art's shoes.

Although a graphic image, if the author had depicted the characters as human instead of mouse, the image would've been much more disturbing, especially for younger audiences.

In the middle of the first book, Art Spiegelman places a comic within a comic (which has me wondering if he actually published it in an underground comic book). This comic depicts the story of a recently released prisoner and his mom who committed suicide. As a juxtaposition to the story of Maus, the characters are depicted as human. This brings the reader back to reality, after somewhat distancing themselves from the nonhuman characters in the story.



Above all, I appreciate the author's ability to tell a difficult story to readers, in an easily receivable way by use of symbolism and comics.

Week 1: The Arrival

This week I read The Arrival by Shaun Tan. I found it incredibly interesting to read a comic comprised solely of images, with no text. I have seen short wordless comics, however, I've never read a wordless comic of this length.

That being said, I have mixed feelings about this narrative, and the way in which it is told. I enjoyed the artistic quality, each frame is like a masterpiece of its own. The way that the artist uses the medium (graphic or charcoal) is exquisite, and this is the first time I've seen comics drawn in this amount of detail. Comics usually seem simplified, but this take is rather different.

That being said, the lack of words, mixed with the weird and unusual creatures and happenings, makes the story incredibly confusing at times. The reader is left attempting to piece the story together in their minds. Perhaps this is a tactic and delivery method that the author intended. This technique makes the reader think, and although I somewhat enjoyed it, things weren't 100% clear for me until we discussed the reading as a class. I think that I might've enjoyed the reading more, and gotten more out of it if the story was stripped of its "fantasy" and presented in a more straightforward way. In this form, I think that the wordless-ness would've been more effective.

In the end I feel as if this comic read more as a work of art, then a comic.

Week 6: Underground Comix

I was rather excited this week to dive into underground comics, as they push the envelope of political correctness and live in their own little world of publishing whatever they want. I started out by reading through the proto-underground Tijuana Bibles. I found this experience to be very different from any comic I've ever seen/read. These comics were written by and for adults, in a time in which pornography wasn't necessarily present. In this aspect it was interesting seeing comics used for this purpose, and it seems to play up the versatility of comics.

After this, I moved onto Gay Comix #1-3. After reading the Tijuana Bibles, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. That being said I found myself rather surprised by the material. The comics were written and drawn by LGBT artists, some of the comics were raunchy, however, some of them were merely just comics with LGBT representation. Published in the 1980s, it was clear that these comics were a source of community in a time in which many of these people were in hiding. In that sense, I can understand how these comics must've been very important at the time.

One of the most interesting comics for me in the book, was one that talked about a transgender author and his life. I can only imagine in the 80s how much of a struggle it must've been being transgender, and hearing first hand about it–written in the period–was very compelling to me. The experience was like going into a time machine, through the art style and first person description, it felt very sincere and personal. It is nice to see comics as an outlet for LGBT individuals to connect with each other and build a community in a time in which they were facing persecution from the outside world.

Week 5: The Emergence of the Graphic Novel

This week I read the graphic novel, Contract With God by Will Eisner. I found this story to be incredibly compelling and well done.

From the start I was blown away by the extremely detailed and expressive illustrations. I especially enjoyed how Eisner rendered water and rain in his work. His drawings have a very natural and emotional feel, and the colorless pen and ink help with that.

As a graphic design major, I always find myself analyzing the use of typography in art. That being said I found this graphic novel to have a very interesting use of type. The narrative story floats overtop of all the pictures, becoming a part of the illustration itself. In some of the frames, the text even interacts with the story and setting (such as the text bleeding when it's raining). The narrative font is also handwritten, adding a deep, personal sense to what is being said.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Will Eisner’s style in which he presents his stories. The illustrative qualities add a sense of depth that might be absent in a traditional comic format. I’ve never seen a similar style before, and I found myself more invested in the story because of it.

Week 4: The Comic Book

This week I decided to look into Hergé's work and read The Adventures of Tin Tin: Explorers on The Moon. I was excited to reach this point in the curriculum, as I'm an avid comic book reader, and this format is the most familiar to me.

The first thing that stuck out to me about this reading, were the vibrant—and plentiful—colors. Yes colors were present in the past readings we've done, but typically they were muted pastels, or just straight up black and white to save on printing costs.

I found the familiarity of the comic incredibly pleasing, and that came from multiple aspects. First, obviously the layout. The use of familiar dialogue boxes and directional lines gave a feeling of a contemporary comic book. As a side note, I also found it incredible interesting how the artist changes font between the narrator bubbles and the speech bubbles. Typically I've seen the bubbles change shape, or the text italicize, but in this comic the narrator's voice is in cursive. I've never seen this before, but I found it an interesting–and pleasing–element.

Aside from that, the main character, Tin Tin, and his dog Snowy, also felt very real and familiar. Prior to this, my only knowlege of Tin Tin was the (creepily motion capture animated) movie that came out six years ago. That being said, while reading the comic, I felt like I knew this character and had known him for quite a while, despite my lack of knowledge beforehand.