Manga

Manga is amazing, I personally love how edgy and exciting it is. I like the very harsh kind of manga, with lots of action. It's kinda like how we saw Akira in class. People liked it because the subject matter was a bit darker. Personally, I love that about manga. They go places that western film and media dare not. Of the few manga I've read, I really enjoyed Zombie Powder and Rurouni Kenshin. However, I prefer anime over manga, but I do feel the manga transfers really well into animation. Fooley Cooley and Evangelion are my two favorites in that department. Not to mention the Miyazaki movies are just fantastic.

European comics - Moebius

Moebius' comic strips are just amazing. They are so beautiful and well crafted and just surreal. The interesting thing about Moebius' work is that his comics really put a focus more on the artwork than the words. It's the opposite from how Maus was written. I like this kind of balance where the artwork is used to tell the story and the words just supplement it. It's not that the art is taking over, it's so interesting that it just draws you into his world. However, I think if I did try to make a comic like this, it would probably take me a really, really, really looooong time.

Mouse Guard

I don't know what it is but something just pulled me into these mouse guard books. Ive read two of them so far, Winter and Fall. It feels like they just drop you right into this world (or i could be missing something), but this world has a wonderful charm to it. It's kind of a cozy fantasy world and it makes me want more. The format of it is interesting, it's longer than a comic book, but shorter than a novel. I kinda like it, the story is nice, but the books are just short enough to make you wish for more and leave me feeling unsatisfied.

Web Comics

Webcomics, for me, have always been special. They are probably the type of comics I am most familiar with and have read the most. A lot of the websomic series I used to read about 10-12 years ago are now defunct. I don't follow webcomics much anymore, I dont know why, but the kinds of comics I liked to read as a kid were always based off of or dealing with video games. Here are a list of gaming webcomics I like:

-http://penny-arcade.com/comic
-http://www.vgcats.com/
-http://gucomics.com/comic/

They all are comics that kinda of poke fun or highlight things happening in the gaming community/industry. They are pretty entertaining. If I were to make a webcomic, that would be the kind I would make just because I am most familiar with the subject matter and format.

Stiches - David Small

Stitches once again goes along those lines of being an autobiographical comic. I really like these, or I guess I have just been lucky to GOOD ones. The stories of peoples lives, how they grew up to be who they are are really the most interesting to me. I am really lucky to have gotten to read it when Mr. Steiling put it down infront of me. I read the whole thing in one sitting, something I rarely do for anything ever. It was great. Why? Well, I felt like I could relate to Mr. Small's story. I feel like I have a story I could tell too, about my life. Mr. Small does a great job of getting the mood across, his feeling, communicating them. I think it's just incredibly beautiful, and his story never gets dull. It keeps moving just like life itself. Probably one of my favorite things I have read all year, I got really lucky.

Super Hero Comic - Deadpool

Of the very very very short list of super hero comics I have ever read, this one was by far my favorite. Deadpool is such a ridiculous and hilarious character. He's a mercenary, and he has the power of regeneration, so he really cant die. BUT he also had cancer, so he looks very ugly when he takes his mask off. I read the first 15 issues of Deadpool's skrull invasion. The skrulls come to earth to take it over, Deadpool secretly joins their team to train their soldiers, but manages to get them all to kill themselves. At another point in the comic, deadpool ends up fighting an enemy is a suit made of meat because he gets trapped in a meat locker. I think I really enjoyed these comics for their sense of humor and ridiculous gags. The art was also pretty well done for a comic nowadays. Really, reading deadpool is like candy, a treat. :D

The Elephant Vanishes - Haruki Murakami

I read through a few of the stories from Haruki Murakami's book, the Elephant Vanishes. I have not read anything quite like this. It's really a bit surreal, but also partially like a slice of life kind of thing. I am actually enjoying the slice of life comics a whole lot, it's probably just because they have interesting, fresh stories and good writing. My favorite story I've read from this book so far is "the second bakery attack." This couple are hungry one night and decided to rob a mcdonald's in order to satisfy some old spirits from the husbands past he had after he had robbed a bakery when he was younger. They rob.... a mcdonalds..... for burgers....... whaaaaaaaat. The wife even pays for the drinks. It was just weird, "hey we need to rob a bakery store so you feel better." I mean comeon, that is awesomely hilarious. I guess I'm really excited because I've never read content like this before, it's new and exciting, not to mention Murakami is a great writer and does a great job of describing all the nuances in the story.

Maus - Art Spiegelman

I read through both books of Maus. In my experience, I have never really read a whole lot of graphic novels, and really this was only the second autobiographical one I've read. It was just such an interesting story and crazy how it's all true. I can't believe how lucky Art's dad was to survive that whole mess. It definitely felt more like the pictures were in there to just aid the words, the telling of the story, which was the most important part. I really enjoyed how the story phased in and out of the story and the current time of him actually making the comic. Being able to use mice and pigs to show who was Jewish was really cool, especially when some people took their pig faces off and showed they were actually mice. Anyway, I really liked Maus for its well written, and interesting, story.

Craig Thompson and Will Eisner

So we had to read Craig Thompson's "Blankets" and Will Eisner's "A Contract With God." I'll start by saying, by far, I enjoyed Blankets much more than the Contract. It could just be because it is more contemporary, or because it deals with subject matter closer to my age group though. I really could not get into Will Eisner's work, it just was not very captivating, art or story wise. Blankets had great pacing and the characters in the story were very believable. The art style of it was also simple, but felt appropriate. They both dealt with religious themes and ideas though, which I personally do not like. I also feel Blankets was so well written that I really wanted more. More to the story. I wanted some kind of resolution. It seemed to be building up to this incredible revelation or something, then kinda just dragged on and died out towards the end. It was very unsatisfying and I don't know if I took away a message from it. Still it was very entertaining to read through, and again, maybe I'm just upset because it made me crave for something more.

Underground Comix

Again, with my limited amount of comic experience, I didn't know quite what to expect with underground comix (<-- the "X" is important). After reading a few, and in class, I found them to be hilarious, in subject matter and tone. Seriously, they are just ridiculous as far as humor goes. There was one in class about a super hero, he is flying along, when all of a sudden he sees a pretty girl. Naturally his first reaction is to go make love to her. As he's flying, his [male organ] bursts through his pants. His reaction is something to the effect of "Oh darn, there goes my penis." It's not necessarily my taste in subject matter, but the situations are just so absurd, they are funny.

I can totally see why these would be appealing when they came out. They feel kind of rebellious and spontaneous. The art isn't that great, but they definitely have charm.

Peanuts - Calvin & Hobbs - Little Nemo - Krazy & Ignatz

I might be considered a bit crazy, but I am not a huge fan of the Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbs. They are great and well put together, and have a very enjoyable sense of humor. They both handle some pretty mature ideas and messages and the art style is pretty cool too. I guess I have not spent enough time with them to fully appreciate them (specifically Calvin and Hobbs).

Little Nemo is really impressive though. I like how imaginative the dreams are, while still feeling grounded in reality. What am I saying.... they are pretty ridiculous, and I like it a lot! I guess I just like that feel, it could be the way it is written, mixed with the art style. It feels so well crafted, it feels.... good, I don't know how to explain.

My first few reads of Krazy and Ignatz made me confused. I just thought, "ok this is a random comic about a mouse who like to hit this cat with a brick." However, when it was explained in class about how sophisticated it was, I really started to appreciate what the comic was doing. It really is a pretty clever strip.

Scott McCloud - Understanding Comics

I love Scott McCloud's book, Understanding Comics. I read it last year over winter break because someone had highly suggested it, and I was not disappointed. I don't remember a lot of specifics from the book, but I do know that it has really made me question all my choices when it comes to making a piece of art or why I like certain things. Also, he is pretty big on recognizing patterns in art and history.

As for what Scott talks about in the book, I think it's great as far as picking things out that you don't really realize when you read a comic. For example, the passage of time between panels, images and text as icons, sequential movements, impact, ect ect.

I also watched his Ted talk. I have to say, he's a pretty nerdy guy. My favorite thing from the whole talk was his quote:

Visions:

Learn From Everyone
Follow No One
Watch for Patterns
Work like Hell

The Arrival - Shaun Tan

I had never heard of Shaun Tan, or any of his works before. On first thought of having to read a comic that was wordless, I imagined a more humorous, black and white, very simply drawn comic. I was really surprised when I saw every page was just full of amazing, rendered drawings. Seriously, it's just a gorgeous book. My favorite parts, drawing wise, are all the creatures and crazy architecture he has, especially the main characters.... dog... thing that he gets when he moves into his first apartment.

While "reading" through it, I felt that this book really shows how much power hand gestures can have. Since there are no words, hands seem to be the first line of communication (besides faces and other body language). The comic itself had some really cool pacing, and flash black moments. It uses a lot of sequential shots, kinda like if an animation was chopped up into its key frames.

I could relate to the story as well, both of my parents were immigrants/from recent immigrant families. I experienced this culture shock myself when I went back to Taiwan last summer and visited Malaysia. It's confusing and scary, and it really is like you're missing out completely on a whole different world.

Overall, I think this "comic" is really great, I really enjoyed experiencing it (it felt more like an experience, rather than reading) and I really hope I can do something so expressive in the future.

Max Erst - Thursday

Page 1
I'm not sure what to make of this first page. Initially, I thought this lady was practicing kung fu or training a rooster how to balance on a ball by threatening to destroy his wife's eggs if he does not comply. Her husband, or some random guy looks like he fell down the stairs. That's probably a bit literal.

Page 2
The rooster has hired a hitman to take revenge on the evil lady. They have kidnapped her and tied her to a lab table in order to torture her.

Page 3
They now humiliate her by making her perform a strip tease in front of a bunch of cocks (roosters!). She finds her sister dead in a coffin below the floor boards.

Page 4
The lady is exhausted from strip teasing all day and takes a nap.

Page 5
She is sent to her room to sleep where she is later killed by a group of highly trained ninja assassin roosters. Everyone rejoices in her death.

Page 6
They use her dead body and dress her up like normal, pretending she is alive to fool her friends and family into thinking nothing is wrong.