Personal Review - "Witchy"

Created by artist Ariel Slamet Ries, “Witchy” is a gorgeously executed webcomic with a colorful world, stylistically appealing characters, and fun visual comedy. The story features moody color palettes that help to convey the emotion in intense scenes and is one of the strongest artistic elements present, yet it is only one of many.

“Witchy” is one of my personal favorite webcomics for a variety of reasons, but primarily in how well the art and writing suit one another to create an immersive reading experience. Especially since the author is still a student, the art quality and attention to detail is astounding.

Even panel to panel, the changes in colors can be very drastic yet still feel nuanced and natural because of their parallel to the story. Ries takes great care in choosing appropriate tones for each panel which directly aids to the whimsical realism in every panel, an aspect not just desired but also necessary for the storytelling. Being set in an imagined land, it can be difficult to create a sense of believability that is rooted enough in realism to seem like it could exist, but also take full advantage of its creative potential. “Witchy”s worldbuilding is constructed to work side-by-side with Rie’s artistic decisions, as even the details of sketchy linework and roughed panel edges create a subtle “ancient” feeling as if the whole story were being told on withered parchment.

The development of online comics provides a more free platform for artists to create upon without the concern of studios or companies pushing to avoid discussing controversial topics or adhere to a brand name - an opportunity especially crucial for minority artists. Comics like “Witchy” take this opportunity to express themselves creatively and help to put the artist’s name into the world, since there is an incredible potential of reaching a wide audience with online media and is likely the present and future of comics.

Homework 14 - Monster Pop

Created by self-made illustrator Maya Kern, Monster Pop is a lively webcomic that features lovely color palettes, original musical interludes from the creator herself on ukulele, and quirky characters that feel as if they could be found on any college campus. The overall plot centers around the protagonist George, an enthusiastic and well-meaning yet naive cyclops who starts at Unity University with her best friend Franny among a lively, larger group of characters.

The webcomic uses its media form to expand the reading experience with music, and the illustrations themselves fluctuate over a period of time. Comparing the beginning style with the end may appear a little jarring at first, but the transition between them is essentially seamless and doesn’t affect the story experience.

In fact, it has a unique opportunity of showing the artistic development of a young creator in a more forgiving format that is easily accessible.

As the name suggests, a majority of the characters are at least part monster, and the people of this world approach this as a racial trait. Just as many people of color face stigma in our universe, the characters in Monster Pop find themselves in situations where they are judged or looked down on for their background.

The story also takes modern approaches to characters with a very diverse cast. Being a freelance illustrator, Kern creates and acknowledges her LGBTQ+ characters in a natural way, drawing experience from her own life to approach her comic with.

Of course, Monster Pop doesn’t just primarily focus on these elements, and the main arc of the story revolves around the shortcomings and struggles that people face in coming-of-age moments while still keeping its lighthearted day-to-day feeling. It is a webcomic I have been reading for around four years now, and don’t intend of stopping soon!

http://monsterpop.mayakern.com/

Personal Review - "Speak"

If you walk through Barnes and Noble on an average day, there’s usually a good chance of stumbling upon a popular book reimagined in a graphic novel format. Much like how movies adapt books for the big screen, there usually are a number of changes made in these comics to better suit the platform, yet likely not as many since the written word is a common element the two media forms share. However, despite that similarity, it isn’t often that I find a comic interpretation of a book that captures the integrity or feeling that the original source material is so well known for, and usually, the memory of the comic unfortunately blends into the memories of the original book.

Perhaps this common pattern is a part of the reason that the comic interpretation of “Speak” was as impactful as it was, being not just an outlier in its format but also debatably being a stronger story than the original novel because of how well the artist took advantage of the medium. After being exposed to and learning about other graphic novels as forms of literature, I sought to revisit this piece I read months ago with a new focus to see how this comic made a literary story beloved by English teachers everywhere even better.

Written by Laurie Halse Anderson, “Speak” follows the story of Melinda, a girl in ninth grade who comes to terms with and relives her trauma as a rape survivor by finding her voice. Published in 1999, the themes are incredibly relevant even to this day, when artist Emily Carroll adapted the tale for a new medium. Illustrated with heavy, thick black ink, Carroll’s illustrations bring a new sense of horror about Melinda’s experience and the struggles that plague her on a daily basis.

Words and people become harrowing shadows that haunt Melinda and trap her mentally and literally through composition on paper, an opportunity presented by the source material and very much emphasized during the character’s moments of crisis.

While much of the emotional impact is a result of the writing, the visuals pay close attention to the words and what the character is experiencing beyond what is said. This graphic novel interpretation succeeds so well not just as a result of the critically acclaimed writing, but the way that Carroll chooses to present the established themes in a way that literature could not achieve.

Melinda’s infatuation with cubism, for example, was discussed in the book yet taken to a new level with illustration. While the character might talk about how cubism moves her, the way that she sees herself as well as her teacher are two instances where Carroll chooses to show how that interest affects her worldview beyond what is just explicitly stated to the audience.

“Speak” the graphic novel was an entirely new experience for me - having read the novel before, I hadn’t expected to be as emotionally affected as I was by the piece. Carroll clearly had a lot of respect for Anderson’s story and sought to represent it as powerfully as Anderson had written it, a goal that I would say she certainly surpassed. Reading this was a breath of fresh air from the pattern of stories being told in new formats for economic benefit and this comic is one I would highly recommend, whether or not they had read the book beforehand.

Class 13 - "Rethinking Superheroes" Assessment

Question 1 - "What is your reaction to the text you just read?" (The Killing Joke)

Although I haven't had a lot of experience with the characters of the Joker and Batman, The Killing Joke made me feel sympathetic towards the Joker's character by introducing his backstory. I'd heard about this comic beforehand, but reading it through made me feel genuinely disturbed by the the Joker's torture mechanisms while still feeling pity for the unfortunate situation that drove him to become such a villain. I'm honestly very impressed at the emotional integrity the story has, given how short it is and the fact that a reader wouldn't neccessarily need a lot of knowledge of these characters to understand this comic. I also appreciated the fact that the story called out the Joker's malignant behavior for being unforgiveable while still trying to explain his reasoning, instead of plainly assigning "bad" qualities for the convenience of plot or trying to redeem his actions.

Question 2 - "What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work of which you were able to connect."

Surprisingly, I found myself connecting with the Joker's character more than I expected I would reading through this story. The character's motivations are all too familiar with a lot of American family experiences; a person desperately trying to make a career from their life's passion that unfortunately proves unsuccessful. Emotionally, I was able to connect with the Joker's fear of not being able to provide for his wife and child and the extent to which this fear drives him to work with untrustworthy people. The comic's use of flashbacks with poses that are paralleled between past and present is an effective tool to show how the Joker's past continues to influence him, and how it almost haunt him in a sense - an experience that anyone who has experienced regret is familiar with.


Question 3 - "What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use, and what changes would you make?"

Given a choice, if I were to make an adaptation of this story, I would pick film due to its potential to reach a wide audience and to take advantage of this show of humanity with actors who could likely find personal experience to draw inspiration from. Of course with a feature-length film, there would have to be a driving conflict that could span over the course of several hours, but this conflict should be drawn from the same force as in the comic while still keeping the focus on Batman and Joker's past and how the two histories parallel and contrast. The central problem with Barbara and her father might be the main element to change in the film, or expanded to work upon in a more complex way suitable for a movie. Something that I would really want to keep from the story is the chilling reveal of the Joker's backstory and Batman's desperation to change the Joker out of fear for his own life, and especially how the comic shows two people faced with similar tragedies and their two contrasting ways of coping with them.

Homework 13 - Hellboy's Humanity

Hellboy stands apart from traditional superhero comics with a distinctive abstracted inky art style, a gritty violent world, and most of all, a surprisingly relatable protagonist. While other series with similarly dark worlds have a tendency to focus on the character’s emotional devastation and struggles, Hellboy recognizes these realities while still making Hellboy hilariously human.

A trademark of this time period for comics was the introduction of more fleshed out characters with personal problems in order for the audience to empathize with and relate to. Hellboy shows this element with the character’s innate desire to be liked by people, which is the motivation for his decision to join the paranormal investigation team, as well as his choice to whittle down his horns to appear more appealing to others. Both of these are very relatable as Hellboy’s desire to be liked is one we can all understand.

However, what makes Hellboy stand out is his realistic, yet very funny, way of reacting to horrifyingly paranormal situations.

In this, the audience can see not a hero with untouchable powers, but themselves after a long day of work or having to deal with people they can’t stand. This doesn’t take away from Hellboy’s struggles at all, either; the humor shows how often he has to face circumstances like this and despite how tired he is of seeing ridiculous danger over and over again, he still throws himself headfirst into peril to protect others.

Hellboy shows a story that shows what happens when people get thrown into impossibly insane situations and how we keep pushing through with sarcastic annoyance. This makes the series an inventive and entertaining experience as the audience goes through supernatural circumstances in an actually realistic way.

Homework 12 - Ms. Marvel!

As a woman, the experiences of reading the original origins of Wonder Woman compared to that of the 2014 Ms. Marvel are uniquely empowering. Wonder Woman origins connected feminine strength to the lineage of gods and drew a parallel between a sense of untouchable power and the identity of being a woman. However, the first two issues of 2014 Ms. Marvel touch on a different type of strength; one brought from the reality of uncomfortable colored female youth in a present-day world.

The first two issues outline the quick back-and-forth power struggle that Kamala feels after becoming Ms. Marvel. While civilians initially fawn over her, the comments soon become derogatory with comments about her outfit.

It’s evident in the writing that Ms. Marvel was written by a woman, as the feeling of being powerful to powerless is so present in the female experience on a day-to-day basis, and having superpowers is no exception. Kamala faces the lack of cultural respect when Zoe insults her friends, and the lack of freedom in her own house as she calls out her own parents for their gendered stigma.



Even after receiving the Ms. Marvel powers, Kamala’s internal monologue and the visual illustrations almost look horrific instead of powerful; much like a representation of fitting into your own body in a society that simultaneously antagonizes and worships the female figure.



At first glance, it may appear as though this version might be more depressing than empowering, but this isn’t the case at all. Kamala stubbornly pushes through all these boundaries by sneaking out of her own house and quickly learning how to use the powers she was bestowed with. Independent growth despite external circumstances is a relatable and important experience to show in media, which is something that Ms. Marvel achieves as it brings a newfound and personal display of female empowerment.

Homework 11 - How "Asterios Polyp" uses drawings as literary themes

David Mazzucchelli’s “Asterios Polyp” carefully delivers its literary themes both through writing and art, but primarily through powerfully constructed visuals that strengthen an already brilliantly created story. This graphic novel is a primary example of the level of complexity and nuance that the media form of comics can provide for a story, where both writing and art compliment each other. Not only is this a show of the possibility that comics as a platform can achieve, I believe that this story is at its strongest in this form due to Mazzucchelli’s artistic decisions.

Mazzucchelli uses the theme of opposite halves through Asterios’ story, notably through the differences between him and his wife and their contrasting types of intelligence.

By using sketchy, organic lines to emphasize Hana’s creative brilliance and symmetrical, formulaic 3D shapes to show Asterios’ logistic intelligence, Mazzucchelli creates a visual theme from the written characters. During their arguments, the drawing styles become increasingly contrasted as their differences become the source of their conflicts; an effect that could only be achieved in this type of media and would have been lost to the audience with just words. Even as a film, the details like the different font types or speech bubble shapes would have been lost.

This visual theme established early on impacts the ending once the two come together after a long period of separation and begin to intellectually meet more in the middle. As Hana embraces a more logical approach to her new artwork series and Asterios allows himself to be flawed, their speech bubbles, which had always been separated, intertwine and overlap for the first time, signifying their growth as individuals and as a couple.

The very nature of comics requires a balance between writing and art, yet some stories use this to their advantage more than others. “Asterios Polyp” is a story that uses this format to its fullest potential, creating a brilliant work of art by utilizing the strengths of the comic medium.