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.

Homework 10 - "Is Anime Art?"

Recent events in the Computer Animation department have caused a wave of thinking among the programs’ students, primarily in reference to anime and its place in the Western world of animation. Without divulging into the details, it was made clear to the students that not only that the faculty adamantly believes anime and manga have no place in their students’ work whatsoever, but additionally that the genre isn’t a successful form of art at all due to its “repetitive nature”. Stereotypically referring to art students and anime, it is perhaps understandable where the hesitation for the style may come from, but especially after reading Osamu Tezuka’s “Phoenix” I believe it is impossible and unreasonable to box an entire genre of art into one label as “good” or “bad” media, and that this genre is undeniably a form of art.

“Phoenix” is a beautifully constructed story that demands the reader to question what it means to experience life as a human, told through expressively bold artwork that evokes feelings that the reader is perhaps not familiar with, but understands.

When Leon is first brought back to life after falling from the air car, his journey back into the world of the living is jarring and disruptive from the calm that death brought. The straight lines across the panels are interrupted by Leon’s presence as the two try to coexist in the same space.

Even page to page, the novel emits extremely different vibes and styles to evoke different feelings. From highly exaggerated goofy drawings to show how inhumane the people appear, to heavy stitched lines emphasizing the weight and anger the characters feel, and again to warped angles and stretched anatomy to stress the pace of the story moment, there is nothing “repetitive” about this work at all.

Even within just one section of one series, “Phoenix” provides more than enough evidence to the versatility of the anime and manga art style with a unique art direction that serves its story effectively and uniquely.

Homework 9 - What makes international comics different?

To an American reader, a lot of international comics appear to have a very different feeling to their content compared to the works in the United States. While reading through a variety of stories from European countries, I sought to theorize on the main difference in the stories that emerge from these two continents, and why there seems to be such a difference in style that can be picked up on in certain types of stories. After contemplating the contrast, I’ve discovered a potential reasoning for the development in styles, which may be the result of the difference in the economics of creating comics between these cultures.

A primary element in European comics that characterizes the stories is the unapologetic lack of censorship across the board over various mediums. While obviously present in American comics, the European comics had a pattern of featuring sex, drugs, and/or violence for just the sake of doing so. While such approaches to the stories might ward away American customers, European comics use it to their benefit to appeal to their own audiences as an unapologetic art form.

Another element of European comics is the free-form way of storytelling that often appears in comics, as there seems to be a priority of the art direction over a concise story plot. Many of the styles even in serialized stories appears experimental and beautifully detailed, and are given compositional and story priority.

Due to this, it can be difficult to create a market for serialized comics as the attention to detail would be time-consuming and nearly impossible to keep producing on a constant basis. While American comics and films rely on the selling of merchandise and consistent media production, European comics seem to expect more patience from their consumers, resulting in a style of comics that focuses on producing high-quality artwork with themes that push boundaries.

Homework 8 - Stereotypes and moving forward

In all likelihood, most people have experienced a period of their life where they are on a daily basis affected by stereotypes and societal pressures without any awareness of their presence. Whether that effect may exacerbate our privilege or become detrimental to our personal identity, there is little doubt that people and their desire to “fit in” have effects on others. In various forms of media, this gives a lot of potential power from creators to shape the culture of their audience and their own interpretations of themselves. Only recently has the notion of this power been relayed to society on a mass level and although individuals react to this in different ways, the awareness that this has brought is ushering in a completely newfound way of thinking and perhaps the most healing way of thought.

As an example of “healing reteaching”, Pop Culture Detective is a personal favorite channel to watch due to the creator’s patient and careful explanations of harmful stereotypes in media. Soon after watching his videos for the first time several months ago, I realized that I was suddenly looking at entertainment and storytelling through a bit of a different lens than before. “Adorkable Misogyny” in particular was a significant help in realizing the behavior I was not only condoning in television, but also in reality.

I have a lot of hope for the future; not necessarily in terms of people changing their discriminatory views, for new types will always emerge with time, but hope towards the ones who are affected. Being able to gain an understanding and skill set of the world they live in is a powerful mechanism not just for protecting oneself against what we’re exposed to, but also to move forward in consistently new and better ways.

Culture Comics 1: A Brief Introduction & History

Growing up visiting Czech Republic every summer, a large part of that experience was sitting in my parents’ childhood homes and reading the comics they grew up with. It served as a great reading exercise in a language I wasn’t as familiar with, along with an opportunity to bond with my parents over a shared interest. Being a part of this class inspired me to think back on these stories and revisit them as an adult, hoping to learn not just more about the artists and stories, but also the circumstances under which they were created and perhaps the impact that Czech comics in general had on my parents’ and my own culture.

For this first response, I wanted to start with a historical understanding of Czech comic productions. Generally speaking, Czech comics had an intriguing cultural shift when the country went through the Stalinist era, resulting in a multitude of varied actions taken between artists. Some stopped production altogether, others changed their cartoons in order to keep their publications, and some even continued to produce their work while unchanging its content, being faced with bans or potential incarceration. Through the 1950s to 60s, comics were completely outlawed as an anti-socialist medium, but by the 1970s was used as a vessel for propaganda.

Evidently a large portion of early Czech comics featured stories already discussed in class, but the first highly successful Czech series was titled Rychlé šípy, translated to “fast arrows”, published in a magazine titled Young Herald beginning in 1938. Although published nearly 80 years ago, the tale is fondly remembered by Czech people born during the late 1960's - an interesting phenomenon, considering the comic was banned three different times. Due to its resemblance to American Boy Scouts, the story was banned for the first time in 1941, and made disappearances and reappearances until banned permanently by 1971. This lead to its popularity spanning generations, and still fondly remembered by those generations today. On the other end of the political spectrum, the children’s comic Ferda Mravenec is an example of a story modified for political propaganda, which completely changed its characters to reflect a “model USSR citizen”.

Another extremely important comic to Czech culture is called Čtyřlístek, the “Lucky Four”, which revolves around four anthropomorphic characters facing a variety of adventures. It was the only published comic for an extended period of time and the only one that continues to be published to this day, and the only one to survive the so-called comic crash of 1993.

Since Czech Republic’s attainment of political freedom, comics had become almost non-influential on Czech culture until 2000, after the market had gained some stability and artists were finding opportunities to publish once more.

The history of comics in Czech serves as a fascinating tool to show the powerful impact that comics can have on generations not despite of, but because of political influence. I look forward to engaging in more of my cultural history, and gaining a new appreciation for the art form that I grew up with.


Resources:

-https://www.radio.cz/en/section/in-focus/study-traces-czech-comics-evolution-from-lowbrow-to-respected-medium
- Parent’s recounting of events and stories

Homework 7 - Maus: The Power of Visualization & Materialism

While reading Maus, there were two central ideas that piqued my attention, and I wanted to cover both topics in separate sections of writing.

Part 1: The Power of Visualization to Propel Comics as an Art and as Literature

It’s the subtle design and visual choices that make Art Spiegelman’s Maus succeed as a comic portrayal of his father’s intense and saddening life story. Spiegelman makes it clear from the first page that there is an intent to provide visual metaphors into the story by clearly stating the visual device of portraying Jewish individuals as mice, Polish as pigs, and Nazi Germans as cats. While this is the most prominent visual choice in Maus, it is the effect of these appearances that provides an insight into the experience of living through this event. From the very beginning this shows how much of a target the Jewish people have on their backs, which is extended through visuals like the ones shown below:

Spiegelman uses the visual framing of feeling like a trapped mouse through illustrations that evoke terror and immediate danger in a carefully constructed maze set by those in power. The fact that the characters are portrayed in this way does not make an impact on their behaviors or the story line; as the people still act like people and do not exhibit the animalistic qualities of their drawings (a trait commonly found in pieces where characters are portrayed as animals, such as Animal Farm). By just putting on a “mask”, the people can disguise themselves as a completely different species. Instead the focus is on the situation that these metaphorical descriptions put the characters in; further strengthening the impact of the story in a way that wouldn’t have been as powerful with just words.

Spiegelman actually addresses the difficulty of exploring comic art as a medium for his father’s story as well as his doubts of the art’s ability to describe the complexity of the story. It was evident that Spiegelman had experimented in underground comics to describe the emotions he was processing after his mother’s death, which got a strong emotional reaction from not only his father but also from others around him. This shows a unique self-reflection on the author himself that admits both how little he truly understands regarding his father’s experience, as well as how experimental and potentially unsuccessful this newfound type of storytelling may be. However, Spiegelman himself realizes by the second book, as with much of the rest of the world, just how effective and powerful comic art can be as a literary and visual medium.

I believe that this is the reason why Maus was one, if not the first, graphic novel to be considered as an intellectual study, as the medium seeks to strengthen the themes of a story through what comic art had to offer, instead of using the visuals as an element primarily for entertainment.

Part 2: The Effect of Materialism on Vladek’s Psyche

Throughout both parts of Maus, there is continuous mention of Vladek’s “miser-like” behavior and his desire to hoard any and all items of his possession. Artie and Mala both discuss the potential reasoning for this behavior, but between the two of them only come to the conclusion of that just being a part of Vladek’s personality.

However, the story of Maus shows the value of materialism and monetary gain in a country that’s falling apart, as it is a major component of Vladek’s survival. There is a consistent “trading” mentality while Vladek is in the camps, and through the whole story he fully utilizes his business skills to collect enough food or money to provide for himself as well as his family. This is a very common phenomenon among those who take initiative or a leadership role in their families; a parallel I was told of in my own family in the form of stories about my grandfather who sold his original landscape paintings to secret police officers and repaired neighbor’s radios for extra supplies. Being forced into survival with nothing but your wits, it is completely reasonable that Vladek wouldn’t so much as use his own toilet paper in fear of not being able to come by any in the future.

Perhaps unaware by the author himself at the time, Vladek is not stingy or cheap for his own sake, but to insure the safety of his family. This is shown through him sending packages to Anja while in the camps, asking for boots and a belt for his friend while working as a shoe repairman, and even by returning cereal to the supermarket for another person to eat. These traits and subtle details about Vladek’s behavior makes him an extremely human character portrayed by Siegelman with a sense of truthfulness not outwardly commented upon.

Homework 6 - Underground comics are more familiar than expected

If I am to be honest, the first couple of pieces I read from the “Underground Comics” section confused me on if I was meant to find anything in the stories. Perhaps this was due to the first comic being “Air Pirates” and seeing a bit too many Mickey Mouse genitalia drawings. The vibe the entire genre gave me was a little reminiscent of the “middle school boys” mentality where it seemed that the humor or appeal was drawn entirely from strangeness, sex, or swearing.

Going a bit further into the archives, however, I was quickly surprised at how familiar some of the characters were to things and people existing in current time. It seemed as though some of the comics sought to bring light to issues from the time period through hyperbolized comedy - not unlike common day memes or jokes. I’ve heard of people comparing the millennial time period and mentality to that of the social revolution of the 1960s-1980s, and I hadn’t realized how similar those actually were until I read some of these comics.

For example, seeing this frame casually strewn in a story that had nothing to do with college except for this throwaway line, written in an almost “too casual” manner that resorts to comedy while still bringing up the issue.

This image actually made me laugh out loud as it completely reminded me of the ridiculous female anatomy in comic book drawings that became a meme where people would draw the ridiculous proportions and poses with the character Hawkeye.




After reading a variety of different genres and magazines aimed at different groups of people (for example, the LGBT+ presence), I arrived at a better understanding of the comics in this time period. Just like modern humor, it seems to make light of social issues with comedic nihilism - the moral being, people like to make things that are unexpected or out of the ordinary for shock value and for just entertainment’s sake.

As a last note, it also makes me wonder if future generations will ever write responses on modern memes...