Crumb Revised

This week I read Mr. Natural By Robert Cumb. I thought this was a very entertaining comic although it was perverted, racist, sexist and just all around wrong. I found myself shocked by the content and images in this comic but I thought it was funny so I continued reading it. The first strip I read was sunny side up with Mr. Natural this strip gave me a completely different view of Mr. Natural than what I got when I read on. Sunny side up was a fairly friendly strip that rhymed about being sunny and happy and that was basically it. When I continued reading I saw Mr. Natural meditating and that gave me a kick because it seemed like he was there for so long! Once I got to Mr. Natural and Shuman the Human I started to notice very obvious signs of racism. Right away when the little black girl showed up in the strip she spoke very poor english and she said "Gimme dat money" also the way he drew her and her family they looked like monkeys! As I continued reading Robert Crumbs comics they became very sexual and perverted. I have to say I found it hilarious but I can see certain people getting offended by these comics. The images themselves are quite vulgar.

As far as the illustrations go they definitely work well will the comic and the style, he drew grotesque people doing very strange things. His characters are interesting looking and well developed and he keeps the backgrounds very simple. Every once in a while Crumb played with the shapes of the frames, making them wobbly, or more vertical or horizontal but for the most part they were pretty consistent and the view was pretty straight on.

I also read through his heroes of the Blues because I am a big fan of blues music and I was interested in the way Crumb would depict some of the old legends. looking through this set of images made me admire Robert Crumb even more. His drawings have their own personality to them, they are rendered and clean yet graphic and loose. You can tell he is very shape oriented which is something I am also very interested in. His drawing are unique, any Robert Crumb fan would be able to spot his illustrations out of a crowd and that is something that every artist thrives for.

Although the content in Robert Crumbs comics may not have been suitable for everyone I thoroughly enjoy his satirical humor, draftsmanship, color and sense of design. To me Robert Crumb is someone who you really have to except for who they are (although you should be this way towards everyone) he is an interesting character and I do not think people should judge him by his images and criticize him the way that they do. Everyone has their own way of expressing themselves and if someone is creating something that isn't appealing to you than look the other way. Yes he may draw overly sexual women but I don't believe that that necessarily means he sees all women like this or is even racist for that matter. Instead I think we should admire him and his will to be himself despite what the world around him is saying. I do, I find him to be such a unique individual, from the way he dresses and the way he talks to the way he views people. He's living his life for himself and not for anyone else.

Robert Crumbs comics were very interesting and he really gave me a desire to read more underground comics because I didn't know that comics with this type of content existed.

Tits and Clits

Today I read through the underground comic called Tits and Clits. I have to say I was interested in it because of the name. I guess it’s easy to say I got what I wanted a comic about sex. Literally this comic book was filled with stories and they were all just about sex. The first comic I read in the book was Persephone gets what she wants and it really got me because the characters were cats! From then on the comic was filled with lesbian sex, sex junkies, rapists, masturbation, and more sex.

I found the comic entertaining and I really didn’t mind the graphic images I thought they were pretty funny. I could see why someone may see the comic as condescending to women but I can really respect it for what it is. I mean its titled Tits and Clits if that offends you, you probably shouldn’t read the comic.

I really stayed interested while reading through this comic book because I enjoyed the different drawing styles. I particularly liked Roberta Gregory’s pen and ink work, the large solid shapes with the cross hatching is really appealing. I also loved the comic Rufus and the rapist because the scratchy drawing style looked so different then all the others in the book, but it didn’t say who the artist was.

I like the images and the content together in the comic they have a sense of quickness that I admire. Its simple and to the point, they don’t try to glorify women in any way in fact you may think it’s the exact opposite, I find this humorous and fascinating because the whole book is created by women. It’s a comic book about sex if that’s what you want than that’s what you get.

My New York Diary

This week I started reading the graphic novel My New York Diary by Julie Doucet and I found myself unable to put it down. I have to say I have never been to New York. Although I couldn’t relate on that level I still found it very easy to relate to on many different levels. There is something about this graphic novel that just seems so real I think its because its more of a documentary of the year she spent in New York and not just a made up story, that is what appeals to me.

The book is about the experiences Julie goes through during the time she spends in New York and what its like moving to a big city for the first time, I could image overwhelming! Julia moves into an apartment in the city with her boyfriend, which is practically a dump and they start having problems immediately. They turn to drugs to solve all their relationship issues and neglect the cartoons they are suppose to be writing together. More and more problems arise and she even ends up getting pregnant but then has a miscarriage. Julia leaves him without letting him know and moves to Brooklyn where she moves in with a literature student who kind of drives her crazy because they don’t have much in common at all.

Immediately I was into the book because it was told from a woman’s perspective. I found that even if you didn’t know the main character was a female you could still tell that one wrote it. The way that she depicts men in the comic is pretty feminist (but not in a bad way) they all seem to be tools for the most part. They are dirty and lazy and most of them are trying to get in her pants. Not only were the characters entertaining but I absolutely love Julie Doucets illustration style. Every frame on the page is packed with information, for me it was a slow read because I was engrossed in all the little details she puts into every frame.

I would definitely recommend this graphic novel the story is real and the characters and well developed and without a doubt interesting. The images keep you involved with the settings and the writing is quite humorous.

Netsuke

This week I read the comic book Netsuke written and Illustrated by George Pratt. A friend had suggested that I read it and I was immediately interested in it because of the illustrations.

When I started reading the comic book I was so fascinated in the images because of the beautiful line quality and the expressive painterly style it was hard for me to follow the story. The illustrations evoked many feelings and there was a constant since of motion through the frames. The colors and the drawings were just captivating and I found it very interesting to look at. The illustrations in the comic were like nothing I have seen before in a comic.

I had trouble interpreting the story clearly and i'm still not positive that I know what it was about exactly. What I got was the main character had traveled back to Japan for one reason or another I think it may have been to reconnect with his past. It seemed like his lover had died and he was talking to her the whole time. Throughout the comic it goes back and forth from him walking around and talking with the dead to flashbacks of him when he was in a war. It never says anything about how she died but many others that were close to him die in the war but he lives. I got the feeling that he couldn't die but he almost wishes he could.

I really enjoyed looking through this comic book but didn't so much enjoy reading it. The images were so captivating I feel like it may have been just as effective to look through this book without text so you can interpret it yourself. To me it feels like the illustrations are the important part and the words and just something to hold it together as a book. I would suggest this to someone who was interested in amazing illustrations but I don't feel the story is nearly as powerful as the images.

Maison Ikkoku

This week I read Maison Ikkoku, which is a manga written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. I have heard a lot of talk about manga comics in my life, mostly recently since I have been in this school. Basically I knew what to expect when I started reading this even though I was never really into them myself.

To me the images immediately let you know that’s it a manga just by the stylization if the facial features and somewhat in the text and speech bubbles. I wouldn’t be able to tell you if this is your typical manga story line or if they are commonly about romance but it seems to be.

Maison Ikkoku is a romantic story about the main character Yusaku and his infatuation with Kyoko who recently took over the job as the new landlord in the house where he is living. The story is as simple and easy to read, as it should be with slight ups and downs to keep you interested. Like most romance novels your following the life of in this case a young man and the struggles he encounters while trying to win the heart of who he sees to be the love of his life.

I would say I enjoyed this for what is was but I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m jumping off my seat to read the next volume. The illustrations were as interesting as the story it’s defiantly something I would suggest to a teenager.

Maus

This week I read Maus, which was the first graphic novel I have read about the Holocaust or any serious subject for that matter. The graphic novel tells the terrifying story of the journey of a Jewish survivor of the holocaust named Vladek Spiegelman and his son who is a cartoonist trying to reconnect with his father and his past through many deep conversations. Besides the fact that it’s a graphic novel one of the things that makes this particular Holocaust story unique is that its not written in the way of a history book it brings you closer than that and into the eyes of a man who witnessed the fear himself.

I think Art Speigelman made a wise decision when he decided to depict the characters as animals, the Jews are mice and the Nazis are cats also the Poles are pigs and the French are frogs. I think it takes the edge off a little bit, everyone knows the brutality that went on during the Holocaust and not very many people want to see images of people being treated in this manner. By making the characters mice and cats it makes it easier for use to accept the imagery it grabs our attention just enough to not let it go. I also find it interesting because I feel he choose the animals wisely Mice are a good metaphor for Jews because there are lots of them and they are hard to get rid of, Cats are a good metaphor for Germans obviously because they hunt and kill mice. It is a clear portrayal of the predator and prey relationship that the Jewish people faced.

While reading Maus not only did I find myself interested in the intense memories of Vladek but I became involved in the way they were reacting to each other in the present time. Vladek didn’t seem to speak very kindly to his son; he seemed to be nagging him a lot about smoking and needing to fix the roof. I felt tension and discomfort between them.

I have to say this isn’t my favorite graphic novel or comic I have every read but I’m also not the one to be drawn to this type of subject matter. I tend to look for things that are either humorous, easy to relate to, or have unique illustrations when choosing something to read, so that’s just me. The illustrations seemed quick and sketchy but they did fit the subject matter and I felt it was more about the story than the illustrations. This is a different kind of graphic novel and you have to expect this when picking it up of the shelf but be prepared to get wrapped up in the story, it is a very good read.

Robert Crumb

This week I read Mr. Natural By Robert Cumb. I thought this was a very entertaining comic although it was perverted, racist, sexist and just all around wrong. I found myself shocked by the content and images in this comic but I thought it was funny so I continued reading it. The first strip I read was sunny side up with Mr. Natural this strip gave me a completely different view of Mr. Natural than what I got when I read on. Sunny side up was a fairly friendly strip that rhymed about being sunny and happy and that was basically it. When I continued reading I saw Mr. Natural meditating and that was pretty funny, it seemed like he was there for so long! Once I got to Mr. Natural and Shuman the Human I started to notice very obvious signs or racism. Right away when the little black girl showed up in the strip she spoke very poor english, she said "Gimme dat money" and the way he drew her and her family they look like monkeys! As I continued reading Robert Crumbs comics they became very sexual and perverted. I have to say I found it hilarious but I can see a lot of people getting offended by these comics. The images themselves are quite vulgar.

As far as the illustrations go they definitely work well will the comic and the style, he drew grotesque people doing very strange things. His characters are interesting looking and well developed and he keeps the backgrounds very simple. Every once in a while Crumb played with the shapes of the frames, making them wobbly, or more vertical or horizontal but for the most part they were pretty consistent and the view was pretty straight on.

I thought Robert Crumbs comics were very interesting and it really gave me an interest in reading underground comics because I didn't know that comics with this type of content existed. Robert Crumb must have been a very crazy man I would like to know more about his life.

Blankets

This is the first graphic novel I have ever read and I have to say when I first picked it up off the shelf I was a little overwhelmed. I never knew graphic novels were so big! Luckily Blankets was a completely captivating experience. It wasn’t just like reading any other book the images and the text are combined into this emotional, dream like tale that I could relate to so easily. While reading I was tossing and turning through the pages and immediately connected with the characters.

The illustrations in this graphic novel did not disappoint me in the slightest. The drawing style, line work, textures, compositions, and the movement and mood of the images were a perfect fit with the text. The various shapes and sizes of the panels seem to flow together so well and yet each turn of the page was a new and exciting layout, just another one of the reasons it was so captivating.

In the Book Craig Thompson tells the story of his life experiences when he was in his young adulthood, the weird stage in life where you are changing and realizing new things about yourself. He uses a lot of flashbacks in the novel to make connections with what is happening in the present, which I think also helps you develop a stronger connection with the character. He falls in love for the first time, goes through many emotional stages of happiness, loneliness, love and confusion, which results in him finding himself.

With the combination of this heart felt story and fascinating magical images Blankets would be easy to fall in love with for anyone and I would surly recommend it. I am completely satisfied in the fact that it was the first graphic novel I have read because now I am tempted to buy the whole bookshelf.

Little Orphan Annie

Little Orphan Annie was about Annie an outgoing young girl who escaped from her orphanage and set out for adventures with her doll Emily Marie and a little later in the comic her dog named Sandy. Little Orphan Annie is the oldest comic I have read so far, Harold Gray created it in the 1920’s way before the play and the movie and all that stuff. Back in the 1920’s comics were a little different than they are now they were printed in a much larger format sometimes one strip would cover the whole page, and the strips were like TV shows are to us now people would follow the adventures for months. Little Orphan Annie wasn’t your everyday little girl (this may have been because Harold Gray was first intending the character to be a little boy) she was a crime fighter she was always set out to find no good people, politicians and gangsters to stop. I have to say Little Orphan Annie has a lot of history and I really enjoyed reading about it and about Harold Gray. But I didn’t find the comic very entertaining or humorous although Im not sure that it was trying too hard to be funny, the comic seems to be very political and seemed to be targeted towards an older audience and that may have been what turned me off to it.

Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes written and illustrated by Bill Watterson was a very entertaining and funny read. I can remember briefly reading it when and I was younger but I wasn’t into comics as much as I am now so I didn’t give it enough credit as I should have. The comic is about Calvin who is extremely intelligent for a six year old which only adds the humor, and his tiger friend, which is his stuffed animal that comes to life only about 95 percent of the time. Calvin and Hobbes are always getting into some kind of mischief if it’s throwing darts at his dad, messing around with girls at school, getting into trouble in class, pestering his mother for things, or just going on crazy adventures. No matter what the circumstance Calvin’s out of this world imagination is always present.

Although Calvin went on some crazy trips inside his own head some of my favorites of the strips were ones where Calvin and Hobbes were just doing their somewhat normal everyday stuff. I feel like Calvin is a pretty smart kid so he chooses to cause mischief to entertain himself, in doing so he is always coming up with unique and creative ways to trick his mother into giving him something that he wants or letting him do something (but he rarely secedes). Some of his adventures are so simple and silly but yet so easy for me to relate to I find them very enjoyable and I think this is what interests a lot of readers of the time. Even If you were a parent reading this when it first came out in the mid 1980’s I’m sure you would relate to the mother or father and find a lot of humor in this strip.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this comic I found it humorous and intelligent and in my opinion it is defiantly targeting to a wide range of ages early teen to adults. It is easy to see why this comic strip was so successful and loved by so many. ehgvwedvdvcfdfsdfsdfsdfdsf

The Arrival

After reading the book The Arrival I was totally awed. This is a book that you would have to own because you could read it over and over or just stare at it for hours. The Illustrations in this book are absolutely beautiful, he is so delicate with his line work the images are just very captivating. It is amazing how Shaun Tan created this world and language and all the little details he put into the characters and architecture really make it feel real. One of my favorite pages in the book was the one of all the clouds, not only were they drawn beautifully but I thought it was a neat and creative way to show time. You could really tell that he had been on the ship for days because of all the changes in the clouds. As far as the layout of the book it was nice how he had large images every once in a while, with there being so many images it kind of let you see what the more important parts were and all the others filled in the details. I did like the fact that all the frames were square because it really unified everything but after reading the book Understanding comics I thought he could have utilized the shape of the panel a little more.

The book tells a wonderful story of an immigrant who leaves home to find a better place for his family, he finds a job, meets friends, listens to their stories, and finally brings his family back for a new life in this surreal world. I would say even without the text this book is pretty easy to understand for the most part. I feel that the book would not be the same if it had text, when reading this book you really get the since of who he is and what he's feeling. Because you are just looking at the pictures you are placed in this foreign world with him. This really works because Shaun Tan isn't pinning the story to a specific language, anyone can read this book and that's just one of the other things that makes it unique.

I am so glad that I got to enjoy this book. I would suggest this to anyone and I know that they could find beauty in it in one way or another.

Understanding Comics

While reading Scott McClouds Understanding comics I learned a lot more about comics than I expected. Just in the first chapter he gave a very detailed descriptions of what comics are and the history of art and comics, he made it clear and easy to understand with lots of good visual examples. One of the ideas that really stood out to me in this book was how time is portrayed through still images. I liked how he explained how to make single silent panels seem longer by lengthening the shape of the panel. I also thought it was interesting how you can show motion through a single still scene by braking the background image into different panels and having the character move through it. I realized that I prefer time and motion viewed through the breakup of panels by spacing, separation and size rather than subjective motion by streaking. Now that I understand this aspect, as an illustrator I feel that I am more sensitive to time depicted in images and I plan on incorporating these techniques into my own work.