Week 14: Webcomics

     This week's topic is webcomics, something that I really love. I have been reading webcomics ever since I was a little kid. From viral... strange... stories like Homestuck by Andrew Hussie to more commonly formatted webcomics like my current favorite Ultramarine Weather by Kan.
     I really enjoy webcomics and the freedom of them that I don't typically see in more regulated formats. I have tons of comics saved onto multiple webcomic apps that I like to check on weekly and follow the stories.
     Picking a story from the webcomics we were given, I was ecstatic to see The Less Than Epic Adventures of Tj and Amal.  I loved this comic when I first read it YEARS ago. It's a wonderful little story, and I love the art style. The last time I read this I was eleven so reading it again a decade later was great. I probably shouldn't have been reading this at eleven, but it's a beautiful story nonetheless. I always appreciated how while many pages had text, a lot didn't and it was still just as easy to understand it.
     Moving onto webcomics I'm currently reading; I have quite a few comics. My favorite webcomics at the moment are Countdown to Countdown by Vel, Long Exposure by Mars, Ultramarine Weather by Kan, and Les Normaux by Knightjj.

Countdown to Countdown by Vel

https://ctccomic.com/

Long Exposure by Mars

https://longexposurecomic.com/

Ultramarine Weather by Kan

https://tapas.io/series/ultramarineweather

Les Normaux by Knightjj

https://tapas.io/series/Lesnormaux

Week 13: Superheroes Reconsidered

This week I read The Killing Joke and will be answering the following questions:
1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?
2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect?
3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you choose; what changes would you make?
4. In what ways does this story differ from the typical expectations the reader might have for a superhero story?

     Reading The Killing Joke I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not a big DC fan, ESPECIALLY not a Batman fan, but I loved it. I think Batman is a dull and boring superhero, but I think the villains are where DC really shines. I didn't expect to like reading The Killing Joke as I have no interest in superheroes, supervillains, or the like (Except the X-Men, I don't know why). I really enjoy the backstories of villains, and I always have. I like stories that don't necessarily excuse the behavior of villains, but I like that they explain their actions and specifically how a reader may be similar to them.
     I think it should be easy to make connections to any character in any well-written story. I even found similarities in the random crazy man in the short comic after the main story. Although I think he takes his beliefs to extremes, I think the basis of what he says is true. Many people are awful but obey the rules out of fear, while there are people that have done awful things but could be considered very good people. I, of course, don't connect that thought process to 'I should kill someone for the hell of it and see if I feel bad' but I get the perspective.
     I've never watched a DC movie through, as I tend to dislike them or fall asleep, but I think this was made into a movie. I haven't yet seen that movie but to adapt this comic into a film I think it would be relatively easy. I think this comic is a very short version of what the movie could be and they'd only have to elaborate on some of the scenes. I think sometimes flashbacks get confusing so it'd maybe be better to rearrange the back and forth flashbacks a bit into an easier to understand format.
     I think the typical expectations for a superhero story is to, first of all, be about the superhero. this story is more about the villain than the 'superhero' at all. Batman in this is also repeatedly trying to get the Joker to give up and let him help him as well, which in most superhero stories it's typically just the hero beating the shit out of the villain. I could be wrong as I'm not very interested in superhero comics or movies, but most of them seem to be very black and white.

Week 12: Women's Comics

The comic I chose to read this week was Diary of a Dominatrix. I found it hard not to read, the title itself was clickbait. I knew it'd be sexually explicit, but I think it almost lost me at describing a vasectomy and how to circumcise a penis. Other than that, I loved it. I find learning about sex work a very interesting thing to do and something rarely talked about. I appreciate how the story is written about as if it's just like any other job, which it really is. It shows how sex work is really just a job, and at the end of the day, the person just goes home and lives life like a regular person. I think it was a really neat read because I like when I get to learn something from reading. I'm sure most people wouldn't really consider reading this 'learning' but I think that would be an opinion I'd strongly disagree with. I think this is a very liberating comic but also very blunt. It's a very real look at a sex worker, specifically a dominatrix and I found it funny, strange, and informative. I honestly think I'd like to keep reading her comics. I enjoy that it's a slice of life comic with actual information, as strange as it is.

Week 11: Comics As Contemporary Literature

     The three comics I decided to read through were Asterios Polyp, The Dream Hunters, and Why I Hate Saturn. I had actually read The Dream Hunters in a previous class and really enjoyed it. I read through Asterios Polyp before I even realized The Dream Hunters was on the list. I didn't find Why I Hate Saturn very interesting so that was one of the ones I decided to not finish. On the other hand, I LOVED the art style of Asterios Polyp and loved the art style AND story of The Dream Hunters. Asterios Polyp had a beautiful art style and a hard to follow, but interesting storyline. I just loved the colors and how unique the storytelling is illustrated. The Dream Hunters is beautiful. I would maybe consider it more of a storybook than a comic but the story is enthralling as well as the art. 
     I think all comics are literary. The exact definition of 'literary' is 'concerning the writing, study, or content of literature, especially of the kind valued for quality of form.' All comics tell a story just as much as words do, and when making comics, most people write down the story before they even illustrate it. I don't know in what way comics can't be literary. Even comics without text at all could be considered literary. Comics have the same capacity to tell an important and impactful story than any non-illustrated book does

Week 10: Manga and Osamu Tezuka

     This week I read the first issue of Battle Angel Alita and Angel's Hill. Angel's Hill was very interesting to read. I really expected the typical 'manga style' at least in some form. What I got seemed very European inspired, although I'm not the most knowledgable of what style came first. I think it's interesting to see how this comic reminded me of comics like 'Popeye' and such. I didn't find it as interesting and appealing as Battle Angel Alita artistically but it was still cool to see an older style that, to me, merged more with European comics than the manga I typically see nowadays.
     The second manga Battle Angel Alita was super cool. When I have time I want to try to read the rest of it. I know there was a movie that came out recently as well. I really love the art style of this one and the story.
     I think Osamu Tezuka has a very iconic art style. From Astro Boy to Angel's Hill, you can always tell his style. Originally I'd only heard about Astro Boy and didn't know of his fame and many other successful stories. While I'm not a big fan of the art style I think he makes very cute stories

Week 09: Wide World of Comics

For this week I, of course, chose to read Tank Girl. When you're assigned the option of reading a comic by your favorite artist in the whole world it's hard to choose anyone else. I actually physically have quite a few issues of Tank Girl although I hadn't read the ones from the course resource. Tank Girl has always been a wild censorless story, full of crazy shit. Tank Girl, Rebecca, is a crazy punk outlaw/Mad Max type in semi-apocalyptic Australia. Tank Girl was just a wild character to empower women of the punk rock scene, and very successful at that. I don't know why I love this comic so much, maybe just because Jamie Hewlett illustrated it but I just love the rawness of it. Jamie's stories have always been pretty wild and not the easiest to follow but I really think he's one of the greatest illustrators of all time and still tells amazing stories. I could go on about him forever. From Tank Girl to his work with my favorite band, the Gorillaz, he easily makes everything he creates interesting. He's always told stories from a gritty and vulgar perspective and his art style is so iconic you can easily tell when it's him. I'm just down to take any excuse I can to gush about Jamie Hewlett.
I also checked out the thing about Moebius and Miyazaki and found it super interesting. Something about both of their art makes me so nostalgic. I felt myself tearing up reading and viewing all the art and the things about their friendship, that was also a very good read.

Week 08: Ethics and Representation

For this week I initially read Hip Hop Family Tree but switched to March. Unfortunately, I had already typed this and then lost all of it.  I really loved the art style for March as well at Hip Hop Family Tree but March's style was much more serious and matched the story it was telling. I really enjoyed the way it told the story in a black and white format. I feel like I can't think of many comics that are non-fiction. I think it's a really neat unusual way to tell a true story. I like that it's from a personal view of John Lewis and him telling his story to the younger generation of African American children. The authors work very hard to tell every story they can about the lead up to the Selma to Montgomery march. In my opinion, they do great justice to John Lewis's telling of his story. I like how you really get to know John Lewis, even down to the little things like his love for his chickens as a kid. I feel like you get more attached to a story when you truly learn the personality of the main character/person telling the story. I think comics are a good way to tell a true story while also being interesting and making you empathize with the situation. I would love to read more non-fiction comics and I think they're a really good medium to tell a stories that some people may find otherwise boring.

Week 07:The Legitimation of the Comics

(I was mid typing this when I got the email about being kicked off campus and had to pack to leave campus suddenly, so I'm sorry if this is a little off)


Reading Maus was an experience. It made me angry, it made me cry, and for very VERY small moments I even laughed. It was a very 'blunt' telling of the holocaust. Nobody was glorified, everyone did what they had to to survive. Art writing about learning the information from his father really increased the impact of the story that was told. It was rough seeing the side effects Vladek obtained from surviving the Holocaust. You really feel like you can understand why Vladek is the way he is. There's also a familiarity to it, you can empathize with the feeling of trying to relate to an older family member and trying to understand how life was for them. This was such an engaging story and I binged it pretty fast. As someone in the class had already mentioned, it was interesting to see Vladek being racist towards a black man, even after everything he experienced. There's even a specific part in Vladeks story of the Holocaust where he's called a 'thieving jew' and there he is calling the black man the same thing. That comparison really shocked me. I wish I got to learn more about Art's mother, as she seemed like a very sweet woman.

Week 06: Underground Comics

The comic I chose to read was the Gay Comix series. Going in I was warned of the sexual content and the possibly offensive content, but to be honest this was my favorite thing I'd read yet. The very first comic in the Gay Comix series really touched me. I personally love openly 'vulgar' or taboo content, although being a little prude about discussing it myself. Seeing a guy's dick through his shorts the second I opened the comic WAS a bit of a shock, I'm not gonna lie. I just REALLY loved these comics. The opening text of the comic about how all the shorts in this series were written by LGBTQ artists was really neat. I love that there was a specific outlet for LGBTQ artists in the 80s, even if it were underground. I always prefer stories that aren't stifled by the limits of what is acceptable, unless if it's hate speech of course. A lot of the stories in this comic were extremely relatable from the 80s even to modern-day times. This is something I'd normally read nowadays and I really am glad I got the chance to read it.

Week 05: The Emergence of the Graphic Novel

For some reason this week I chose to read Doot Doot Garden, the 24-hour comic. Perhaps it wasn't the best choice to read while eating. Nonetheless, it was still very funny at points and I was drawn to the fact it was written in the span of 24 hours. While it was obvious it was written in 24 hours it was still really solid. The poop jokes were definitely not my sense of humor, but some things were. It was very odd to read and looked very odd from the second I chose it, which was WHY I chose it. I know it was at the bottom of the comics list but I wanted to see HOW people wrote a comic in 24 hours. The title was interesting and I ended up really enjoying...MOST of it. It was just a graphic novel of short-ish stories and it was very interesting to see. I'm more a fan of solid linear chaptered stories so this isn't necessarily my kind of thing, but I do always like reading new things.

Week 04: History of the Comic Book

Out of all the books we were given I really enjoyed ALL of the EC comics. They really focused on stories that were all much more serious and most were sci-fi, fantasy, or horror. I really didn’t care for  any of the military stories as I prefer fictional stories. Reading them reminded me of a comic version of the Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. It’s unfortunate that the company went under and I honestly think I’d read these type of comics if they were created for a more modern audience. I preferred that they weren’t as cartoony and simple as the previous ones.  Many of the topics were very dark and it was very text heavy, which I liked.