Reconsidering the Super Hero - Promethea

Promethea had a lot of historical symbols and uses of types of materials. There is heavy use of ancient Egyptian gods and concepts. The biggest symbols I noticed while reading the comic were Promethea’s snake staff, the sun symbols on multiple pages, and the playfulness of stretching time. They took the main character and enabled her story to be timeless. Once Promethea’s era began and ended there would be a new Promethea in line to continue the saga.

I loved the little girl in 400 A.D. that was dealing with being on the run after her father was murdered by a radical religious cult. The little girl feels so hopeless and scared but the higher entities visit her and tell her she is full of meaning. She doesn’t need to travel anywhere. Wherever you are, you are part of it and you are in it. I’ve read another book called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. These stories have very similar ideas in communicating that we all have that inner richness that can make you feel good. “Gold Soul Theory”, the idea that you do not need any material thing beyond yourself. We see a lot of commonalities in Eastern religions such as Buddhism and how suffering comes from outside of you because of your attachments to the outside world.

I actually loved the comic for what it is. The ink work looked pretty cool but I’ve been seeing some comics with their panels laid out in watercolors. Watercolor comics have always been appealing to my eye. I got to take a look earlier this week into the Arkham Asylum Batman comic. The frames in that book were amazing. The only changes I would make would probably be some areas in the story in regards to writing. I didn’t like how corny it felt when Sophia was telling her friend about how she just turned into the character she was writing about. I get it but it didn’t sit right with me.

Women's Comics

It was interesting looking through the history of women's comics. Many of them strived to show the female perspective in their work. Diary of a Dominatrix was a bizarre comic but it's good that we have something like that so we can get an idea of what that world is like. I found it hilarious how interactive the reader could find themselves in it. Whoever is into the world of BDSM must love it.

Comics as Contemporary Literature

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli has such a unique style with its design and layout. It's simplified color palette makes it so striking and popping. This is a great comic to look at to see the mood shift by a change of temperature or forms. I didn't get to fully read this during the semester but I'm definitely coming back to this one over winter break.

Manga and the Japanese Comics Tradition

Learning about the Manga culture and Japanese lifestyle was probably one of the craziest things this semester. I knew about Manga before this class but I didn't fully comprehend how vast it was. There really is a manga for everyone. I can't believe they practically have a manga for almost every fetish out there. It is pretty impressive honestly. I can understand how people could get freaked out when learning about this culture in Japan but not all the fetish mangas are terrible. I like how there are some with subtle and cutesy approaches like pantsu and yuri manga.

Osamu Tezuka was the original gangsta of manga! It was awesome learning about his work and seeing how much of an influence he made on his nation. I completely understand why more people went to his funeral than the emperor. He was a TRUE master of the art of manga. He is the father of it. Looking into his comic, Buddha Vol. 1, it takes you on a wild ride. His frames say so much with so little. He shows you scenes from so many different angles. I love that there is text but it is very minimal. He would rather let his picture speak what needs to get across for the reader to understand which I admire. If you are loading up a comic spread with a wall of text it's like having to spell everything out for them. I always gravitate to the comics with less text because I'd rather look through all the pictures they produced and decipher what is going on myself.

Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma is a beautiful work. The characters are awesome and it was incredible to see the black and white panda being used to its advantage of the black and white comic. She used him as a wonderful compositional tool. You can tell she was heavily inspired by Tezuka. Her layouts contain so much emotion, movement, and simplicity.

Wide World of Comics

The comics that stood out to me this week were BlackSad and Tank Girl. The artwork in these novels is impeccable. It is very interesting looking at BlackSad after seeing Maus. There seems to be a special quality in disconnecting the character from human form but still having him endure human obstacles we go through. It's as if you get to see something fresh for the first time but it is instantly relatable. A very good way to build up a connection between the artist and reader. I absolutely love the drawing style in both of these comics. Tank Girl is great because many artists today are inspired from it just because of the look. The character design and aesthetic of the comic are wonderful. BlackSad attracted me initially because of its energetic drawing with a simple color palette. You don't notice any dramatic color change besides a temperature shift for a change in feeling. These comics are a really good reference to go back to.

Stereotypes

The idea of stereotypes in comics is like trying to balance on a tightrope. It’s very easier for an artist to try to incorporate a stereotype into his work in hopes of being able to relate to their reader more easily; however, you are sacrificing a little bit of dignity as you deliver a low blow to which ever group you’ve attacked that is part of your human race. I personally think stereotypes are cop-outs for the artists because it’s too easy to put someone down just for your own success. It can be funny for one person but taken personally by the next. Now is it right or wrong? I have no say in that. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. I think everyone in this world has been exposed to ideas like these for so long that it is near impossible to not think about the stereotype whether it is intentional or not. Even if you are against stereotypes, you still recognize them. So in that case, it is a very effective tool in the industry to easily manipulate the understanding of a viewer. I do wish that we as a whole would change our views.

Maus

Maus was an interesting comic. I think it is very successful because of the content and the way Art Spiegelman approached it. The history of the content is true considering it covers Hitler and his terror over the Jews in Europe. He opens the comic with a quote from Hitler saying, “The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human”. The reader is likely to see the mice characters Spiegelman presents and not consider them real people until they get further along. The mice are representing the same humans that endured the horror for the Holocaust. Although it is a fairly long read, you get lost in the story as it streams along. Most of the panels, page by page, are laid out practically identically. The text remains consistent most of the way through. It’s incredible how Spiegelman can capture you with his characters as mice. Although they are not human, you can relate human qualities to them because of the things they go through.