Lit. of Comics

For this week a read up on some of Phoenix and Buddha by Osamu Tezuka. I gotta say his art style really appeals to me, which is weird because usually i'm not really fond of cute looking art but his holds so much expression and character movement that it's hard not to like it. I remember reading some of Black jack when I was a kid, which was more of an episodic type story. But all of these stories kind of perpetuate the importance of life in all forms. It was crazy to me when I heard Osamu Tazuka had a medical background, something that seems so practical with no opening for creativity. I'm glad he didn't stick with medicine, overall I really liked these stories, and I was surprised to see that even though they're kind of old they don't seem dated at all.

For this week I read Persepolis, a graphic autobiography by Marjane Satrapi that recounts her life in Iran during and after the islamic revolution. Persepolis was refreshingly honest, coming into this I thought her parents would be unsupportive and only cared about maintaining their fundamentalist view of everything, kind of dismissing whatever dream Persepolis would have. But it was the opposite, her parents believed in her very much and supported her in every step of the way. Something that if missing would have completely changed the course of her life. Maryjane recounts of depression and her suicidal attempt really showed the effects of the toxic society she had to be a part of. I could relate to this story, not with me personally but with my mom. She went thru some similar troubles growing up in Nicaragua but it didn't stop her from becoming a successful person. I really enjoyed this story and the art style was really appealing as well.

Reading Maus really opened my eyes to how prejudice and its normalization in society could potentially turn into something devastating like a massive genocide. Vladek's story held no punches in regards to how real and honest it was. With the depictions of Americans as dogs and the polish people as pigs, Spiegelman didn't care about being politically correct and he wasn't trying to be offensive either, he simply recounted what happened to his father thru his own father's perspective. A very black and white and full of stereotypes point of view. I'm kind of afraid of how the political climate is looking now a days and this story is a scary reminder that racism in any shape or form in a collective and the slow acceptance of it could lead to something  horrible. Overall Maus was a scary read and I'm not really sure if could come back to it but I really think it's a necessary read.

For this week I read Blankets written and illustrated by Craig Thompson. I really enjoyed how at the beginning the story portrayed what it felt like to be an average middle schooler. Struggling thru school trying to go unnoticed while still wanting to be popular. I really liked how the illustrations looked kind of scratchy and how some of the characters proportions and sizes were exaggerated to look more intimidating or submissive. I really enjoyed the art of this book overall. 

For this week I read Batman #1. I'm a big fan of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's interpretation of Batman and Grant Morrison's is one of my favorites but I never thought of reading the original Batman #1. I was surprised to see the lack of backgrounds in each panel, which in most cases were just a solid color. But it didn't take me out of the story in fact it aided to some of the action that was happening, putting more focus on the characters. The Joker looked a lot more crude which looked really cool to me but robin looked a bit weird I wasn't a big fan of a little boy in tight boxer briefs. 

For this week I read Little Nemo. I really enjoyed this comic strip. The illustrations are beautifully drawn with a pastel color palette that just feels warm and inviting. The stories really felt like a naive little boy's dream. The layout of the panels I found to be fun and definitely helped with the how the story was told. At times a page would have more than twelve panels but it never felt chaotic or messy. It was pretty mature even though the stories are meant for kids. I guess it got too real at points with how the dreams unraveled and what lessons the boy was being taught by his actions in the dream. Overall I really enjoyed the stories and I could definitely see myself coming back to these.