Week Fourteen: The Future of Comics

Comics Affinity - A large community, Transmedia Multimodality Unframed Comics Identity.
Comics have been around since at least the middle-ages, we see it being used to create a narrative or a point. The graphic narrative developed the comics and then being created in comic strips in the future. In more modern day, the medium itself never really has a definition.  Mediums change throughout time, comics, novels, and illustrations. We see comics being transformed into films and media, also it's counted as more of fine arts now when it's done traditionally and digital is what it's being used in. It's hard to pick apart film, comics and animation, they overlap and combine from each other. We can see comics maybe reaching into VR without frames, living within the picture. Comics should be as inclusive as possible, we should have a tradition and what is recognized and legitimized as comics. We should accept comics as all forms that can be broken up.

Electric Dragon 80,000 V is a digital film, made a short movie influenced by comics and manga tropes. Classic Superhero movie a face-off between two rivals. The plot is ridiculous and silly. I'm surprised to see such a well developed film that had short production. It follows the same idea of how a superhero comes to be, by accident. I see a lot of the elements of comics within the film. First being the fact thats it's black and white, and giving it more of a traditional form. The sequential shots, the lettering in the series and the dialogue also reflect a comic strip. No normal dialogue happens naturally and every single action has ridiculous sound effects.

The comic I chose to finish up the course is the World of Warcraft issues and comics. It's interesting that one of the most famous MMO's has a comic series that was created after it to give even more context and caricature to characters in the game. Back then we didn't really have a lot of information in the NPCs in the game. Even from standard questing we can't really see the lore of the characters. I think it's interesting that in this context we are using comics to better understand a world, and expand upon it.

Recently 8 years later they have picked up using comics again for their storytelling, even offering free issues on their website, they also include sound and voices from in game characters. I think this gives more interesting content to the player to enjoy and rewarding for them and I haven't really seen this before. This also adds to my idea of the future being more a mixture, with interactive comics.

Also along with developing comics, they have been developing short motion animatics resembling a sort of comic book style, I think this is a good example on how comics are becoming more multimodality:

Week Thirteen: Reconsidering The Superhero

The movement of the Superhero had lots of changes. An example, Batman was first created as a character in the 1930s as more of crime fighting character. However in between he becomes more of a sillier character over time. He is more of a vigilante past, and was reinvented in the the 1980s to be more like how he originally is. In recent times, Batman has been revamped in recent the lego movie as once again back into more of a silly character. We have more of a back and forth and revamping of Superhero characters. Superman is also quite a problem as in being too many invulnerabilities, or we have resetting the character after a set of years. The changes is by generation, not overtime where the Superheros actually learn from their mistakes.

Arkham Asylum is the comic I chose for this week, and I think not only is the stylistic choice reflects the world and the state of mind of the characters we get a definitive sense of mood. Another interesting part is that Batman himself admits that he's afraid of being similar to the Joker. It also really looks at the psychology of the actual characters and Arkham itself.

Batman The Killing Joke Questions:

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?

The text I read I think is very much more into the actual relationship of both Batman and the Joker. It is about their relationship and how both characters are actually very similar. The comic starts off with the actual dialogue of Batman talking about how they will never truly stop fighting until both of them end up killing each other. The most compelling part of the story was the ending when they both are laughing at the whole situation which Joker explained in his "joke". As Batman and the Joker laugh it seems to have at this part Batman may of went to go kill joker rather than his usual capture. This is a very surprising end and it ends on the notion that Batman killed Joker.

2. What connection did you make to the story? Discuss the elements of the story with which you were able to connect.

I think what I connect to the most is how morally ambiguous the whole plot is. We are challenged because Joker's backstory seems to be tragic however at the same time the current story that we are following he is basically killing people relentlessly. I feel like I can connect and have empathy to Joker's early life. Being a failure, and being someone who experienced loss.

3. What changes would you make to adapt the story into another medium? What medium would you use, and what changes would you make?

If I were to adapt this story into another medium, I would possibly suggest a mixture between 2D and 3D animation for medium sort of like how they did Into the Spider-Verse film. The story would not have to change too much into animation, and style can still get across successfully. Using a combination of hand-drawn and a virtual reality environment combining them and keeping the same stylistic choice.

Week Twelve: Women's Comics

I read a few comics this week, starting with My Friend Irma. Irma is a innocent character that seems oblivious to what is being said and how she is understanding it. They use the stereotypical dumb-blonde humor that made this character popular. It's actually quite interesting because Irma never really faces any consequences to her being a scatterbrain. Women would represent women in this time different then how we would represent women today. Irma is a good example of how even women used to write women as being their stereotypes. Early comics representing women are not really the reality of how women are, or how they would write themselves. Irma is a cartoony character of a stereotype of a woman that men embodied in the comic. This may be why the myth that if you are blonde you may be stupid probably originated from. I think it could be compared to Archie in the sense of how ridiculous it is and how it objectifies and uses the idea that girls are dumb to play into the wants for the readers.

Diary of a Dominatrix is written by a woman and it can be seen in the style and artwork of this comic. This work is not only from the perspective of a woman but a one that mainly dominates men and that's her career. The concept of a dominatrix is already considered taboo and I think giving the character realistic proportions and not this fictional body adds more to the work. This comic is powerful, and I think it's powerful because of the author and her own control that she has. The author changes the idea that the fetishization of women and objectification are only for men but also women can embody this and take control of how they are seen or even a part of their own identity.

Women are not given credit to their work throughout history of comics and lots of art forms. They are seen to not have contributions to the work and are believed that they should stay unemployed, and at home. This is obviously faded with time as in recent years, women have been more popular and now majority of comic readers.

Week Eleven: Comics in Contemporary Literature

I have read My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris.  It challenges how graphic novels are usually structured. You can tell that the artist used her own life and the dark themes that were integrated in her storytelling. When reading it's strange that in this seemingly normal would we follow this "monster" girl. In this case I thought it was strange how the graphic novel doesn't ever have a real narrator but rather it seems to be told through Emil. It is very clear that the "voice" is quite literally the author telling the story through herself. The art definitely reflects that it's not a child simply drawing in a ruled notebook. It's interesting how the author really loves these monsters, how she feels sympathy for them and how these monsters are seen as out-casts. It's almost like the monsters themselves represent good rather than the bad which seems to take more form of a human. I really like that there is not definite good or bad guys in this graphic novel. I think this is a realistic way of portraying how actual people can be complex and not just one type of label.

For the class assignment, we had to read a comic of choice and I was paired with Tiffany Apple. We decided on Asterios Polyp. It seems to have very intricate and detailed close-ups, but also has very simplified shapes when it's trying to get across a action. Analytical illustrations that remind me of almost a mix of sci-fi. It also seems to alternate from flow and loose forms to almost geometric.

Fun Home was also another novel we are looking at and it seems to follow a very sequential style with the same coloring that is in Asterios. It seems that this seems like a very personal comic to the author or maybe he has taken more interest in the novel portion rather than graphic. It seems more like it's a story thats explaining a trailing into different topics rather than jumping around. It also seems to be in a European theme. I think the house is a good reflection into having such a large family.

Every Girl is the End of the World for Me seems to have like an adult cartoon like style, the panels are even squares are in 4's each page. It also doesn't seem to be professional in the sense of layout and characters however this feels more like comic rather than a novel telling a more simple story rather than something long and complicated. It seems something I can just pick up and read and finish rather than other graphic novels that are more like a novel. When this comic came out I was exactly 6 years old, 6 months and 9 days when this comic was published.

Masterpiece Comics is taking classic stories and using popular cartoon comic characters ad using them to tell the stories. I think whats interesting is that its mixing stories and styles. This is kind of what this whole assignment is about. It's a mix of Garfield, Batman, Charlie Brown and various other popular comic characters in a different story, era, with common tales. These all reflect different styles ranging from semi- realistic to cartoony, even dramatic or funny.

I also decided to read Molly Kiely Diary of a Dominatrix, it's about a female who works as a dominatrix and talks about the career. The illustrations are definitely more realistic in art style and in how they portray females. It seems to open up a conversation about being open about things that are seen as taboo. The style reflects this, showing realistic proportions and showing realistic relationships. It reflects more of a women's perspective on dominance and rather only focusing on the content. Even the layout of it seems really DIY rather than consistent storytelling like explaining a lifestlye. This will be more explained next week when we talk about Women.

Week Ten: Manga and the Japanese Comics Tradition

Buddha is the comic I read for this week is by Osamu Tezuka God of Manga. He starts this work in 1972, and wanted to take on more serious matters. It's definitely of the more interesting works as it brings up more ideas about the world. It's his own interpretation of Gautama Buddha the founder of buddhism. It was one of his last epic works that he ended up creating. It takes place in ancient india, a lot of issues were going on at this time and people were suffering. Soon a young prince was born named Siddhartha, who would embark on a important journey becoming Buddha. And attempts to help people that are desperate.

I was able to read some of the biography that was passed around in class.

Tezuka was a principal figure in starting the industry of manga and anime. He's created 700 volumes, and 150,000 pages in his lifetime. He will have a whole cast of characters that are designed to be able to be modified. Tezuka would popularized manga in post-war Japan. He created the style of "big-eyed" characters, creating anime, and influencing other creators after. Tezuka would mentor several artists and over time would develop Gekiga. Gekiga had more expressions than normal Manga, eventually this would become a standard for Manga.

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind is the film we watched in class and it brings up elements like environmental awareness and peace. The animation and manga in Japan would go hand in hand and animation is also influenced by other factors in Japan. It all started in the 20s and 30s with paper cuts and puppetry animation. I plan on finishing the movie on my own time.

After discussing the film, we talked about about manga in Japan and it's importance in it's culture. Manga style also could be described as playful pictures or whimsical sketches. Manga was created in Japan, and they have a complex pre-history earlier in Japanese art. Early forms of manga could be found in scroll painting. The scrolls were long strips of paper, left to right pictures of images and stories that are being told and illustrated. There's a lot of comedy and playfulness in these early images, or showing mudane life. Manga is still very popular in Japan, and sales are way higher in Japan than America. The comics market is still expanding in America, however manga is still making more sales currently.

Other important types and categories of Manga that was talked about in class:

Shonen was popularized by Dragon Ball and One Piece. The audience is usually around younger boys usually following a formula of a younger boy growing up.

Seinen was towards men in their 20s to 50s. Lone Wolf and the cub, and Ghost in Shell both explore mature themes.

Shojo Manga usually directed towards women, usually involving love and relations.

Josei is the adult form of Shojo, usually developing real relationships and talks about late adolescence and fashion. 

Yaoi Manga and Yuri Manga are gay erotica that are also popularized and fetishized. They will develop romantic crushes and domestic relationships.
Gender and Orientation and Diversity is also being developed in manga in the recent years, even though there is a lot of homophobia in Japan yet, is still being in the process of being accepted.