History of the Comic Strip

For this weeks reading I chose to read "Peanuts," "Calvin and Hobbs," and "Get Fuzzy."  I really enjoyed reading these little strips it was a great time and took me back to a younger version of myself.  I am very new to comic books and graphic novels but I have always read comic strips on growing up. My grandma used to read the spiderman strip to me every Sunday and I remember how excited I would get waiting to hear what happens next.

"Calvin and Hobbs" is the series I was least familiar with and very quickly I realized what all the fuss is about  and why there is such a huge fan base.  It really make people connect to a younger mind set and while your reading it life is simple during those panels.  I think that applies to most comic strips and is part of the reason so many people have loved them for so long.

"Get Fuzzy" is a comic I have been reading for the past few years when given the opportunity.  The character personalities are so great to me.  They contrast beautifully and the sense of humor is at times very dry and at times very sarcastic.  I stumbled onto this strip one morning at work in high school one summer and it was the first time I really laughed out loud at a comic strip.  The expressions Darby Conley draws onto these characters supports the text so strongly it really gives life to the characters and at times I found myself laughing to myself, "What the hell is that Cats Problem!!"  Something about how ridiculous the circumstances and characters are really appeals to me.

I also read the "Peanuts' featuring good ol Charlie Brown.  I had to read these strips.  I felt that if I didn't read the Peanuts during a week where the assignment was to read comic strips I would be slapping Mr. Shultz in the face.  I felt reading these strips now opposed to when I was younger I appreciate them much more now.  I liked them when I was little and I could relate to them but I was more into the action or physical slapstick humor found in other strips.  However now when I read the strips I have a blast and I am all of a sudden back to being 9 or 10 years old but I catch all the little jokes and nuances that the Peanuts are so loved for.  Snoopy cracked me up and the strip where Charlie Brown washes his hands before dinner and then pets Snoopy and has to watch them again had me laughing for 10 minutes.  Snoopy's reaction to Charlie Browns sister yelling at him that Snoopy has dog germs and Snoopy's reaction was brilliant.  The way the strips connected in the complete book made them a lot of fun to read as you follow the characters through the seasons and through obstacles.  There is a reason"The Peanuts" strip is considered a masterpiece and I am glad I can now appreciate it for what it is.

Understanding Comics

I was really impressed and interested in this book "Understanding Comics."  The way McCloud described and made sense of each principle used in comics was not only clear but it was creative and fun to read.

  I was most interested in his explanation of the relationship people make with cartoons.  As a computer animator i grew up feeling that connection and it led me down my current career path which is to make others feel that connection I love so much.  Although I've always loved that connection with cartoon characters I never thought about the physiology that McCloud describes in his book. The simplicity of cartoon allows us to escape reality, go to another place and put ourselves in the shoes of our favorite characters.  It's so easy easy for us to that because the simpler the cartoon design the more people it can represent, making it easier it is to see ourselves.  That theory really got me thinking and it made me feel silly for never realizing it myself because it was obvious.

Another theory that really stood out to me was the transitional technique theory used to tell the stories.  The bar graphs of the transitions found in western comics compared to those found in Eastern comics especially from Japan was incredible and yet another thing that never occurred to me.  Many Japanese comics and even anime films strongly focus on the present time and their transitions from aspect to aspect really make you feel in the moment and really add a different mood to the stories.  Where as the Western story telling techniques are mainly action to action and the characters are in search of a goal rather than just experiencing moments.  The gutter theory played a huge role in supporting the transitions and as an animator I really enjoyed that section and I was interested and amazed how much time can pass or not pass from frame to frame.

Many of the tools learned from reading this book make me eager to try and apply them in stories I come up with within my own medium.

Ernst Thursday Blackness

I believe the meaning of Ernst's Thursday installment Blackness, is that all people who are merry do not care what others think and will do what they wish. however he also indicates that those who are merry will also die because of their lack of caring and merriment. From the illustrations it also seems that there is no shortage of dead which makes me think that there are still people who chose to me happy and are not concerned with consequences. At first others seem curious about the happiness as of others but soon the happy are dead.

It is also possible that the death represents other people in society or society itself killing people's happiness. The piece could easily be a social statement that people will go to any lengths to kill the happiness of others I they themselves are not happy.

The Arrival

After reading "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan I was amazed and impressed by how naturally the story read.  I have read a few graphic novels before but never one without words.  There was a charming cinematic essence I felt while I was reading this story and I became so lost in it I forgot to look for the tools he was using to tell the story.  I had to go back after finishing the novel and look again.  I noticed how specific Shaun Tan was in choosing his story beats.  He didnt chose only enough beats to tell the story but he also drew enough panels to give the characters personality, which I felt really set this story apart.  He didn't rely on dialogue and text to give reader an idea about what kind of personality each character had, he showed them.
He told a complex story with complex characters with only images and had to make specific choices when staging and laying out each shot.  The continuity from frame to frame played a much larger role than previous comics or graphic novels that I have read because it had no text to tell the story.  The pages had to be layed out like a story board and the eye trace had to connect from frame to frame so the reader would not get confused and the panels read seamlessly.
Shaun Tan's use of statues from city to city was a creative solution to telling the audience what kind of city it was.  Also the the symbols that where used as a language made the story universal and the immigrant theme can be related to anyone in any part of the world.
I really enjoyed this book and I would recomend it to anyone.  I wish I would have known of it before because it is not only a incredible reference for story telling but he uses a lot of tools used in film making.