Brief History of the Comic Book

For this selection I read Carl Barks' Pygmy Indians Story and Tin Tin in Tibet.  I chose to read Barks' Pygmy Indian Story because I was interested to see how Donald Duck translates through comics instead of animated.  I chose to read Tin Tin because I have never read a Tin Tin comic and since all of the talk happening after this new movie I really wanted to see what all of the fuss is about.

I enjoyed Barks' Pygmy Indian Story although it was very evident it was a work of it's time.  There were many stereotypes used when referring to the Indians, not all necessarily bad but because it was a cartoon some of the characteristics features and beliefs were exaggerated.  Also there was a interesting social commentary that was taking place throughout the duration of the story.  A lot of time was taken referring to the modern morals regarding nature and the preservation of land.  All together I really enjoyed this comic and i had a good time reading it.

Tin Tin is a comic I had been looking forward to reading for a while. growing up I never really heard all that much about it but I recognized the character and when the film came out I saw all kinds of commercials and trailers and the old distant recognition came back.  I knew it was big in the UK but I didn't realize the entire world loved it except the US, so naturally I wanted to see why.  When I first started reading Tin Tin in Tibet it took me a few pages to adjust to the humor and story telling.  The first thing I noticed was that in the beginning there was a lot of time talking about other things and setting up the story before the inciting incident occurs.  Also the humor was very different but it was very refreshing.  At times it felt very English but it was still very funny.  This comic also contained much more reading than previous comics I have read, and I laughed to myself thinking what a lazy American I was when I saw a page full of dialogue and sighed.  I enjoyed reading Tin Tin very much and I really liked how it could appeal to all audiences which I could only assume is part of the reasoning behind it's huge success.