Graphic Fiction and Graphic Non Fiction

This week I read Arabian Nights, Diary of a Dominatrix, and I watched Cartoon Noir.  Needless to say the three of these are very different from one another.

Diary of a Dominatrix really reminded me of most of the content in the Underground Comics selection.  I found it reminiscent not only because of the sexually explicate material but the organization of the story itself.  The paneling was all over the place and the and the story line was not centered around a main conflict or character goal, it was just a woman talking about her average days as a Dominatrix which was entertaining but very different from most stories and comics I've read thus far.  The artwork was interesting.  It had a almost surreal feel to it with cross hatched backgrounds at some points and super forced perspectives, but it still felt genuine and real while reading it. I think the forced style really had a successful emotional impact forcing the reader to feel exactly what the artists wants them to feel.

The comic Arabian Nights is a story I'm somewhat familiar with.  I wasn't really a big fan of the writing or the art but for some reason I tended to get lost in the stories the more I read it.  I think it was because to me the writing and art were exactly on the same level, it wasn't mediocre writing with amazing artwork or vise versa.  They worked well together and if it would have been uneven in quality I think it would have taken me out of it.  I don't mean to sound like a dick but I really felt that the writing was really mediocre and the art within the panels seemed cramped, messy and as if it was competing with the text.

I also had watched half of Cartoon Noir.  The impression I got from that was mixed.  I was really impressed by the quality of the first three works but the story lines got a little too weird for me.  I like to think of myself as pretty open minded when it comes to independent film making but the manikin piece kind of put me over the edge and quite Frankly scared the shit out of me.  But again I respect how well done it was =]