Reading Comics

Beowulf: An Epic Retelling

2011-12-19T21:41:00.001-06:00

Sam, Austin, Jaehoon

Gareth Hinds retells the epic tale of Beowulf’s adventures in a novel way with his graphic novel, Beowulf published in 1999. For anyone who has read the epic poem, the story is nothing new; the brave, super-human Beowulf shows up to Denmark promising to save the day from the evil Grendel, boasts a bit in the great hall before he does, and then kills both Grendel and his mother. All of this makes him extremely rich and famous, so much so that he becomes a nobleman, and through the death of every single other noble in the country during a war, becomes the king. For fifty years, everything is peaceful, until someone angers a dragon while stealing from its treasure horde. The dragon then begins to ravage Beowulf’s Kingdom and Beowulf defeats it in his final battle. Critiquing the story itself would be unfair, as it is not Gareth Hinds’ in the first place; he is simply telling it through a different medium. It is therefore necessary to examine and analyze the methods and techniques used to tell it.

One of the advantages graphic novels have over other print media is the availability of the image to convey emotions, mood, and smaller details more subtly than written work often does. Different colors or shading can make a scene feel ominous, hopeful, happy, or a variety of other feelings. Gareth Hinds uses this throughout the novel very well, conveying emotions and feelings of bleakness, danger, fear, and weariness through the tones and colors of the panels. In the first “book” of his adaptation, his fight between Beowulf and Grendel, the colors are the most saturated, and the whole battle is tinted red. At this point, Beowulf is young, and eager for battle, which he seems to get a sort of high from. The red tint of the pages with the battle heightened the tension, and made the scene more exciting as a whole. On the other hand, the second battle seemed much darker and frightening. By the time the battle is over, the color is fading, which makes Beowulf seem worn. The third and final book, which contains the battle with the dragon, is painted in gray-scale, which enhances the worn out, tired feel of Beowulf. Hinds’ use of color and tone adds depth to work and the story as a whole.

Another major part of Hinds’ work was the layout he used throughout the novel. As with the color and shading, he varied them between the three books. The first book was somewhat disorganized at some points, such as the boasts of the sea monsters. However, it was still easy to tell what was going on. The second book, on the other hand, was very disorganized and difficult to comprehend sometimes. This stark difference between the two helped to show the difference in how Beowulf felt. He goes from the confident hero to a worried man who was fighting out of necessity. In the final book, when Beowulf confronts the Dragon, everything is very orderly, including the battle. This is in contrast to the first two fights, which shows some sort of emotion or rush during conflict. Beowulf does not seem care about, enjoy, or experience any sort of emotion in his encounter with the Dragon. It is as though he has grown weary of battle and ruling his kingdom, and his duties are more of a burden than anything else. While Hinds does not depict emotion in Beowulf directly, how his organizes the panels in the novel forces the reader to experience certain emotions. These emotions in turn help the reader understand the emotions that Beowulf was experiencing. This use of the layout by Hinds’ added a definite layer of depth to his adaptation of Beowulf, which greatly improved the story.

Gareth Hinds’ graphic novel took a story which has been told time and time again through various media, and still managed to make it a new experience. His use of color and tone set the novel apart from other retellings of Beowulf, by conveying emotions that were not otherwise shown. Moreover, his manipulation of the work’s layout provided a deeper sense of this emotion without directly showing it, in a way that only graphic novels can. He has shown an understanding of the medium through which he writes, and will hopefully continue to produce works of parallel, or even greater, quality.

Kingdom Hearts: An Unreadable Farce

2011-12-19T18:37:00.001-06:00

Kingdom Hearts is the manga companion to the critically-acclaimed video game by Square Enix. The story begins with Sora and his two friends, Riku and Kairi in their homeworld. However, as his world is destroyed by shadow creatures called the “Heartless,” Sora loses his friends and is thrust into another world, where he meets Donald Duck, the magician, and Sir Goofy, the knight. The two Disney characters notice that Sora is holding a keyblade, a fabled weapon that has the power to seal worlds from darkness. After being attacked by the Heartless, the three travel to different Disney Universes (e.g. Alice’s Wonderland, Aladdin’s Agrabah) to search for Riku, Kairi, and King Mickey Mouse. Along the way, they realize that they must use the keyblade to save the universe from darkness. In each of the Disney worlds, Sora locks a “keyhole” that seals away some of the darkness and in the end, with the help King Mickey, manage to completely lock away Kingdom Hearts, the source of all darkness.

Yeah, sure, maybe the plot sounds kind of cute, but that’s about all this manga offers. Kingdom Hearts is a poorly-created manga in so many different ways. To begin, the above summary is about as clear a telling of the story as the actual manga is. From the very first panel, the reader is confused. The introduction is ambiguous and suffices only to supply the names of the three friends Sora, Kairi, and Riku. The manga then jerks to a different setting, a scene of a distraught Donald Duck and Goofy after learning King Mickey has disappeared. To add to the confusion, the story then jumps again to Sora, who is now in a completely new location, with no explanation of how he arrived there. These jumps make closure difficult, because, one, the reader has to spend time thinking about what happened between the panels, and two, because the closure that the reader experiences may be ambiguous.
These discontinuities make the manga hard to follow, and thus, it obscures any small details that the author may have wanted to present to the reader. However, even after closely reviewing the panels, we still could not understand much of what happens in the story. There are simply gaps in knowledge. For example, how the keyholes work is never explained and Mickey’s role is never properly elucidated.

These gaps in knowledge are frustrating, because as more and more information is missing, the story gets more and more confusing. However, another problem that results from these gaps is that most of the occurrences seem like silly deus ex machina. None of the events are believable because, in short, we only see the effects and not the causes, and so the reader is not drawn into the story. The most garish example of deus ex machine occurs at the end when Kairi miraculously manages to save Sora just “by the power of her love,” and everything ends, like a Disney story, “happily ever after,” giving Kingdom Hearts a childish nature. This would not necessarily be a problem, given that it could be a children’s story, but the violence and shounen manga style make it seem directed at a teenage audience. That said, Kingdom Hearts lacks other traditional elements of an engaging manga. In manga, we usually see complex plots that keep the reader on his toes. This story, however, is almost completely linear. There are no plot twists and the reader basically only follows Sora and his Disney posse, only seeing Riku every few chapters. Another missing element is the deep character development that makes manga readers grow close to the characters. The only emotions we ever see are surprise and, sometimes, longing for missing friends. Moreover, there is rarely any introspection: the whole story is a bland narrative of what happens on Sora’s journey.

Besides the fact that it is just a poor story, Kingdom Hearts seems farcical in a number of ways. For one thing, the combination of stern manga characters and silly Disney ones makes the story hard to take seriously. No action scenes can be intense when Goofy is in the panel, no mysteries can be suspenseful when it is Donald Duck who is gasping. There are also myriad other details that make this story ridiculous. For example, the ship on which Sora travels is “powered by smiles,” hearts are the source of darkness, and people turn into little black creatures when they lose their hearts.

Unarguably, the story is poorly created. As for visual elements, however, the drawings are competent and manage to supplement the text effectively. The manga is drawn in the style of typical shounen manga, utilizing lines to communicate sound, raised hair to show surprise, and stark contrasts in shading to depict dramatic lighting effects. Moreover, the characters (not including the Disney ones) are drawn in the Japanese style, with large eyes and dilated pupils.

In conclusion, Kingdom Hearts is an awful manga, if you can even call it that. It lacks the elements that make a manga engaging. It is even read from left-to-right, which can actually be frustrating to the seasoned manga reader who traditionally reads right-to-left. However, it is not the untraditional approach of this manga that makes it bad. The most fatal flaw is how jumpy it is, never giving the reader enough information for closure, never filling the gaps in the story. Even if Kingdom Hearts did have an interesting plot, the reader would never know.

Amano, Shiro. Kingdom Hearts. Mangabit.com n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2011.
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James Chen
Yang-Yang Feng
Gus Nelson
Karthik Yarlagadda

Beowulf the Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds

2011-12-19T16:05:00.003-06:00

In the city of Denmark, there was a hall in which the king and his men were being tormented by a monster named Grendel. The king called upon Beowulf from across the land to help rid the soldiers and the village from Grendel. Once he arrived, he told of how he defeated an octopus and how he was more than capable of defeating Grendel alone. Once in the battle with Grendel, he tore off his arm and hung it up for the whole hall. Eventually Grendel’s mother came to avenge her son and Beowulf went to fight her and ended up killing her and her son. Later the king of the Beowulf’s homeland died and Beowulf became the king of everything. He ruled peacefully and then one day a beggar was walking and saw a goblet in the cave of a dragon, which he took. The dragon was upset and began to terrorize the people. Beowulf faced the dragon and was fatally wounded by him. He killed the dragon and died after saying his last speech.

Beowulf is the protagonist in this comic. He fights Grendel, Grendel's mother and a fire-breathing dragon. Beowulf is the strongest and most capable warrior around. In his youth, he personifies a perfect hero. In his old age, he proves to be a wise and effective ruler.
Grendel is a monster that preys on Hrothgar's warriors in the king’s mead-hall. In the novel, Grendel represents the first challenge that Beowulf must get over. It is almost like Beowulf first proves himself to the rest of the men by beating Grendel.
Grendel’s mother is more monstrous than her son having less human qualities and avenges her son. Beowulf found Grendel’s mother to be another challenge in the book. Once she died, he was officially able to kill Grendel because she was the protector of Grendel.

The epic poem is split into three books in which each book has its own artistic style. In the first book, Hinds uses a type of parchment paper as a backdrop to his drawings. This style was evident to us when we described page 7 as: old style, watermarked, and clean. Parchment paper is made from cleaned animal skin which made it smooth to write on which would explain the preciseness of the drawings. It is also noted that in this book, the drawings that take place in the banquet hall have an ink blot effect in the style.

In book two, Hinds uses wood the same way he used parchment in the previous section. The reader notices this change because of the streaks that line the page and also the knots across the pages that also appear in chopped wood planks. On page 29, the wood is seen most as the circular streaks span across the page.

The last book in the poem, the page style changes to that of old newspapers. The gutters of the pages are white with old watermark stains in the corners. One can hypothesize that this style of the book symbolizes the fact that Beowulf has grown older.

As this poem is divided into three parts, they serve as the beginning, middle, and end. The structure of this seems to be heavily reliant on graphic elements, rather than textual. The most interesting part of this structure is that at the climax of this graphic novel, there was absolutely no text involved, just a unique use of color, closure, and slant panels. It is even more credit to Hinds for successfully capturing all of the anticipated gore vividness of these scenes without using a single line of text beside the onomatopoeia, of course.

In this interpretation of Beowulf, Gareth Hinds is able to effectively use visual contents to exemplify the telling of the epic poem. Ranging from white to black and from red to blue, a wide variety of color hues along with shading were utilized to help with the emotions of the book. Tones of red were used during the battle between Beowulf and Grendel’s mom to help the reader feel the intense moments, Grayscale panels help to show that in book three Beowulf is an old king and how the battle with the dragon leads to his death. Color also helps the reader know that things like the black blood come from or are caused by a monster or something not human-like. Likewise, a circular radiating background around Beowulf during several fighting scenes seems to emphasize his heroism. The reoccurring constellation background in book one helps to set the time in which the story takes place; a time where the constellations were very bright as pollution and man-made light didn’t hinder their viewing. In the time of Beowulf, constellations were a big part of life helping with traveling and to know the time of the year. Hinds’ use of blending onomatopoeia really adds to the action and stimulates the reader’s sense of sound like the three dimensional boom when Beowulf enters Heorot Hall for the first time. The visual elements: the shading, the color, the background and the blending onomatopoeia really become a big part of this graphic novel; bringing it to life and making the epic poem Beowulf, a true joy in reading.

As this graphic novel follows the original epic poem, the themes between the two seem to be synonymous. The fact is all great things come to an end. Beowulf’s rise, peak, and fall accurately portray and bring to life this saying. The graphic novel puts a face to this saying as well, so the emotion for the reader is intensified. For example, in the beginning of the book, he is shown as this high and mighty individual who is capable of defeating any foe. As the book progresses, he proves that he is above all by slaying both Grendel and his mother. After his peak, he begins to decline as portrayed in his last battle with the dragon. His reign tragically comes to an end, but an end nonetheless.

Beowulf Review (Butcher, Rasmussen, Pitaktong)

2011-12-19T15:27:00.001-06:00

Seth Butcher, Matthew Rasmussen, Areen Pitaktong

Beowulf Review

Hinds: Another Malicious Christian Monk

Gareth Hinds’ graphic novel adaptation of the legendary story of Beowulf strives to both remain faithful to the heroic spirit of the original, while adding both greater depth and excitement through its visuals. In many ways, this adaptation succeeds, but the illustrations are often incorrect or seem out of place, distracting from the story of Beowulf.
Beowulf the character towers over his fellow men, but is no match in size for the horrific Grendel. In order to show how Beowulf manages to defeat his massive adversary, Hinds draws on his own personal knowledge of martial arts. Hinds depicts Beowulf employing various arm bars and throws. These moves come from martial arts traditions that would not have been known in Northern Europe in the time of the tale. Hinds turns Beowulf contest of sheer strength with Grendel into one where he uses skill to defeat his enemy, changing the emphasis of Beowulf’s talents from raw, heroic strength into skills perfected through practice.
The original story of Beowulf was an older, pagan tale transcribed by a Christian monk. The monk’s Christianity warped the story, and Hinds adds even more references to it, further distancing the adaptation from the original story. For instance, in book two, Beowulf emerges from the lake after defeating Grendel’s mother, holding a sword with an destroyed blade over his head like a crucifix, with light illuminating the Christian symbol. Still, Hinds adds a call back to the bloody, non-Christian origin of the story: in the spread, Beowulf also clutches Grendel’s mother’s severed head in his teeth by its hair.
The graphic novel rendition of the great epic offers little new content besides pretty pictures. Given that the entirety of the text was already prepared for Hinds, his primary and only task was to illustrate the book and hopefully add in accurate details overlooked in the text. Instead, he deepens the rift between the original tale and the modern adaptation by driving more inappropriate Christian icons into a pagan work. Hinds makes a few decent additions, such as constellations seen in every night sky panel, which demonstrate the importance of astrology to the Danes, who could not otherwise sail, but preferred to add content that is untrue to the original tale.
The clothing style illustrated in Hind’s rendition of Beowulf is one key example of an area that Hinds could have incorporated a great deal of detail, but chose not to. While the use of brooches and tunic-style clothing is appropriate for medieval Geatland, the similarities between the graphic novel and historical fact are limited to these few instances. Among the important articles of clothing for Danes would be leather belts, fur hats that in no way involved horns, and Amber, which was considered to be the most precious item, for clothing, medicine, or even magic, during the age. While Hinds does not use any blatantly wrong pieces of clothing besides the horned helmets, his illustrations could have incorporated significantly more zeitgeist appropriate content.
Finally, the text that Hinds uses is a rework of one of the two original Beowulf texts to ever be recovered, but the voice in which the story is told is drastically different than any translation of the original text, which gives Beowulf a completely new persona. In the original Beowulf text, the protagonist is responsible for a majority of the narration. Beowulf the character frequently boosts about his achievements and seems to ooze confidence. Hinds’ Beowulf does not exhibit nearly the quality of the original Beowulf’s persona. When we are introduced to Beowulf in the graphic novel, we are introduced to a tall Nord with little to say. The hero only speaks when discussing his intentions which, due to the medium, could not be effectively communicated. The primary reason for Beowulf’s journey is for self-glorification, which Hinds seems to have overlooked. Beowulf essentially became a silent, noble hero, which is absurd given the motivations and goals that are so clearly displayed in the original text.
Hinds did not add a great deal of detail to Beowulf through his graphic novel adaptation, and instead preferred to add ridiculous content that is not plausible nor realistic. While graphic novels add the option to illustrate a story and show detail too extraneous for text, Hinds did not add any relevant detail, and instead chose to restrain the reader’s imagery of Beowulf to his own interpretation as opposed to adding in relevant detail that could add to the epic. Just like how a Christian monk was the first to record the tale of Beowulf and in doing so infused the story with large amounts of Christian symbolism, Hinds chose to add inappropriate content such as horned helmets and martial arts into an otherwise great piece of literature.

Blankets

2011-12-19T13:48:00.001-06:00

Blankets, by Craig Thompson, describes first love, family, and growing up, and is loosely based on the author’s own life. Craig meets Raina, a girl from Christian camp, who encourages him to explore his spirituality and question what he had thought he knew about his life and his faith. Their relationship grows as they send drawings, poems, and letters back and forth. Eventually, Craig travels from his small, fundamentalist town in Wisconsin to Raina’s house in Michigan, where she deals with a myriad of problems stemming from a family that’s falling apart. While her parents struggle with their divorce, Raina helps care for her two adopted siblings, both with mental disabilities, and her niece, Sarah, whose parents are disinterested. When Craig arrives, he finds himself in the middle of Raina’s struggling family. Intertwined with his story of first love are descriptions and memories of the relationship Craig shares with his brother. Among these recollections, he brings the reader to the nights when they were young and shared the same bed, where many fights would erupt and their parents would come to scold them. Blankets is a fascinating story that captivates and enchants the reader with wholesome emotions and astonishing intimacy.

Thompson creatively combines text and and picture to create an idyllic coming-of-age story. At first glance, the reader may be flustered by the large 592 page graphic novel, but as the first couple pages go by, it is quite obvious that the story is a fast read. One main aspect of this novel was Craig’s spiritual journey. He has difficulty understanding the beliefs that he grew up with and he becomes even more confused after spending two weeks with Raina. He was encourages during his teenage years to continue on a path into ministry but there was always something that pulled him in another direction--drawing. Thompson’s work appears fluid and effortless as he captures the emotions of the main characters easily. He also uses blankets throughout his novel as a symbolic object. Blankets come up multiple times: during flashbacks with his brother, other times when Craig is with Raina, and at the end of the novel when he is reflecting on his relationship with her. They symbolise protection, a safeguard from an outside world and create a connection between the younger Craig and one growing up. The reader can easily relate to being underneath a blanket and feeling protected from the world. Whether in a world of happiness or extreme sadness, a blanket’s warmth and comfort provides shelter from these emotions.

Relationships with friends and family are what drives Thompson’s graphic novel, and although some fall apart during the story, he works to strengthen them in the end. One major relationship, besides with Raina, is Craig’s connection with his brother. Craig grows apart from his brother as he goes through his teenage years, and Raina points out this unfortunate fact when they are talking one day. He takes Raina’s suggestion to work on renewing their bond, so that they can be as close as they once were. After he ends things with Raina, he never manages to rekindle things with her, but when he uses the blanket she gave him once more, it does help him not heal the break, but aid complete his own recovery.

Thompson’s graphic novel Blankets is an emotional story that appeals to the reader and uses symbolism and key relationships to drive the story. In it, Thompson captures the essence of first love and growing up, creating a story that will captivate all readers.

The Importance of Friendship: A Review of Kingdom Hearts

2011-12-19T11:42:00.008-06:00

Shiro Amano’s bestselling manga, Kingdom Hearts, takes a second look at its critically acclaimed predecessor, the Kingdom Hearts video game by Square Enix. However, unlike most other mangas, this work remains true to is counterpart, including a near-replication of its story line, but what truly makes this work unique is the fact that the manga is based on the video game, breaking the traditional role of video games being an adaptation of a book or movie.

Both the original video game and the graphic novel take part on an amalgamation of worlds that are mostly derivatives of the familiar settings of popular Disney franchises as well as a few developed exclusively by Square Enix. Sora, the amiable, sunny protagonist, begins on his native Destiny Island with his two best friends, Riku and Kairi. A devastating attack on the Island by a mysterious force called the “heartless” separates the friends among worlds they never believed The trio travel among the new worlds, searching for Sora’s friends and the King, along the way learning more about the ominous goals of the Heartless and the notorious Disney villains who plan to take control of it. At the manga’s gripping conclusion, Sora finds both Riku and Kairi, but in moments lost them yet again. The King also remains at large, and the bewildered three companions must wait until the sequel to continue their search into even newer worlds.

However, there are many stark differences between the two works, even at a surface level, the most evident being the artwork itself. While they are both of Japanese origin, the game sought to satisfy a worldwide audience, while the manga was written only with the Japanese audience in mind. Sora is asked to respect the pseudo-Shogunate traditions of Mickey’s Kingdom in the graphic novel; in the graphic novel but not in the initial video game, he is asked to take off his shoes before entering the “Gummi” spaceship that travels between the worlds. Fighting scenes in the graphic novel are also stylized more in the vein of Japanese manga rather than Western superhero comics, which are the inspiration for the battle sequences in the video game. Most notably, the manga stresses the importance of the face, enlarging the character’s eyes and making their heads disproportionately large. Additionally, the manga employs more aspect-to-aspect panel transitions, putting more focus on the detailed background. As a result, the two formats employ completely different artistic elements.

In addition, while the plots of the two are generally the same, the manga does not offer as much detail. It glosses over the main points and bypasses the intense battle scenes entirely, while the game focuses on every aspect of the plot. Consequently, the readers who are not familiar with the game are left in the dust when reading the manga, consequently uninformed of what is actually going on. Additionally, the manga avoids the addition of many “Easter Eggs,” such as the 101 Dalmations, which, although not necessary to the plot, add depth to Sora’s character and illustrate his motives. Overall, this brevity further lends itself to more problems in the construction of the story.

Most importantly, the manga does not offer the in-depth character development that the game does. Throughout the game, there are numerous cut-scenes, each of which, offers insight into the characters themselves. This is most evident in Sora. The manga paints him as a care-free, fun-loving adventurer, who is out to find his friends, Riku and Kairi. However, he is also illustrated as very selfish and immature, detracting from the reader’s ability to empathize with him. On the other hand, the game shows Sora’s transition from a naive key-bearer to a much more mature, introspective hero, one who is much more suited for saving his friends and every world.

The manga further suffers from a lack of plot development in respect to its appeal to the audience. This is shown through the lack of closure in the manga. Because the plot is so linear, the readers do not have as much freedom to put their own perspectives into the story, limiting the relationship that the readers and the story itself. The game, on the other hand, implements this idea very effectively. The numerous cut-scenes throughout the game serve as analogues to panels, while the actual game play serves as the gutter, allowing the players to immerse themselves in the plot and enjoy the work.

Surprisingly, the manga does not even offer an advantage in flexibility over the game. One unique characteristic of graphic novels is the reader’s ability to revisit previous elements of the plot, effectively refreshing the reader’s memory. However, the game gives essentially the same advantage, allowing the players to revisit old worlds and interact with the characters there.

However, as someone who played the game before the reading manga, all of these differences were not as important. Having already played the game and having learned the entire plot, I was able to skim through most of the manga. Through reading it again, I found that the one, most vital change in the manga, was the addition of Riku’s story. While the game is told from solely Sora’s point of view, the manga drifts between characters, giving insight as to what Riku is doing through the storyline. This is a great change when compared to the game, which only gave select snapshots of Riku’s journey, leaving the audience in the dark.

Yet, regardless of the differences between the game and the manga, the first manga series was successful enough to, first, end up with each issue from the manga reaching the top 150 manga bestsellers, and second, to spawn the creation of two other manga series, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II, both of which follow the events which occur in the respective video games. While the storyline and character development in the manga are lackluster when compared to the game, it still adds to the story. In fact, the manga can be seen more as a supplement to the game: a way to supplement the already fleshed out storyline from the game. And even though the manga series is currently on a hiatus, as soon as the next game comes out, readers should be keen to pick up the next edition in the manga, if only to supplement the game.

--By Mitchell Bieniek, Ted Li, and Nilesh Kavthekar--

Dragon Ball Review

2011-12-19T09:56:00.006-06:00

Akira Toriyama’s manga, Dragonball Z, focuses on the adventures of the protagonist, Goku, and his super-powered friends as they train in martial arts and fight villains in their attempts to save the world from total destruction. As a young adult, he meets his older brother, Raditz and discovers that he belongs to a nearly extinct alien race known as the Saiyans. His original mission had been to destroy the planet Earth, but an injury to the head caused him to lose his bloodthirsty nature and to develop an affinity to the Earth and its inhabitants. He later fights against Vegeta, the Saiyan prince, who becomes his rival and later, his friend. Goku also comes in contact with Frieza, a power-hungry monster responsible for the annihilation of the Saiyans and whose cruelty causes Goku to transform into the legendary Super Saiyan. After an intense battle, Goku defeats the villain and returns to Earth, only to find a group of android beings bent on killing him and destroying the world. These evil life forms are eventually defeated by Goku’s son, Gohan and a time of peace settles over the Earth for seven years. Goku then meets his final challenge: a magical monster named Buu and is able to overcome it when he kills the beast. Ten years later, he flies off with Buu’s reincarnation, Uub, training him to become Earth’s next defender.

Perhaps the most prominent and important theme in Dragonball Z is the idea of struggling to overcome any challenge, no matter how difficult. The characters, regardless of the strength of their opponents, fight to the death to win. Their almost unbelievable tenacity stems from their good-natured motives, mostly ones that involve the safety of loved ones. Goku, when he fights his brother, discovers that he is greatly outmatched and has no hopes of winning through direct attacks. Fearing for the lives of his son and his friends, he sacrifices his own life to destroy his evil brother. This cycle of fighting, winning, losing, and improving all through near-death or death experiences pervades every hero in the series, emphasizing this theme and its importance.

Another interesting point is the way that women are portrayed in the manga. Women, in general, are portrayed as rather weak and are rarely seen in battle. However, in the presence of their friends or husbands, they become aggressive and outspoken. This stereotype mirrors real life in the mid 1900s, but is no longer the case. The fact that the author may have succumbed to this stereotype during his childhood could explain why the majority of readers of Dragonball is male.

Toriyama’s extensive use of splash panels adds an interesting effect to the manga because the reader is able to clearly visualize the action involved in the intense fighting between super-powered beings. Furthermore, they provide for the reader a break from the constant exchange of attacks throughout several pages. This allows the reader to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the story and allows him to focus on the details of the characters. In the panel below, the fight between Goku and Frieza intensifies as they continue to do damage to each other and the surrounding terrain. We can see how the battle is affecting both characters, but we are also able to recall what happened before that led to this.

Finally, the manga’s lack of color sometimes hinders its ability to convey certain ideas. As seen in the anime, most of the villains have varied colors that emphasize their dispositions and characteristics. For example, Cell is shown to be green to emphasize his reptilian features and greedy nature. Furthermore, Buu’s pink color portrayed its ability to stretch and contort to various shapes like bubble gum. Toriyama’s decision, therefore, to not employ color in the manga may not have necessarily been wise as it lost these crucial details.
Overall, we would recommend this manga to readers seeking an action-oriented piece that focuses on magic and super-powered beings. Even though there are some minor issues with visual elements, the central theme is still effectively and successfully conveyed to the reader.

-Ajay Chatrath, Vignessh Kumar, and Jacob Ma

Works Cited
Toriyama, Akira. Dragonball. mangareader.net. Web. 17 Dec. 2011. http://www.mangareader.net/

The Prisoner: An Online Graphic Novel

2011-12-19T08:27:00.003-06:00

The fine line separating reality from fantasy is blurred in AMC’s online graphic novel, The Prisoner. In this psychological thriller, a woman named Rebecca Meadows endeavors to free her schizophrenic sister from The Village, a chemical-induced fantasy world constructed by the massive corporation Summakor to imprison people with psychological and mental disorders. She seeks out Leo, a former patient of Summakor, and uses his help to detangle the complex web of reality and fantasy and discover just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Throughout the journey, the audience experiences a great deal of self-exploration and self-discovery along with the characters as they struggle to find the exit out of this mind-bending maze. The Prisoner does justice to the psychological thriller genre by incorporating many unexpected twists and turns which all lead up to a shocking conclusion. However, like many novels of this genre, it is easy to get lost if the reader doesn’t pay attention and actively follow the story. Despite the short length of only 10 chapters, the read is of moderate difficulty.

As mentioned above, the plot line to this novel holds many surprising twists and turns. This is because it mixes the story of the “real world” with the story of the fantasized village. Without paying close attention, a reader will not be able to clearly identify the “location” (reality or fantasy) as it can change between panels within a chapter. We found this aspect of mixing reality and fantasy very intriguing since it kept our minds keen on paying attention to the small details that can really make a big difference in understanding the story. By attentively reading every detail, a reader may find the conclusion to be not so surprising.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of The Prisoner is not the suspenseful storyline, but how the novel itself is constructed. Reading this novel is akin to “reading” a hybrid of a short-film and comic book: the audience experiences the text and pictorial elements of a comic in combination with timed sequences of animation that bring life and a more tangible sense of movement into the story. This online graphic novel medium accents The Prisoner’s storyline with beautiful results. During particularly suspenseful scenes, the author uses timed animation to his advantage by inserting more pauses into the animation. In contrast, the author uses quick, short animation when the text is the main focus of the scene, so as to not distract the reader from receiving pertinent information. Overall, the online graphic novel creates a more engaging and interactive reading experience, which makes The Prisoner a much more powerful story.

Chrissy and Ramya give The Prisoner a thumbs up for its engaging storyline and even more captivating combination of animation and comics to bring the characters and action to life. The conclusion, though unexpected at first, is fulfilling and doesn’t leave the reader feeling cheated. We recommend The Prisoner to anyone who possesses a strong internet connection and desires a brief, 10-chapter escape from their daily lives. The link to The Prisoner is as follows: http://www.amctv.com/the-prisoner-graphic-novel/

Blankets: A Critical Review

2011-12-18T19:17:00.003-06:00

Craig Thompson’s Blankets is about the author’s relationship with his first love, Raina and makes for a detailed memoir that is recommended to read. Beginning with their meeting at a church camp during their teenage years, the relationship helps Craig explore his religious beliefs, his relationship with his brother, and his belief in himself. Born into a strict Christian family, Craig begins to doubt his religion upon meeting Raina, a self-assured skeptic. Interwoven with biblical verses, Blankets explores some the disparities that Craig experienced.

The author makes use of symbols in his book, making for a unique read. At the beginning of each chapter, Craig parallels his blooming relationship with Raina to his childhood with his younger brother Phil. Having shared a bed with him throughout childhood, he experienced a sense of closeness he could only feel again with his first love. Crunching through the snow with Raina, Craig can’t help but remind himself of all the great times he and Phil had, before the age gap between them took over. He tries to recapture these feelings with Raina, but as he comes to realize about himself during Blankets, it only feels incredible to love someone if they feel the same way about you.

Another interesting aspect of Blankets is the various ages the author portrays himself at. As we saw in Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, the creation of a memoir forces the author to take on several roles. As Author Craig Thompson prepares the novel, Blankets, we are introduced to the various voices of “Young Craig”, “Teenage Craig” and “Mr. Thompson” (the Author). On page 125, for example, we are able to see the “present” thoughts of Teenage Craig interwoven with those of Author Craig. The panels of Teenage Craig leaning over the sleeping Raina are complemented by the author’s commentary: “I needed to touch her, but was hesitant.” Commentary like this is prevalent throughout the novel’s 582 pages.

(Thompson, 125)

Even though Blankets is a powerful graphic novel that is recommended, it does have some flaws. Although the majority of the account is of a very powerful memory, the ending fails to uphold the level of intensity felt throughout the rest of the book. In the beginning, Craig recounts his experiences with bullying, sexual abuse, and his failure to protect his brother, all of which are very serious topics. After this, the author dives into the topic of faith and eventually, Craig meets Raina. Raina and Craig seem to move very fast in their relationship, and fall in love quickly. They develop a strong bond as Craig observes her taking care of her disabled family and deal with her family’s divorce. However, the ending proves to be fairly anti-climatic as this powerful relationship ends after a mere phone call and some time spent apart. In this very last pages of the book, Craig is shown walking in snow (thus leaving prints in it), telling the reader “How satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface. To make a map of my movement no matter how temporary” (Thompson, 581). While this ending is realistic, it seems detached from the rest of the book because there is no real plot or intensity felt during these last pages. The rest of the book, which is very powerful and full of heavy topics, seems to tower over the ending, making it hard to recognize that it is even there. Blankets, by Craig Thompson is a fast-paced and wonderful read. While the ending could have been improved, the book is realistic and interesting as the author makes use of his relationship with his brother to parallel his relationship with Raina.

Works Cited

Thompson, Craig. Blankets. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions, 2006. Print.

One Piece Review

2011-12-18T18:03:00.002-06:00

If you could have one superpower or supernatural ability, what would it be? Invisibility? Super strength? Laser vision?

One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a 17-year-old boy who gains elastic abilities after accidentally eating a supernatural fruit; Luffy explores the ocean with his diverse crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates, in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as the One Piece, and with it the right to become king of pirates. His strong desire to become a pirate can be seen when he once cut his face with a sword in order to prove that he was tough enough to be a pirate.
One of the running themes is Luffy’s sense of justice and camaraderie, which helped him build up his pirate crew. He demonstrates this several times; he rescues Coby from a slave's life in the pirate crew of Albida, and he saves the three-swords-wielding bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro from being executed by the Navy. When Luffy fights the evil pirate Buggy the Clown, the thief Nami teams up with him to defeat Buggy.

In the manga One Piece, the author Oda Eiichiro uses oriental, dynamic visual tools to express and emphasize certain components in the manga’s storyline.
One of the things that should be noted about One Piece is the frequent use of background onomatopoeia, or sound effects. Unlike many American comics, Japanese and other East Asian style comics frequently use onomatopoeia in the background to enhance the imagery that the reader gets from reading the manga. Because the comic was originally produced in Japanese, we as the readers of a different linguistic background could not understand the background onomatopoeia. The background sound effects were only translated from time to time in the gutters. However, we must understand that these onomatopoeias play a significant role in One Piece and enhance the imagery being depicted in the reader’s mind.

The drawing style of the comic is also used to help show the dramatic shift in moods that occur frequently within the story. During the light-hearted majority of the story the drawing style is soft and there is lighter shading to show brightness within the pages. However, during the drastic shifts into violence, this changes drastically. More shading is used to darken the scenes and fit the dangerous situations. Sharp lines of motion and blurring are used to depict the fast, intense motion, giving a sense of urgency and speed that makes you begin reading faster to match the pace of these action packed fights. Facial expressions are often exaggerated to illustrate the characters’ emotions, such as anger, with eyes growing dark, shadows covering their faces, and lines of anger drawn into them. In addition, the drawing style also changes to accommodate the many flashbacks that help give One Piece its back story. Most notable amongst these changes are the darkened colors of the panels, which turn almost completely gray, along with the use of blurred lines filling the images. These two details really help add to what is felt when reading through these panels, making them appear blurry and hazy; it is like how you might feel when thinking back to a distant memory that you can’t completely picture.

Another thing that should be noted about One Piece is the dynamic angles of some of the panels. As one works his way through One Piece, he/she will see that Eiichiro frequently employs dynamic view points for the panels that are packed with action. The view point is angled in a certain way that all the key components that make up the action are emphasized. Also, Eiichiro frequently draws lines that point to the figure that should receive the focus of the action. This was an aspect that was discussed in Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. With the usage of the “focus lines”, the reader’s attention is drawn into the element or elements that act as the core of the ongoing action, and the imagery in the reader’s mind is in a way amplified.

Through the usage of several unique tools, Oda Eiichiro was able to make One Piece a dynamic, action-packed manga that people from all over the world could enjoy.

Super-old Superheroes?

2011-12-17T15:05:00.002-06:00

By: Vidya Anjur, Status Kuo, Logan Damiani, Eaton Guo, Byron Mui, & Hyun Jin Song

The Epic of Beowulf is a story that’s been told down the generations, and it is now at least 1000 years old. For those that don’t know the story quite as well, the premise is that the Danes are under attack from a monster, called Grendel. So, the hero of the Geats, Beowulf, comes to the rescue! The epic goes from there and chronicles Beowulf’s battles throughout the rest of his lifetime. The comic divides the story into the respective three books the poem was divided into, denoting the three crucial points in his life: the three battles.

After the first couple of pages, it is clear that there is an attempt in trying to connect the story to the present. Gareth Hinds mentioned that Beowulf acts as a superhero of his time, and still stands as somewhat of a superhero. The constellations in the book are a puzzlement, but it seems that they are meant to help connect the story to the modern day. Even though more than a thousand years have passed, the constellations are still the same, allowing us to relate more to this story. They could also be showing the passage of time within the story, as they appear to shift positions in the sky every few pages. Of course they could have also been drawn for their aesthetic value, but the details that are present (such as the names and outlines of the constellations) normally aren’t just put in on a whim.

The constellations are an example of visual symbolism within the story. Another example is the aspect of religion that often comes out within the story. For example, when Beowulf finally defeats Grendel, and emerges from a pool of bloody water with Grendel’s head between his teeth, a cross is shown. The epic poem also demonstrated this aspect of religion (which may be largely due to the fact that it was transcribed by a monk).

The exposition of the story is definitely much shorter proportionally, as compared to the actual poem. It’s apparent that Gareth Hinds made an effort to significantly cut down the length of the story. This particular rendition of this timeless classic puts more of a focus on the visual aspects of the story. For example, there is a far greater focus on the fight scenes between Beowulf and Grendel, as well as between Beowulf and other antagonists. These fights are also quite detailed, demonstrating the author’s interest in these particular scenes.

The graphic novel had many visual focuses in respect to art work. The style of the art changes significantly throughout the story. For example, the frames at the beginning are more irregularly-shaped, like a traditional action comic. There is also onomatopoeia during the fight scenes in the beginning between Beowulf and Grendel, while the later parts contain none. The tone towards the end of the novel also changes, becoming more serious and reflective. This is apparent by the change in page color--the pages begin as very colorful and lively, but as the story progresses, they become a parchment color, then a browner color, and finally a purple-gray color similar to that of stone. This change in page color could represent the liveliness and youthfulness of Beowulf: towards the beginning, he was still young and strong, but as he got older, he became less powerful. It could also perhaps be another way of signaling the change in time throughout the story.

With this all said, Gareth Hinds does the genre of superhero comics justice; however, in comparing this version to the epic poem itself, the graphic novel does not quite do a satisfactory job. We recommend this book for those that want a thrill like a superman comic, but it is not a good representation of the timeless epic.

Death Note

2010-12-16T13:42:00.001-06:00

Death Note begins with Light, an above-average Japanese student. He seems to be bored with the pace of the schools, and easily maintains his head-of-the-class position. However, his life turns around when he finds the Death Note, a notebook that allows him to kill people by simply writing down their name. Once he discovers the notebook’s power, he begins to wonder how he can use it to society’s advantage. He decides to use it to kill off the world’s most dangerous criminals, which seems to be going fine for a while. However, what Light overlooks is how people will react to the sudden death of all the criminals. There is a worldwide fascination with the deaths, and although no one knows that they were caused by Light, our protagonist still becomes very narcissistic as the fame goes to his head. He even begins to discuss a future utopia in which he is in charge. The police begin to investigate, but they have to rely on more help. They call in the investigator “L”, who has proven to be unstoppable in the past. The compelling nature of the story comes from Light’s chase from Detective L. However, Light’s behavior becomes much more cynical when he begins to kill off FBI officers who are working in Japan. What the reader later discovers is the fact that one FBI officer’s fiancée used to also work in the FBI, and has information that could lead to Light’s arrest. Possibly worst of all though occurs when Light’s father heads a task force against the murderer, unaware that it is his own son. Detective L eventually joins the task force, even further adding to the suspense of how long Light can keep his act together.
The book has some major characters other than Light and Detective L, particularly Misa Amane, Near, Mello, and the Shinigami. Misa Amane is a Japanese model with a burning crush on Light. She has a very ditzy personality, and is always insisting that she and Light had “love at first sight”. However, Light only views her as somewhat annoying, and gets tired of her clingy personality.
Near is very similar to Detective L throughout the story. He even begins to call himself “N”, and has very similar idiosyncrasies. As L stacks sugar cubes, N stacks dice. When L plays with random objects, N also plays with similar things. He is very calm and emotional, and has pale skin.
Mello is an orphan who grew up in a home for “gifted” children. He is very intelligent, but usually is overcome by his emotions. He is usually seen eating bars of chocolate, and has a life goal to surpass L and Near.
Finally, the Shinigami are beings that live in the Shinigami realm. They appear somewhat evil, and are actually very lazy. They spend much of their time gambling, and the only work they really do involves use of the death note. When they get closer and closer to death, they write a human’s name in the death book, and use that human’s life to extend their own. For example, if the Shinigami killed someone who would have lived for forty more years, then they would receive these forty years of life. In this sense, they are immortal. However, true love for a human can kill them. The main Shinigami are Ryuk, Rim, and Sidoh.
The Death Note series is illustrated in all black and white by Takeshi Obata. The effect of the lack of color allows the reader to determine the mood of the page. If the page is of majority black, then it denotes a sense of strong danger, and vice-versa if the page is of majority white. This mood determination also correlates to the evil and good characters. The Shinigami death god is drawn in black attire, with black hair. His notebook is also black, denoting the sense of evil.

According to Scott McCloud, in his book Understanding Comics, the “Big Triangle,” would label illustrations from Death Note as being realistic with iconic representation and a hint of cartoony characters, such as the Shinigami death god. The illustration for Death Note would be place in the middle of the base of the “Big Triangle,” because of the characters resemblance to human beings, yet their over exaggerated facial expressions, make the shift towards the right of the triangle that is a pure cartoon approach to illustration. McCloud would agree that this novel contains a multitude of different scene transitions, most commonly the action to action and scene to scene transition.

Works Cited:

McCloud, Scott, Understanding Comics - the Invisible Art HarperCollins 1994

Naruto Review

2010-12-16T13:41:00.001-06:00

As a group, we read the first three chapters of Naruto for our Graphic Novel class. After reading, we are now writing a plot summary and analysis of the manga novel’s style.

Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The series is currently still in production and has not been finished. The main plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto is a ninja still in training who is constantly seeking attention and recognition. His goal in which he works the whole novel for is to become a Hokage. A Hokage is a ninja who rules a village and is recognized as the most powerful ninja in that village.

Naruto Uzumaki has a very unique past, as do many graphic novel heroes. As a young boy, Naruto had the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed within him. The story behind the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox is that twelve years prior to the start of the series, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village where Naruto resides, Konohagakure, slaughtering many people. To defend his village from the attack, the leader of Konohagakure and the most powerful ninja (as referenced above), the Fourth Hokage, sacrificed his life to seal the demon inside Naruto. This happened twelve years prior to the start of the series therefore Naruto was a newborn when the demon was sealed within him. The Third Hokage, who took control after the Fourth Holage’s death, made it a law to never mention the attack of the demon fox or to talk about where the demon now resided. This decree also included Naruto, who does not become aware of the demon inside of him for many years.

The first chapter picks up showing Naruto as a trouble maker. His behavioral problems and mistreatment by town officials are explained by the demon inside of him. Naruto begins school and his adventures start when he joins team 7. The main plot line follows team 7, Naruto and his two friends, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. These two people are students along with Naruto who are chosen to be on a three-team, team 7, for training and to complete missions. Young ninjas join these teams in order to move higher in the ranks of ninjas and for Naruto, to eventually become Hokage. The purpose of these teams is to complete missions for the villagers however may trivial or difficult they may be. The main plot line follows Naruto’s team throughout their adventures and missions, showing each member’s growth and development not just as a ninja, but as a person. The story depicts each character’s personal lives and problems and how they affect their growth as a ninja. To simplify it, Naruto is like the soap opera, Days of Our Lives, but with more fighting, ninjas, Japanese culture, and younger characters.

The style of manga is different from that of western comics in many different aspects. Ranging from the use of lines in the different panels, all the way to the symbols used for action. For example, the lines drawn in manga were a lot different than those in western ones. There are thin, straight lines, that are dense to show shading, and detail. There are also normal lines to show shape and form. In manga, these lines are used often to dramatize the panels.
Addition to that, the characters, environment, objects, and so on, are all really close to realism. Even when they use magic to transform or multiply, there are many clones but all seem like realistic people. Of course the symbols, and clothes are not really seen in real life, but could easily be imitated, therefore do not stray far from realism. The detail shown in each person adds to the realism; every emotion in a person is portrayed with significant detail. For example, if someone is happy they are portrayed with squinting eyes, and a wide grin. Whenever they are angry we notice the obvious frown, and the smaller eyes. This is also seen in western style, but this is a lot more common, and obvious in manga.
Another important factor is the way the dialogue boxes were drawn. The dialogue boxes, and the lack off showed as much emotions as did the words inside. For example, for excitement the dialogue boxes had sharp jagged edges and the letters inside were bolder than normal. And as the panel is zoomed out and we would barely be able to hear the talking, dialogue boxes aren’t even present. Also outside of the dialogue boxes are random shapes, possibly letters in a different language, that show onamanepia, and so on. Along with the dialogue goes the facial expression. As mentioned previously, happiness and disappointment is all shown dramatically, but inner expression is shown also; especially in page 91, one panel in which we see “inner Sakura” behind the normal one, and so on.
Another large difference, one of the most obvious ones is the fact that manga is read the exact opposite of the “normal” western style. Online the pages have already been arranged backwards to make it easier for the reader, but chapter one was on the bottom of the list, and in each page the reader has to read it from right to left.

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo: Teach Me How to Duggie

2010-12-16T12:34:00.001-06:00

Summary

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo by Yoshi Sawai is a Humorous Japanese Manga Comic set in an odd, distant future where the evil Maruhage Empire seeks to rid the world of its hair. The story heavily uses parody, non sequitur story telling, and Hajike, or “wigging-out” for its humor. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, the main and title character, is a muscular and unpredictable hero for hair who wields an opening Afro which often acts as a stage for side dramas. When the story begins, he is already despised by the “hair-hunters” because of his history of foiling their plans by using his special “Fist of Nose Hair” abilities. Over the course of the first volume he is joined by two companions on his quest; Beauty and Don Patch. Beauty is a teenage girl who adores and wishes to follow Bo-bobo on his quest for no more reason, than just to be with him. She often portrays an opposite viewpoint from Bo-bobo and is used as a grounding method for what is normal in the comic. Don Patch is a small star-burst-shaped character that shares much of the unpredictability of Bo-bobo. He was formerly the leader of Party-Town and joined Bo-bobo because of a shared resentment of the Maruhage Empire.
The first volume of the Manga follows a very simple quest style plot, but it is often broken up by distractions amongst the characters. The story begins by Bo-bobo appearing to save a village that was under attack by the Hair-Hunters. Beauty was in the village and after hearing a small back ground story on Bo-bobo, pleads to be allowed to follow him. After agreeing, they go to the G-Block base of the Hair-Hunters and defeat the leader. After leaving the pair are attacked by a perverted Hair-Hunter, who Bo-bobo defeats. The battle is witnessed b a mysterious boy. The pair then travel to Party Town on their aimless quest where Bo-bobo challenges to win the title of best party-er. After beating everyone else, the boss, Don Patch is released. After battling for a while, a hair hunter arrive and takes Beauty away. Don Patch and Bo-bobo, formerly enemies become allies because of their shared hatred for the Hair-Hunters and pursue. They come to the Hair-Hunter block A base and battle the inhabitants. During which time, the mysterious boy from before reappears to defend Beauty. After the base Captain is defeated, Bo-bobo and Don Patch find Beauty and continue on their quest. They find and defeat yet another Hair-Hunter and then a mysterious monster appears. The Monster asks for the mysterious boy, who is being searched for by the Hair-Hunters. But the boy evades the monster and remains safe at the end of the volume.

Visual Styles

The visual style in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is varied but descriptive and helps the reader to interpret the activities of each scene. For example, even though this is more of a humorous comic, the more serious panels in the comic incorporate the use of strong bold lines along with a dark background. This emphasizes the the seriousness of the panel and separates it from the more common humorous panels which consist of a lighter backdrop and smoother more curved lines. Another prominent aspect of the visual style used in this manga is the onomatopoeia. With many of the actions that occur during the panels, there will often be sound effects written all across the panel so that the words themselves seem to be a part of the picture. This is a common trait shared by most manga, however in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, this feature enhances the randomness and comedy the manga is known for. The last important aspect of the visual style of this comic is the style used to draw the fight scenes. These scenes are mainly composed of haphazard lines clumped together for the background, and the characters will be drawn much darker. Drawing the fight scenes this way gives them special attention so that the reader will not just skim over them while reading.

Characters

The reason for a lot of Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo’s randomness comes from the very unique array of characters that have embarked on Bobobo-bo’s quest. In the first volume we are introduced to Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, who is supposed to be the hero of the comic. Bobobo-bo is an unusual hero because he is such an unpredictable person. It is safe to say that the actions Bobobo will make are nearly impossible to predict, not even the people that are on his team can predict what he will do next. There were even certain cases where Bobobo would harm his fellow allies, for example, he constantly puts Popa Rocks in danger sometimes even directly hurting him. Aside from his unpredictable and weird behavior, Bobobo can still remain a serious character when there is a real threat to the friends that can’t defend themselves like he can. Beneath Bobobo’s incredibly muscular body, sporting sunglasses and large golden afro, is a very sensitive man who is simply trying to make a better world for hair everywhere.

Along Bobobo’s journey to stop the hair hunting troops he encounters characters that will later join his team. The first person to join Bobobo was the character of Beauty. Beauty is the heroine of the group and although it may not be obvious at first, she is one of the characters that keep the group from completely losing control and breaking down. Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo uses Manzai humor, which is a traditional style of stand-up comedy in Japanese culture. It usually involves two performers—a straight man and a funny man—trading jokes at great speed. That is where Beauty comes into play. While Bobobo and Don Patch are running around, acting like idiots, Beauty remains serious for the sake of their sanity and to further emphasize the craziness. It is a comedic value that I feel works out very well and never seizes to surprise. Beauty is completely useless when it comes to fighting and defending herself, but she keeps the group on track and helps them not make complete fools out of them selves during desperate times.

The final and possibly the most outrageous character in the novel is Don Patch, who is an orange star. You can tell right away from his appearance that he is a strange character. While facing extreme danger and the many powerful and troublesome threats in this world, he usually keeps his chin up and either finds or says something that completely destroys the mood of the battle or makes things even more bizarre. Don Patch is a very narcissistic character who is always trying to steal the show and become the center of attention. Often times he becomes jealous of Bobobo for being the main character of the novel. This common jealousy results in Don Patch getting beat up by Bobobo for being annoying. There are even times when he tries to become a better heroine than Beauty, which involves a lot awkward cross dressing scenarios. To summarize Don Patch in simpler terms, he is a complete idiot and for that, he is an incredibly important part of Bobobo’s comedy.

Randomness

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is a nonsensical, mocking, and random manga. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is random scene to scene panel to panel. Everything in this manga is unpredictable and out of the ordinary; the characters, the plot, and all the little details that compose it give rise to a great to read humorous magna. The randomness begins with the world being rule by the bald empire; the bald empire wants everyone to look like him so he puts together a group of bald soldiers and gives them a warrant to remove all hairs in the world. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo the main character stands in the way of the bald empire. He is one of the few remaining people with hair. His father is a hairball and his sidekick is a pickle. In all of his encounters with the bald troopers, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo uses his nose hairs to defeat them and continuously using different phrases that put in plain words what attack he is performing. In some circumstances small characters come out of his nose and seem to live in the hairs inside his nose. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo never seems to strike any one with his any of his limbs and is always shown striking his enemies with hairs on his body. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobos non sequitur comedy make this magna a work of art.

The Dragon of the Graphic Novel Genre

2010-12-16T12:13:00.007-06:00

Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama was and still is an extremely popular manga. It ran for more that a decade from 1984 -1995 and contained forty volumes at the time of its completion. It was turned into an extremely popular anime as well. It was a fusion of comedy and action, mythology and science-fiction and even had a little bit of romance as well. It is the iconic Shōnen manga and almost defined the genre. The first six volumes are a great introduction to the manga, and though it evolved over time, represent the series well.
Dragon Ball began as a parody of the Chinese story Journey to the West but evolved into such a much larger story over the course of its life. It follows the story of Son Goku, the main character of the novel. It begins when he is twelve years old and living along in the country far from civilization. Raised by his grandfather, Goku has been taught in the ways of the martial arts and therefore is able to hunt effectively without the need for weapons. The only memento of his grandfather, who was killed by a monster on the night of a full moon, is four-starred orange sphere.
Enter dragon ball hunter Bulma who is seeking just such a sphere. Guided by the radar she made to seek out their energy signature, She drives to Goku’s home where her vehicle is promptly flipped by a very surprised Goku who just came back from fishing. Believing her to be a monster he threatens her until she reveals her purpose for coming. Bulma explains that when all seven dragon balls are collected one limitless wish is granted. Goku, unwilling to part with what is now revealed to be the four-starred dragon ball, decides to join her in her quest after she convinces him that the best martial artists travel the world in search of adventure and training.
Along the way Goku very comically and crudely learns about the differences between girls and boys and finds out that not all humans have monkey tails. Remaining a teen boy’s series its doesn’t get too graphic, but Toriyama’s sexual jokes are quite abundant in the first few adventures. Using the power of capsules, little pill-sized objects containing houses, planes and anything larger, Goku and Bulma are able to get around fairly quickly. By leading a lost turtle to the sea they meet Master Roshi, a master martial artist turned island hermit who gives them a dragon ball and a magic flying cloud that only the “pure of heart” can ride.
As they continue their search for the dragon balls, they meet Oolong, a shapeshifting pig, Yamcha, a desert bandit, Puar, one of Oolong’s former schoolmates also cabable of shapeshifting, and the Ox-King and his daughter Chi-Chi. Oolong, Puar, and Yamcha, are the only ones who join them in their quest, though Yamcha and Puar only join them near the end in hopes of stealing the wish.
They end up facing Pilaf and his minions who steal their dragon balls, captures them and successfully manage to summon Shenron, the Eternal Dragon. Oolong, the unlikely hero, thwarts Pilaf’s plans for world domination last minute by making a wish for panties. The dragon grants his wish and the balls scatter in all directions. After Pilaf captures them again in rage, Goku accidently looks at the full moon and it is revealed he becomes an enormous uncontrollable ape-monster. Luckily, Yamcha had earlier learned of Goku’s tail weakness and cut off his tail to make him change back to his old self. When he wakes up, Goku has no memory of the event and wonders where his tail has gone.
Afterwards, the dragon team splits up. Goku leaves for Master Roshi’s Island and the rest to the West City, Bulma and Yamcha wishes of finding a significant other being fulfilled by finding eachother. Goku travels to Master Roshi’s island to train where he meets Krillin, who will later become his best friend, as well as Launch, a girl who is only a sneeze away from transforming into crazed gunman. They spend the next eight months training for the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament.
When the tournament comes around, Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha all make it to the quarter-finals, as well as Master Roshi disguised as Jackie Chun. In Goku’s first match, his tail grows back. Goku and Jackie Chun both make it to the finals, where Goku transforms again. Chun changes him back with a magical martial arts move, the Kamehameha, a beam of energy that destroys the moon. Goku ends up losing the championship, and sets off on his own to look for his grandfather’s memento, the Four-Star Dragon Ball.
While on his journey, he comes face to face with several members of the Red Ribbon Army, lead by Commander Red, who are too seeking the dragon balls. By defeating Colonel Silver and General White Goku obtains two balls, neither of which are his grandfather’s. He then finds that the dragon ball radar that Bulma gave him is broken and he heads to her house in West City to repair it. Bulma rejoins him in his quest, and they unknowingly set a course for where General Blue is searching for another dragon ball in the sea. To find the dragon ball they go to Master Roshi’s island to ask for a submarine and where they recruit Krillin.
The track the ball to an abandoned pirate’s cave, being followed close behind by General Blue. After surviving numerous traps they find the dragon ball. Blue shows himself and almost kills Krillian before Goku can stop him. The cave begins collapsing while Bulma and Krillin head back to the sub, Goku continues to look for the dragon ball. He succeeds in his search, but it also isn’t his grandpa’s. He makes it back to the sub just in time and they narrowly escape the collapsing cave, while Blue seemingly does not.
They go back to Roshi’s island temporarily, where Blue returns, with no explanation for how he survived and he makes off with their dragon balls. Goku follows Blue while Bulma and Krillin stay behind, no longer wanting to come along. Blue is defeated (though not killed) here by a convenient strong girl and Goku heads off to continue his search. He meets Upa and his son Bora, two Sioux-themed characters in the Land of Korin, who just happen to have the very ball he is searching for. Meanwhile, Blue has returned to the Red Ribbon Base and is killed by Mercenary Tao, who Commander Red has hired to kill Goku and retrieve the dragon balls.
Tao then heads off to Goku’s location and easily kills Bora, and defeats Goku with ease as well. However, Goku survived because his grandpa’s ball was in his shirt and softened the blow from Tao’s special move, the Dodon Ray. Tao takes the dragon ball’s he finds in Goku’s bag, but misses the one in Goku’s shirt. He heads off to find a tailor to get new clothes (Goku had destroyed his outfit with his Kamehameha) and is told by Red that he is missing one of the dragon balls and Red orders him to return after he gets a new outfit.
Goku, upon waking up, climbs Korin’s Tower, which is said to house the Sacred Water which will multiply the drinker’s abilities several times over. When he reaches the top, Korin tells him that he may drink the water if he can take it from him first. It takes Goku three days to finally take it. Korin smugly reveals that the water wasn’t at all magical and that it was the difficulty of climbing the tower twice and successfully taking the water from him that increased his strength. The sixth volume concludes with Goku ready to face Tao again with his new-found strength.
Dragon Ball is an interesting series that has a lot of sexual jokes and action. The perfect novel for the demographic it is aimed at: teenage boys. However it is noticeable how the novel evolves from being a satire to a hero’s tale in its own right. Goku is a twelve year old boy and innocent at the beginning of the series and as he grows more powerful and matures the novel evolves with him. For comedic effect, Goku initially cannot tell the gender of a person by looking at them and touches their genitals in order to find out. But as the novel goes one he no longer is fighting comical villains like Oolong, who though he can look intimidating, has a very low pain tolerance, or Pilaf who blushes at the slightest hint of romance. He begins fighting villain like the Mercenary Tao who ruthlessly kills for money and doesn’t care if he leaves an orphan or kills a child.
However, Dragon Ball still retains some of its comedy which counterpoints the often dour mood of the graphic novel. For example, when Krillin in order to win a fight against a very smelly opponent, realizes the artist had drawn him without a nose so he isn’t affected by the noxious fumes. Also, in a fight against his disguised master, he used panties to distract Chun while he takes advantage of the opening. Mercenary Tao, while ruthless, kills General Blue by stabbing through his temple with his tongue.
There is a recurring theme of redemption throughout the manga. Oolong, starts out as a villainous kidnapper who continuously scares the villagers by transforming into various large creatures, but then joins Goku and Bulma in their quest to search for the dragon balls. He was unwilling at first, but he quickly becomes a frequent ally of theirs. Later on, Yamcha and Puar, who begin as desert bandits who feign friendship in order to steal the wish once the seven dragon balls are collected, reform as well and join Goku’s side. Other characters after the first six volumes also undergo this process.
In the few colored chapters in the graphic novel, there tends to be lots of inconsistency with colors. For example, in the chapter where Goku faces Nam in the semi-finals of the tournament, Nam’s outfit changes color once, initially being an orange color, and changing to a bright pink soon after. Later on, when Goku fights the pirate robot, the first few panels show Goku and Krillin to have orange martial arts gi, and in a page directly following, their gi are red. This is fairly frequent throughout the colored chapters, but after the colors switch in this manner, they tend to remain that way for the rest of the chapter.
Dragon Ball, being a graphic novel involves a lot of action - to -action panel transitions. The fight scenes are incredibly detailed, detailing nearly every movement of a character when they perform martial arts moves such as back-flips. Scenes where a character performs a special move such as the Kamehameha or the Dodon Ray are extremely detailed in order to show how powerful and taxing these moves are.
In addition to martial arts there are plenty of mystical elements as well. However this is contrasted very interestingly against incredible technology. Creatures such as dragons and magic are abundant in the graphic novel and are complimented by a large number of technological marvels such as the capsules mentioned earlier, androids, and robots. The graphic novel does a very good job of seamlessly integrating these elements into the story so that it doesn’t seem surprising when Goku obtains a magic cloud that flies faster than a helicopter or when Master Roshi happens to have a submarine on hand when they most need one.
Overall we believe that Dragon Ball graphic novel is a great novel to pick up if you are a teenage boy because it rolls up fantasy elements from many different genres, has a lot of action and often makes jokes that would be most funny if you are a boy. However the novel is well written and well designed. Plot holes are sometimes left unfilled, but often these are not important to the story and would have taken away from it if they were to be explained. Dragon Ball is a good graphic novel for those readers who enjoy high action, high fantasy and can tolerate the crude but funny jokes that the author throws in from time to time. The inconsistency in coloring for colored chapters may be annoying to some, but it is counteracted by the fact that the coloring is vivid and pleasing to the eye.

What Is Bleach and How Does It Work? (not the cleaning chemical)

2010-12-16T11:16:00.004-06:00

Over the last few weeks, we decided to read Bleach, written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo, which is one of the most popular mangas in both the US and Japan. Bleach revolves around the adventures of student Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains spirit powers of a Soul Reaper from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. The Soul Reapers’ duties include defending humans from evil spirits, known as Hollows, and guiding good spirits to the afterlife. After Ichigo obtains his new powers, some of his friends develop similar “spirit powers” and help him fight the increasing number of Hollows.

In Bleach, souls reside in an extra-dimensional place called Soul Society of which Soul Reapers are the military and police force. The Soul Reapers are led by the Gotei 13, a group 13 captains who have immense power. The main antagonist, Sōsuke Aizen was a part of the Gotei 13 before he betrayed the Soul Reapers and sided with the Hollows. He obtains an object, the Hōgyoku, which has the power to make the desires of the user come true. The last story arc of Bleach, which we read, covers Ichigo and his friends’ attempt to stop Aizen and save Soul Society. The arc begins with Ichigo and the other captains of the Gotei 13 confronting Aizen and his army of Hollows. While the captains defeat the hollows, they are effortlessly dispatched by Aizen. This leaves Ichigo to confront Aizen alone, resulting in a climatic battle. At the conclusion of the battle, Ichigo sacrifices his Soul Reaper powers in order to deliver a final, powerful strike to Aizen which results in the villain’s defeat.

Kubo utilizes a realistic art style that seeks to place the reader at the scenes of the many battles in Bleach. Some of the techniques Kubo heavily relies on are shading and action lines. Kubo’s realistic style allows the reader to get absorbed into the various fights in Bleach without having to worry about the details. Along with Kubo’s generous use of realistic shading, he often shades half of a panel to show moments of surprise and turning points in the plot. However, Bleach contains many solid color backgrounds too. These solid color backgrounds allow the reader to concentrate on the foreground image, which usually consists of characters or text bubbles, that are often a key part of the current scene. When shading is used like this, Kubo seeks to convey that feeling of surprise to the reader. Because battles in Bleach move so fast, action lines are often used to convey the commotion of battles and allow the reader to truly feel the speed of certain scenes.

The borders of panels in Bleach are sometimes ill-defined and images will spill into one another. This aspect of Kubo’s art style once again complements the disorder of battles and attempts to convey a sense of disarray to the reader. Bleach uses onomatopoeia often and are drawn across whole pages sometimes. The onomatopoeia are also stretched and distorted to accommodate the sound effects that they were intended to make. Speech bubbles are also often spiked and the text within them are bolded when the character is screaming, which contrasts with the smaller text when the characters are whispering or mumbling to themselves. These different ways of drawing the text allow the reader to almost hear the dialogue and gives the manga a more realistic feeling overall.

The overall artistic style that Kubo utilizes seeks to bride the gap between fantasy and the real world. His application of human features on the Shinigami and abstract designs of Hollow masks accomplishes the feat and gives the reader a sense of a seemingly possible world. Because Bleach’s artistic style is so realistic, it doesn’t seek to place the reader in the shoes of Ichigo. Instead, the art allows the reader to enjoy the battles from an observer viewpoint.

Bleach is an action-packed and fast-paced manga. After introducing the main characters and their abilities, the story quickly launches into an all-out adventure as Ichigo develops as a person and as a fighter. The fast quality of the plot allows for plenty of sword-swinging action and nail-biting suspense.

However, although this fast—paced characteristic makes Bleach an exciting and enjoyable manga, the plot moves somewhat too quickly and is somewhat disconnected. Bleach is comprised mostly of fighting scenes, leaving very little time for dialogue and serious plot development. Therefore, Bleach is not for those who enjoy reading complex dialogue and character thoughts. This extreme speed also interferes with the continuity of the plot. Because Kubo pushes the story forward so quickly, the transitioning between story arcs is rough and poorly done. For example, after Rukia was rescued at the conclusion of the first arc, a short period of peace acted as a bridge to the next arc. Nothing important occurred during this transition and the plot quickly moved on to the next arc as Orihime was kidnapped.

In general, Bleach could be more organized by adding more dialogue and thought as opposed to pure action. This would allow the manga to appeal to a larger audience as well as improve its overall quality. Furthermore, more time should be spent to allow the story to effectively flow between story arcs.

We think that Bleach moves quickly and is suitable for readers that enjoy combat scenes and many turning points. The realistic artwork does a good job of immersing us into the scenes of the battles and help convey various emotions during intense moments. Overall, we recommend Bleach, but it might not be for readers looking for a more slow-paced dialogue-centric manga.

Death Note: A Must Read

2010-12-16T08:27:00.003-06:00

Imagine that you hold the ability to kill any person on earth simply by writing down their name. Would you use this ability to exterminate your worst enemies, rid the world of criminals and terrorists, or choose to avoid this dangerous power completely?

In Tsugumi Ohba’s Death Note, Death Gods named Shinigamis possess notebooks called “Death Notes” which hold exactly this aforementioned killing power. Whoever’s name is written down in a Death Note will die within 40 seconds. When high school student Light Yagam, discovers a Death Note dropped by Shinigami Ryuk in the middle of the street, he is initially shocked by the concept presented by Ryuk, who brought the Death Note into the human world in search of entertainment. However, Light’s awe soon turns into excitement as he hatches a plan to rid evil from the world by killing notorious criminals with the Death Note. With his ingenious mind and the extraordinary power of the Death Note, Light initiates a criminal holocaust to make the world a safer place. Although Light’s intentions causes global crime rates to drop by seventy percent, governments are concerned about an anonymous killer who is taking the law into his or her own hands and try desperately to find the unknown mastermind. While investigations aim to bring down Light, governments around the world are unable to discover the killer themselves. That’s when L, a mysterious master detective, brings his remarkable reasoning skills and flawless service record to the case. A cat-and-mouse thriller between Light and L ensues.

Overall, Death Note could be considered one of the few brilliantly-plotted manga. The story moves very quickly from one plotline to the next and often incorporates side-plots to intensify encapsulating themes of danger, betrayal, and good versus evil. The book’s narrative structure also allows reader to see the story unfold from every character’s point of view. Generally, detective stories would be spoiled by this type of narrative approach, but that is not the case in Death Note. Though the reader follows the thoughts of both the protagonist and the antagonist, Ohba creatively filters these thoughts so that the plot still unfolds dramatically. Light only ever hints slightly at what his plans entail and L keeps most of his deductions and reasoning to himself.

As Death Note progresses towards the halfway point, the story begins to fall victim to several over-complications. When more and more Death Notes begin appearing in the human world, the story begins to resemble those of other mediocre manga filled with coincidences and seemingly impossible events that the reader is not prepared for. At this point the plot definitely takes a turn for the worse in terms of suspense and ingenuity, and the reader is left to debate the benefits of continuing.

After a volume or two, Death Note does seem to pick up again, but with the advent of a slew of new complications and characters, the narration certainly needs to be enhanced for the story to continue making sense to the average reader. At times, rereading passages becomes a habit as the only way to follow the plot is to read it two or three times. However, the story does conclude with an intense and dramatic climax filled with everything characteristic of a traditional “nail-biter”. Death Note may seem confusing at times, but the story as a whole is worth getting lost in.

The beautiful illustrations in Death Note are one of the highlights of the manga. They bring Death Note’s thrilling story to life through realistic depictions of the characters and backgrounds while reflecting the themes of the plot as well. One of the most amazing things to witness while reading the manga is Takeshi Obata’s, the artist, ability to bridge the worlds of reality and fantasy through his artwork. Although shinigami, with their ghastly faces and bodies, such as Ryuk have little resemblance to humans, they seem to blend in with the rest of the human world in Death Note. This is achieved by personifying these fantasy characters through realistic facial expressions and interactions between the shinigami and the real world. For example, nothing makes Ryuk seem more real than seeing his desperate face as he begs Light for an apple and then ravenously gobbles it down with great satisfaction.

Obata creates through his illustrations an authentic Japan that the reader can almost step into and experience first-hand. Although Death Note takes place in a completely black-and-white world, the detailed backgrounds and objects make up for this lack of color. The level of detail seen in everyday things such as newspapers, computers, and the city of Kanto itself is almost enough to convince the reader that a Death Note could truly exist in the real world. The author uses sharp, defined lines to draw the characters and objects related to the plot while implementing rougher lines and more shading to depict the environment, background objects, and even clothing. Thus, the illustrations forces the reader to focus on aspects of the comic that are important to the story while still providing a realistic backdrop to the plot. Emanata are used sparingly, but effectively in Death Note. Small sweat beads to represent nervousness and quick lines radiating from a character to represent shock are examples of how Obata can depict emotions through graphic symbols in his artwork. Furthermore, the addition of verbs that represent sounds such as “crumple”, “slip”, and “rustle” combined with onomonatepia such as “screech” and “splat” allows the reader to not only experience the world of Death Note through sight but also through sound.

Besides providing realism to the world of Death Note, Obata’ elegant drawings reinforces certain themes of the storyline. One of the themes that appears throughout Death Note is the battle between good and evil. This is represented by the contrast between black and white or dark and light in the illustrations. An example is when Light and L are shown facing each other after their first intellectual battle. While Light is completely drawn in white, L is heavily shaded. This pushes the reader to believe that what Light is trying to accomplish is good, while L, the antagonist, is evil. Furthermore, Ryuk’s deep black clothing reminds us throughout the manga that in the beginning he did say to Light, “When you die… I’ll be writing your name in my note-book.”

In conclusion, Death Note is a beautifully-drawn manga with a unique and original plotline that will have you constantly on the edge of your seat, awaiting the next move in the intellectual battle between L and Light. Although this is a shonen manga targeted towards adolescent males, Death Note’s complex plot often seems more suitable for adults. The mangas resembles an intricately woven web due to Light and L’s constantly intertwining plans. However, at some points the web just becomes too thick and it almost seems impossible to follow the plot threads. Despite this, Death Note’s realistic illustrations and thrilling plotline makes it a series that every manga and detective story fan should investigate.

Works Cited

Ohba, Tsugumi, writer and artist. Death Note. Eng. adapt. by Orangtangerine.tk. Trans. Masterkeaton. San Francisco: Viz, 2003. Electronic. Chapter 1.

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Eric Huang
Michael Teng
Jack Shi
Justin Feng

House is the New Black: A Black Jack Review

2010-12-16T07:40:00.004-06:00

The works of legendary mangaka Osamu Tezuka rarely go without praise, and his thrilling foray into the medical world with Black Jack is no exception. Tezuka is most known for inventing the modern ‘manga’ style, with his iconic serial Astro Boy. With his important contributions to Japenese animation and cartoon culture, he is commonly called the “Walt Disney of the East.” Tezuka draws from multiple sources for his manga titles, and heavily leans on his college degree in medicine to create the stories in Black Jack. The tales are written in the format of a series of short escapades. Each tale follows the protagonist, known to the world as the infamous unlicensed surgeon Black Jack, as he saves his patients from the unforgiving ailments that no other doctor could possibly tackle. Sporting a full black outfit and an ice cold countenance, his reputation could only be described as notorious; few people are appreciative of his extraordinary fees and condescending personality. Yet below the surface lies a warmer side of good morals, a savior whose work could only be diminished by the work of god.

The first volume begins with offering a perspective on the way Black Jack is regarded as a person, describing the events of the son of a wealthy business man whose reckless driving results in a catastrophic accident and admittance to a hospital. The son, being in critical condition, is in such a hopeless state that his wealthy father brings in Black Jack to save his beloved son. The story continues to explain how an innocent bystander who happened to witness the event was sentenced to death under the influence of the wealthy business man in order for Black Jack to be able to use the bystander’s body to save the real culprit behind the crash. This seemingly follows the general disregard for morals and values that people associate Black Jack with. Nonetheless, as the first story ends, we realize that Black Jack in fact switched the skin of the patient with the body of the innocent person, therefore allowing the innocent person to live and dealing the deserved justice to the guilty, wealthy man. More or less, the story of Black Jack develops as a series of these short, approximately 20 page stories with each one depicting a new medical miracle that Black Jack is called upon to perform. In the end, we learn many intriguing aspects of Black Jack as a person as well as his brilliant surgical techniques. In the end, each story serves as a moral lesson and the reader is left with the inspiring feeling that ensues after learning the way a seemingly dark character is able to shed light on the world.

Although Black Jack contains somewhat unrealistic feats of medical science, this does not deter the story from conveying a certain moral message. In the typical manga, readers enjoy the fighting and action such as in Naruto. In other words, people enjoy the climax of every chapter the most as expected in any reading. However, we believe that the most entertaining parts of each chapter were not from how Black Jack is able to save all of those patients. The beauty of each chapter is derived from the message that can be taken away at the end of every tale, while the action and suspense are still included in the mix.

It seems like the only flaw to this storyline itself is the incorporation of an irritating young side-kick. Ever since being transformed into a real human, Pinoko has only annoyed Black Jack in every subsequent adventure. We question her actual worth as an assistant as well as her intellect as a supposed eighteen year old. Although she looks like a three year old, her desire to be Black Jack’s wife and her absurd comments that convey this only detour the storyline from the medical mysteries and miracles that the reader is looking for. Simply put, we feel her creation was a mistake on Tezuka’s part.

Perhaps time is the only nemesis of Tezuka’s work. While his masterful storytelling and composition is arguably timeless, his art can only fall to the wayside as manga evolves through the years. While modern mangakas have slowly developed a unique art style in Japanese manga, Tezuka was known to have been highly influenced by early American cartoons, specifically those of Disney. Tezuka’s character design, such as the use of large eyes, is said to have led to the development of modern manga art styles, but a current manga enthusiast may be put off by Tezuka’s decades old art. Many may find it un-Japanese due to its similarity to early American cartoons rather than the modern manga style they are used to seeing, while others may find it simply overly childish and disorganized.
Furthermore, readers should be advised of the lengths to which Tezuka takes the premise of Black Jack’s profession. Tezuka enthusiastically portrays most of Jack’s cases in all their blood and gore filled glory: he is not afraid to depict the severed limbs and internal organs his gruesome operation scenes. These graphic sequences parallel those of gory horror comics, and may be nauseating for the light hearted.

After reading through the first volumes of Black Jack, we noticed multiple trends that we enjoyed and few unfavorable aspects of the manga. What really drew us in was how the individual stories grew to depict Black Jack as a very moral and thoughtful character, while still being thrilling enough to warrant further reading. While the art style and the persistent Pinoko may be distasteful to some, these are but nitpicks for another masterpiece deserving of Tezuka’s name. We definitely consider Black Jack a “must read” for anyone truly interested in manga, due to the impact that it and its creator had on the Japanese visual culture.

MW: A Children’s Comic for Adults

2010-12-16T00:38:00.000-06:00

And we mean it. If this graphic novel was a movie (and it has been turned into one), it should be rated XXX. The story takes place in Japan in 1976, a time of global conflict and political tension. 15 years earlier, Michio Yuki, the main character, finds himself trapped on a small island with a teenage bully who would later become a Catholic Priest, Father Gerai. Gerai corners young Yuki in a cave and takes advantage of him, initiating a homosexual relationship between the two that continues throughout the book. MW, a poisonous gas created to inflict damage upon Laos and Vietnam, has accidentally been released onto the island, killing all of its inhabitants but sparing Yuki and Gerai. As the two realize that they are the sole survivors of this tragedy and prepare to leave the island, the gas affects Yuki, leaving him alive but robbing him of his conscience and moral compass. Gerai begins to feel responsible for the damage Yuki endures and vows to help him recover and gain back his morality, becoming his sole ally as the story progresses. The MW accident is covered up by the military, and the public never learns the truth about what happened. Fast forward to 1976, where Yuki has become an amoral serial killer, kidnapping and slaughtering innocent citizens and evading punishment by hiding in Gerai’s church while maintaining his low-profile job at a bank downtown. Without a conscience, he commits graphic atrocities without any remorse. He seeks vengeance on those involved with the MW incident, taking whatever extreme actions are necessary to get closer and closer to the truth; he disguises himself as the opposite gender, tortures, rapes, and murders those who stand in his way, and manipulates Gerai into becoming his accomplice. Through MW, Tekuza explores dark, adult themes unlike those found in any of his other books.

It’s hard to image such a dark piece of work came from Japanese mangaka Osamu Tezuka. Throughout all of his works, the genres are very diverse. One can easily observe this by looking at Astro Boy. This famous and beloved superhero tale comes nowhere near the violent and shocking nature of MW. Nevertheless, Osamu Tezuka has been a very influential figure throughout the Manga universe. After all, he was the founder of the very distinctive large eye style. He had received most of his early influence and creativity from his mother and the world around him. When he was very young, she told her son to use the surrounding skies as a source of ideas. However, the influence of his artistic style came from the very popular animation of his youth. This included cartoons such as Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop. Tezuka’s manner of drawing can be vividly recognized regardless of which work a person looks at. His general, unique way of drawing a person creates a very cartoon-like and unreal perception by the viewer. If one were to look at the overall artistic style of Astro Boy, they would clearly and quickly see that all of the characters have very cartoon-like features. However, the different style of MW allows for the characters to look less like cartoons and more like people. This greatly helps make the story, as a whole, a more thrilling and believable experience.

By “thrilling” we mean “borderline disturbing.” In two volumes, Tezuka-sensei brings up many controversial topics that still exist in the world today: kidnapping, murder, rape, bio-weapons and their development, church versus state, bestiality, sociopathic behavior and human nature. The blunt manner these topics are brought up within the book makes one think more than twice. The story starts out with a kidnapping, which leads immediately to murder followed by more murder, rape, and bloody carnage. Perhaps it’s us as westerners that are more sensitive to rated R material, but it’s more likely this is the inner mind of Tezuka questioning our own moral standards. Are we able to sympathize with the obviously insane serial killer Yuki because of his past? Or Father Gerai for his decision between religious duty and the law? Do we fully grasp the devastating results of bio-warfare and the hundreds of lives lost? How do we determine right from wrong in a world where everything is shades of grey? And can sociopathic behavior be justified? Wherever our personal opinion lies, we cannot deny this cold reflection of history and the implications that inhabit Osamu Tezuka’s world of MW.

Despite the disturbing storyline, devilish characters, and morally unstable plot, we still recommend this book. Why? Not because it’s “life changing”, or “created by a famous mangaka” – but because the four of use can’t tell you what you like. So go ahead and pick up a copy of MW. Take it for what it’s worth.

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David Chatman
Katie Kramer
Rafael Rodriguez
Claire Zhang

Full Metal Alchemist by Himoru Arakawa: A Review

2010-12-16T00:10:00.007-06:00

Full Metal Alchemist (FMA) focuses on two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who lost their mother to a rare illness and are unable to contact their father who's been away. To fill this void in their lives, the boys attempt the most forbidden of alchemic crafts: Human Transmutation. Their failed attempt left Edward with only two limbs and his brother's soul bound to a suit of armor. Becoming agents of the government, slaves of the military-alchemical complex, they use their unique powers to obey their orders, but also to find a way to restore their bodies. They hear news of and are determined to find the Philosopher’s Stone, the only way they can get their bodies back, but others are also searching for the stone and will do anything to get its power.

In the first volume, Edward and Alphonse’s exploits range from thwarting the machinations of a fraudulent and ambitious priest who abuses the faith of his oblivious town to cunningly extracting an impoverished mining community from the exorbitant clutches of an oppressive official and dealing with a train-hijack situation. The second volume teaches us of the many types of alchemy in the world. Edward's commanding officer, "Flame Alchemist" Roy Mustang, can control fire. Mustang introduces the brothers to Shou Tucker, the "Sewing-Life Alchemist," who specializes in the most difficult alchemy of all biological transmutation, the ability to alter the tissue of living things. Shou invites the boys to use his library, and soon they spend long days at the house studying and playing with Nina, Shou’s daughter, and his dog. As the days pass by, the Elric brothers are ignorant of the pressure mounting on the researcher. With his assessment is coming up, and his position as state alchemist on the line, Tucker desperately transmutes his daughter and dog to create his findings, similar to what he did in the past with his wife.

As Edward broods over Nina’s fate and the meaning of alchemy, a new menace makes an appearance. A murderer, known only as “Scar” for the x-shaped mark on his face, is targeting state alchemists and brutally slaughtering them. During a run-in with the ruthless killer, both Ed and Al are damaged, and rendered unable to resist his attack. To save his little brother, Edward is on the verge of submitting to Scar’s assault in exchange for Al’s life. Right in time, however, Mustang and his troops arrive to save the day. During this ensuing tirade by Scar, we learn that he believes he is an instrument of God, and he deals divine judgment to unholy alchemists. In addition, he’s a member of a persecuted race that the government tried to systematically wipe from the face of the earth. The action lets up as Ed, Al, and Major Armstrong head to repair the damage caused by Scar. They realize that no matter their power, alchemists are still human. When a mysterious killer starts stalking state alchemists, no one can escape his vengeance.

The theme of the comic was established by the quote found on the first page of the first volume: “One that does not sacrifice anything cannot achieve anything.” This quote stands out through its demonstration of the author’s main idea of the book, recurring throughout the first two volumes. The theme is that the idea of alchemy, unlike magic, follows the law of even trade. This theme was seen immediately as the Manga started. Due to their attempts with human transmutation, Edward and Alphonse both paid dearly, one losing an arm and a leg; the other became a soul locked into a body of living iron. Edward becomes a State Alchemist, referred to as “a dog of the military”, in order to use the extensive resources available, such as replacing his missing limbs with automail.

Other characters apart from the brothers also experience this law, such as Shou Tucker, the Life-Binding Alchemist. He sacrifices his family and ethics in order to achieve in his research. This theme contributes to the overall work by sending a message or moral to the readers as there is no argument in this series. The theme’s lack of subtlety, as one clearly sees it on the first page of the series, along with its frequency and continuity in the volumes makes it effectively unforgettable and perceptible to all readers.

Arakawa undertakes an open narrative style in this series as the reader is omniscient, as well as many of the characters. He includes great battles, clever twists, interlocking plotlines, and memorable characters that will stand up for what they believe in, whether good or bad. These volumes provided a satisfying balance of all those elements, and do it in a style that is visually exciting while still being easy for the eyes to follow. Whether it involves an all-out brawl, an urban gunfight, or some careful sneaking through the underground, the events in this series continue to move with forward momentum—a momentum that will ultimately lead to the group branded by the symbol. The game is in full swing and the final goal is in clear sight, but how our heroes are going to get there is anyone's guess.

As for visual elements, the style of Fullmetal Alchemist is semi-realistic and detailed. While no one could mistake the drawings for real-life pictures, we see shading, three-dimensional images (well, two-dimensional images with depth), strands of hair, and shadows. Sometimes, to better depict emotions, the comics switched to a very simple style. The flat, outlined, basic drawings contrasted sharply with the rest of the panels and served well to send a message that is difficult to put into words. In our opinion, the simpler drawings portrayed emotions and ideas more effectively than detailed drawings because the reader could relate to the images easily. As Scott McCloud noted, an undescriptive character can relate to a larger audience. These “breaks” from the typical drawing style provided comic relief and helped us relate to the characters.

We also noted a lack of focus on scenery. We are always given a general idea of the setting, but most of the panels do not have a background as a realistic-style comic might. Instead, the characters are usually surrounded by shading, representing the lighting. Close-ups of the characters’ faces and interactions allow more of a focus on the plot rather than specifics about location. We liked this technique because, with fewer details, the comic was fast paced. Sometimes, if a graphic novel is too detailed or too realistic, the reader becomes overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information to take in. The use of symbols to portray emotions is an element of Manga implemented in this comic that we really liked. Flowers represented cuteness or sentimentality; water drops depicted sweat, exasperation, or exertion of effort; little clouds showed panting, sighing, or heavy breaths; four-pointed stars showed up around a person who was feeling confident or proud of themselves; and little hearts appeared at the ends of speech bubbles when Edward Elric was being particularly sarcastic or cheeky. These small indications help us understand how a character is feeling or being influenced in addition to the typical clues presented by facial expression, etc.

Yet another visual element is the use of runes and symbols for alchemy, each alchemist with their own. The Elric brothers have a symbol that appears on Edward’s clothes and Al’s armor that looks like a cross fused with a question mark topped with a crown and wings, and Colonel Roy Mustang, the “Flame Alchemist,” has a symbol of triangles, a salamander, and fire encircled by a double ring on his gloves. These symbols are really cool because they give each of the main characters a crest that reflects who they are. For example, the Elric brothers are on a quest to find the truth about the philosopher’s stone in an attempt to regain their bodies, so their emblem resembles a question mark.

Graphically, FMA is not exactly stunning, but it is original and expressive. Arakawa has a gift for showing movement, with very subtle motions coming across just as easily as massive fight scenes. The characters' facial expressions are not to be missed either, with Edward having some of the funniest reactions whenever somebody mentions his short height. But what really earns FMA its place as a famous Manga is the story.

FMA's story is, to put it bluntly, one of the most engaging and well thought out that you can read. The reader can easily connect and sympathize with the Elric brothers. The first volume may seem a little formulaic, but don’t let that fool you. The story quickly goes through a series of twists and turns that will leave you aching for the next volume to see what happens. Arakawa's story telling is equaled only be his characters. There are no two dimensional characters in these pages. Everyone has a range of complex emotions, hidden feelings and ulterior motives. Edward and his younger brother Alphonse are mentally and physically unlike most early teens – both have uncanny statures and dabble in alchemy. While Al’s alchemy skill isn’t quite as good as Ed’s, he makes up for it with his attitude. Unlike his emotionally unstable brother, Al is the voice of reason that keeps everything in check. Together the two brothers make an unstoppable duo.

If that’s not enough, there are some fun extras at the end of every volume. A few short comics, notes from the author and a sometimes tasteless, but still funny "In Memoriam" for any characters that died in that volume. All this wrapped together in a wonderful package that any fan of great stories, Manga or not, should have on their shelf.

Full Metal Alchemist (Volumes I & II):

Publisher: Bandai

Price: 19.96 for both books together (9.99 each)

Review By: Sumana Vardhan, Cindy Angpraseuth, Bobby Baginski, & Luke Nayak

Travel Review

2010-12-15T21:11:00.001-06:00

Travel Review

We begin Yokoyama’s Travel as three men stand in a deserted station, ticket in hand, waiting for their train. A shining silver bullet zooms past, and the doors open; the men board. As the train picks up speed, the men begin to walk the length of the train, looking for seats. They pass a multitude of different seating and people, ranging from rows upon rows of military-type men to pairs of empty seats in front of large windows. While they’re walking, they pass many people, some of which who watch the men with interest. They pass men in a meeting, two people sleeping, a woman sitting alone, and a man reading a newspaper depicting scenes of disaster and catastrophe as they walk through the train. Eventually, the three men find an empty compartment and sit down. At various points through their voyage, they look out the windows of the train. The sky varies from overcast to cloudy with beams of sunlight shining through, foreshadowing a rain storm to come. The train passes strange-looking landscapes, such as a mountain with a boulder at the very top. As the countryside rattles by, the train comes into a more urban area, filled with odd houses and buildings. However, it seems as though every building is deserted, and soon the train passes out of the village and back into the countryside. Another train passes by, filled with passengers, and the sky darkens.

A light rain begins and slowly gets heavier until the landscape through the windows become distorted. Soon it is storming and the sound is overwhelming for the three passengers. After witnessing lightning, the weather begins to clear and the passengers look through the window to see a gorgeous glistening lake. As they come to a stop near the lake, the passengers watch as military personnel exit the train and the station and as two new passengers enter the train and into the car that the three original passengers are sitting. The train continues to travel next to lakes and eventually enters a mountainous area, where they pass a waterfall, cross a dam, and journey through cliffy canyons. One of the original passengers closely observes one of the new passengers in their train car until the new passenger notices. Two of the original passengers smoke the cigarettes that were purchased at the beginning of the story. As the train travels through the mountains, they pass wild animals along with hunters and hikers.

After they pass through this mountainous region, they soon arrive at a train station and go through an urban area. They pass many apartment complexes, skyscrapers and a very busy highway. Our characters then pass through a densely packed mall and go up a ramp to join several other large trains. Just before stopping at another station our travelers see many railroads and various turns for each train to go. This station is much larger than the previous one; they arrive between platforms 19 and 20 with dozens of escalators leading up to the upper deck where there are people watching the trains arrive. One of our characters puts his book away and exits the train at this station and watches all of the new faces depart with the train. The train departs and passes through another highway as well as several cranes while there are about half a dozen trains flying by. They go by some painters and see a helicopter landing on a roof of a building near them. We arrive at another station and our characters exit the train and proceed to go to the upper level. Our original travelers walk through a nice little forest with a path in the middle to end up at a nice little body of water which seems to be their final destination.

In Travel, everyday occurrences are made to seem exciting and intense. This is so the reader’s attention is focused on the excitement of travelling as opposed to the usual interests such as destination and scenery. The reader finds themselves engaged in the vehicle’s architecture and odd looking passengers. Yokoyama’s art style allows for this. Also, the overuse of speed lines and odd shapes let the reader, for some reason, become more interested in the common events that happen in our own world more than the exciting, imaginary world he has created outside of the train. For example, Yokoyama gives multiple views of every action, and uses speed lines to intensify events such as a raindrops falling from the sky or lighting a cigarette. It is odd that the attractions should be the ordinary rather than the imaginary.

Throughout the novel, various themes are present as the protagonists travel on the train. Three major themes of in the story were the weather, architecture, and people, which help the readers put themselves in the story. During the journey, the weather continually changes from harsh winds to torrential rain. As a reader, I can picture myself sitting on the train and looking out the window and experiencing the weather. When reading the book, you can imagine hearing the sound of the rain as it hits the window and the howling of the wind. Furthermore, Yokoyama includes various types of Japanese architecture. The uniqueness of the buildings and sculptures helps us place ourselves in the setting of Japan and visualize the depth and width of the scenery. Lastly, the people that the protagonists encounter is one of the strongest themes that easily place the reader in the scene. Yokoyama distinguishes the supporting characters with one specific characteristic. The man with the sparkling eyes and the man with the book are examples of people who stand out in the novel. When we travel places, we notice people along our journey and usually what makes them stand out is a certain aspect. All in all, Yokoyama uses these themes to help the readers identify with the protagonists and picture themselves on train.

The artistic style employed by Yokoyama in Travel is one of extreme simplification. Most objects are so simplified, that they become abstractions and at some times are unrecognizable. For example, the faces of the people on the train are so simplified that there is absolutely no emotion visible, and the characters become almost indistinguishable. One review by Publishers Weekly states “Everything and everyone is abstracted until nothing is left but a few identifying features; some sequences, as when the train passes through a rain shower, are almost pure pattern.” This level of abstraction results in a very aesthetically interesting novel, as a significant portion of the reader’s time is spent trying to figure out what is going on. Another major point of Yokoyama’s drawing style is his employment of motion lines. He doesn’t specifically try to blend the motion into smooth transitions; instead, he uses jarring, hard lines to indicate motion.

As a Western reader, even after familiarizing yourself with style of the book and the fact that, staying true to Japanese style, one must read each page from right to left instead of the traditional Western left to right, the story stills seems confusing. It’s almost as if we’ve missed something along the way. Maybe it’s because we are not used to being content in the travel of life and are merely focused on our destination, but reading a story about riding on a train leaves us feeling a bit empty and simply saying “So what?” If you are reader looking for a challenge in comprehension, looking to slow down in life and enjoy the simplicities, or merely looking to try a new style of reading, then Travel is the book for you. Otherwise, I’d avoid it completely.

Works Cited

Publishers Weekly. “Yuichi Yokoyama: Travel”. November 2008. Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Yuichi-Yokoyama-Travel/dp/0981562205

By: Brittney Hanson, Brian Page, Lydia Matthews, Molly Pachay, Elson Yu, Lizz Knowlton, Amber Farrell

Children of the Sea by Daisuke Igarashi

2010-12-13T20:10:00.001-06:00

Children of the Sea Review

For our manga we chose to read Children of the Sea by Daisuke Igarashi. We liked the novel as a whole for its beautiful pictures and mysterious storyline but as a whole we felt the novel felt slow due to the fact that it is merely the introduction to the series where it introduces the plot line.

The Children of the Sea is about a rough tomboy girl who has trouble making friends, who meets two unique children, Umi and Sora, and uncovers a few mysteries of the sea, revolving around glowing lights and “ghosts of the sea”. The manga begins with a woman on a boat telling her grandchildren a story. We assume that the woman is Ruka, since she states that she is in her story and immediately following after we follow around Ruka on her adventure. In the beginning of the story we learn more and more about Ruka. She is very passionate about Handball, but in the very beginning of the story she is kicked off of her team because she pushes another girl after the girl had stepped on her foot. She is very distant to her mother, although her mother is the only parent that she lives with, which is shown through the rarity of her mother’s face appearing in the comic, although Ruka does talk with her mother a few times, and how Ruka talks about her mother. After Ruka is kicked off of her Handball team, she decides to go to Tokyo to see the sea, where she meets Umi, with whom she begins to make a close connection. Ruka’s father learns of her scuffle at Handball and offers her to work with him at the aquarium as a “punishment” for getting in trouble. Umi is often at the aquarium, and so Ruka sees him more often. Umi’s guardian is a man by the name of Jim Cusak, who shows up many times throughout the volume after Ruka’s meeting with Umi. Jim has been searching for people who think the same way as him, Umi and Sora, who we meet in later chapters. Ruka thinks the same way as them and also has shared a similar experience where she met a “ghost of the sea.” We learn that Umi, along with his brother Sora that we meet in later chapters, was raised by Dugongs. They adapted to their life when they were young. They became excellent swimmers and sensitive to sunlight (the sun dries them up, so they need to immerse themselves in water often). Another mystery that we learn is the unexplained glowing lights that appear on Umi and Sora when they swim in the sea. Spotted fish are attracted to Umi and Sora when they swim in the sea and eat glowing lights that fall from Umi and Sora. We come to believe that there is a connection between Umi, Sora, the mysterious disappearing fish, and the glowing lights. This mystery will most likely be further explored in subsequent volumes.

Children of the Sea Volume 1 can be considered a haunting manga. The narrative style makes this story seem like another world, mysterious, and hard to put down. The book starts with a mysterious woman wearing shades and a hat on an unknown boat in the middle of the sea. She starts the book with “I’m going to tell you a story about the sea”. This is the opening of the actual story. The reader is hearing the story of the mysterious woman. The mysteriousness of the woman is quickly captivating and the reader is suddenly drawn into the book. The story is told is chronological order except for the few excerpts where random people tell their stories of the mysteriousness of the sea. These excerpts indirectly answer the questions concerning Umi and Sora’s past. The different panel transitions used in the book brought a lot of closure to throughout the book. Closure is the logical assumptions that the reader makes between panels. It’s how we connect panels in the reader’s mind. Action – to – action and subject – to – subject are the two most popular transitions in Children of the Sea, Volume 1. Action – to – Action features a single subject during their progression of actions between panels. This type of transition brings about the most closure. (McCloud 70) Subject – to – Subject transition is when the scene or idea remains the same but between each panel a new character or object is the focus. (McCloud 71) Overall the narrative style of Children of the Sea really emphasizes the mysterious nature of the sea but overall, the novel.

Perhaps the most engaging part of this manga though is not the narration of the story itself, but instead the drawing found in the panels. The artist found in Children of the Sea is stupendous. Daisuke Igarashi combined a classical manga style with more realist elements. The background and people are something not common to either western or eastern comics. The background is both extremely detailed and extremely unique. Due to this manga’s focus on marine life, we see a lot of intricate drawing of different animals. Even pages that in most comics are simply there, such as the copy write page and page before the title page, have hidden treasures on them. Daisuke Igarashi adds delicate drawing of marine life and the sea on these pages which really showcases the beauty of the work he is drawing. We especially appreciated the table content which was made to look like an old map of the sea, complete with drawings of sea dragons. This style creates a world as soon as the reader opens the book, even though Igarashi’s strokes are short and resemble sketch marks. The lines don’t always completely connect, but they seem perfect for the novel. Even the characters seem extremely realistic. The shading and lines emphasize the difference of each character and makes them each look individual, making the story more real to the reader. The drawings as whole found in this manga are beautifully done and help create a realistic-looking world for the story. Though this manga maybe slow and doesn’t have a concrete plotline, the drawings and character development still creates a world of mystery and intrigue.

In conclusion, we can see the Children of the Sea is an original piece. The story is one which readers can easily be absorbed into because of its ability to lure in readers. The manga can be considered slow and doesn’t have a solid plotline but the illustrations create a beautiful work of art. Overall, Children of the Sea is a book that must be read.

Works Cited

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York: HarperCollins Publisher, 1994. 70 - 71. Print.

By: Haley Ramirez, Saniya Rattan, Monica Kozbial

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki

2010-12-11T22:31:00.000-06:00

Nausicaä of The Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki illustrates the implications of war and the aftereffects of a devastating ecological disaster. In this manga, excessive industrialization has polluted the Earth: most of the Earth is covered by a toxic forest of mutated insects and plants that release a deadly miasma. Humanity clings to survival in small pockets of the land, often fighting over the scarce resources that remain.

The story follows Nausicaä, the princess of the Valley of the Wind, as she prepares herself to lead the kingdom in the future. Able to communicate with animals of every creed – even the mutated insects of the forest – Nausicaä seeks a peaceful coexistence between the different kingdoms and nature. However, when a world war threatens to kill entire nations, Nausicaä must lead the Valley to battle before the rest of the Earth is rendered uninhabitable.

In the narrative, character dialogue and panels are weaved into a rich tapestry. The story itself seems a bit too reliant on words, as most of the story is told through dialogue and caption rather than through the actions of the characters. While the illustrations add to the story, they seem rather independent of the narrative. We felt that if some illustrations were missing, the dialogue would be sufficient to carry on the story.

Furthermore, we thought the plot moved slowly compared to the plots of other manga, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It encourages the reader to linger on each panel, which facilitates the understanding of the dense plot. Rather than rushing through the plot and making the majority of the content about gore and battle, the manga is balanced and supplemented by these extensive drawings of nature, trees, spores, mists and creatures, and it allows the readers to immerse themselves into the story of the Valley of the Wind.

Given the post-apocalyptic setting of the story, we were led to contemplate the consequences of our actions in the present world. Miyazaki was concerned about the rapid rate of Japan’s industrialization, thus he decided to set the story in a post-apocalyptic world which showed the consequences of industrialization taken too far and of humanity attempting to control nature rather than accept it. This topic also led us to consider how we take the basic necessities of life for granted. The residents of the Valley have to fight for a livelihood, and their struggle made Miyazaki’s message clearer to us.

Despite the meandering plot line that drew us into the story as if we were one of the characters, Miyazaki randomly inserted characters without introducing them until a few pages later, which made us feel alienated. It felt rather jarring, and made us wonder if we were supposed to know this new character as well as the other established characters seemed to know them. However, this only occurred for minor characters, and it is only a minor complaint.

We believe Miyazaki’s style of drawing is unique, and compliments the story being told. Miyazaki drew the manga on paper larger than the paper used for traditional manga. The larger paper size allowed him to draw props, costumes, and backgrounds in more detail than that would be usually found in other Japanese manga (Schodt 277). The detailed backgrounds of the forest and other places often dwarf the simply drawn human figures, conveying his message visually that humans are small compared to nature. The level of detail draws the reader’s attention to the background, and slows down the pace of reading. Miyazaki works wonders with his penciled illustrations.

Fig. 1. Miyazaki, Hayao. Nausicaä of The Valley of the Wind. Vol. 1. Japan: Nibariki Co., Ltd.,1983. 6. Print.

This illustration is a typical example of the detail that Miyuzaki uses in his backgrounds. In the bottom panel, he draws the human standing before the forest quite small to emphasize how puny mankind is compared to nature.

Miyazaki also draws the reader’s attention to the characters when needed by filling in the background completely with black, leaving the character the only thing visible in the panel. When he wants the reader to pay more attention to the action in the story, he draws the panel with less detail. The reader is skillfully guided through the complex plot, which we found to be very helpful in understanding the story.

The layout of the manga is also more orderly than other Japanese comics. All of the panels are boxed in standard style; there are no panels “bleeding out” on to the page, as McCloud would describe it. We thought that the standard style matched the panels because most panels had action-to-action transitions, and therefore there is no need for a lingering emotion.

Overall, we highly recommend Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind because of its treatment of mature topics. While the environmentalist themes are not unique, Miyazaki juxtaposes humanity’s struggle for survival with nature’s desire to cleanse the world. We are confronted with difficult questions regarding our place in the world. Miyazaki then deftly illustrates his story, complementing the plot. This makes for a satisfying read that you will come back to again and again.

Works Cited
Schodt, Frederik. Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Berkeley : Stone Bridge Press, Inc., 2007. Print.

-Wen Min Chen, Wen Li Chen, Stephanie Cheng, Allison Morrow, Matt Koscielniak

Final Reflection of the Semester

2009-12-21T00:50:00.001-06:00

To say that having been in this course was an enriching experience would be a severe understatement. Before entering Graphic Novels, I had never truly opened a graphic novel before. Sure, I had frolicked with some comics as a child; Batman was my favorite, and Spiderman’s climbing prowess was quite impressive, as well. However, I was blown away by the different works we studied from the start. Beginning with Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, I realized that graphic novels did not necessarily include superheroes or excessive amounts of onomatopoeia (this seemingly naïve revelation is justified, as I had no prior experience in this area of study). I found appreciation even in Ghost World, my least favorite comic (for its constant use of profanity and overpowering sense of teenage angst), because it implemented different camera lengths and conveyed powerful messages. I learned not only to analyze works from the perspective of an author, but with the eyes of an artist; not only with the desire to create a page, but with an undying enthusiasm for a single panel. Watchmen was the crown jewel of the course; its intricate illustrations and various moral dilemmas made it very difficult not to fall immediately in love with the novel. My personal favorite was the work studied in my Literature Circle group. Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis captivated my interest because it detailed the path of an intelligent and independent girl who tastes life’s numerous hardships at a tender age and point in Iran’s history. Overall, this course has opened my eyes to the wide variety of media and has caused for me to synthesize my past knowledge with a newfound appreciation for the visual arts.

-Amishi Bajaj

Last Post of the Semester

2009-12-16T13:12:00.002-06:00

One thing that I learned from Graphic Novels that will remain with me for the remainder of my life is the wordless graphic novel. When we first received The Arrival by Shaun Tan, I was hooked. The beautiful illustrations and poignant storyline made a deep first impression on me. In many ways reading wordless graphic novels is not only more challenging but also more enjoyable than traditional comics. Without words, only the right-brain, your artistic and emotional side is engaged, and as a result the grinding burden of rational thought is lifted from your shoulders and the reading experience is one of floating gently through the sublime stream of characters intertwining and interacting, weaving the tapestry of canon in a very different way from traditional prose. That's not to imply that wordless graphic novels are easier to read than normal graphic novels or books though. The fact that they have no words doubles the importance of paying attention to the small details in not only the illustration of the panel itself, but also the arrangement of the panels, the panel in context of its surroundings, transitions and closure between panels, and all the elements which validate the colloquialism "a picture is worth a thousand words."

A Review of the Semester

2009-12-15T08:48:00.002-06:00

Before this semester, I had never even opened up a graphic novel. Apparently, I had been missing out. This semester has opened my mind to how great comic books can be. I absolutely loved reading Understanding Comics, Arrival, Maus I and II, Blankets, Watchmen, and Ghost World. They were all very different from each other, but of course that allowed each of them to bring something different to my thoughts. I think my favorite graphic novel from the semester has been Watchmen. Blankets is close behind because of how easy it is to relate to the comic as a whole. Craig Thompson has a way with making readers feel for him, and understand what he has gone through, even if the reader has not gone through the same situations. I am so glad that I was able to do my multigenre research project on Craig Thompson's works. There was a different tone to each graphic novel. Carnet De Voyage had many humorous parts. I am definitely going to read Thompson's next work once it is completed. Hopefully libraries near me will have a more extensive graphic novels section than now. It's been a great semester.
- Jackie Tusack

Hour-long interview with Dr. Lederman

2009-11-17T11:23:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37kBx0WezhY

:)

Ideas for a Graphic Novel

2009-11-07T22:56:00.002-06:00

Soooo, I am a bit late on tossing these out there, and I do apologize for it. Buuuuuut I had two ideas that we could work with:

1. Isolina mentioned using the IMSA resources and following teachers, but I propose taking it a step further and using our friend Dr Leon Lederman. I'm sure that after reading his wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_M._Lederman) you'll get a sense for his story. His father pushed him towards being educated and he wanted to be a chemist but was convinced otherwise, he was in WWII and he came back here to become one of the world's best scientists. It would be interesting and he has a very distinct sense of humor that he would add to the story I'm sure. We could do interviews with him, take apart secontions of his book. For a better sense of him, his autobiography is on the nobel prize page (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1988/lederman-autobio.html). We could do any of a few spins on his life and I'm sure he'd be more than willing to help us out.

2. Also pretaining to IMSA, after our Intel Award dealie in the past week I was wondering how IMSA really did get started. After the presentation was over people in my Film Studies class questioned why IMSA and not ISMA, and I'm sure there are many other interesting questions about our school. We could use the IMSA archives, Stephanie Pace Marshall, and Dr Lederman as direct sorces for our research. It could be cool to do a dramatic retelling of its creation and just to get the word out about our school in such an easily digested form as a comic.

-Karl O.

Graphic Novel Project Ideas

2009-11-05T18:58:00.002-06:00

Here are some ideas for our graphic novel project. I based them on the theme of people unable to tell their own story, which I believe was the original focus of the assignment.

One is of Flight 93, the flight that was hijacked on September 11 and through which the terrorists were targeting Washington, D.C., but which was redirected by its crew and/or passengers. We could use, as primary sources, the black box recordings from the flight and any interviews given by family members. As secondary sources, we could use movies made on the subject (I know there are at least three) and any other media on the subject.

The other is a bit more historical and would take more imagination, but might be more fun. Its' subject is the conquest of the Aztec Empire by Cortes from the eyes of an Aztec. We could choose any Aztec - a citizen, the emperor (who was taken hostage by Cortes), or a nobleman - and depict the story realistically, rather than the distanced viewpoint given in most history books. It would be a tragic novel since in the end, the Aztecs were all killed or conquered by Spain.

~Angad

Proposed topic for the class graphic novel :)

2009-11-04T19:30:00.004-06:00

Have you ever imagined that your story would be told in a graphic novel form? I sure didn't, until I was in the shower on Sunday and had a spark of brilliance.

So, without further ado, my proposed topic is that we pair up randomly with someone else in the class, or preferably pick someone that you genuinely don’t know (I know, I know, we all like being with our friends. But do you not want to learn about something hilarious or intriguing about someone mysterious in our class?)

And with that, you interview them for a story you find interesting about something that happened to them at IMSA (because of, relating to...etc.). It can be something funny, depressing, happy, distressing, mind-boggling, and/or anything else you two can think of.

It would be a nice idea in order to get to know your fellow classmates better, since we all have a story to tell. Additionally, since it's nearing the end of our high school career, even knowing someone a little bit better would make our class more cohesive and friendly as a whole.

Envision our final product as a tapestry of the teenage experience, and a reflection of what happens when we're given a little more freedom and mountains more stress.

We, as a class, could potentially also do a chapter on Dr. Hancock as well, and why we picked his graphic novels class that ties us all together.

-Julia K

Interperative questions

2009-10-15T13:35:00.004-05:00

1.) In one instance of the story, Artie was driving with his wife and Vladek, and they decide to pick up an African American who was hitchhiking on the side of the road. Vladek, out of no where, began bad-talking the hitchhiker about his race in Polish. How do you suppose Vladek can justify to himself this reaction towards the African American. Didn't Vladek face the same kind of discrimination by being sent to the camps? Would that not have had some effect on Vladek's views on discrimination?

2.) Throughout the entire novel, when Vladek is not telling about his story, we see that Vladek is very much attached to material things. He will find wire in a trash and save it. He'll refuse to spend money unless he absolutely has to. But, early on in the story, Vladek throws away Artie's coat, which could be considered a completely wasteful act. Why would Vladek throw away a perfectly good coat, even though he has such an inclination to save things?

-Alek Poniatowski

Maus Interpretive Questions

2009-10-14T10:33:00.003-05:00

On page 57 Vladek dreams with his great Grandfather. In his dream he is told that he will leave the labor camp he is in on Parshas Truma. Many people would believe in their dream and have faith as Vladek did, and many would lose hope after time. Later on Page 59 Vladek explains how important this date is to him. He mentions that Artie was born on a Parsha day. What can you infer about Vladek's comment about Parsha Truma and Artie's birth? On Page 59 Artie closes up on Vladek's facial expressions, but not on his own. What do you think he was feeling at this moment?

On the fourth page of Prisoner of the Hell Planet: A Case Story Artie says that his mother murdered him. At the end of the novel Artie ends with the word murderer. He is referring to Vladek. Why do you feel Artie put this in the novel, and why does he have such feelings towards his parents. It is ironic that these novels are in honor of his parents-the survivors who were persecuted to be murdered, and that he calls them murderers. Do you think Artie means what he says?

Maus II questions

2009-10-13T16:51:00.002-05:00

Throughout Maus I and II Vladek and Mala are constantly complaining about each other. Vladek even goes so far as to say that "alone I can manage more easy than with Mala, believe me" (book II page 79). Yet, in the end, they end up back together. When Art asks Mala why she came back she says she doesn't know why (book II page 122). Why do Vladek and Mala stay together despite their apparent mutual dislike?

On page 74 of book II Art and Francois are talking together outside and are bothered by the pesky bugs. At the bottom of the page Art sprays the bugs and the last panel shows the bugs fall dead to the ground. This mini extermination reminds the reader of the extermination of the Jews, but what more is symbolically represented in this panel? How does Spiegelman use this sequence to relate the story to the Holocaust?

Thing I posted in the wrong spot or something

2009-10-13T15:46:00.004-05:00

You touched on this already, but why does Art only appear to be wearing the mouse mask at the beginning of chapter two? In all of the flashbacks to when he's speaking with his father, he looks like an anthropomorphic mouse.

What is Art trying to tell the audience by showing his father exterminating an insect with pesticides after speaking about the gas chambers?

So yeahhhhh

Maus Discussion Questions

2009-10-13T15:45:00.002-05:00

My first question is from page 59 of Maus II. Felix knew that he was going to be taken away by the German the next day. There was really nothing that anyone could do about it. He had no chance to survive. How do you think it would feel spending the night knowing that the next day you were going to be taken away and you couldn't do anything about it?

My second question is from page 72 from Maus II. The prisoners that worked there had to pour gasoline over dead and alive people and burn them. Then they would shovel the human fat back on so that the people would burn better. Would do you think was going through their minds during this time and do you think you could handle that mental strain?

-Sam Groesch

Maus I/II Questions

2009-10-13T14:27:00.001-05:00

My first question comes from Chapter 3, page 98-100, of Maus II. Here we see an African-American hitchhiker who walks up to the car needing a ride. At this same instant Vladek looks out the window and yells: "A hitch hiker? And-oy-it's a colored guy, a shvartser! Push quick on the gas! (98)" Disregarding what Vladek has said Francoise picks up the hitchhiker and anyway. As the drive along Vladek mumbles under his breath in polish speaking not so highly of this hitchhiker. Knowing this and the fact that Vladek and many others have suffered oppression at the hands of the Germans for being Jewish, why would Vladek oppress someone who has gone through an experience much like his?

As we read Maus in class we saw that it had a more realistic view to it, such as the characters, but the narrative style was lacking. When comparing that to Maus I and II it is almost the opposite. Do you think combining the narration of Maus I and II and the artistic style of Maus will offer the story of Maus I a deeper meaning?

Discussion Questions

2009-10-13T11:21:00.002-05:00

1. In the part where Art is speaking with his psychiatrist friend, Art says that it is admirable to survive. Then the question is raised if it was admirable to survive was it not admirable not to survive? So the question i give to you is who were the hero's of the holocaust those that survived? those that died? the Americans that saved them? no one? Decide the answer from your perspective then, discuss the answer from the perspective of Art then Vladik.

2. Is the use of animals to distinguish between races fair or politically correct? Is it okay to reinforce racial stereotypes in a book about the horrors associated with them?

My thoughts...

2009-10-13T06:51:00.004-05:00

As we have discussed in class, the older Vladek Speigelman seems very different from his younger counterpart in Vladek’s narrative of the Holocaust. The younger Vladek is considerate and resourceful; he does not generally exhibit the obsessiveness or paranoia that the older Vladek shows. However, the older Vladek also looks favorably on his former self. Is Vladek cognizant of his stark personality change post-Holocaust? He does mention a couple times during the story that the Holocaust changed him. Does he realize how different he acts in real life than from the story?

This brings me to my second question. Is it possible that Vladek's story may not be entirely accurate. Could there have been parts that Vladek omitted or added to the story? It would seem natural that he would not want to pass on a story in which he is portrayed negatively, especially to his only surviving son. There are a couple of signs within Maus that signal we may have an unreliable narrator. For example, in page 68 in Maus II, Artie catches his father changing the number of months his father claimed he spent in Auschwitz. There may have been other areas where Vladek may have stretched the story as well.

Maus Discussion Questions

2009-10-13T00:47:00.002-05:00

In Maus, I noticed a large amount of culturistic touch. Art Spiegelman involved a few things from several cultures and little specifics that he could not simply know. I wonder how he researched all of those things. Reading and seeing all of these flourishes forces me to ask, do all of these touches help or hurt the reader's ability to relate to the novel?
The atrocities of the holocaust are unspeakable. Many of the crimes were shown and described in Maus I and II. Do you think that the Nazi's genocidal wrongs were brought into a different light because of these books? If so, what difference do you now see?

Evan S.

Maus Discussion Questions

2009-10-13T00:29:00.004-05:00

While reading Maus, I found it different than other graphic novels that I read like The Watchmen and such. The style and the narration are just two aspects that Spiegelman modifies in Maus. In some ways, I really like what Spiegelman has done with Maus; however, in some ways I find that what he did didn't really affect me positively. For example, often I pose the question: Why did he choose the color scheme that he did; did he want it to have specific meaning? For me the color scheme made it almost a dull read. And didn't really allow for my mind to really pick something special out about the characters. Also, I ask: what did Spiegelman want us to get out of the father-son relationship that he depicted between himself and Vladek in Maus?

~Ben

Maus Questions

2009-10-13T00:28:00.003-05:00

The use of animal symbolism in a work of nonfiction, especially one that deals with subject matter as sensitive as the Holocaust, can be a tricky issue. As an author, you want your message to come across clearly and to be taken seriously, yet you also want the artistic freedom to experiment with your medium in unconventional ways. When used properly, animal symbolism becomes a recurring leitmotif that attracts the reader's attention; when used improperly, it can degrade a book to the level of a child's fable. Does the use of animals in Maus I and II detract from the authenticity of the graphic novel, or does it serve as a device that makes the novel--and, by extension, its characters--more memorable?

Ever since the end of World War II, there has been a wealth of literature written about the Holocaust. First-person narratives, psychoanalytical essays, historical accounts--the writing that covers this subject could fill libraries' worth of bookshelves. In the midst of all this literature, does Maus stick out as unique? Did Art Spiegelman use the graphic novel as a gimmick to help separate his work from the masses, or is the graphic novel as a medium simply his preferred mode of expression?

Mause I/II Questions

2009-10-12T23:53:00.000-05:00

We see a variety of different animals used throughout both volumes of
Maus, with the intention of representing certain races of people. Polish
people are represented as pigs, with the French as frogs (though we see
him wanting to change Francoise from frog to Maus in part two, once she
converts), American dogs, Germans as cats, and the Jews as mice. What are
specific reasons behind each of these? In addition, why do you think he
doesn't stick to a purely religious/purely racial depiction? Does
portaying all of these characters not just as animals, but as cartoons, an
effective method? I think that it is, partly because it adds to the
symbolism in the novel, and partly because portraying people in
cartoon-animal form is a little less harsh than making them people. It
separates them a little, simply because cartoons are like caricatures by
nature.

My second question regards Art after the publication of Maus. He has
difficulty coping with the amount of success that the book has, we see him
undergo a sort of breakdown in Maus II, amidst a flurry of TV reports and
interviews. Why is this so? Shouldn't he be happy with the success he has?
Part of me thinks it's because of his relationship with his father - in
book form, Vladek's story is being lauded as a literary landmark; however,
Art would say it was less than so. Perhaps he regrets not developing a
better relationship, and displaying what they did have for the world to
see? Any other thoughts?

Maus: Defining Questions

2009-10-12T23:44:00.002-05:00

1. How would you define Art's relationship to his family members? Would you say that Maus I and II properly reflect his familial bonds? For the most part, it seems that he and his father have a pretty strained relationship. Through their exchange of words, the audience gets the feeling that Vladek cares about his son and wants to reconcile whatever tension comes between them. He constantly invites his son to come over and shows obvious excitement when he actually does stop by for a visit. However, Art does not seem quite as enthused about establishing a deeper bond with his father. Rather, it seems that Art only cares about getting his story, not because of genuine interest of his father's past hardships and accomplishments, but because of the desire to complete his book. Yet, while Maus I and II show a tense father-son relationship, the short story Maus that appeared in the adult comic, "Funny Aminals," depicted a much warmer one. So, the question arises...which one is true? Also, one must wonder about his relationship with his mother and ghost brother as well. In some parts of the story, Art seems to be at odds with his mother. For example, in Maus I, the audience gets to see a segment of one of Art's other comics (p. 100-103) which highlights this poor relationship. Commentary on p. 103 says, "She [his mother] came into my room...it was late at night...I turned away, resentful of the way she tightened the umbilical cord..." He goes on to scream, "...You murdered me, Mommy, and you left me here to take the rap!!!" From this comic strip, the reader would think that Art holds a grudge against his mom. Yet, at the end of part I, Art screams at his father, "You-You MURDERER! How the hell could you do such a thing!!!" after finding out that Vladek destroyed his mother's journals. Furthermore, note that part I is dedicated to Anja, the very woman he claimed 'murdered' him. So, again, which is true? Does Art hold something against his mother? Or does he actually mourn her death? Or both? Finally, what are Art's feelings towards his ghost of an older brother? On page 15 of Maus II, it seems that he envies Richieu. He expresses to his lover, "I wonder if Richieu and I would get along if he was still alive...I didn't think about him much when I was growing up...he was mainly a large, blurry photograph hanging in my parents' bedroom...The photo never threw tantrums or got in any kind of trouble...It was an ideal kid, and I was a pain in the ass. I couldn't compete...it's spooky, having sibling rivalry with a snapshot!"So, clearly, he never got to know his older brother, yet his ghost still lingers. Does Art resent him for taking his parents' hearts? Or does he wish he had the chance to meet him? How did Art feel at the end of Maus II (p. 136) when his father says, "I'm tired from talking, Richieu, and it's enough stories for now..."? In any case, he cared enough to dedicate part II to Richieu, so that must mean something, but what?

2. On page 90 of Maus II, Francoise and Art have an interesting conversation. F: "Sigh. I'd rather kill myself than live through all that..." A: "What? Returning groceries?" F: "No. Everything Vladek went through. It's a miracle he survived." A: "Uh-huh. But in some ways he didn't survive." What do you think Art means by "he didn't survive"? Is he referring to his father's lack of mental stability? Or Vladek's physical ailments and reliance on medications? Or is it something else? Obviously, Vladek lived to tell his tale, but how would you say he 'survived'? How does one define survival? Dictionaries would say something like, to survive is to remain alive. If this is the case, Vladek did indeed survive, right? What are your thoughts? Would you compartmentalize survival and say he survived physically, but not mentally or emotionally? It's something to think about.

Just some thoughts and questions

2009-10-12T23:04:00.004-05:00

1. On page 15 of Maus II, Art discusses his insecurities with Francoise regarding being compared to the photograph of his brother: "The photo never threw tantrums or got into any kind of trouble...it was an ideal kid, and I was a pain in the ass. I couldn't compete." Do you think that this could be a root cause of the strain in Vladek and Art's relationship? As in, Vladek is expecting a "perfect" son, because of course that's what Richiev would have been, and since Art isn't delivering in his mind, it causes strife?

2. Art constantly feels inadequate in relation to Vladek's surviving through the Holocaust. To illustrate this, on page forty-four it Art informs his psychiatrist that "No matter what I accomplish, it doesn't seem like much compared to surviving Auschwitz. Why does he feel this way? Why do people tend to feel less worthy when they haven't been through something damaging? And perhaps more importantly, are these feelings justified?

-Julia

Maus interpretation

2009-10-12T23:03:00.000-05:00

I have actually read Maus I and II before Graphic Novels. Maus I was a requirement for class but I was so intrigued by its capability of illustration that I had to read Maus II. I have always admired the novel itself but there has always been one thing that has irritated me. This irritation being the racial comment that Vladek makes (Ch. 3, pg. 93) once the hitchhiker is out of Artie’s car. I would think that a man that has experienced racism and segregation to its highest extent (the Jews and the Holocaust) would understand the struggles that minorities such as the African-American community would go through every day. This brings me to my first question, what type of nerve must someone, who has witnessed and experienced genocide, have to allow them to inflect the same racism and segregation that they have once experienced? Shouldn’t these people learn from what they have seen and not turn their backs from it?

Another situation that has always confused me was the scene in which Arty and his wife, Francoise, speak on the issue of conversion (Ch. 1, pg. 11). Arty debates on whether or not he should draw his wife as a mouse in his novel. She states that she has converted and therefore has the right to be seen as a Jew. So my question is, because one was not raised in a specific matter would this prevent them from being see differently from others even though they have completely changed into a new person? So in this situation, does Francoise truly have the right to be considered a Jew and therefore allowed to be depicted as a mouse in Art’s novel? A little side question. Who do you think pressured Francoise into converting to Judaism? Was it her own choice, was it Arty, or could it have been that Vladek would not give his blessing to the couple unless Francoise converted to Judaism?

Maus Discussion Questions

2009-10-12T22:07:00.000-05:00

Throughout the book, Vladek is shown to have a gruff demeanor and the Holocaust seemed to have shaped his personality greatly. His acerbity as a Holocaust survivor is understandable, especially because in Vladek’s case, Mala commits suicide. The entire Holocaust story told by Vladek could mollify anyone’s view towards his aggravating proclivities. Although this may be the case, I found his frugality difficult to be explained by his past. He manifests his resourcefulness by his concerns towards money and his tendency to save things. What could be the explanation of his unwillingness to spend money and his suspicion towards the second wife, Mala? If it stems from his Holocaust experience, what could explain this trait that the author decided to attribute to Vladek?

Seams

2009-10-12T21:58:00.000-05:00

At the end of Maus I, I was very surprised to see Art shout out at his father like that. "God damn you! You-you murderer! How the hell could you do such a thing!!" Art seemed so calm and interested in the stories his dad told before that I thought this sudden outburst was uncanny. Do you think there was a deeper reason that Art wanted those memoirs other than more tangible proof of the Holocaust to write about? In addition, why do you think Art Spiegelman as the author chose to end the first installment of Maus with that last word, "murderer"? How do you think the transition from Maus I to Maus II could be made less choppy? Putting Art's dad's death in the beginning was not chronological. What do you think was Art's reasoning behind that?

-CeeCee Chang

Questions

2009-10-12T21:57:00.000-05:00

In chapter two of Maus II, the panels begin with Art Spiegelman is sitting at his drawing board listing facts and dates about his life and the comic he was working on. At the end of the page, the panel zooms out to take in all of Art and his drawing board, but littered around him were bodies of mice gruesomely stacked upon one another (Spiegelman 41). Why did Art Spiegelman put that in there? I wasn’t expecting that at all, and it was kind of shocking. He later shows the reporters climbing over the bodies to get to him and ask him a barrage of questions. What do the bodies represent since I don’t think they’re physically there?

Another point of interest is when Art goes to his psychiatrist. He quotes Samuel Beckett saying, “Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.” (Spiegelman 45) It feels as if Art is trying to justify not writing the book. Why does he not want to write the book? He’s been working on this for such a long time. What connection does this have with the relationship between Art’s dad and him?

Art Spiegelman - Unlikeable Narrator

2009-10-12T21:56:00.001-05:00

The more of Maus I read, the less I came to like Art Spiegelman. From his unwillingness to help his father fix the leaking drainpipe to his outburst at the end of Maus I, Spiegelman's character came across as unthankful and frustrating. Why did Spiegelman present his character in such a way? Do you think that Spiegelman's character's portrayal adds to the story or detracts from it.

-Jackson Hallauer

Whatcha think about this?

2009-10-12T21:09:00.002-05:00

Very often the question has been raised as to weather or not Spiegelman was correct in portraying the Holocaust through cats and mice, and in class we summarized that it was fine, but only because he took it in a rather minimalist direction. The art style in Maus has relatively few flairs and extraneous details, something that no one can debate. Yet, I’d like to look into the text here. The story obviously has a very, very powerful retelling of the Holocaust and some rather complex issues between father and son. So if the power and complexity is not given to the audience directly in artistic detail is it seen in the dialogue and text? Or are many of the meanings and strengths in Maus gleaned from each reader’s individual sense of closure alone because of the range of thought allowed in somewhat simple art and reduced text?

Within the father, son relationship the reader often sees Art becoming increasingly angry at his father over a variety of things. At the end of Maus I Art shouts rather violently at his father for destroying his mother’s notebooks, calling his father a murderer, and actually ending the story after that single word. Why do you think that Art has such an extreme reaction to his father’s actions here, going out of his way to accuse his father of being a murderer over a set of journals?

-Karl

Maus Questions: Accuracy and the Origin of Disappointment

2009-10-12T21:04:00.005-05:00

My first question concerns the topic of historical accuracy of Maus. We would probably be correct to assume that Art himself has not edited any facts about his father's experience in the Holocaust. But what of Vladek's testimony? As mentioned in an earlier blog post, he often seems very lucky while in sticky situations: for instance, on page 93 of Maus II, he meets a Frenchman who converses with him in English in exchange for food that, as he puts it, saves his life. One part of the story, shown on page 133, is particularly difficult to believe. On this page, while living in Sosnowiec, Anja sees a fortune teller who tells her that her whole family has died except for Vladek. Is this accurate on Vladek's part? Is it possible that Anja convinced herself of this after the fact - that the story is a little stretched? These are probably unanswerable questions. My main question is, should we base our interpretation of Maus on its historical accuracy or on how the details of the story - whether real or not completely - tie in to make a complete narrative?

My second question is related to Vladek's perception of Art. The former often "brags" about his younger self. For instance, on page 33 of Maus II, he recollects, "Always I was handsome..." In addition, he knew how to work with tin and quickly learned how to repair shoes at Auschwitz. He also prizes himself on his frugality. In the books, does he compare himself with his son and does this result in his disappointment of him?

mixed portrayals

2009-10-12T19:52:00.004-05:00

Art Spiegelman clearly uses animals to represent different social/ethnic groups throughout his novel Maus. The mice clearly represent the Jewish race, and the Germans are obviously conveyed as cats. A more shadowed relationship however, is the one between the dogs and the Americans in the novels. After the end of the Holocaust, American GI's [dogs] are deployed to aid the remaining Jews [mice] (Maus II, 111). However, if we look at the appearances of the dog during the Holocaust, we see that they are used by the Germans to intimidate and subdue the Jews within the concentration camps (Maus I, 157). If we look at the dogs' appearances in the "modern day", we find that they are all civil servants of some kind--bankers (Maus I, 126), police officers (Maus II, 113), and doctors (Maus II, 127). Is it merely coincidence that dogs were used in such starkly different portrayals? Considering Spiegelman's past and current life, what could this suggest about his perception of Americans before the war, after the war, and currently?

-robertcheung

Maus Discussion Questions

2009-10-12T19:42:00.000-05:00

Not to just repeat what Jing said already, but I was also confused as to why Art decides to tell us about his father's death at the beginning of chapter two. It does not really go with the rest of the chapter because he just goes on using the images of him and his father talking as if it was not just a recording of a conversation. Why did he throw in the fact that his father died into the second chapter, couldn't it have been in another chapter? Or, could this section have been a chapter all on its own? It has the potential to be a quick introduction or even made into a conclusion if more information was added.

-Anthony

Questions Regarding Maus II

2009-10-12T19:23:00.006-05:00

In Maus II, Art Spiegelman's pen-and-ink form splutters, "I-I never thought of reducing it to a message. I mean, I wasn't trying to CONVINCE anybody of anything" (Spiegelman 42). Upon reading this, I was instantly reminded of a similar phrase present in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Twain's renowned work begins with a humorous notice that proclaims, "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted, persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished." Clearly, Spiegelman didn't wish to put his soul into a novel that was devoid of a message, so why does he treat this with a degree of ambivalence? Is he, perhaps, trying to shed light upon his main points by obscuring them?

As is true for most, I was initially elated by the prospect of viewing characters as animals. After the novelty wore off, it became clear to me that Spiegelman wished to underscore the role that identity plays in destiny. Later, when Art is speaking with Pavel, his shrink, Pavel explains, "Life always takes the side of life, and somehow the victims are blamed. But it wasn't the BEST people who survived, nor did the best ones die. It was RANDOM!" (Spiegelman 45) It seems as though Spiegelman toys with the meaning of "being good." Anja seems to be "good," but she commits the sin of suicide. On the other hand, Mala does not seem to be "good," but she manages to survive the Holocaust and surpass others in terms of health. What is the intentional role of this idea, and what should the reader take away from it earlier in the novel? In the Holocaust, a character's past could determine a character's fate, as was true for the Kapos. To what extent does identity determine one's actions or outcome, and how does Spiegelman portray this?

Maus discussion questions

2009-10-12T19:06:00.002-05:00

In Maus I, and even more so in Maus II, Art is very short-tempered with his father for being so stereotypically Jewish. Whenever Vladek tries to pinch pennies, Art pleads with his father to stop being so stingy, leading to Vladek chiding Art for being wasteful, which only frustrates Art further in a vicious cycle until one snaps at the other. Art makes it abundantly clear several times in Maus II that he considers every sentence not related to his father's Holocaust story a painful, wasteful experience, especially when his father is complaining about Mala or asking Art to help around the house. Why is Art so ungrateful and volatile towards his father the survivor yet so reverent of his father the prisoner of Auschwitz?

As characters, Art and his wife are very relatable. Their speech bubbles can be read without imposing an assumed accent to their words, Art clearly explains his opinions and thoughts when he talks to Francoise, and they both act according to social codes that most people are familiar with. Vladek is different. During his recollections, he is a resourceful, intelligent, iron-willed man who went to hell and back with only his intuition as a guide. However, when he interacts with Mala or Art, he is the epitome of a stereotypical Jewish senior citizen, often serving as comic relief in between gruesome episodes of Holocaust memories. Although Art confronts this issue during the scene with the psychiatrist, it still feels like Vladek as an old man is a comedic element to the story. Does portraying Vladek as a stereotype mar the significance of his Holocaust story?

2009-10-12T18:36:00.002-05:00

In both Maus I and Maus II, we see Vladek's struggles through the Holocaust, and his peculiar method of saving things that will help him later, and often these saved things (whether they be material or skills) save his life. In the present, however, Vladek's tendencies are irritating to his family and friends, and make him come across as extremely miserly. Do you think his hoarding tendencies are a result of the Holocaust and his experiences in it, or were they always present?
On a related note, one thing that Vladek does not have left over from his days in the Holocaust are Anja's diaries, which he claims he burned shortly after Anja's death. Although this certainly seems possible, given his trauma over the event, it's also entirely possible that they're simply hidden somewhere in the mess of his house, and he doesn't want to give them to Artie, given his love for Anja and his fondness for holding onto lost things. Which do you think is really the case?

Maus Discussion Questions

2009-10-12T17:37:00.001-05:00

In Maus II, we finally get to see a couple of panels of Art, in what is supposedly the "present", drawing Maus. We also accompany him on his trip to the psychologist and to a couple of public events. Like Jing, I am also curious as to why he portrays himself as someone wearing a mouse mask instead of an actual mouse. Is it because he doesn't consider himself of the same caliber as Vladek because he didn't have to undergo the horrors of the Holocaust? Why is the psychologist also wearing a mask?

I also wonder why Vladek is so suspicious of Mala. She is a fellow survivor, so she's been through the same things that he has, but yet he still doesn't trust her with his money. What makes her different from any of the friends that he helped out after the Holocaust?

Finally, why does Art have trouble coming to terms with his success as a cartoonist? We see on pages 41-42 that he slowly turns into a child when he's faced with reporters inquiring about Maus. He's also portrayed as a child when he visits his psychologist. What idea is he trying to get across by showing us that?

- Irene

How Much Is Reality?

2009-10-12T16:31:00.008-05:00

In Maus 2, we see this panel where Art is talking to his wife about Maus. While this very tongue-in-cheek breaking the fourth wall is ironically funny, it opens up a lot of questions. Since Maus is a retelling of Vladek's story through Art, how much of it is reality and how much of it is intepretation and bias from Art? Of course, any story that is told again through some other means is going to have discrepancies from the original, but how is this problem compounded by the fact that Maus is a graphic novel? In normal literature, imagery is left to the imagination of the reader, so the writer does not have to take responsibility for that- he/she only has to write out settings, people, emotions, etc. in words. With graphic novels and, in this case, Maus, images are provided for the reader so inevitably the images that the reader sees becomes more of a reality.

Also, in this panel Art admits that there is so much about this story for his entire family that it is impossible to sort through all of the complexities. How well do you think Art actually represents his family's ordeal through and after the Holocaust, specifically for Vladek? There are many instances in Maus where Art seems extremely intolerant of Vladek... he portrays him racist, thrifty, and even mean sometimes. Considering everything that Vladek has gone through, though, are these representations fair? How much of this is Art's own bias?

Maus Questions

2009-10-12T16:04:00.003-05:00

When I began reading the Maus series, I was very curious as to why Art Spiegelman used mice to represent the Jews and cats to represent the Nazis. How does the use of these animals as the characters that they are in the two books affect the story as a whole or how it depicts the story?

While reading the story, you can see how the Holocaust affected Vladek. On page 90, Francoise states that it is a miracle that Vladek survived and in response Artie says, "but in some ways he didn't survive"? What do you think he means by that quote? Use examples from the book to prove some of the ways that Vladek did not survive the Holocaust.

Discussion Questions

2009-10-12T16:00:00.001-05:00

As we know in Maus I & Maus II, Art Spiegelmen depicts people as anthropomorphic animals: the mice are Jews, the cats are German, the pigs are Poles, the dogs are American, etc. In class, Dr. Hancock briefly went over this while going through the Maus CD-ROM. So, to clarify, what is the significance of Spiegelman's choice to use a different type of animal for each race and how does it impact the story of Spiegelman and his father? Vladek's personality was significantly affected by the Holocaust and his experiences. Because of the incidents Vladek went through, his personality also changed dramatically. Examples of this are shown throughout the book such as when Art visits Vladek, yet Vladek is very reluctant to talk about his past with anyone. He seems to be quite afraid that he will relive the pain from WWII, and therefore getting close to anyone. Due to the emphasis on Vladek's experiences, Maus greatly focuses on Jewish people, but generally avoids issues of religion. To what extent do the major characters portray their religious views? What role does religion play in their lives?

Maus Discussion Questions

2009-10-12T15:48:00.003-05:00

In both Maus I/II, characters often comment on how different Vladek is from other Holocaust survivors, but then struggle to find reasons that explain his eccentricity. What do you think made Vladek so different? Personally, I believe it was the death of Anja that broke him. One of the aspects of the story that especially stood out to me was the sustained love and loyalty between Vladek and Anja. Considering the well-documented "every man for himself" attitude that existed at the time and especially in the camps, I found the couple's unwavering devotion very surprising and touching. Further, Vladek seemed normal in the time period between the end of the war and his immigration to America as Vladek states that he bought many fine presents for Anja in anticipation of their reunion and that he was a very successful businessman in Sweden. Vladek's continued loyalty to Anja after his marriage to Mala also suggests that Anja was a profound influence on him. Thus, despite Vladek being the acknowledged focus of Maus, I find it interesting that there is so little mention of Anja overall. Does Art, who doesn't seem to care particularly much about his mother, recognize Anja's effect on Vladek and if he did, why doesn't he include her in the novel more often? Even though her journals may have been burned, surely Vladek remembered some more stories or details about Anja and told them to Art. How would the inclusion of Anja's side of the story changed the books?

Maus Questions

2009-10-12T15:30:00.002-05:00

As I was reading Maus, I found myself thinking a lot about whether or not I would survive were I in Vladek's situation. It seemed as though his resourcefulness got him out of a lot of tight spots. His ability to fix a shoe, managing to get his hands on a spare shirt. I don't know if I would have been able to come up with a lot of the ideas he came up with. My first question is: could he have survived without having been so clever? In other words, does it take a specific kind of person to live through something like the Holocaust? Or is it a matter of luck and being in the right place at the right time?
Additionally, we learn towards the end of volume 2 that even after all he's been through, Vladek has some racial prejudices of his own. During the incident with the hitchhiker, he expresses severe discomfort and a deeply rooted belief in a racial stereotype. After all that Vladek has been through, is it right for him to have these prejudices? Even if it is not, does it make sense? One would think that having been through what he has, Vladek would understand the ridiculousness of racism--and yet he does not even consider African Americans to be of the same species as himself. In a way, he is just like the Nazis who killed his family members. What is it about human nature that makes us so unwilling to let go of our prejudices? Why is it that even after we've been through something like the Holocaust, we do not eliminate racism entirely from our psyches?

Maus II Interpretive Questions

2009-10-12T14:02:00.002-05:00

As Dr. Hancock said in class, one of the reasons Art wrote this comic book, was to rebuild his relationship with his father. Throughout the graphic novel, there are many occurrences that portray the tensions between their father and son relationship. For example on page 78, Art and Vladek argue about whether Art should take home Vladek’s leftovers. When Art tells his father to just throw them away, Vladek responds with saying how after the Holocaust, he can’t throw out food. Art then responds with an very rude, and unthoughtful comment, “Then just save the damn Special K in case Hitler ever comes back.” (III, 78) So my question is why does Art treat his father like that even after knowing the horror he had gone through during the Holocaust? Why isn't he more considerate of his father's psychological well being?

Another scenario that struck me was towards the end of Chapter Three, when Art, Vladek, and Francoise are returning from the Catskills. Francoise is driving and along the way, she picks up an African American hitchhiker. Afterwards, Vladek remarks with racist comments “I had the whole time to watch that this shavartser doesn’t steal us the groceries from the back seat!” (III, 93). Art counteracts with anger, asking him why he would be so racist, when he had been the victims of the German’s racism. Thus my second question is why does Vladek react this way? And how does this incident illustrate the different meaning the Holocaust holds for Art and for his father?

Maus I/II - Discussion Questions

2009-10-12T11:23:00.003-05:00

First off, I would like to ask whether or not any of you saw or thought there was any differences between the two parts of Maus, both artistically and narratively. In my own personal opinion, the second part of Maus has a much darker feeling to it, in both aspects, as it shows Art's personal struggles with the completion of the book as well as Vladek's struggles through Auschwitz. Why do you think Speigelman decided to change the overall tone of the book, what were his reasons behind it?

My second question has to do with the second part of Maus in particular. In the second chapter of the book, we, as the readers, are introduced to Art's near-psychological breakdown after the highly attributed success of Maus I. The first page of Chapter 2 shows Art having his various flashbacks and remembering the different dates that had been troubling him, such as the deaths of his mother and father, the gassing of the Jews at Auschwitz, and Maus I's publication. Later in the chapter Art shows himself diminished to the stature of a mere child as he goes to speak with his psychologist. Why do you think Speigelman included this episode in his book, showing his difficulties with his life after he finished the first part, what purpose does it give to the story of Vladek and his trials through Auschwitz and his relationship with his son in the later years of his life? Why do you think that the death of his father in 1982 was not revealed to us until now?

Some Questions on Maus

2009-10-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

In Maus one immediate aspect that is different from Watchmen is the presentation of the graphic novel, specifically in the type and organization of the panels. While Watchmen sticks more or less to a 3x3 regular grid, Maus' grid layout is considerably more freeform, with panels of all different sizes and positions. Furthermore, there are many times where the illustration of a panel pops out of a panel, or there are illustrations outside the panels, where Watchmen does not use these techniques. According to Alan Moore, author of Watchmen, the use of a regular grid (as opposed to freeform positioning used in Maus) allowed for "...this element of the pacing and visual impact that he could now predict and use to dramatic effect." Do you agree with Moore's statement, or is Maus' style more effective in creating dramatic tension?

Finally, there seems to be an incongruity in the character of Vladek Spiegelman before the Holocaust and after the Holocaust. Is it the Holocaust that has changed Vladek, old age, or his new marriage with Mala? Perhaps it is a combination of all three, although to argue purely one way or another would be interesting.

-- Andrew Lee

identity crisis!

2009-10-11T23:02:00.003-05:00

Building off of Jing's comment about pages 41-47, I also do not understand Art's use of the mouse mask. From what I gathered, he is showing his frustration in trying to convey his father's feelings and experiences. Does the mask show that he is having a hard time understanding what his father went through? Or is it just a symbol of remorse? I got really confused when I saw that the psychiatrist also had a mask on, because by the book's "definition" of a mouse, the psychiatrist should be portrayed as a real mouse. After all, he went through the holocaust and Auschwitz as a Jew. Also, on page 47, Art is shown listening to a tape recording of his father. Art is having an extremely difficult time keeping Vladek on track. He ends up yelling at him to finish the story. As we have all noticed, Art does not seem to appreciate his father the way that most of us appreciate ours. Do you think that most of Art's interviews with his father followed similar patterns? It seems like Art did not take any of his father's problems seriously? I feel like he shrugged them off, picturing his father as a hard-headed survivor who only thought of himself. Do you think that this is true? And if so, does this mean that Art exploited his father, using his stories to create a career?

I have some questions, would you please answer them?

2009-10-11T21:46:00.002-05:00

Art Spiegelman wrote Maus I & II using the materials taken from his father, Vladek's, interviews, but after I finished reading Maus I & II, I have a vague feeling that Spiegelman doesn't appreciate his father for his life story. I know that sometimes children doesn't know what their parents had to go through in order to reach where they are now and I feel that Spiegelman is the same way. Does Spiegelman really believe that the story is worthwhile to write even though the only reason the estrangement between Spiegelman and his father ended to the write the story? With Jing's post, she wondered why Spiegelman portrayed his father as a such cold and mean man and I wonder about the same thing. Maus I & II portrayed a man who was resourceful and hopeful until the end, so how did Vladek end up to be so bitter after Anja killed herself? If the way that Spiegelman portrayed his father is true to the last fact, then do you think that Vladek should be this bitter since he survived through the Holocaust a lot easier than many Jews?

analytical questions about Maus

2009-10-11T20:17:00.003-05:00

I'm really glad that we got to read "Maus" in this class because I read the first installment in sophomore year and I always wondered what happened to Vladek but I never got the chance to read the second installment. After reading the second installment, I've satisfied my curiosity and I really enjoyed reading the series.

With that said, I felt like there were gaps in the story and I didn't completely understand the relationship between the Artie and Vladek. I understand that Artie dislikes his father because his father is too thrifty and cheap. However, he seems too easily annoyed by his father. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to be thrifty at times and I can't understand why Artie is not slightly more understanding towards his father. His attitude towards his wife Francoise seems much more gentle. After almost every conversation with his father, Artie complains about how he cannot tolerate the man. Most times, I feel that even Francoise is more understanding towards Vladek than Artie. However, it seemed like Vladek genuinely cared for Artie and in Maus 2, Vladek told Francoise and Artie that they could all go to the grocery store and Artie and Francoise can pick out anything they want to eat. From that statement, I can tell that Vladek loves his son very much because he's always very thrifty, yet he's willing to let Artie buy anything he wants to eat. Although Vladek is annoy sometimes, he's still Artie's father and although he's thrifty, I wouldn't necessary say that he treats Artie badly yet Artie is angry with him all the time and treats him very badly. In order to understand the reason behind Artie's treatment of his father, I think the author needs to reveal more about Artie's past and his childhood.

Another part of the book that striked me as very interesting is the author's portrayal of Artie as a child during his sessions with the psychiatrist and his interviews in the media. For example, during the part of the book where the Artie faces many reporters and people who want to capitalize upon the success of his book, the author draws Artie shrinking from frame to frame until he's a small child crying "Wahhh!" Furthermore during his sessions with the psychiatrist, once again he portrays himself as a small child. I think the author was trying to reveal the psyche of Artie and his emotional state in regards to issues such as his father and the Holocaust. In a lot of ways, I think maybe Artie always saw himself as a child in front of his father. His father seemed to be constantly chiding and treating him as if he was a small child. Furthermore, Artie always expressed confusion regarding his emotions about the Holocaust. Maybe Artie felt like a child who couldn't really comprehend the depth and breadth of the terror of the Holocuast. After all, it probably was difficult for Artie to imagine what the Holocaust was like when he didn't actually go through the Holocaust.

In the last part of the book, I found it interesting and sad that Vladek called Artie "Richieu." It really showed the depth of the impact of the Holocaust on Vladek's life and his inability to forget his first son. At the same time, it might have been hard for Artie to hear his father call himself Richieu. After all, Artie had mentioned that his parents seemed to always like Richieu better and I don't think that's necessarily true. I think it's because Vladek and Anja always felt guilty about the death of their first son and they felt guilty for not being able to care for their son and give him the love that he deserved.

Questions about Maus

2009-10-10T16:14:00.002-05:00

From reading Maus II, I found it strange how Chapter 2: Auschwitz (Time Flies) starts with Art Spiegelman wearing the mask of his alter-ego. I'm sure the reader has already made the connection that Spielgelman is telling his father's story through using mice. My question is why Spegelman decided to put those random panels on pgs. 41-47 in middle of the graphic novel when he could have put them at the end. Furthermore, was there a purpose to exposing his father's death at the beginning of chapter two? I felt it didn't make sense because the story about Auschwitz was still told from his father's point of view in subsequent chapters. This insertion did not seem to fit, was very abrupt, and did not follow the rest of Maus's comic story style. Furthermore, I have always wondered through reading Maus I & II why Artie was so mean to his father. Although the reader knows that Artie is jealous of the relationship between his parents and his nonexistent brother, he still does not have the right to think so negatively of his father. From Maus II expecially, it seems that Artie is very annoyed at his father and does not care about his health. Spielgelman seems to have the wrong impression of his father because from their dialog, his father seems like a very caring and kind person to his son. Therefore, why did Siegelman portray himself in such a negative, cold manner? All I can see that doing is ruining his own image. Let me know what you guys think.

The Arrival

2009-10-10T09:35:00.002-05:00

I know we read The Arrival at the beginning of the year, but I recently had a conversation about it. One of my favorite English teachers from middle school found out that I was ill, and she's been visiting me once a week. I was telling her all about the Graphics Novel course that I am taking and she was extremely interested, so I let her borrow some of the course materials that I've already read including The Arrival. We started talking about it, and she made me realize how similar the story is to my experiences in 'chemo-land.' The protagonist in The Arrival embarks on a frightening journey, leaving behind his familiar and comfortable life and arrives at a foreign destination, populated by peculiar creatures. Foreign customs are confusing and he learns a new language to make sense of indecipherable signs and conversations. He is bewildered, but finds repeated comfort from strangers who become his new friends. He passes his legacy on to his daughter who then extends herself to someone who is new to the experience. When I think about my time in the hospital, it's like entering a foreign place where time stands still. The peculiar creatures are the nurses who to me, seem like elves that scurry about, tending to beeping "robots" (my IV pump). In a way, the chemo is a dark serpent. He is frightening, but powerful enough to wage battle with the cancer. While he seems to be my enemy, he is actually a friend...a complex and powerful friend who is seeing me through this ordeal. I have a blog about my cancer experience, and by creating that, I hope I am reaching out to others, some of whom will hopefully use my experiences to find strength within themselves when they are faced with seeming powerlessness, just as the protagonist's daughter passes on her knowledge.

-Gabi Heller

You've Got to Ask Yourself One Question, Do I Feel Lucky?

2009-10-07T21:27:00.010-05:00

When I was reading through Maus I and II, I couldn't help but realize how much luck Vladek had throughout his journey. In fact, even Art admitted that "it's a miracle he survived" (pg. 90, Maus II). There were many instances where he happened to meet the right person that would help hide or protect him. This was not true for many of his friends, who were betrayed or simply killed by the Germans. Even after he was released as a war prisoner, he was lucky to have survived the encounters he had with the German patrols. On the other hand, I understand that part of his survival was also a result of his range of skills, intuition, charisma, and ability to bribe. Do you believe that luck or skill had more to do with Vladek's survival and why? What proof do you have from the book?

Looking back on Vladek's story and what you found for the previous question, how do you think Vladek's experience during the Holocaust differed from what most Jews had to go through? Are there any specific examples that illustrate this?

Maus

2009-10-07T18:32:00.002-05:00

While reading Maus and Maus II, I did not come across many questions. I did wonder why the stories randomly switched from Vladek's story to present day, which sometimes caught me off guard. The transitions were fast. So, my first questions is, Why did Art change the scenes of his stories so quickly? Was it to keep the reader interested? One of the other questions I had was: Why does Maus have a colorful cover to the book, even though the entire inside is in black and white? I know why the inside is only done in those colors to keep the pages simple and color would change the mood of the story. I was just wondering about the cover.

A Comic of a Comic

2009-10-01T11:54:00.003-05:00

Obviously this won't count as my long "thoughtful, well crafted paragraph." But I was stumbling through web comics and came across this. I found it amusing so I thought I would share with everyone. :)

Our Comics Blog

2009-08-31T12:40:00.004-05:00

Welcome to our class blog! We'll use this forum as a place to talk comics, share news about recent graphic novels, ask questions about our readings, and bounce ideas off one another. I'll be looking for a substantive post (at least one thoughtful, well crafted paragraph that others will want to read and respond to) from each of you during the semester. I'll post regularly about our class discussions, upcoming releases, graphic novels of possible interest, and related news and events. Check in for the latest!

Fun Home-Mystery Man

2009-01-04T13:39:00.002-06:00

As I was reflecting on the books we read this semester, I remembered an instance in Bechdel's work Fun Home. Bechdel remembers a time when her mother took her to some man's house but does not elaborate on this occurrence. What exactly happened? I thought there was something about the event that allowed the reader to infer that Helen may have had an affair or some other relationship that we are unaware of. However, it is really unclear as to what this episode implied or any underlying themes Bechdel refers to. I was wondering if anyone else had any thought pertaining to this specific visit.

Webcomics

2008-12-19T20:40:00.005-06:00

As I was browsing through my usual route of webcomics yesterday, I thought about the differences between the bits and bytes I consumed daily compared to the pages of colorful (or perhaps not) images that we read in class. One of my favorite comics that I have read online, that is perhaps the closest to any graphic novel that we have read, is Dr. McNinja. If you're familiar with it, then all I have to say is, "wow, this is so amusing." However, if you're not familar with it, it's a comic based around the adventures of a ninja (part of the McNinja clan) who chose to pursue a medical occupation rather than act as a full-time ninja (much to the dismay of his parents). His fights against raptor-riding banditos (one of which becomes his ward), hulk-esque purple monsters, giant lumberjacks afflicted with "Paul Bunyan disease", and many more fantastical villains only bring you to wonder if the writer is one of the most creative people you'll ever meet, or just one who's been on a bad drug trip.
Anyways, each page always ends with a witty punchline, and an alt-text that appears if you hover your mouse over the image to add a second sometimes wittier punchline. Now, the reason I say Dr. McNinja is the closest to any graphic novel we have read in class is because it is actually made up of pages, with about 40-50 in each volume. There are 11 volumes that are currently written so far (with one or two of them being guest-written volumes). Most other webcomics that you read, like xkcd, smbc, daisyowl, or even Questionable Content don't have storylines, or have ones that are seemingly infinite and have no way to divide them. Although they are certainly a fun read, they're designed for moderated daily consumption, which doesn't always meet the satisfaction of the individual, leading to obsessive consumption from multiple comics (like me).
I have never actually read a Dr. McNinja volume from front to end in one sitting, and I realize that with punchlines occuring every page, and the somewhat slow movement of the plot, these comics would not make very great print comics like Watchmen and V for Vendetta. I think I would certainly get tired of reading a Dr. McNinja volume and probably get frustrated over it too. As I have come to mull these thoughts over, I realize also that webcomics are not too dissimilar from editorial comics, which I have seen print collection copies of. I have read through a Garfield collection or two when I was young, and although amusing, you can only get so much fun out of an orange cat. I think that the writers of these webcomics truly excel at their art, and have generated a wonderful form of comics that I have grown quite the addiction for. However, their art is limited to the slow and moderate daily consumption of web surfers, and most likely not suited to the print world of graphic novels that we have come to be familiar with throughout this course.

This has certainly been an interesting class and I'd like to thank Dr. Hancock for that. I hope everyone enjoys their Winter Break, and here's to the new year ahead as Second Semester Seniors!

-Travis Mui.

The Orange Haired Girl of Jimmy Corrigan

2008-12-19T20:04:00.003-06:00

Throughout the last half of Jimmy Corrigan, the orange haired girl has a dominating role in the flashbacks. It seems as if Jimmy has feelings toward her; first feeling "love" and later hatred and jealousy. But, in their first meeting the orange haired girl confesses to Jimmy that she is actually a boy. This does not seem to make any difference in later conversations/actions between the two characters, so would this be important? Is she even a boy?

Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Medium

2008-12-17T16:34:00.002-06:00

Before taking this course, I knew nothing of graphic novels. I figured there was more to them than just comic books, but besides that, I didn't know anything. After reading McCloud's Understanding Comics I learned a lot about the art of graphic novels. I thought they were just words and pictures combined for authors who weren't sure if they wanted to be an artist or a writer, but I quickly learned this was wrong. McCloud's book taught me that the graphics are much more than just pretty pictures to accompany the textual plot, I saw how much emotion and feeling can be captured in an image just by the way the lines are drawn or by adding certain colors. I never thought about how difficult it must be for the artist/author to convey the other senses like smell, sound, and touch in a strictly visual medium. Thanks to this course I have a much better understanding of graphic novels and can truly appreciate how amazing they are; that they can convey every aspect of other mediums such as movies and regular novels, but all combined into one medium.

Jimmy Corrigan- a profound read?

2008-12-16T17:44:00.002-06:00

During and after reading Jimmy Corrigan I tried to look for meaning in the text. To me, it seemed like there was no deep story line, just a recounting of uninteresting events in an ordinary man's life. I do not see what makes this book distinct in terms of provoking thought because there did not seem to be a message. What I have been taught in terms of literature analysis is that a great book touches on some fundamental aspect of human nature, and I do not believe this was present in Jimmy Corrigan. I do think there were a few significant moments in the book, but these were rare and not as developed as they could have been (i.e. the relationship between the protagonist and his father, which was conveyed well in very few representative panels). In terms of the word "protagonist", I think Ware did something interesting (but perhaps unwise) by making Jimmy a character whom with it is difficult to sympathize. Even though Jimmy is supposed to be a "real" character, it almost seems as if he has too many flaws and, arguably more importantly, no significant positive characteristics, to be considered an appropriate representation of human nature. I would like to add that I believe Jimmy Corrigan is unlike some of the other memoirs we have read, namely Ghost World. It may be difficult for us to keep this in mind given our age, but Ghost World was one of the first works to provide an authentic perspective of modern (late 20th century) teen angst. Also, this book portrayed a character that had more facets to her personality than her tough exterior in much less space (in both pictures and words) than Jimmy Corrigan, who was arguably a more simplistic character.

I think where Ware excelled, as others have mentioned, is in his art style. He chooses interesting arrangements and interesting ways of depicting ideas (especially the family trees). I do not, however, think this powerful and presumably meticulous artwork is an excuse for the shortcomings in the text. I think the book might have been better served without words, so that at least the reader could have a little opportunity to place meaning in the story of Jimmy Corrigan that was watered down by the text. I think Ware fell victim to an issue I have seen in other graphic novels- too much emphasis on words. I think some of the best parts of memoir graphic novels (especially Ghost World and Fun Home) are those with minimal/no words. Ware's artwork is compelling, and I do not appreciate that he often took away from it with an overuse/misuse of words. I admit that my exploration of the wordless graphic novel genre for my research project likely is influencing my opinion on this subject, so it would be interesting to hear others' opinions. What do you think?

Is Jimmy Corrigan smart, a kid, or on Earth?

2008-12-16T13:16:00.000-06:00

What is the meaning of the title, Jimmy Corrigan: smartest kid on Earth? This has been mentioned before, but so far there hasn’t been a definite answer.

Jimmy’s childhood is rarely mentioned, so we can’t really know if he was a smart kid. As an adult, he doesn’t seem very bright. At the beginning of the book, a man in a superhero costume tells Jimmy’s mother that Jimmy is a very smart kid. However, the man didn’t mean it and seems to be trying to find a way to talk to Jimmy’s mom. In this event, by being quiet Jimmy was rewarded, in contrast to his later life where his silence just makes the situation awkward.

So we can assume that Jimmy wasn’t the smartest kid, and that Ware was being sarcastic when he chose the title. In fact, other parts of the title are also misleading. Much of the story is about Jimmy as an adult, instead of a kid. The title could refer to Jimmy’s grandfather, James Corrigan, but James doesn’t fit the title of being the smartest kid on Earth either.

The part of the title about being on Earth could also be a falsehood. Jimmy spends an incredible amount of time daydreaming, so it doesn’t always seem that he really is on Earth.

I think that Ware chose the title sarcastically, to enforce the generally theme of Jimmy’s depressing life. It could have been that he intended to write a story about a smart kid, since at the end he mentioned that he didn’t really have a plot lined out for the story, but I think that is unlikely.

Watchmen movie ending

2008-12-15T11:00:00.004-06:00

Apparently the gigantic telepathic squid at the end of Watchmen won't be present in the movie version. I would argue that it certainly creates a lot more work for the script writer; they have to make sure that this considerable change in the ending doesn't create huge, gaping plot holes in the rest of the film. The squid is such an integral part of the rest of Watchmen, with several scenes hinting at its presence until the dramatic reveal in the ending, that a replacement of it with something else would require dramatic rewriting of the rest of the novel, to the point where it might not even be a true adaptation, but just something inspired by the graphic novel.

On the other hand, you could certainly make the case that it's alright, as long as the ending keeps in line with the spirit of the book (i.e., a weapon of mass destruction being used on a major city to create the impression that the world is under attack by an extraterrrestrial intelligence to prevent all-out nuclear exchange). Which do you believe?

Reading Comics

Beowulf: An Epic Retelling

Kingdom Hearts: An Unreadable Farce

Beowulf the Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds

Beowulf Review (Butcher, Rasmussen, Pitaktong)

Blankets

The Importance of Friendship: A Review of Kingdom Hearts

Dragon Ball Review

The Prisoner: An Online Graphic Novel

Blankets: A Critical Review

One Piece Review

Super-old Superheroes?

Death Note

Naruto Review

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo: Teach Me How to Duggie

The Dragon of the Graphic Novel Genre

What Is Bleach and How Does It Work? (not the cleaning chemical)

Death Note: A Must Read

House is the New Black: A Black Jack Review

MW: A Children’s Comic for Adults

Full Metal Alchemist by Himoru Arakawa: A Review

Travel Review

Children of the Sea by Daisuke Igarashi

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki

Final Reflection of the Semester

Last Post of the Semester

A Review of the Semester

Hour-long interview with Dr. Lederman

Ideas for a Graphic Novel

Graphic Novel Project Ideas

Proposed topic for the class graphic novel :)

Interperative questions

Maus Interpretive Questions

Maus II questions

Thing I posted in the wrong spot or something

Maus Discussion Questions

Maus I/II Questions

Discussion Questions

My thoughts...

Maus Discussion Questions

Maus Discussion Questions

Maus Questions

Mause I/II Questions

Maus: Defining Questions

Just some thoughts and questions

Maus interpretation

Maus Discussion Questions

Seams

Questions

Art Spiegelman - Unlikeable Narrator

Whatcha think about this?

Maus Questions: Accuracy and the Origin of Disappointment

mixed portrayals

Maus Discussion Questions

Questions Regarding Maus II

Maus discussion questions

Maus Discussion Questions

How Much Is Reality?

Maus Questions

Discussion Questions

Maus Discussion Questions

Maus Questions

Maus II Interpretive Questions

Maus I/II - Discussion Questions

Some Questions on Maus

identity crisis!

I have some questions, would you please answer them?

analytical questions about Maus

Questions about Maus

The Arrival

You've Got to Ask Yourself One Question, Do I Feel Lucky?

*Maus*

A Comic of a Comic

Our Comics Blog

Fun Home-Mystery Man

Webcomics

The Orange Haired Girl of Jimmy Corrigan

Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Medium

Jimmy Corrigan- a profound read?

Is Jimmy Corrigan smart, a kid, or on Earth?

Maus