History of Comics and Graphic Novel

The beginning, starting off with the butterfly story enhances the introduction of the comic. Without it, I feel like it wouldn’t capture the audience in the story. I want to see how it relates to the overarching story. I find the characters and style really captivating, gives that gruesome western feel. However, some of the panels do get confusing on what is happening at the moment. Whether we are going back in time or forward. But I enjoy the placement and experimentation of certain areas. Executed pretty well. Another issue I have is that the artist doesn’t experiment enough on conveying a story without words or noises. Really dive into the emotion of the character just by objects and camera angles. This is kind of interesting but how I connected with these characters is based on video games I have played. For example Red Dead Redemption and Last of Us. They had similar character traits in the old man, both grumpy and searching for something. As well as the kid who is tagged along

The contemporary literature really dives into some hard topics of suicide, depression, and other morbid topics. I feel like these comics were meant for the ages between 30 and maybe 20. They probably were popular due to the rise of comics in the 50s, as young kids would read charlie brown. Now since they are adults it is hard to relate more to the child comics and gags. Also, I wonder if these comics get more real due to the time period. People want deeper stories and more realistic situations. However, most of these comics over exaggerate the situation to create a more interesting. Sometimes it's strangely humorous. I find some of these interesting and others to get kind of boring due to the same perspective in the pieces.

The humor of the "hippy world" through "Freak Brothers", while following a group of druggies in the world, we get a look into what the time period thought about them. Which I technically don agree with the statement, it is funny to read. They exaggerate some of the stories to a point of ridiculousness. To the point of showing fear towards government and cops, and how absurd both sides views.  This comic kinda reminds me of the simpsons, making fun of America, but not getting mad at the idea. I feel like sometimes I put myself into these character shoes, due to relating to them in some ways, and laughing at myself. The style of characters is interesting because the worldview of hippies are a little different than what they were then. For example when I think of hippies, its long hair, headband, peace symbols, and vibrant clothes. While these are conveyed completely different than what I thought of as hippies.  One issue they did bring up that was humorous that, wa

Sally Cruikshank two films are extremely weird, but fascinating. I couldn't keep my eyes off the page. I really like how Quasi is conveyed as a dick in the piece, only looking for himself. Also, the exaggeration fo this whole world and going to a museum that lets you look into different time periods if you fall threw is an amazing concept. I want to try some of those machines and rides. They are super bizarre. You need to watch it again to get some of the tiny details that happen threw out the whole short film. These wacky films are so bizarre that they are captivating.

So while reading the two comics, I found interest in the two comic books difference in style. Even though they both have a grit to each one of them, Blankets has a cleaner style. I feel like you couldn't interchange them because it would throw the whole mood and concept out the window. When I finished both of them, I found both actually pretty relatable. Especially the issue of dealing with religion. They both tackled that issue well instead of bashing them about their viewpoints. In Blankets, I really like how the artist stretch the compositions and perspective of the whole piece. they would stretch certain characters expression as well as break some of the styles to show more mood by making less clean shapes. To contrast, I also enjoyed how Contract the God style was rough and felt like you were in the ghettos of New York. Each one I think executed their pieces very well, even if you don't relate to them, I felt like they impacted me and my viewpoints.

I have read a couple of different Batman comics, but I found it really fascinating looking at the development of the comics from a very simple design, with not much development in the panels. Also trying to break the panels and not keep it into the squares. Also, the subject matter is influenced by the time period. I found it interesting that you can see the style clean up in line work and colors. That the artist got better at understanding the effectiveness in color and as well as placement in quotes. From 1 to 700 issue fo batman I find crazy the amount of batmans and stories there are. Also, the development of the character has changed so much. From his origins and how he became batman was something, I found interesting. Instead of having him become a person trained by the league of shadows, but having him just become super intelligent and a person who works out a lot. I am curious on what batman will become in 20 years or so, with such changes to him.