Derek Skar

Dead Things:
For this comic i though it was really really dark and disturbing in a way however the writing made the characters seem as though they were written as kids. Th respective was really drastic and i liked that because the background played a huge roll in the comic. Another thing i really like were the reoccurring patterns. Maybe because i took the patterns class last year i tend to look for that in artists woork.

Iron Man:

So first of all i had no idea that the Iron Man touched on the issues of alcoholism. I really liked the art and the contrast used. The dramatic perspective did corner iron man in the frame alot. Story wise it fallowed up the first half well. It was sad in a waythe question becomes "How long can a hero be a hero"

Week10

What a tear jerker of a week.

Vignettes was a great read. In terms of a cartoonist biography, I'd have to say it's one of the most expansive ones I've come across. I was fairly impressed that this was all one artist cartooning these comics, his style tends to shift so dramatically throughout what kinds of stories he's telling. for instance Valentino I think made a very wise choice in making the death of his grandmother text dominant. A depiction of the drama in the style of his first narrative, the day at the beach, would have ruined the display of emotion he wanted to convey within the story. I respect this work a lot, because it shows that Valentino has a great understanding of how we perceive the images in comics. His diverse auto-bio comic's are very thoughtful, and know exactly how to look to be understood.

I've read the Anatomy Lesson prior to this class but was once again a pleasure to revisit. In fact I've learned more about the art and writing from reading Alan Moore's writing for comics and from understanding the art process between the penciler and inker. The original inked pages are lavish and all around really professional. I've learned that Stephen Bissette is a very messy penciller, not giving much thought to tiny details that an inker needs to focus on, but pays more attention to lighting and gesture. The original pencils aren't in the least bit traceable into inks. Hoever John Totlebon has an incredible talent at recognizing how to transform Stephen's pencil drawings into stark black ink. Alan Moore Is a incredibly descriptive writer, like Stan lee, he loves to imagine how a sequence of words can roll off the tongue. I don't see the writing of Moore's becoming one with the art, the division I think is apparent between both forms of communication. I see it more like a dance between the two.

Iron Man demon in a bottle I thought was really well written. I think it explored the concept of a heroes mortality to a great depth. Who is a hero but one that fight's against overwhelming odds for some set ideology? What if the only enemy he faces is himself? I found Tony's behavior relating to people such as Jarvis and Shield to be incredibly compassionate. He seemed to not want to blame anyone but himself for the dire predicament he was in. All blame is a waste of time, it won't help you progress at all. I thought it also had an incredibly good climax as well, All blame, even if self inflicted, is a waste of time.

Read Yourself Raw had three incredibly diverse works.

Dead things was interesting. I might even call it cubist given the representation of the characters. The drawings were odd, but as I became used to how surreal the imagery was, the story seemed to flow pretty nicely. Despite how jumpy the plot was.

Andy Griffith terrified me. My Dad and Grandmother like that show a lot and I've seen quite a few of the episodes, so I was lucky enough to be the demographic to get the brunt of the joke. I found the stipling to be done really

Canal Street was a very interesting style as well. It gave the same effect that dead things gave for me because it made me used to the surreal.

Week 10 Reading

Swamp Thing:

The story telling in this comic is absolutely wonderful. I'm really starting to appreciate Alan More as a writer. Yes, I read V for Vendetta and I vaguely know the story of Watchmen from the movie (because I'm sure they are not exactly the same) but wow. The concept of the story was fascinating. I've always thought that plants had their own sort of consciousness, so it was fun reading a story that had that same idea. It was really interesting how the plant "remembered" having certain types of organs so it just tried to make them itself of out the different plant matter even though the organs did not do anything. I know there have been recent experiments done so show that plants retain some sort of memory especially after they have been hurt or neighboring plants have been destroyed. Makes you wonder what kind of memories the swamp creature had aside from what it picked up from the man he thought he was.

I would definitely recommend this reading to people who haven't read anything my Alan More yet. So good.

Iron Man:

Iron Man was a fun read as well. It was nice to see the delicate emotional side of the douche-baggy Tony Stark character. It's only his outer shell that it made of iron. Iron Man in an interesting character because he is not imbued with super powers, unless you count his incredible creativity and wit super powers, but he also does not have the same hell bent fury for revenge like other "normal" superhero characters such as Bat Man or even V. He's a privileged guy who ends up wanting to do good because he know that he can. Sometimes the responsibilities overwhelm him, like it showed in this comic and he was dealing with it in a deconstructive way, like most people would. The superhero needed help from those close to him. We haven't seen much of that from the comics we have been reading in class and I really like that.

Read Yourself Raw:

Dead Things- Really super sad. It seemed like a comic made by a little kid story wise. The art was interesting as well. I wasn't really sure of what to make of the ending. It was just... weird.

Andy Griffinth- Wtf? I'm definitely lost with that one. I'm sure its supposed to be some kind of play on the show, because normally it's such a wholesome show.

Canal Street- Also a very strange comic, but I liked how the string events while this man was getting breakfast led you to feeling as swallowed up by the hubbub as he was.

Week9

The Dark Phoenix Saga was pretty good. The last half was exceptionally well written. I found the narration to be even more lengthy than in the first half, but it pulled off it's narrative amazingly well for the all the time and size constraints of a monthly series. The art I believe also got exceptionally better given the complex and alien subject matter. Given the premise that this series was written around the same time as watergate I could read into this story for numerous metaphors. Like relating this to a kind and gentle superpower (such as America) being corrupted by esteemed business men seeking power for the sake of power.

Will Eisner revolutionized american comics. Not even in terms of artistry, which is obviously breathtakingly spectacular, but in the terms of how the art form was presented. A Contract With God was published as a graphic novel, although not a new concept, it really did lay in the foundation of how comics can be seen as esteemed and high art, and also in terms of high literature. A contract with god is the perfect blend of prose and art in my opinion, Eisner made it his profession to try to replicate the human condition and he displays it with a masterfully acquired grace.

I Saw it! was a real treat to read. I had never read any of barefoot gin, so I wasn't aware that this was based off a comic artist's life, but good lord this man went through a lot. And to still acquire this much skill as a cartoonist? It's really commendable. The inking style and screen tones applied to this story really separate it from the rest of the readings, I also liked it because we're finally able to get into some real manga, that is to say comics published in Japan. It was interesting to read because the narration rarely seemed to hold a constant sad reminiscence. it was always read as what the artist was going to do next in his life after something horrible happened to him. He wasn't just wallowing in sorrow from calamity, after calamity after, calamity. The only point he really seemed to get caught up about was when his mother died. In literary terms, the climax is really well presented despite the constant turmoil Keiji was facing.

Week 9 Reading

X-Men: Dark Pheonix Saga

Getting to the end of this comic made me horribly sad. I found it really sad that there was no hope for Jean Grey being able to control her powers, or find a way to deal with them. The finishing of the story was incredible, and extremely well told. I don't even know what else to add to this because I am still lightly dumbfounded.

I Saw It:

The story was super well told and the art was very descriptive, especially during the macabre like scenes. This comic brought me to tears. The part that made me cry especially was the scene where the mother was not able to save her husband and children under their burning house after the bomb was dropped. I can not fathom what is must have been like to live through the hiroshima bombing, or to be a mother not being able to save her family. Like the author said at the end of the story, his comic is only a tiny part of the entire story. I am further separated from the event by only reading his point of view, not knowing much else history, and making my own connections about the story. Yet this comic moved me in a way that none of the other comic readings have before. The story was horribly sad yet lovely at the same time.

I would say this is must read for those who are able to handle the sad and gruesome story.

Journey

"Course... Some are bigger."

This comic was hilarious. That two page spread where you see Wolverine McCalister running through the prarie, and then soon after being tailed by this gigantic savage bear, made me laugh so hard. The art and facial expressions were great, and the story telling in the southern like speech was great. It was super fun to read. The only part that had me a little confused was the short introduction comic, but I loved the actual chase comic.

That two page spread.... priceless.

eh-eh-eh-eh-X-MEN!

I'm so glad I bought the rise of the dark phoenix book, it really was a good look into all the underlying storytelling that's going on in todays marvel saga. I've got to say though, I think I definitely would have enjoyed the pacing of the story a lot more if I was reading it issue by issue. The fact that it's all compiled into one book I think takes away from a lot of the experience that the writers intended. (Im of course referring to a ton of flashbacks throughout the book) Oh well, but who am I to complain? How else am I going to come across an affordable read of this renowned superhero saga in my lifetime? The characters are incredibly well developed. I didn't even think I would like a character such as colossus but he, and along with nearly every other individual, are suddenly so much more compelling to me. I have a feeling it's because that their is a narrative going on three levels describing each character: the caption box, the thought bubble, and the speech bubble. Each is used to capture the exact emotion and expression that each character goes through. At first I thought it seemed like a dated old superhero fodder with how much description was needed, but it really helps to flesh these guys out when you think about it. But yeah... I had to stop at the end of the required reading... just when things were getting good.

A success story was downright hilarious. I had actually never taken a look at it's artwork compare to other EC titles, and I was pretty impressed. The ink was handled in an incredibly stark and intuitive way, using lighting to enhance the mood and drama to it's peak. I really liked how the people were drawn too for some reason, sometime the gesture was what really creeped me out, like when the artist was hunched over his victim. And what comic artist could not love that detail put into those zombies. Also, it had a great juxtaposition of complementing text and image! This was a fantastic little read, and hopefully my future career will not follow suite.

Oh god Batman never brought me so close to tears as the crime ally story did. I've seen the first splash page for that story without color and I gotta say I wish I could see the rest. The color doesn't do it much justice, but the inking in that story is incredible. This was a story that really captured Bruce's character rather than batman, which is something that doesn't happen to often being that Bruce Wayne is a very minor character in comparison to his alter ego. It made me feel much more connected to the individual, and showed a side to batman that isn't seen all too often. I mean really, When's the last time you've seen the guy smile with content?!

Given my time parameters, the most I got out of Sabre was all of Don McGregor's intro to the book. Goddamn that man was passionate about his profession. All I can really get from it is a huge swell of inspiration. I could tell the guy went through a hell of a lot of blood and sweat just to get his stories out into the public like he intended them to be. He seems like a guy who wasn't going to cut any corners. No matter what people thought of his work, he knew what was the right thing to do for his stories. As for the comic, I got about five pages in and had to start working on my paper. But the character sabre; definitely equals a Dirty Harry and Jimmy Hendrix combination. Awesome.

Week 8 Reading;

I was pleasantly surprised by this week. I saw that the readings have been getting longer and longer, but the longest ones were the ones I read through the fasted because I enjoyed them so much.

X-Men: The Phoenix Saga

X-men was definitely the hardest to put down. I found myself to be on page 118 before I realized that I read a little too far ahead. Not that it matters so much, but I thought it was kind of amusing. The art and the story telling was great. I loved every panel of that comic. I had watched the cartoon show as a kid so I was familiar with some of the characters, though I had no idea there was an "old x-men" and a new set of characters. I like that this story keeps evolving with characters leaving, coming back, new ones showing up to fill in gaps and add in a new twist because of different abilities and powers available to the group. It's an interesting dynamic to the way the story is told.

Batman:

Batman was my next favorite and definitely my favorite batman comic so far. I LOVED the art, especially the use of color in and out of the panels. In this strip again, like Robin Dies at Dawn you see an incredibly tender side of Batman that completely balances out the ruthlessness shown to his enemies. He really is a dark knight, showing chivalry and kindness to those who mean a lot to him. I hope there are more stories like this one, art included. I would most definitely recommend this Batman comic to other readers if they haven't yet. The 12 pages goes by way too fast.

Creepy Archives:

This comic has a strange story. The ink work was incredible to say the least. This comic was definitely the classic EC macabre story from the documentary was watched about EC comics in class. The zombie artists' blood-inked picture was definitely a fun gruesome touch added to the end of the story. I wish that bit would have been left in color, or at least red. It made me think about artists I have come across on the web who do use their own blood for their artwork. Maybe that discussion should be saved for later but if there is anyone curious about it I can show you some artwork and ideology about working with blood as a medium you guys might find interesting.

Sabre:

I think I would have enjoyed this comic better if I could understand what was going on. There seemed to be a lot of plot holes in the story. I was able to read about halfway through with out getting a headache, but after that things were still not making sense. I flipped ahead.. and there were no clues as to answer my many questions about the story. I'll have to go back and re-read that just out of curiosity. I liked that the story took place in a V for Vendetta/ 1984-esque america. The fact that Melissa was a test tube baby brought up some interesting ideas about what it really means to be born with that kind of connection to your mother, not to mention Brave New World scenarios.

I liked both Sabre and Melissa as characters. I can't say why I was drawn to either of them, but from what I could put together from the reading, they were instantly likable, but strange. That is definitely not the most eloquent way of saying it, but this comic leaves me a little lost.