Week 5 Reading

This week seemed to have a lot to do with origin stories and just rewards... or maybe that just happened to be a coincidence...

Wonder Woman:

I loved this comic. I really enjoyed the art style better in this comic than the earlier ones. I hated Steve Trevor for cheating to find Wonder Woman, as flattering as that may seem at first. I still find the whole idea with "hiding under one's nose" to be pretty funny and pathetic on the love interest's part. If Diana is so gorgeous, how could she look that much different with glasses on? I'm sorry.

Batman:

I also liked the later batman comic better than the first one we read. The art and storytelling was much better. In the last comic I couldn't see how Batman was the archetype for a vengeance character (yes, i knew the story line from the movies and such, but I hadn't seen it from the comics) but in this particular story, it was very clear. He wasn't as brutal as I thought he would be. He did try to legally put Chill away, even though he did enjoy a few punches in the process. Eventually, Chill's own decisions lead him to his death and Batman doesn't have to do anything.

Disney Treasures:

Now these comics would be the perfect defense against Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Wertham. They were all adorable, model stories that showed proper behavior. Lil' Wolf rebelled against his dad's bad behavior and reputation by buying the chickens instead of actually stealing them from the Brier Bear. His father got his just reward at the end. Chip, Dale and Pluto had a mini struggle, then worked together to save the construction wood from being stolen and everyone was happy and rewarded in the end. The Grandma Duck found a creative solution to her problem and managed to get her knitting done. There were no bully, bondage or brutal themes present whatsoever. I loved reading them and i thought they were adorable with great attention to the detail of the art.

John Carter:

Definitely blew my mind a little bit. The colors, costumes and characters were all crazy and wacky. I think saying out of this work would be too much of a pun. At first I was turned off by the oddness of it all, but once I got used to it I started to appreciate the comic for what it was and really enjoyed it. I wasn't entirely sure how John Carter got to Mars. It seems to me that he just wakes up in this strange mid-dimention before being sucked onto the planet. My first conclusion was that the gas gave him some kind of a hallucinogenic dream. But he never wakes up at the end like Nemo did in his comics.

Two Fisted Tales:

Both of these comics were pretty brutal and I know the titles slightly forewarn the reader of what they are getting into, I was not expecting this. I think these were the first comics which made me realize how powerful comics are as a story telling medium. It's almost worse than watching a gorey movie because you have the words and pictures to guide you through the scene, but your mind has more of a chance to take over with all the excruciating details that would bother you the most. In the first comic, the end was pretty clever with how the good guys set up the bad soldiers to be shot up by their own men. I was just sad that the most courageous of all the characters was the one sacrificed to save the others. It was the blonde american man that was somehow able to live and tell his story to the soldiers who found him. In the pirates comic, I thought it was great how the amnesiac captain ended up dying in the quicksand he was using to protect his treasure from other people. I started off liking the character, feeling sympathetic for him and his plight. Once I got to the end of the story I was pretty darn happy that he killed himself.

Hucky Duck:

This comic would also be another good example of how not all comics seduce the innocent. It was funny to see the duck's world being turned upside down as he was the one going to be cook for dinner once he was fished. Poor Hucky Duck was allowed to fish in that pond after all after he had his horrible dream. Go figure.

Lockjaw the Alligator:

I thought this was also an interesting comic. It was a little on the rambunctious side because Lockjaw would use violence to get what he wanted, especially in the dentist's office when he wanted to have his teeth checked. This comic had good story telling and it was funny, especially the cute little professor when he realizes it's silly for him to have a tooth ache when he has dentures.

My recommendation for the week would definitely have to be John Carter. It's just weird and awesome and everyone should have at least read a good science fiction comic at least once in their lives.