Will Eisner vs. Craig Thompson

Will Eisner vs. Craig Thompson

Will Eisner’s “Contract with God” was a very unique story in the way it was depicted both in written word and illustration. The illustrations were done in a very loose, sketchy style. Eisner made very sophisticated works of art by adding in a tremendous amount of detail, more so than your average comic strip. This gave the piece a very true and honest gritty feel to it which helped immensely with the story’s overall feel. The story follows a Jewish man who loses his daughter. It is because of this that the story progressively gets darker as the main character loses all faith in God. That is why the artwork goes hand in hand with the story. It has a very dark and imperfect feel to it that accompanies the nature of the story quite well. “Blankets” by Craig Thompson is similar to Eisner’s “Contract with God” in the way the illustrations are created. Both works utilize the use of black and white, sketchy and loose linework. The storytelling is very similar as it is with most comics. I will say though that I was drawn to “Blankets” more just because of the sheer fact of the use of the minimal word count. I’m not a huge fan of reading large amounts of text while reading comic books. I also found Thompson’s  illustrations more appealing and intriguing to view rather than that of Will Eisner. Thompson has a better understanding of the use of camera angles and composition for his panels. Overall both graphic novels are constructed and are visually similar. It is my personal preference, however that I find Craig Thompson’s work more appealing and enjoyable to read rather than Will Eisner’s “Contract with God”.

Blog Post Week 4

Blog Post Week 4

Tales of the Crypt: This comic series took a break from superheroes and focused on the horror genre. With very well-detailed drawings it made the subject matter even more creepy. They were extremely detailed to a point where we are able to see the wrinkles on people’s faces, it was sort of uncanny. The story I was reading; Haunt of Fear, opened up with a cliché story of somebody getting killed by a werewolf and a vampire. Then all of a sudden the story took a completely different turn when the werewolf and vampire wanted to get married. It’s very interesting to see this take on monsters. When people think of monster we don’t necessarily picture them as these beings who are capable of loving and compassion. We no longer see them as these vicious, gruesome creatures who want nothing but terror and death. It’s a very cool concept to think about, nothing has ever been done like this with monsters before in the media. For years books and movies portrayed monsters in a very specific way. It was nice to see a new take on them.

Uncle Scrooge: The artwork is fun and colorful. The storyline is a bit extreme but entertaining. In the story, I read; House of Haunts, Scrooge is obsessed with his money (As always). He hides it from the Beegle Boys who recently escaped prison. While in prison the Beegle, Boys were educated, and received diplomas. They used their new-found skills from their prison education to try and find a way to get Scrooge’s money. Scrooge wanted to dive into his money but Donald locked him up in a closet so he couldn’t go swimming in it. The Beegle Boys saw this as an opportunity so they toss a saw through the closet window so that scrooge may cut a hole out for himself to escape. As Scrooge ran away the Beegle Boys spray him with this glow in the dark paint so they could easily track Scrooge in the dark. They followed Scrooge to a castle but Scrooge stops in his tracks as he believes there is a glowing ghost following him when in actuality he was just looking at his own glowing reflection. This ultimately backfired on the Beegle Boys when Scrooge runs out of the castle and doesn’t lead the Beegle Boys to his treasure. In the end the Beegle Boys don’t succeed in obtaining Scrooge’s money and Scrooge gets to swim in his piles and piles of money.

Tin Tin: Beautifully illustrated characters and environments. The color pallet is very inviting to look at. There is a great dynamic between the Captain and Tin Tin. The captain seems like he can have a bit of a temper and bitter view on the world where Tin Tin; on the other hand, embraces the world he’s in and sees nothing but the good. There is a lot of time spent in the same locations rather than other books that jump to several locations in a span of a page or two. For example, in one of the Tin Tin stories; Tin Tin in Tibet, Tin Tin and the captain are up in the mountain wandering around in a giant freezing climate. There are a lot of panels dedicated to this one scene, giving us the sense of it going on for a long time. Knowing how snow can be tricky to trek in on foot, plus having the darkness of night and the severe coldness of the climate, we feel empathy towards the characters. These books make you feel part of the adventure by firstly inviting you into these gorgeous worlds. They also do a great job of crafting the story in a way where we, the viewer can relate and feel for the characters. This book takes us on an adventure and feel like a part of it.

Closer Look Into the Comic Strip

A Closer Look into the Comic Strip

In this week’s reading we took a closer look into some well-renowned comic strip illustrators. The illustrators we looked at where Windsor McCay; best known for his “Little Nemo” comics, George Herriman; for his “Krazy Kat” comics, and who could forget “Peanuts”; created by Charles Shultz.

What separates these comic strips apart are their defining characteristics. Starting off with Windsor McCay’s “Little Nemo” it is a weird, mystical comic series in which a little boy by the name of “Nemo” is woken up and taken on an adventure. Of course, none of this is actually happening to Nemo and is most likely a dream, or is it? Some context clues that give this away that these adventures Nemo is having are nothing more than dreams is by looking at the name of the place he ventures off to; Slumberland. Not only does this place literally have the word “slumber” in it but the types of adventures he goes on, racing through space without a space suit and being able to ride a horse against a giant kangaroo. Sounds pretty farfetched to be real, right? The “Little Nemo” comics are super entertaining to read and has a cool concept for storytelling.

Secondly there is George Herriman’s “Krazy Kat”. Krazy Kat isn’t as whimsical and adventurous as “Little Nemo”. Some of the first “Krazy Kat” comics to come out where extremely short and simple; using nothing but a clear white background and simple drawings. This was probably due to the production of the comic strips as it would take a long time to make a very detailed and well-illustrated comic. Being very short, it’s hard to really tell a full story in about 4 panels of art. For that reason, it can be hard for the reader to comprehend what is going on as in “Krazy Kat” the reader is thrown in the middle of a situation with very little context clues. For example, the very first “Krazy Kat” comic strip we see a cat running away from a mouse. In the next panel, we see the mouse follow the cat and then in the panel after that they walk off screen. In the last panel, we see both the cat and mouse walking off with papers in their hands. We’re not quite sure what is happening here. Why is the cat scared of the mouse? Aren’t cats supposed to chase mice? Also, what is the paper they both get at the end and why are they happy about it? This was very confusing to comprehend and really ruined the story of the comics.

Last but certainly not least we have “Peanuts” by Charles Shultz. Shultz’ illustrations are both appealing and the stories are short but you can understand them and they are hilariously entertaining to read. That’s something that Windsor McCay and George Herriman were missing from their comic strips. Sure, Windsor McCay had sophisticated artwork and everything was in color however the artwork wasn’t as appealing as Shultz’s work. “Krazy Kat” failed at creating a storyline with a minimal number of panels whereas Shultz used up about the same number of panels for his comics but the story was more understandable. The stories that Shultz creates are so mundane but he somehow makes them very entertaining. For example, in one of the comic strips, Violet Gray called up a boy and told him to stop calling him. In the next panel, we see the boy on the phone who tells Violet that she called him. She ferociously hangs up the phone, looks at the audience as she exclaims “How come you never get a wrong number when you need one?” None of this makes sense, nobody wants a wrong number calling them?

An Analysis of "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan

The Arrival

     "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan is a wonderful example of great storytelling solely through the use of imagery. At first glance the images seem random with no context clues. However, when we see more images they all start to make sense. It's like putting puzzle pieces together. 

     In "The Arrival" we follow this man who leaves his family behind in a poor country in hopes of finding a better life. At this foreign country, that he immigrates to, the man is accompanied by new customs, strange creatures, and weird languages. The story is that of an immigration tale. To me it feels as though it has certain metaphors, symbolizing the era when millions of people immigrated to the United States through NYC's Ellis Island in hopes to live out the American dream!

     Created with an intense amount of beautiful artistry, Shaun Tan's "The Arrival" is a wordless masterpiece! The way he creates the images and how he organizes them are very crucial to the story's success and communication to the viewer. This story is also a very relatable one. For me, I don't really share that experience of coming to a foreign country. However I am still able to feel for the character somehow. I feel for the character through the details of emotion and the crazy surreal world the main character is walking in. I imagine it was extremely difficult for the man to leave his family but he did what he had to do! In order to provide for his family he had to make one of the most toughest decision ever. That's why I think a story like this was meant to be created through this way, without words. The visuals tell us all we need to know.