The Mystery Wen (Palomar)

This week I read "The Mystery Wen" in the comic book series "Palomar". It was a short comic strip but it looked interesting, so I read it. This week I will focus on the story line instead of the aesthetics of the illustrations. It was about a man who had a lump on his head and was scared to go to the doctor to find out what it was. Eventually he went and was told it was just a lump and to just put ice on it and it would go away. He went home to his wife and she had pity on him, but everyone else thought he was a real baby and said to suck it up. Eventually he had a bad dream and grabbed a stick and whacked his head. We find out later that it was just a bad tooth ache and when he hit his head with the stick, it knocked his tooth loose and he was finally better. I thought it was a good story because you are left guessing the entire story. I thought it could be some kind of growth or something bad, but it is only revealed at the end that it was just a tooth ache. The very last panel is the man saying that he has a pain in his side. This leaves you to think about what he will do now to cure that pain.. He will probably find a stick and start beating his side... lol

Alan's War

This week I read Alan's War. The drawing style was different from a lot of comics I've seen. I thought it was interesting that Guibert didn't draw the character's face on a lot of the drawings but realized it was only when they were so far away. He would also use simple lines and shapes for some of the expressions and it worked just fine. I really liked some of the larger panels, especially the chapter titles. each one had an illustration of a character on one page and the number of the chapter on the other. It was a nice juxtaposition. There were also some interesting layouts when he cropped an object in one panel and let it come into the next. I thought this was a good idea to break up the pacing and the rhythm of the panels. Overall, I thought that this was a good graphic novel with a ton of unique illustrations.

Phoenix Karma

This week I sat down and looked at Phoenix Karma in the Library. Usually when I think of "comics" I tend to envision them to look something similar to this book. Really cartoony and always within a box with speech bubbles and comic fonts... The more I look into comic book and understand the process of a comic, the more I can appreciate the work that is in them. Personally this kind of comic is not my style. I was never a big fan of the anime looking characters. Just flipping through the book, I was confused with the different character changes from the caveman with the big nose to to anime characters. This was one of my least favorite comics I have read in this class so far. oh well.

King (Print Version)

Ok, so this may seem weird, but this week I went to the library and picked up "King" in its print format and was kinda disappointed. Last week I viewed a couple versions online and was blown away by his work and for some reason was less shocked this time. I am coming to think that it has a lot to do with the way it was printed. The book was really thin and was printed on cheap looking, super white, glossy paper. This really took away from the quality of the illustrations. The gloss was even glaring in the light of the library... I think a lot has to do with the fact that I saw a limited edition book of Ho Che Anderson online too. It looked like it was well designed. So next time I think I will just stick to the PDF version of King.... bummer

King

After Looking through "KING", I realized what a great masterpiece this book really is. Ho Che Anderson is truly one of the most talented illustrators I've seen in comics yet. Each spread was thoroughly thought out and every word and image seemed to be intentionally placed. I really enjoyed the style of imagery that was used throughout the book. Especially the use of color with the selected images and spreads. It would have been too crazy and complex if there was color on every page, and too boring if it was only black and white throughout the whole book. It was a good way to break up the pacing of the book. I know I am only talking about the way the images, color and type worked together and not so much about the story, and that is because it was my first reaction to the book when I saw it. Just blown away at how good it was. The story became secondary to me when I had to read to much on a spread. The times that there were very little use of type, I found myself reading it and it having a greater impact on me.

The Street Singer

I read the Street Singer by Will Eisner and again blown away by his attention to detail. Almost every illustration has a surrounding environment which gives the subject a context and allows the viewer to become deeply involved with what is going on in the story. I like how some of the frames are not actually "framed" and uses the white space a round it to create the space needed for a successful panel. I think that a good comic strip artist has to draw really well as well as tell a story in a short concise way without watering it down. According to this graphic novel, he has done an amazing job.

Heroes of the Blues

I read Heroes of the Blues and have come to think that it is my favorite illustrations by Robert Crumb. I felt that even though the illustrations were really detailed and rendered, they were still iconic in a way that they are easily recognizable. If you know anything about these guys, you would be able to recognize them in the comic. I also like these cards because it is very consistent and structured but doesn't lose the viewers attention because of the illustrative and colorful drawings. Usually when I think of comics, a funny caption or drawing comes to mind. In this set of comic cards, comics are actually used for an educational purpose, that, in my opinion, is very useful. The information is direct and to the point and the almost photo-realistic drawings help you understand who these legends really are.