Taylor's Blog

The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack is a collection of the The Perry Bible Fellowship  comic strip by Nicholas Gurewitch. I found the return of the comic strip in the modern format of a web comic interesting, considering the comic strip's prime was probably nearly 70 years ago. This rethinking of the comic strip, however, differentiates it from the traditional comic strip, and is probably why it is able to succeed in the modern day. Visually, these strips are extremely simple, with a "scribbly" feel to them, and use uncomplicated lines and flat color throughout. Just as with the traditional comic strip, the focus of these strips are more on the punch line than the illustrative quality. Many of the punch lines, though, are visual in nature. There is little to no dialogue in the majority of these strips, instead relying on visual comedy. A lot of the jokes are pretty dark and sometimes non sequitur in nature, which I think mimics the way popular humor has shifted sin

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read? It was much darker and more serious than I anticipated, but after having just watched and learned about Alan Moore, I can see a lot of his influence in the comic's style and thematic elements. Overall I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, probably because it was more sinister and interesting than I would expect. After reading this, my interest has been piqued and makes me want to look more into this style of superhero comic. 2. What connections did you make with the story you just read? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.  Ideas of revenge are prevalent in this story, another theme that Alan Moore discussed. There is revenge from the villain's perspective, as well as revenge from the hero's perspective -- each is motivated by something different, but it connects the two despite their differences of "good" and "evil." They also both face tragedies that moti

Out of the available resources, Black Panther piqued my interest the most due its huge, almost overnight, prominence in youth culture today -- I've never read the comic and wanted to see where it all originated. To my surprise, from outside research I learned that the Black Panther first appeared in a 1966 issue of The Fantastic Four , and was the first black superhero to appear in any mainstream American comic. I had no idea that the character's history went so far back. I assumed because of the franchise's sudden and recent popularity, it must have been a relatively new character, story, and comic. The volume I read seems to be a great example of the resurgence and rethinking of superheroes in modern culture. It focuses on traditional superhero values like justice and strength, but also highlights black power, female power, and love rising above hate. I can definitely see why the series has risen to popularity so quickly -- Black Panther's values echo that of toda

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is an autobiographical contemporary graphic novel focusing on themes of sexuality, gender, abuse, and familial roles. Bechdel has become a major figure in the world of literature as a whole -- specifically in comics, women's representation, and queer representation. Fun Home has garnered critical success and has since even been turned into an award-winning musical. Fun Home tackles a variety of difficult subjects as aforementioned, but manages to do so in a way that balances not taking itself too seriously while also speaking very earnestly. Overall, Alison's representation of her story feels very real. Her relationship to her father is the most prominent focus of the work, and, needless to say, it's a highly complicated relationship. In many ways, they share a lot of similarities -- but Alison struggles between empathy and resentment for him for nearly her whole life, and is practically relieved when she learns of his death. Balance in general

The Tale of One Bad Rat is a four volume series by Bryan Talbot centering on a young woman and her history as a victim of child abuse. From the class resources, I was only able to access Volumes 1 and 4 of this series, but between these two as well as outside research on Volumes 2 and 3, I have been able to fill in the blanks of the middle of the series. This is an excellent example of a comic serving as contemporary literature. The comic focuses on a variety of heavy topics, and does so in a tasteful and poignant way, and is often emotionally hitting. It tells a story of a young woman growing and finding herself despite a life of hardship, mental problems, suicidal thoughts, and the world seeming to be against her. The comic doesn't shy away from gritty topics and problems, and instead shows things as they are in the protagonist's reality. Ultimately she is able to "forgive" herself for her history of abuse, realizing that she was never at fault in the first place,

Buddha by Osamu Tezuka is a manga series and an interpretation of the life of Buddha himself, and how Buddhism came to be. Visually speaking, immediately noticeable in the first volume is the detail in the line work of the comic's illustrations. Especially in the beginning, there are intricate illustrations that take up entire spreads rather than panels. This, along with the language used in the narration (though are are moments of long passages with no narration at all, allowing the illustrations to speak for themselves) make the intro especially impactful, and allow the reader to feel themselves stepping into an epic tale. Despite this sense of grandeur, Buddha  doesn't take itself too seriously and maintains a sense of humor throughout. There's an interesting mix of more vulgar humor, nudity, swearing, etc., as well as more "slapstick" comic techniques like sound effects or motion lines. This humor is apparent even in more serious or threatening moments of

Daytripper is a fictional series by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, published in 2010, focusing on the life of Brazilian obituary writer Bras de Oliva Domigos. Daytripper is a limited series -- for this response I was able to access the first issue in the series. I absolutely loved this comic; in fact, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it and how much I wanted to read more after the first issue. On a surface level, the style of the illustrations are extremely aesthetically pleasing -- the selective use of color and line help solidify the mood of this piece, and add intensity to the drama when need be. In terms of story, there is a perfect amount of backstory and character development that make us care of Bras and what happens to him. Though we may not know the full extent of his life or his relationship with his girlfriend or his father, the small details we are given make his untimely death all the more hitting. Cinematic works of fiction are generally most appealing to me, so the

March , by John Lewis, is an autobiographical telling of the American Civil Rights Movement, published 50+ years after the movement itself. For this response I have focused on Book 1, though I'm sure many of the themes and patterns are consistent throughout the series. March  tells the aforementioned historical event from a close lens/personal perspective of congressman John Lewis, shifting back and forth in time to do so. Personal details about John's life, like the chicken story, narrow the focus while at the same time broadening the story to something bigger than just a retelling of history -- it showcases its effect on the daily life of someone like John (similar to the way a comic like Maus also showcases the more personal side of historical conflict). Moving back and forth in time also broadens the scope as well as makes the pacing more interesting. In terms of the comic's style, its cinematic nature is highly effective, from its dramatic compositions to cinemati

Maus by Art Spiegelman, published nearly 40 years after the end of the second World War, tells the story of Spiegelman's father as a Jew in Poland during the Nazi regime. Both the narrative/written aspect and the visuals and layout of volumes one and two contribute to the overall effect that Spiegelman achieves in his work. Most notable about Maus is the lens in which the story is told through. The narrative is achieved Spiegelman interviewing his father about his life as a Polish Jew. The interview itself is included in the comic, sprinkled between his father's accounts. In this way, the comic breaks the fourth wall, acknowledging that it is a graphic novel in production. Additionally, because the story is told from the perspective of Spiegelman interviewing his father, the father actually acts as narrator for a majority of the volumes. This is made especially clear with the diction that is used when his father is speaking, this being broken English or English meant to b

This week's selection proved to be surprising and occasionally offensive, as promised. The audio tracks really set the mood for the 1960s/1970s "sexual revolution," a common theme in many of the comics. The majority of what I read was from Tits and Clits , admittedly because the name stands out so much. Within the same publication, there's a wide variety of comics by artists from different backgrounds and points of view. A common thread throughout each is that all of the comics in Tits and Clits , as is evident through the name, were created by women. Knowing this makes it more apparent in the work that they were written by women. I had some mixed feelings about the variety of comics in Tits and Clits . Some of them I really enjoyed; the ones that touched on empowering female sexuality, normalizing lesbian relationships, etc. were enjoyable and more meaningful to me, especially if they were also done in a humorous way. On that note, there were some comics that w

For this week's graphic novel response I'll be focusing on Blankets by Craig Thompson. I wasn't sure what to expect from this selection, but almost immediately enjoyed it, and after having read it I can say I really loved it. First and foremost, I think part of what separates it as a graphic novel rather than a comic is, aside from the obvious length of it, the fact that Thompson himself calls it an "illustrated novel." There are traditionally placed panels throughout, but several illustrations take up a whole page. Additionally, it felt like the focus of the story was more in the writing than the illustrations, though the illustrations no doubt added a magical and irreplaceable element to the work. Most noticeably, Thompson's use of perspective is very stretched and dramatic. This is especially effective when paired with the characters' expressions. The perspective and the composition of each panel/illustration reads as almost cinematic; I can see eac

For this week's reading focusing on "The Comic Book," I'll be responding to Carl Barks's Donald Duck series, which ran for 75 years from 1942 to 2017. Similarly to last week's Peanuts reading, much of the appeal of the Donald Duck comics stems from its use of characters with traits unique to them. Donald is famously a hot-tempered but with a heart of gold, Daisy is his sophisticated love interest, Uncle Scrooge is a frugal tycoon, and the nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie (who can almost be seen as a single character, as they often speak at the same time or finish each other's sentences) are lovable troublemakers. Because each character is so identifiable, it makes it easy and fun to recognize them in each comic, and see how their distinct personalities will react to whatever dilemma they've gotten themselves into. Additionally, the reader can most likely see themselves in a certain character in one way or another. Plot wise, each comic features the

For this week's comic strip reading I decided to focus on Peanuts by Charles Schulz. I was mostly drawn to these for nostalgic purposes but was also interested to see how I'd react to them as an adult. Most noticeable about the selection that I read through was that there's not exactly a punchline in each strip. That's not to say they aren't funny, but the humor seems to come more so from the individual traits of each character in the strip. That is probably, in part, why the strip has long stood the test of time. It is very character-driven, and each character has a distinct personality that's easy for audiences to identify with. For example, Lucy is the "bossy one", Charlie Brown is the lovable kid down on his luck, and we can always rely on Snoopy for some comedic relief. Because of these specific traits, it's enjoyable to read through each strip and recognize them, and think, "there's Lucy just being Lucy." Thematically speak

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud provides a broad spectrum of information in a graphic format. McCloud makes several interesting points, most memorably breaking down the idea of people seeing themselves in cartoons. As McCloud writes, the less specifically and less detailed that a face is drawn, the more it generally looks like any average person walking down the street. Because of this, we are more likely to recognize ourselves in the face that we see in a cartoon. Although I think this is an interesting idea, I don't entirely agree with McCloud's point. From my own understanding, cartoon characters are relatable to us because they are simplified; however, my opinion differs in the reasoning for cartoons being simplified. From what I can remember as an ex-animation student, it's less so that people are more likely to see themselves in the image, and more because audiences, especially children, have pretty short attention spans and are more likely to have their at

The Arrival by Shaun Tan exemplifies the use of the visual image rather than written language to express distinct ideas. Despite a lack of written explanation or even a specified time and place, the message of the piece is abundantly clear through its visual expression. Most notably The Arrival transports us into its story by using clear expressions and some recognizable norms so that there isn't any guess work in what's happening in the story. The clear emotions on the family's faces, the symbolism of a packed bag and photos, mementos, etc. illustrate this. However, part of what makes The Arrival so impactful and immersive are the things that aren't clear or explained, like the invented language/symbols, exotic foods, and strange creatures. All of this makes the reader uncomfortable in their lack of understanding, just as the main character of the story feels lost and uncomfortable trying to make a life for himself in this new and strange place. He sets up a home,

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