Week 13: Superheroes Reconsidered

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 today's youth and offers representation that that traditional superhero stories may not.

Stylistically, though I am not very well versed in the world of superhero comics in general, this comic feels new and modern in the way it's presented. The illustrations themselves are very clean and assumedly done digitally, as well as pretty graphic and visually striking. On a personal note, I love the bold use of color in this comic. It's thoughtful and intentional in the way it highlights certain moments.

Outside of the comic itself, I thought the feature at the end of the first issue was interesting. I'm not sure if this is a special edition of the issue or if it was originally presented this way, but I enjoyed the involvement of the reader in the process of the comic's creation. This, again, makes the comic feel more modern -- it doesn't leave a wall between reader and creator.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2: Understanding Comics

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
Read more

Week 7: Legitimation

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
Read more