Barks, Herge and Spielgelman

   Carl Barks' comics about Donald Duck and his nephews are full of humor and whit.  I think its is important to note that whenever he has Huey, Dewey or Louie speak he has it as if they are three in one. They all finish each others sentences like true triplets. They are basically three ducks with the same brain. They are mostly doing the same action and are continuously right next to each other, no matter what. I also find it interesting that in some of his stories, each panel is exactly the same in width and height and are set in a grid format, while others are more old fashioned in the grid format. They are still equal in height (if in the same row), but are not all equal in width. This is seen especially when Barks introduces Scrooge. I love also, how Donald Duck is always getting out-witted (normally by his three clever nephews). For example, in one Barks has Donald Duck and the boys enter into a horse racing contest. Donald thinks he is smart when he gives the horse in the boys stable to much food so that it will be fat and slow in the morning. The boys, on the other hand, are clever enough to know their uncle, whom they call "Unca Donald", would try to play a trick on them so they switched the their horse with Donald's.  In the end Donald ended up feeding his horse to much resulting in a sluggish, fat, slow horse for the race. Throughout this tale Donald tries anything to beat the boys, but all fails as always, and the boys win the race.
   
     All I said above does not at all apply to how Herge's Tin Tin adventures are told. First, the Tin Tin stories are much, much longer. There are more characters and more science involved. Not to mention the fact that Tin Tin is not a talking duck, but a boy who can venture to the moon. It is written more like a book than a comic in some areas, where you have long paragraphs before delving into the actual comic part of the story (the parts which have world balloons).  Herge illustrates his comic using a more realistic approach unlike the extremely cartoon style of Barks. Tin Tin also uses material that is more mature. For example, in one of the stories Tin Tin finds himself on the way to the moon. The rocket ends up having zero gravity and the captain is drinking. He has had so much, in fact, that he finds it funny that his whiskey has turned in to a ball and is floating about the rocket. Also, in Tin Tin, crazy things take place. For instance, these two scientists, who happened to be twins, end up taking some type of medicine in which they do not know the effects of. They soon find out that the pills cause their hair to grow rapidly and to continuously change color. As well, the space station on earth is consulting with Tin Tin , a young boy, to help get the rocket back to earth. I am not sure i am a huge fan of this particular comic myself but I can see the appeal it would have for comic lovers who are also lovers of science.
   
     Lastly, I will discuss Art Spiegelman's "Jack Cole and Plastic Man".  This comic is neither a story of talking animals or of adventurous boys, it is of the depressed man turned super when his bodies chemicals change. He finds himself able to stretch any distance and therefore becomes...Plastic Man. In this comic the material is definitely more mature than both Barks' work and Herge's. Men die and kids get napped. Plastic man is there to save the day but he can't always save everyone. For example, in the story of "Bright Eyes" a little boy with bright blue and irresistible eyes is kidnapped, or so we think, and is told if he does not corporate they will cut his arm off. Later in the story the two henchmen who are tasked with smuggling bright eyes and other children to an unknown location end up killing each other due to bright eye's innocent gaze. One shoots the other and the other bits the one that shot him in the neck. The one with the gun screams out, "No.your biting my jugular vein, No! No! No!". This comic is more graphic than any we have looked at thus far. I feel like it is a comic that inspired video games with its Plastic hero and violent rescues.

Additional reading: Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes and Flash Gordon

The Complete Peanuts 1963-1964 by Charles Schulz:
     I love Peanuts, I have seen all the holiday films that have been made, for example the Great Pumpkin and A Charlie brown Christmas. I have even read many of the peanuts comics strips from the funnies in the the newspaper, but never have I read the comic strips in a book where you can read them in the order they where created. I think it is interesting to read them in this way because you get a sense of there being a continual story rather than just a bunch of non-related events. I love how you start to see the characters personalities through only a couple of strips and you being to see what they think about. For example, i never new Snoopy had issues with being cold at night or feeling the need to hibernate. In many of the strips that I read he is very concerned with how he will stay warm and the idea of using a blanket or heaven forbid sleeping in his dog house seems preposterous. I think it is funny that Lionel needs something to rub on his face while sucking his finger. He even uses the bill his grandmother gave him as a temporary fill in for his blanket when his "Blanket-Hating" grandma confiscates his blanket. The he uses a dish towel and finally makes his grandma see that his security blanket is no different from her coffee addiction and therefore she gives him his blanket back. I think Peanuts is a great way of telling about how a lot of children feel. For example, Charlie brown struggles with the idea that no one likes him. He says if only the girl with red hair would sit with him he would feel better. So it shows how he thinks a girl will makes things better just like a lot of boys do. And Schulz shows how little girls can be swept away by a boy and dream of marring them one day with the conversations between Schroeder and Lucy. Lucy is always going on about how one day they will be married while Schroeder feels that their chances of getting married are "Googol" to one. I also thinks it's interesting that in the book you can see how the comic strip stories go with the seasons. It starts with winter and then goes to summer, etc.

The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book by Bill Watterson:
     First of all I like how this book begins with some explanation of how this comic got started, what influenced the comic and most of all who the main characters in the comic are. I have never read calvin and Hobbes before and so it is nice to be able to read a little about the character before jumping into a comic strip. I also think is neat how right before you really get into the pages that are comic strips only it says this, "In the beginning of a comic strip, the characters are vaguely defined, and they can develop in almost any diraction. That kind of exciting, but the cartoonist can write himself into corners if he is not careful." Watterson then goes on to say how putting Calvin in the boy scouts did just that. It backed him into a corner and just didn't fit Calvin's personality. I think this is cool because it gives tips to readers who would like to start their own comic.
     I was surprised to find out, having not really read Calvin and Hobbes before, that Hobbes is a tiger who can speak and interact with Calvin but he is actually a stuffed animal. I thinks it's awesome that this whole comic is about Calvin and Hobbes ( A tiger who is basically Calvins imaginary friend).  I think the stories are really cute too. How in one he finds a raccoon who is badly hurt and ends up not making to the next morning. Here he has attached himself to this raccoon he just met, like all little kids do, and ends up learning about death. I like how he says "I'm not crying because out there he's gone, but he's not gone inside me." I think it can relate to they way many children feels. So in that way this comic is much like the Peanuts comic in that it really connects with the emotions of children.
     To end this summary, I have just one last thing to add. I especially like how unlike many comics I have seen, at the begging of each of the short stories, the first page of the comic is in color. It is a simple use of color but very useful. It is very appealing to the eye and just adds to the comic as a whole. I also like how when Calvin and Hobbes argue instead of using short one-liner come backs Watterson just uses a more drawn out funny conversation.

Flash Gordon Volume 3 by Alex Raymond:
     Unlike all the other comics I have written about thus far, Flash Gordon is the most different one of all (and not only because he is a superhero). First it is all in color and doesn't use the more simple cartoon look of Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes but strives to be slightly more realistic in its imagery. I also found that Raymond likes to write the date of when the particular stories within the comic where made. As well, unlike those i wrote about previously, in the Flash comic Raymond inserts not only dialogue boxes but at the tops and or bottoms of each panel he narrates more of the story giving us hints to where the characters are, actions the characters are doing and other important information that is not being spoken by the characters. Raymond also puts in, in the last panel of each of his stories what the reader can look forward to in the continuing story next week. For example, in one Raymond has Flash and his companions in a forest where they crashed in flames. At the end of this, I guess you could call it ,"chapter" of the story, he tells us that nest week the chapter will be about a "Forest Fire". And each one of his "chapters" is only one page long.
    The actual story itself is also vastly different from the readings previous to this. Unlike the others which relate with children's emotions, flash Gordon targets a different audience with his adventure themes as he battles evil. He deals with villain's and rescues damsels. He also speaks of more adult topics like that of love. For example, in his "Fate Strikes!" chapter, in the last panel, Flash and his girl Dale, stumble into each others arms and Flash says, "We're safe, darling...safe!...and to think you almost gave your life in trying to save mine!" and Dale responds with, "Life? What is life compared to a love like ours?"

Little Nemo in the Palace of Ice

         I have heard of Little Nemo in Slumberland from art history and the history of illustration but never really took the time to look at more than one page of the comic. I found that reading Little Nemo in the Palace of Ice really made me think more highly of Winsor McCay and his art. I loved how each page is so colorful and has wonderful illustrations of a magical world, the world of Nemo's dreams. I also find it extremely interesting how McCay doesn't use the format we see in comics today which is basically have panels that are smaller and larger and thinner and wider. For Little Nemo, all of the pages stick to a grid format. There are smaller panels and larger panels but if they appear in the same row they are the same size. One of my favorite things about the comic is that McCay ends each page with a panel inserted into the bottom right corner of a larger panel that shows Nemo out of his dream. I love how every time it shows Nemo falling or running into something, etc., Nemo is seen in the last panel as a boy who has fallen out of bed. I like how it ties the dream with reality. Another example of this idea of tying the dream to reality is on one page the snowmen are having a snowball battle while Nemo and his friends are passing them on their way to see Jack frost. On this page Nemo is seen, in one panel, getting hit in the face by one of the snowballs. So in the last panel where Nemo is back on his bed awake, Nemo says "Well! If I didn't think I was hit on the nose! I must be dreaming!"
         As far as the actual story goes about Nemo in the Palace of Ice, I feel it's very fun. It has a surreal feeling like you are in a dream and the events and places are quite entertaing. For example, i love how the Palace of Jack Frost is made out of ice cream and that you have to get there by taking a toboggan and then wear ice skates to actually approach Jack Frost. I find it entertaining that the man named Flip is always complaining that he will bring the sun about and due to this everyone puts up with his nonsense about being cold and whatnot because they are afraid he will melt the Palace.
         Lastly, I love how even though Nemo starts off at this cold palace, how his adventure isn't confined by that. Because he is in a dream constantly he can dream of going anywhere. So in this particular story he proceeds to find himself in the midst of pirates on a ship, then he and the princess are rescued by the Navy, get flipped out of a boat by a whale, ride elephants, get kidnapped by a tribe who wants them for dinner, etc. All in all a very exciting tale to be told through a little boys fantastic dream.

Understanding Comics By Scott McCloud

           Understanding Comics is a good read to get the overall basics of what a comic is and how it combines the realistic realm and the imagination. I like how McCloud first defines, as best he can, what comics are and uses a comic to tell of a comic. He even tells why he has drawn himself so simply and makes jokes periodically. I enjoyed the fact that he can make comments such as when he was defining what comics are he had a man in the crowd he made up ask, what about Batman, and x-men, etc. I also think it is helpful that because he is using sequential imagery that he is showing step by step what he is saying. For example, when he is describing how we see a face in certain things no matter what and he shows a more realistic image then a less realistic image and so on until there is a circle with two dots and a curved line left. Even with this slight imagery we still see it as a face. I like how he takes it even further and shows how we even see faces in cars, tops of soda cans, etc.

            I find it helpful that he also speaks of comics and their styles in other countries, such as Japan, and shows how they combine the more realistic background with the more relatable cartoon figure. After all this talks he goes into talking about how words bring around another realm of the comic world but even more important are the spaces between the images, the gutters, which are made by the use of closure. I love the way he puts it that, “closure allows us to connect these moments and mentally construct a continuous, unified reality. He also makes the point that we must train ourselves to “perceive time spatially, for in the world of comics, time and space are one and the same.”

            Lastly, I like how McCloud gives the six basic steps you need to know before for creating a comic. One, what is the idea or purpose, two, what form will it take, three, what idiom or genre does it belong to, four, what type of structure will it have, five, what kind of craft will you use, meaning what skills, practical knowledge, invention or problem solving will you apply and six, what type of surface will you use.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

      I loved this book. I had seen it many times before and even glanced through it a couple of times but never actually read the entire story. I find it amazing that Tan has created this complex and touching story by the use of illustration only. The subtle changes in environment and page color help give clues to who is recalling the memories and helps the readers mind from going into utter confusion.
     I love the way the story begins as well. How you recognize that the father/ husband is leaving his family while it seems a creature of some sort is taking over the city. I like how you don't know if this ominous creature, as seen only by a long black clawed tail, is causing harm or is just part of the unusual, but relatable world Tan has drawn.
     So the man leaves and is thrust into a world of strange pets and strange people. he finds himself a place to live where he discovers or more so, is discovered, by a creature i associate as being much like a dog, not in look but personality. Then this man goes to find work and meets a woman on a boat that can somehow fly through air. This is where Tan uses the color difference of the paper to show the woman's memory of arriving to this new land. After this Tan shows how the man is trying desperately to find a job.  Its interesting how he shows this struggle through, basically, only the man's body language and expressions on his face.
     Finally the man finds a job at a factory where yet again he meets a man who tells him of his own arrival and you see Tans color difference in paper again. Also i love how in meeting this man you discover that the old man has a pet with the same type of tail that it seen over the main characters old city. It gives a clue that the ominous creature may not have been dangerous after all.
     The story continues with the man just living in this new place and ends with the arrival of the mans own family. This just makes the title of the book so fitting. I like how Tan tells the arrival of the man but also of two people the man encounters and even the arrival of the mans family. So in total Tan's "The Arrival" Is really about multiple arrivals.  It shows the difficulties of a foreigner coming to live in a new place and also how coming to a new place can be freeing.

The Rooster's Laughter, Ernst

             In the first panel a man dances possibly to summon something while a rooster sits and watches. He is doing possibly a spiritual dance or act while he laughs. he may represent blackness or darkness. A man who laughs at death. In the second panel a new subject, a woman, is lying on the bed almost like a snow white type of tragic end while a feathered spirit hovers over her. I think this could be suggesting that there is some other world happening where the woman's spirit is ascending from her body while onlookers witness the seemingly miraculous event. In the next panel the story continues as the feathered man discusses things with the other witness as they look upon the deceased body of the female that has now only left behind her body. There seems to be some references to roosters and that may mean that the witnesses are the actual murderers as the female lie on the floor body now rolled over onto her stomach. In the next panel a man seems as if he is being lifted up while a woman watches in surprise. The rooster man is their peeking around a door possibly resembling death and waits for the moment when he can witness the supernatural ascent of the spirit as it leaves the lifeless body of the roosters victim. In all these images you can see that the rooster is either laughing at the death of someone or being int he act of someone going to sleep. This interesting due to the fact that roosters are often seen waking people up. It seems as if the roosters are aiming for control due to their posters and how they are constantly seen hoovering over vulnerable and naked woman who seem to be in the control of these rooster spirit people.