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?"
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