The Comic Strip

I started out reading Krazy Kat, “Krazy & Ignatz,  A Brick Stuffed with Moom-Bims” because it was the first one I found in the library. Most of the time I didn’t really understand what was going on dialog wise, the language was hard to interpret to me. Was the mouse (who I assume was Ignats) in jail because he was the bad guy? Also it was really hard for me to see the police officer as a dog in the same was I could tell the other two were a cat and a mouse so that was slightly confusing.  I guess the brick throwing slapstick was kind of funny but overall I was confused.

Next I read the Little Nemo in Slumberland, Little Nemo and the palace of Ice. I have read some Little Nemo before and went to the exhibit at Selby when it was up so I was vaguely familiar with it. I do not like this Flip character, was my first thought as I started reading the book. I thought it was funny how it could switch from jack frost to pirates to an island jungle to another ship to a palace then to a city. Besides the obvious racism I thought overall it was good. I really liked at the end of each page, its Nemo in bed being woke up, I thought that was interesting. I also really liked the clothing design in the book, I thought it was really interesting.

I also read the first Calvin and Hobbs PDF on the resource page, which I am also slightly familiar with. I’ve always loved the creativity with Calvin and Hobbs, Hobbs actually being a stuffed tiger; I always thought that made it really interesting.  Calvin’s interactions with his parents are also very entertaining.

The last one I picked to read from the list was Hark a Vagrant by Kate Beaton, which I was surprised to see because I though this section was about early comics and im almost sure its rather recent? Regardless I have seen some of the panels before but ive never read the pages in full. They were really fun to read and honestly I enjoyed this work the best out of what I read, Calvin and Hobbs coming in second. It was overall very funny to read and the drawings while simple and sometimes crude were also incredibly funny.

Overall I think all these comic strips have good things about them and are good in their own way, the definitely tell a good narrative.

Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud was very interesting to read. Ive never had comics explained to be in that way before and so in depth. He starts off talking about what comics are sequential art and explains the differences from other media and I thought that was interesting point to make, that the definitions of things could be interchangeable at some points and what goes into each to make them different and how similar certain things are within those structures.  I agree that we see ourselves in comics especially the more “cartoony” they are. It makes me think about the things I watch and read and how I react to them. There are so many styles in character illustrations and the author was able to categorize them together and explain how it happens, it’s a good way to organize that concept. 

I thought the concept that people can see faces or themselves in everything really interesting. I see faces in stuff all the time like cars and wall sockets like the examples, But im not sure if I ever pictures myself in those things, but I do humanize them by giving them faces. I also thought it was amazing how little detail you need to actually communicate a concept if you needed. Turning a realistic drawing of someone riding a bike to essentially just lines was a good example.  I also liked the concept of making something simple like the character but making the background realistic and I have seen that used in comics as well as animation.

Overall it was a very good introduction to the idea of comics, what they are and concepts behind them that are interesting.

1st Assignment: Shaun Tan's, The Arrival

Shaun Tan's, The Arrival, is a wordless comic that conveys its story through multiple pictures that show a story scene by scene, moment by moment. It achieves this by showing the small changes frame by frame making a slow transition. This is an effective was of telling a story through pictures using no words. The reader can follow along because of the pacing of the pictures its like watching a movie every few frames. In the first scene you see a photo being wrapped into a cloth and put in a suitcase, this takes about 10 frames. There are no words needed to convey the emotions in that scene or to say what’s happening.  The next scene the man with the suitcase’s daughter wakes up, it shows her eating and them getting ready to leave. Outside there are shadows of large tails on the building, showing maybe they don’t live in a good place. In the last frame of the scene it just shows the mother in the daughter in the city with the shadow tails, it is clear the man has left. In the next scene the man is sitting on a boat looking at the picture of his family he packed, you don’t need words to understand he misses him and he probably left to help them. In the next scene it shows many different pictures of clouds to show the passing of time, again you don’t need words to understand this. Over the rest of the comic you learn this man is an immigrant looking for a job, he finds a place to stay and meets people like himself who have also come from far away seeking a better life. In the end he gets a job and sends money back to his family and they come join him. Everything is shown very clearly though facial expressions and body language. Using expressions and body language is a good was to tell a visual story without the use of words.  Besides going slowly movement by movement with the body language that is how a story like The Arrival can be told without the use of words.