Week 14: Octopus Pie

Hi! We have finally reached the conclusion of the comic class! We talked about the future of comics, such as webcomics and anime-influenced cartoons. Nowadays, since almost everyone is exposed to manga and anime, it is very common to see their influence show in Western cartoons and comics such as Avatar, Steven Universe, etc. I like to call their style hybrid.

Anyway, I haven't been following many web comics before, so it's actually refreshing to read them this time. I started reading Octopus Pie, and so far, I am really enjoying it! The main character, Eve, is easy to relate to. She's in her early twenties, lives away from her parents, and serious. She reminded me of  myself. Meanwhile, her  roommate, Hanna, is a complete opposite of Eve. She's a druggie, easy-going, quick-tempered, and impulsive. Their clashing personalities brings a lot of tension to the table, but deep down, they appreciate each other's companies. There is something satisfying about seeing their friendship blossom.

The nice thing about webcomic is the instant gratification I get when I read the punchline. Almost each page has some kind of punchline that either encourages us to read the next page, or leaves us snickering at the irony of the situation. In Octopus Pie, each page often help lead us to the next page at a relaxed and comfortable pace. It doesn't force us, things just fall in place. Which is why this webcomic is fun and easy to read!

Speaking of the future of comics, web comics are not that new. However, the Japanese has found new ways to enhance the online experience. For example, there is an ecchi manga series that often include fanservice like panty-shots, bouncing boobies, and everything sexy. The online version of the manga is interactive, so the readers can click at designated areas to trigger some kind of reactions and animations. For example, clicking on a character's hair will make it flutter, while clicking on her chest will make her shirt button to pop, and reveal her jiggling cleavage. Please don't judge me for doing that, I was simply curious! :). I can't post the link to the manga, but I am sure that there will be more to come.

All in all, I can see greater interactivity when it comes to reading comics in the future, and the line between watching and reading something will blur. Maybe, the only difference is pacing, where the reader can still pace their reading speed to their liking, unlike films. Cool!

Transmetrolopolitan!!

1) Are there any prominent symbols in the story? If so what are they and how are they used?

There are various symbols of consumerism in the story. They come in the forms of huge advertisement billboards and fashion accessories. It is easy to spot those things the moment Spider returned to the city. In contrast to his home up the mountain, the city is crammed with advertisements that encourage people to spend their money on sex, drugs, or beauty. On the other hand, the city inhabitants are mostly dressed in very loud outfits and tons of fashion accessories such as headphones, piercings, etc. In short, they are dressed in excess. By placing these symbols everywhere; in the cars, in the office, on the streets, we get a sense that everyone in the city is at the mercy of those things. The strange gadget that most people wear on their ears, and are connected to their neck, hints that they are at the mercy of an external force.

2) What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you are able to connect.

Honestly, the story and characters did not appeal too much to me, but I can definitely connect with the need to consume. Surprisingly, I connect with the man who works in the toll gate. In that cramped toll room, we can see miniature car figurines on top of his computer screen. The first thing I thought was, "Hey, I used to spend my hard-earned money on overpriced anime plastic figurines!" Those plastic figurines are pretty useless, mostly meant to please the eyes (or for some other people, for self pleasure). They are very expensive and collect dust overtime. Yet, the moment my favorite characters are made into pretty figurines, my heart skips a beat and I immediately reach for my wallet. It's like an addiction!

3) What changes would you make to adapt the story to other medium? What medium would you use, what changes would you make.

I can see this working out as a movie, especially because of how much information are crammed within each frames. The chaotic nature of the city can be amplified through the use of sound and quick succession of cuts. I will definitely keep the graphic colors and grittiness of the comic intact. However, I will change the characters' clothing, just to keep them more up to date and relatable. 

Week 13: Fables

 

The Super Hero genre is something I don't read a lot, mostly because of my lack of interest in fighting-centric comics. On top of that, it's pretty hard to relate to those super buff superheroes performing those superhuman feats. Well, at least that's my impression of a stereotypical superhero anyway.

So this week, it's nice to see more variety in the superhero genre.... and I decided to read Fables because they have beautiful covers that are illustrated by James Jeans (and later by João Ruas)! Anyway, Fables is really cool as it reimagines what fairy tale characters will be like if they are to live among us. Who would have thought that Snow White can govern an entire town so well? And who would have thought that Bigby, the Big Bad Wolf, makes for a fine detective? It is very rewarding to spot familiar and beloved fairytale characters interact and solve their problems in a witty and satisfying way.

However, the most important thing is how different they are from the stereotypical superhero. Most, if not all of the Fables characters have some kind of power. Their powers are unique to their backstories, and it is just so cool to see Bigby transform into a giant wolf at will. The fact that we are already familiar with most of those characters' origins makes it easier to accept their super powers. Moreover, they also have issues like marriage, money and love, all while juggling their jobs and hiding their true identities. All in all, most of the human characters look just like any normal people. Unlike the stereotypical superheros that dress in spandex bodysuit and wears a cape, they dress like everyone, depending on which time period they live in. They are very easy to relate to.

I was invested in the story too, so I decided to go ahead and read all the way till volume 14 (Fables:Witches). And my, so many things happened!! Characters died, fell in love, had offsprings, betrayed one another, and became big damn heroes. The foreshadowing is done well too by slowly building us up towards the epic battle with The Adversaries. It's just so cool to see characters that I thought was good turn evil!

So, to sum up this rather messy blog entry, I just want to say that Fables is a cool twist of the typical superhero genre. It has familiar characters that I actually care about, and their evolution throughout the story excites me. The plot is imaginative and does a good job highlighting the characters powers and abilities. Yup, it's cool!

Week 12: Comics By Women

 

I have always liked reading/ watching stories told from a woman's perspective. Firstly, the female characters are relate able as they are often less idealized, physically or behaviorally than what we are used to seeing in the mainstream media. Secondly, those stories often highlight issues faced by women, such as balancing work, household, sexuality, ambition, social expectations, and the list goes on. The female characters are not portrayed as shallow beings who serve as some kind of token, trophy, or sex objects. What those female authors and artists do is to show us, surprise surprise, that women are just as human as men.

With that in mind, I was pleasantly surprised by how This One Summer exceeded my expectations. For a start, we see girls and women with varied body shapes, some can even be considered not ideal by some society's standard. Yet the characters seldom commented on their physical appearances, and the story does not revolve around that. Unlike many stories that emphasize on women dreaming about having the "perfect" body, Rose and Windy never took that too seriously. Sure, Rose is hinted to compare her body with Jenny's voluptuous figure. Also, both of them talked about the sizes of their breasts humorously. However, the book doesn't dwell too much into that. Instead, it concentrates on recreating the anxiety and naivety many girls felt as a teenager.

Rose went through a lot during that summer: Dealing with a gigantic tension between her parents, feeling emotionally isolated from her depressed mom, having a crush on a jerk who happened to impregnate a girl who secretly cheated on him, being uncomfortable around Windy's lesbian aunt, and discovering that her mom miscarried while swimming in the sea. That's some heavy stuff for a fifteen-year old to deal with! Thankfully my teenage years are not as dramatic. However, I can definitely relate to the vulnerability of liking someone and being lonely. Also, the nostalgia is strong during moments where Rose and Windy bond over horror-movies and swimming.
The point is, This One Summer is a graphic novel that is rich in sensory devices.

The art is lovely and expressive. Everything feels so organic and alive. Obviously influenced by manga and Spirited Away, many panels are dedicated to illustrate the scenery, mood, and atmosphere of summer. My favorite scene is when little Rose and her mother were swimming in the lake. The brush strokes delicately show the illusion of water that glides against their body, and bring us to the depth of the cold water in this particular panel:

Though I am not completely sure if being a woman has anything to do at all with the art-style, I wonder if it contributed to the gentleness and delicacy of the line quality found in This One Summer.

To wrap this up, I really enjoyed my experience of reading This One Summer despite what many people complain as a lack of story. I see no problem because it feels like a slice-of-life type of story, which I happen to like. There is also the revelation near the end about how Rose's mother lost the baby and her reason for disliking the sea, on top of the mini drama about Jenny's pregnancy. There are enough tension to keep the story going. Most importantly, the story focuses on Rose's and Windy's friendship; how it develops and how they show support for each other. The meat of the book is in the journey, and considering how vividly This One Summer captured those moments, this is a very nice read!

Week 11: Comics as Contemporary Literature

When I hear the word "contemporary", I think about edgy and new..... like a modern art. I also think about nontraditional narrative styles. As such, Sandman Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman fits the bill pretty damn well!

As written in my older blog post, I started reading The Sandman series. Sandman Endless Nights is like a spin-off that focuses on the Endless: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delight/Delirium. Each chapters tell each of the Endless' stories and the art style shifts accordingly. While all of them are cool and beautiful on their own, the one that stood out for me was Despair's "15 Portraits of Despair."

 

It is crazy! Each page is filled with grotesque imagery of what despair looks like or feels like. How do you portray absolute pain, helplessness, loneliness, and regret? How do you portray something that slowly, but surely gnaws into your heart and mind? "15 Portraits of Despair" does just that. There is no fixed layout or structure in terms of paneling. They are spread or squeezed haphazardly, as if someone shook the entire page violently. Sometimes, the illustrations are somber and lonely, sometime they are filled with rage and confusion. The little amount of texts help bring some coherence and narrative to the chaos. However, upon reading them, they too only add to the sense of despair. While Despair's chapter is not as crazy/ confusing as Delirium's, Despair's is by far the most emotionally charged one. 

On the other hand, Destiny's, Death's Dream's, Destruction's, and Desire's stories follow a more conventional narrative style. I can see why, as their focus is more on their actions instead of the emotions that they inflict. For example, Desire's story tells of a woman who desired the most handsome man in her village, who happened to be a womanizer. After making a deal with a witch and seducing the man into marriage, she finally got what she desired. However, by doing so, she no longer desired for anything as strongly anymore. After her husband's death, her life passed by quickly and rather uneventfully, until she died quietly. I take it that without desire, there is no purpose and excitement in life. After all, desire is what pushes people into the extremes. Desire for money, power, love, peace, or anything at all, leads people to take action. As such, desire is probably one of the most important driving force behind people's life.

Sandman Endless Nights is an awesome read, and it gives a fun glimpse of the siblings' relationships long before the main story took place. Believe it or not, Dream used to be pretty fond of Desire, and we even got a glimpse of Delight before she turned into Delirium! It is also nice to see Destruction, as he seldom appeared. Lastly, it is always nice to see comic/ graphic novel artists explore different styles of narrative. When done right, the result is so satisfying and memorable. In addition, this experience is something that can't necessarily be felt while reading a novel.

Week 10: Manga

It's manga week! Finally! And since I have read most of Osamu Tesuka's works, I decided to read something more recent..... Sunny by Taiyo Matsumoto. Like many people, I discovered his works through Tekkonkinkreet. While I don't always relate to his edgy stories, Sunny is surprisingly down-to-earth. It is about children in a child-care house, dealing with growing up without parental love. While the main character is a white-haired deviant kid named Haruo, each chapter shifts between different characters' perspectives.

 

There is a prevailing sense of loneliness throughout the book. The children only get to meet their parents three times a year, and some of them don't even have parents anymore. Their parents are also either too busy, neglectful, or uncaring about the children. One of the girls, Megumi, found a dead cat floating on a river one day. She started crying because she was afraid that she would die alone, her death unknown to people, just like the cat. It is heartbreaking to see a child as young as her have such dark thoughts due to a lack of love.

Despite that, we get to see how those children and the care-takers show concern for each other. At first, I thought that the care-takers were cold, calculative, and stingy. But they actually care for the children discreetly by watching over them, and picking up signs of distress. There is also an invisible, unspoken bond between the children despite their daily conflicts. When one of the boys' baby brother went missing, everyone searched for him. Unexpectedly, the one who went the extra mile and found him was Taro, a man with Down Syndrome wearing only his underwear. For the longest time, he was singing gibberish and acting rather strange. However, he was actually watching over the children and understood his surroundings clearly. The more I learn about the characters, the more I realize that I am too quick to judge people from their first impressions.

The art in Sunny has the same rawness and vitality that is usually found in Taiyo Matsumoto's works. It captures the nostalgic mood of childhood and the vividness of children's imagination.

 

I spent my childhood in Japan, and everything felt very nostalgic. The wooden floor, the quiet town, the cramped and lively interior, and the hot blaring summer: the art captures those things spot-on.

I have currently only read the first book of Sunny, I definitely plan to continue reading the rest! I am curious about how those children's relationship will develop, and if any of them can find some kind of closure about their anxiety. On a more personal note, I realize that I tend to gravitate towards works that depict loneliness.... There is something comforting about watching characters deal with their loneliness.....

Week 9: World Comics

We have finally moved on to comics from all over the world! I read Asterix, Persepolis, and The Bellybuttons. In addition, I watched the French animated film called "The Illusionist." There is something very different about European comics/ animation as compared to American comics. They dare to poke fun at controversial topics and some of them can be very bizarre. Many of them are also very blunt when stating ugly facts and truths!

Speaking of blunt and controversial, The Bellybuttons knows how to hit where it hurts. The story centers around three high-school girls: Kind and naive Karine, glamorous and dumb Jenny, and affluent and devious Vicky. Jenny and Vicky are the hottest girls in school, while Karine is considered by many to be too tall and unattractive. Jenny and Vicky backstab each other, attempt to steal Karine' boyfriend, and insult Karine. Despite that, three of them somehow continue to stay together in this abusive relationship. They are frenemies!

Despite the seemingly shallow story at first, the comic explores some dark topics. For example, despite Jenny's dumbness and carefree personality, she came from an impoverished family whose father was absent, and her mother an alcoholic. In order to fuel Jenny's taste for luxury, Jenny would steal from shops as if it's nothing, something that even Vicky didn't agree to. Not to mention how Jenny treated animals as mere accessories, stealing a puppy simply because its fur color matches her shoes' color, and stupidly drag it to its death by tying its leash to a speeding motorcycle. Vicky on the other hand, suffered from an inferiority complex despite her beauty, wealth, and intelligence. Her older sister insulted Vicky on a daily basis, and her controlling parents always saw her as less than perfect. Once, Vicky fell from the third story and was hospitalized. Nobody cared enough to visit her, except Karine. Vicky realized that all the manipulating, back-stabbing, and selfishness left her all alone. Even the nicer character, Karine, was not without fault. There were moments when I honestly thought that her extreme naivety and unawareness caused her to be such an easy bullying target.

Really, even the side characters went through very dark moments, such as the most popular guy in school, John John. All the girls assumed that he was hot, but he always wore a helmet to hide his face. So far, I don't know how his face looks like, but according to Karine, it was very very disturbing. Also, when he got into a traffic accident and lost his awesome motorcycle as a result, the girls stopped liking him. Apparently, the reason why the girls loved him was because of his bike. Lastly, an ugly outcast named Murphy would manipulate Karine to love him, otherwise he would hang himself in the loo, or jump down a cliff. Eventually, he found a girlfriend whom he thought was even uglier than him, but used her as his sexual release. Just a reminder, they are only high-school kids.

From what I have read so far, I get the message that life is not fair and your looks can either help you are destroy you. Despite that, people do get what they deserve, as we all know that karma is a bi**h. Essentially, it also explains why some people like Jenny and Vicky felt the need to be so mean. It doesn't justify their actions, but merely states why. It is interesting and refreshing to see those characters and their thoughts being portrayed so clearly and bluntly! Also, the art is very appealing. It is fluid and the use of curves add vitality and sensuality to the characters. A very fun and engrossing read!