Notes on Cinderella Boy and Too Close For Love

For Week 10, I could have read some classic manga (Cyborg 009, Astro Boy, or Barefoot Gen for example). In fact, it seems like those comics epitomize historical Japanese comics, as they are probably the most well-known.

Instead, I read Cinderella Boy and Too Close For Love--two yaoi (gay-love) comics? The reason--because when do you get the option to read these comics for class? Not very often.

So, onto the comics...well, my first impression of them was that they were very flowery and sparkly. In this case, I expect this from shoujo manga. After all, this type of comic is intended for girl audiences. And, in fact, most yaoi comics are written by girls for girls! Which to me was something rather unexpected. Another impression I got from the comics is that most of the characters have unusually slender bodies and legs. This is really prominent in Cinderella Boy, where as the main character is skinnier that his colleagues, everyone in the comic is incredibly skinny. However, this isn't the case in Too Close For Love, but both still have rather idealistic, "gorgeous" characters.

Also, another aspect about both comics that I considered Too Close for Love to be more of a gay comic than Cinderella Boy. This is only because, while Cinderella Boy is about a girl dressing as a guy, it it still about a boy and a girl. I think the only reason you can consider gay is because the girl is a transvestite, but it's still a story about a girl and a boy. However, Too Close for Love almost borders on being Shonen-ai (boy's love), a genre of manga about gay-love, but with a weird twist (usually an age difference, a man/boy relationship, or incest in some degree). However, because the men are not blood-related, but childhood friends, it's different.

Now, despite reading these, I can't say they're the best gay-love comics I've read. Now, while these aren't considered 100% manga, these are two comics I can recommend that have gay-love themes but do it in a slightly, more natural way:

http://tjandamal.com/

http://honeydew.smackjeeves.com/comics/93161/chapter-1-when-life-gives-you-honeydew-you-make-something/

Notes on The Tijuana Bibles

I've heard of these before--it was when I first read Watchmen that I even got an idea of what they were. See, I knew that they were "dirty books", and would sometimes feature famous celebrities. But I never thought I'd ever get the chance to read one myself...until now.

And I must say, they're actually quite silly.

I guess I say this because the situations in the Tijuana Bibles do not feature your typical harlots, porn stars, and sex activists. They feature characters who tend to have run-of-the-mill jobs, whether they be a pilot, movie star, or house-wife. But, what the Bibles do feature are crazy situations. In the first one (which I think was my favorite out of all of them), a pilot decides to take his babe out on a plane so they don't get caught doing the deed. However, when is it EVER possible or plausible to do that--never! Unless you have one of those fancy-pants jets with a bedroom in the back, there is nothing sexy about it.

So, despite the fact that these are outrageous, the next question is this--why are these stories in here? Well, even though they're insane, they are the fantasies of what common men (note, I do not say women) want. And, because they're crudely drawn, they're easier for the common man to relate to. There's no crazy style that the reader needs to get used to--it's just plain and simple.

Notes on The Arrival by Shaun Tan

While some people believe that words can hold power, it is sometimes the wordless--stories that tell themselves through pictures--that are the most prominent and memorable. Shaun Tan's, The Arrival, is a testament to this; the comic itself contains no dialogue, but the reader is able to follow the entire story.

In the comic, it tells about a father/ family man who must leave his dangerous homeland in the hopes of making a new life for him and his wife and daughter in "America". It also tells of his trials and tribulations of being an immigrant, and going through the process of learning the land, it's language, and it's culture (despite it being a variety of cultures).

While some say that it might be body language that drives the story, others say that it might be the fact that it takes place in a world unlike our own that makes it resonate with people overall. In the end, all of us have experienced being in a land unlike our own. And in the end, the universe within The Arrival is also foreign--a beautiful, fantastical landscape that uses symbols everyone can relate to the histories they've grown up to learn.

While I wish I could say more about this book, I feel the need to re-read a few more times to truly understand it. So if you haven't picked it up yet, I'd highly recommend doing so.

Notes on Blankets by Craig Thompson

Before reading Blankets by Craig Thompson again (for probably the one-millionth time, because it is one my favorite graphic novels ever), I decided to read some of A Contract with God by Will Eisner. To most, Will Eisner is considered to be one of the legendary artists of comics, sitting beside legends such as Stan Lee (even though he started much earlier and influenced the now Marvel legend). To me, I knew he was a legend, but I never thought I would like his style/stories (since my last experience with his art was when I read The Spirit comics). But then I realized something shocking--his graphic novels read just like Craig Thompson's work.

What are the similarities? Well, one thing that I've absolutely loved about Thompson's work is his use of personal lettering/typography. Depending on the situation within the story, the lettering itself becomes a part of the overall composition of the panels. And while Eisner doesn't take to as much an extreme as Thomspon, the letters in Eisner's "Contract with God" are unlike anything you'd see in a typical, comic serial. They're personal--not imitation.

Another similarity I notice between the artists is the use of ink and detail. While Thompson typically keeps his blacks solid, Eisner isn't afraid to use an ink wash to help separate the foreground from the background. But both comic artists use a variety of tapered lines and solid blacks. They even use single panels that take up one whole page to provide emphasis in their stories. Both of these aspects (the line and single panels) are somethings that have carried over to aspiring and working comics today.

Notes on Tales from the Crypt #1

As both a comic reader and a (secret) horror fan, nothing pleased me more than to read the comic, Tales From the Crypt--a collection of scary stories meant to delight, disgust, and terrify! And I simply loved it.

The basic structure is as follows--our frightening and disfigured narrator promises to tell us the most bone-chilling story, before revealing it to us in dramatic fashion. In this case, the first story is "The Maestro's Hand"--a story guaranteed to scare the reader.

And terrifying it is--the comic's style was typical for comics in the 1950's. It used fairly realistic drawings, while utilizing flat color and blacks for the shadows. After all, printing in color is not cheap, and the style lends itself to not only being noir-esque, but also very efficient.  Also, the style helps to evoke a sense of dread in the readers through its use of exaggeration for the beasts and creatures, while retaining the human quality in the heroes.

Out of the stories, I'd say that "Maestro's Hand" was my favorite. Rather than be a story mainly told in present time, the story is told through the past events of a man named Dr. Hollman. The doctor is a vengeful and regretting man--this is told to us by our wonderful narrator, and it just so happens that the character agrees. In fact, there are a few moments when the narrator foreshadows the miseries the main character will endure down the line. In particular, the narrator mentions how Hollman's demise will occur due to a maestro falling in love with his woman. Powerless to his own story, Hollman must go along with what is planned.

Tales from the crypt is an interesting take on horror comics. Not only does the narrator control the story, but the way the stories are drawn and written are entertaining without being too gruesome. Makes me wish I had an original copy of one of these...

Notes on Peanuts Visit The Des Moines Register and Review

Usually when I read Peanuts comics, I tend to expect the usual gang in roughly three to six panels. However, much to my surprise, I found one of the comics I was given to read was the gang breaking the fourth wall and going into a real life newspaper, printing company.

As the comic starts out, we find the characters in their typical place (within square confines, in black and white). As they journey along, they come upon the last panel, when suddenly they find themselves growing bigger and in a world of color. It is to symbolize the "other side", much like how Dorothy finds herself in the colorful land of Oz (only in this case, it's our world).

Now, what fascinates me about this comic is that it places characters who are more iconic than the characters designed for the tribune. It makes sense to do this, since the Peanuts characters are not of this world. But, in this case, the real world just doesn't seem that relatable to me. Whenever I read the comic that included a panel with the Peanuts characters, I always found myself drawn to them. I wanted to know what they had to say, because to me they were the most interesting characters in the comic. I guess it goes to show that simplicity really allows for the audience to not only relate to your work, but get into your story, as well.

Notes on Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

As an avid, comic reader, I've heard and already read Scott's wonderful graphic novel about the history/ conventions of comics and...well, graphic novels. However, I felt it was a good time to revisit his work--in particular his chapter on the psychology of closure.

When talking about closure, what I mean is the idea that the human brain will try to connect (based on info. given), pieces of images, words, etc. and try to make them whole/ make sense. A good example of this would be in the chapter where Scott mentions "the gutter" between two comic panels. By separating the two images, "the gutter" leaves the story up to the reader's imagination. Considering what kind of images are displayed next to each other (such as a moment-to-moment or non-sequiter), the reader will either have to make a small jump (or huge leap) into how they believe the images are connected.

To me, this same concept could be implied to movies. Certain mainstream films tend to be shot moment to moment and action to action. This allows the audience to relate closer to the film, and to better understand the story that's going on. However, there are other films that tend to break this mainstream narrative. Despite not having seen it, Tree of Life is one that pops into my mind. In the film we see snippets of images ranging from family life to nature, taking us into the character's childhood life to his present one. The story is so open-ended, it allows some of the watcher's imagination to fill in the blanks.