The Graphic Novel

Well, here I am analyzing covers again for my favorite comics, but apparently this is what happens when I get bored. X-Factor is quite possibly one of the best books out right now and has gotten there under the careful guidance of Peter David as it's writer. Now, though, I'm not talking about writers, I'm talking lay-out. The first thing of importance that I notice here is the balancing of the M's on both Jamie Madrox and Layla Miller's cheek. These M's come from a future trip during the Messiah Complex and where give to the characters in basically mutant consentration camps. The parallel set up of these M's then are designed to hint at the most pivotal part of the inherent treachery. Here we have Layla with her hand on Doom's shoulder showing an inherent familiarity with him and Madrox, her one time, possible lover is on the ground with the rest of the team at least unconscious. Also, Layla's chewing of the bubblegum serves as both to show the reader that this is most likely Layla Miller as this level of ease has been a defining part of her character, and two to show her specifically at ease and in control of the situation around Doom.

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From a creative stand point the webcomic presented a lot of interesting challenges. First and foremost to me, as a writer, was the challenge of creating a functioning narrative in such a small amount of space. Normally, even with poetry, which is my chosen medium, I have a few stanzas and a couple hundred words in which to make a poem function, and even then the poem doesn’t necessarily have to have a narrative. With working on a joke a day webcomic, I was running into the challenge of how to tell a joke with no direction out side of the art and at most twenty-five words spoken. It was a much stronger basis on visual art then I was used to, as the image is what primarily carries the text.
Mostly, when working on these comics, I found myself focusing on the punch line first, feeling that the comic needed to end funny or it wouldn’t be funny. The next step was figuring out how the comic was going to lead up to the punch line and mapping out that. The one nice thing about working within the joke a day medium is that I never had to worry about segueing out of the joke, namely the comic could end instead.

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Alright, so as I realized that this is my last blog of the course and I had no idea what to write about except that it had to be fun and interesting. I searched through countless Cracked articles, Google, and etc. and found nothing really interesting, until I stumble upon two Filipino comic’s who have been adapted into movies. They are Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah and Flash bomba.

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Over the course of this last semester, we’ve learned not only how to construct and draw a comic, but also how to analyze their components. Broad themes address ‘is it a comic?’ and ‘what does it communicate?’ I thought I’d apply this to a random webcomic to see the results of my learning in action. I selected an XKCD comic from a few days ago.

Firstly, I wanted to make sure this fit Scott McCloud’s definition of a comic, which is that they are “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer."[1] This particular comic is a single panel picture that has been overlaid with text in the form of dialogue. The text is intended to convey information on the character’s thoughts while the picture conveys an alternate truth to the words. This is designed to produce a humorous response in the viewer based on the ironic juxtaposition of information.

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References

In class this semester we have focused a lot on various film adaptations. Of the adaptation we actually watched, Watchmen and Ghost World, it became clear to me that much of the graphic novel is lost in translation. This is not to say that I did not enjoy them or that they did not have any value. I just feel that some of the most interesting things about the comics were lost or edited out in the movies. In my opinion the form and use of symmetry was by far the most fascinating and meaningful element within Watchmen. These elements were not really included or stressed in the movie the way they were in the novel. In Ghost World the random cast of characters and the apparent lack of a storyline – the series of random conversations and events, as well as the idea of nostalgia are all kind of muted in the movie. There is much more of a focus on outside characters, less nostalgia, and a much more distinct storyline.

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Congrats to Asterios Polyp! Winning the L.A. Times Book Prize for Graphic Novels, as announced two days ago, it appears Asterios Polyp is starting to leave quite an impression in the world of graphic novels. But to me, this is something much bigger. The L.A. Times, for the first time ever, is giving out awards to graphic novels. The genre has slowly been gaining acceptance, but this is pretty big. Take a look around, and the signs seem to indicate that graphic novels are becoming more and more of a legitimate genre. And that, to me, has been the problem. Sure, people can accept graphic novels as a genre, but how legitimate was their perception? There have long been stigmas associated with graphic novels, such as that they are just comics on steroids, but there are now highly esteemed awards being cast out to graphic novels.

After the L.A. Times Book Review recently created a category for graphic novels, this proves yet another step in the right direction for graphic novels to be viewed as legitimate

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Because of the medium, I think it is easy to read graphic novels as if they were films. It makes sense; the novels act as the drawing board for a movie, with the certain camera angles and accompanying action. Sometimes these adaptations work (The Dark Knight and Persepolis come to mind) and sometimes they doesn't (Watchmen to some extent, DragonBall Z). But I think Scott Pilgrim vs the World will end up being a solid adaptation.
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi390202393/

Primarily, I like Michael Cera in the lead role. I know, I know, typecast. I get the backlash too. BUT typecasting doesn't make it a bad fit. Scott Pilgrim even shares some innate characteristics with Cera. They're both Canadian (Cera might even be from Toronto), they're in their early twenties, Cera plays a mean guitar while Pilgrim plays bass, they're both socially kinda awkward, they both fit into an "indie"-hipster kind of stereotype, and they even look the same for the most part. I think Cera's sense of comedy should play well into this role, kinda like a cross between his Superbad character and George Michael Bluth.

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The graphic novels class is over but that does not stop me from writing my last and final blog. I just finished my final for this class. One of the questions was about my definition of webcomics. To me, webcomics are jokes or storylines in panels on the web. The question also included how my definition related to three different webcomics. One of the webcomics I chose was FreakAngels. This webcomic shows how life is six years after the world has ended. It is different from our world in that all the buildings are falling apart and surrounded by water.

There are also people in the city growing plants and taking the salt out of sea water to make pure water that is drinkable.

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Batman Vs Superman art by Jim Lee

Have you ever noticed that DC comics Universe and Marvel comics love to make their superheroes do two things, fight each other and join a superhero league. Many people on this website have blogged about superheroes and who is better or would win in a fight, see “Batman or the Punisher?” and “The Age Old Question”. Just as there has been many battles between characters like superman and batman so too do they seem to also team up. This classic standoff among super hero’s to fight and then unite seems to come out of one real quality, we expect heroes to be human, not immortal.

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When I first picked up Brian O’ Malley’s Scott Pilgrim, I was confused. It looked like Manga, at least drawing style wise. The content of the story was even Manga like, but it didn’t open like a regular Manga novel nor was it made by a Japanese author. It looked like a western version of Manga and that made me question its style: does it really count as Manga? Can I honestly call this comic Manga, even though it is not made in Japan?

As I asked these questions to myself, I didn’t realize that many others were having the same discussions just more publicly and online. I decided to try to find my answers through Google and as I searched online, I encountered many discussions on whether this comic could be called Manga. Specifically this online post, and the conversation that followed it, seemed to highlight the difficulties that people were having with calling this comic, Manga: http://www.earlyword.com/2010/04/09/manga-or-not-manga-that-is-the-quest....

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Cosmic Marvel, since it’s reboot about two years ago has been about bucking the system of modern comics and returning back to a more simple area of epic stories of good versus evil as opposed to heroes fighting heroes in an attempt at heavy handed social commentary. Under the hands of Danny Abnet and Andy Lanning, it has returned to traditional super hero and team books that have completely revamped old failed characters and made them awesome, more often then not with a tongue in cheek approach to the genre.

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So, after the presentations yesterday i began to think a lot about the idea of what it means to retcon a comic book after certain facts have been established. Though rethinking the inspiration or the motivation behind characters can bring a lot of interesting change, it may not be very acceptable to avid readers and purist enthusiasts. Though good cases can be made as to why the idea of retcon-ing could be a bad thing, i think, in the case of "The Ultimate X-Men," a Marvel series which began in 2001, changing certain plot points and characteristics has been incredibly entertaining.

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So, I had my Semantic Web class outside today, where I found a couple of four leaf clovers, and one super-mutant (it should join the X-Men) 4.5 leaf clover. On the way back to my apartment from this class (we had it near Karl's Icecream), I put these clovers into my breast pocket, where I then hoped that none of them would lose any of their leaves.

This eventually got me to think: does a four leaf clover stop being a four leaf clover if it loses a leaf? Is the "essence of shoeness" for a four leaf clover that it necessarily must have to have 4 leaves constantly, or is it enough that it, at one point in time, had four leaves?

This connection with Asterios Polyp then got me thinking about some comics in the same way: is something like the Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck a comic because of its general form? Was it always a comic, even if that terminology had not yet been developed, or did it become a comic when that terminology came to be? In short, what is the essence of comicness?

What is with the cover of Asterios Polyp? I know we finished this book in class a while ago but the cover flap, or dust jacket, or whatever it is called, remains a constant annoyance in my life. I much prefer the book with the dust jacket removed so you can see the dual “before and after” Asterios engraved on the back and front covers. Without the dust jacket you can also see the line of symmetry dividing the book into its purple side and cardboard side further reflecting the theme of duality it the novel.

Cut uneven and about a half inch too short on the top and bottom, the dust jacket is just annoying and impractical. It constantly bugs me, it gave me a paper cut once, and frankly it’s called a dust jacket and it really doesn’t protect the book from dust because it is too short. So why did they make it that way?

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There has been an on-going debate between some of my friends as to who is the better comic hero. The debate is between Batman and the Punisher. So, I gathered together some information to prove once and for all that Batman is the better choice.

The Punisher is a well-known vigilante. He is a Marine that went AWOL after his family was killed by the mob. This fact alone proves that the Punisher has a personal agenda to fulfill. It also proves that he is a deeply family-oriented man and that he does something to the people that caused harm to his loved ones. Beyond this, the Punisher has no morals and will kill anyone and everyone to be able to avenge his family's murders, to get to the murderer. The man works alone, using gun weaponry, and moves around to stay untraceable. While he is in top physical condition, his skills do not go beyond that of combat. mainly, the Punisher just wants to wipe out all criminals along with any woman or child that accidentally steps in his way. He is the mutilator.

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One thing I noticed during our webcomic assignment was the simplicity that every comic used. Obviously everyone in the class is not an expert drawer and can't crank out beautiful images like the ones in Moonshadow, or even simpler images like in Super Spy. It's just too complex for those of us who aren't naturally talented at drawing and also don't have the time to devote to creating something as intricate and detailed as the above listed examples, and others such as Watchman or Sandman. But I got to thinking that the drawing skills don't have that much to do with the comic sometimes. Granted, they're a great addition, and most people would probably prefer to read a comic that has realistic figures drawn.

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HOLY CRAP I'M LATE. I suppose being scatter-brained is what I get for not sleeping.

Anyway, Valkyria Chronicles:

Valkyria Chronicles is a tactical-RPG-third-person-action game, made by Sony, for the PS3, that uses the CANVAS graphics engine.

And why is this relevant? Because the CANVAS graphic engine was specifically designed to make the game look like it was hand drawn--one can even see pencil marks on the characters.

This, however, just gives the game a story-book feel, not really a comic view. So why mention it as a comic? Well, the way much of the story is presented in comic form--in the main menu, you select a panel from a book which specifies the story portion you wish to view, which in turn presents the action in a semi-paneled fashion:

PANELS!

And finally, during battles, whenever a tank moves or someone shoots a gun, very comic-styled show up (along with an actual sound effect, of course):

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I am sure most of us have heard of Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela who holds a pro-guerilla and socialist regime. Chavez seems to want to change his country from a socialist-democracy to a supreme dictatorship. He recently ratified the constitution of Venezuela so he could run in definitely for presidency. He also has been known for wanting complete control over the media as well as lashing out violently against those who dare speak against the government or his policies.

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I was introduced recently to The Defenders of Stan through a friend and have fallen in love with it. DoS is a webcomic/short video series. The premise of the series is that almost all people on earth have superpowers and only a small percentage is powerless - actually, Stan may be the only powerless left on earth, hence the title. The series focuses on Captain Ulta and his powerless brother, Stan, and their daily lives.

This is an interesting approach to webcomic, merging it with live action shots. The introduction (the thing that plays during every episode and runs the title - I can't for the life of me think of what that thing is called) is all hand drawn traditional comic shots, and when the scenes change, they freeze and become grainy as if they were in a newspaper, then change to a new scene. The show rips on classic comic books, such as Superman in episode 04. Stan has to appear before a board of giant heads and is sentenced to The Phantom Zone, which Stan calls them out on stealing from Superman. In addition to referencing classic comics, the giant heads also discuss Family Circus and Garfield. One of the heads tries to explain what the Family Circus cartoon that morning was about, but ruins the joke, often as people do. It's hilarious for the watcher however.

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At the beginning of this semester I can remember opening my box of books from Amazon and flipping through the pages of all the graphic novels for this class. Each novel had its own distinct style and each excited and interested me in it own way, except for Exit Wounds. I didn’t spend much time flipping through it. I didn’t really consider or think of it much until we read it. With its muted colors, thick lines, and the black dotted eyes of the characters it seemed perfectly average and not very exciting. Strangely I didn’t even think of it having a style until Professor Whalen mentioned the constants weight of the black lines and what that created. After that I began to consider more the style of Exit Wounds and how it fit with the story.

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