Lit of Comics and Graphic Narrative

  From a first glance, I didn’t quite see a big difference in terms of art style with the works of E.C Comics, though after reading a little bit more into it I could kind of start to pick out how the artist would emphasize certain features in a character’s face or body language to make it appear a bit creepier in a way. For example, the way some characters’ eyes are drawn could almost be described as crazed, and that also pertains to the way the monsters/creatures are drawn as well. This inclusion, in my opinion, is something that would most likely give me nightmares or at least an unsettled feeling if I was a child reading this. But besides the art, I can start to see how E.C Comics was beginning to target the older audiences with their writing. Darker tones and themes, like death, violence, and horror, are all something that were probably never before seen in comics by younger readers. However, for older readers, this might strike a chord with them in many different ways. Those w...

  After reading and reviewing some of Kirby’s works from the 50’s and 70’s I can already clearly spot a distinct style and flare he has when it comes to drawing his characters. From just glancing at his vast storyboards for The Fantastic Four I very much admired his neatness and simplicity of the bigger picture. Even if they were just sketches, it was apparent to me that he knew exactly what he was going for when drawing out the first drafts, which I think is a pretty crucial element to any comic creation. His craftsmanship doesn’t waver in his colored works either, with the highly saturated colors contrasting the pure black inked shading that truly embodies the feeling of a classic comic. Another quick thing I noticed is that his work, along with many others in the industry at the time, paid careful attention to the composition of each image. From what I can understand Kirby mostly engaged with superhero type writing and art, which is no easy feat when trying to depict action in a...

  Right off the bat, one of the first things I personally really enjoy are the color combinations. It might not say a lot in terms of comics at that moment, and I know that there may have been some limitations as to what many comic illustrators may have had to work with back in the day. However, I really believe the colors hold up today in terms of giving off a really nice aesthetic/nostalgic feel. As I mentioned in my previous post about McCay’s wonderful ability to utilize his canvas space, I can see the clear dedication in his work with these comics, especially in his tiny detailing and styling of characters and their environments. The characters, outfits, expressions, and color palette to me all blend together perfectly in a comic collection that almost feels like each strip could be a whole new fun illustration in itself. In terms of his animation career, I do also believe his imagination and creativity were extremely strong and ahead of his time as well. I was actually alread...

  One of the early comics in this collection that particularly caught my eye was Little Nemo. I had previously first read some of these comics back in my sophomore year during my history of illustration course, and I’m glad I could see them again in this course as well. Apart from my love for the art style and color palette, I really think these comics helped make a name for themselves in terms of utilizing the comic strip format the best. With many other comics, I have seen collected around this age, a lot of them stick to having their characters smack in the middle or in at least a pretty center centric position, with the dialogue making up for the rest of the blankness. While I’m not saying that Little Nemo doesn’t do this as well, a special part that makes their comics a little bit more unique is how they’re really able to emphasize the shape and space within their specific panels. For example, with longer panels, McCay may draw a character with extremely long legs to fit in p...

  When I was first introduced to Archie as a young child (and probably still to this day) I was attracted to the simple style, fun dynamic, and bright flat colors. At first glance, I would probably say Archie is targeted towards a younger audience yet can still provide some decent entertainment to older readers as well. In my mind I think the children would find the pictures and colors more appealing while the adults/older audience might lean towards the story/writing, however, I guess it is all up to personal preference. In the large world of Archie, some can pick and choose what they would want to read. Personally, I would be more inclined to buy the Sabrina and the Teenage Witch comics rather than the classic Archie ones because of the darker artwork and story that follow. A big repeating theme I see in the Archieverse is probably the simple theme of friendship. Archie is hardly ever without company, and the large cast of family and friends is always there to keep him busy, whic...

       One of the first takeaways mentioned that struck me most meaningful (as an illustrator) was the effect and impact of the icon. The separation and connection between real life and cartooning is much more than simplification, and I was very intrigued by the explanation McCloud presented. Anything and everything can be broken down into simple shapes, yet the real task is being able to translate it into a way that makes sense. I thought it was interesting how McCloud explained how we, as humans, are often unknowingly trained to see ourselves in everything (for example, seeing faces in inanimate objects connecting the idea that two equal parts with a larger shape underneath can be related to a face). A lot of times in the media I see people comparing the quality of art simply based upon how detailed it is drawn, which I think is quite unfair. I understand how someone outside of the general art world can believe this (as McCloud iterates how the art in comics takes ...

       It isn’t very often I am able to enjoy a full-length wordless comic. Most of the time I find myself indulging in wordless comics that only last a few pages, but The Arrival struck me in a much more long term way. Perhaps it was because it was so much longer than what I am used to reading that sort of forced me to focus more on the storytelling aspect. The illustrations were all so glorious and detailed it almost felt like it could start moving at any second. The way the author split every scene, every moment, and every action into small squares also helped with the reading, at least in my opinion. I assumed that no overlapping panels would make something seem constricted, but in this case, I believed it worked to the artist’s benefit. Every page felt organized and concise, sort of similar to the world/worlds he illustrated. I also felt like the vintage type feel of the paper grain put a nice contrast to the almost futuristic yet fantastical environment he put...

     Before really reading the history of comics I thought that I may have a passable understanding of comic history and comic books in general, but this was a perfect read to prove me wrong. From the introduction alone, it reminded me of a period of time in my sophomore year where I had chosen to write a short brief about comic book history. I recognized terms like the golden, silver, and bronze age of comics from the multiple books I had checked out from the library but after reading The Comic Book History of the Comics, I’m not sure if they even can compare. For one, I really appreciated the narrative of storytelling within this book, not only by telling it in a comic book art style but also in a comic book story type of way. With other history books, it often felt like one long drag of info-dumping on a straight axis timeline rather than a flow of events displaying the multiple impacts of individual people and companies. One of the two most prominent features I tend t...