Carl Barks and TinTin

The first comic I decided to read was from Carl Barks- it was one of his Donald Duck comics called "Have Gun, Will Dance". I found it to be very humorous and entertaining, it was also good to see a classic much loved cartoon character be the center of attention. I felt already attached while reading because I've known Donald Duck for so many years. I found that these comics also had a lot of dialog in them- which caused me to question who the target audience would be? I'm not sure a young kid would understand all the dialog in this book, although the pictures would be sufficient to keep their mind busy, the actual story would be lost. All in all, I really enjoyed reading Carl Barks and will continue to read his comics when I come across them.     

Next, I read Tin Tin- which I found to be a very fun comic. It does have a lot of words,  but it has a good plot line which keeps me interested and willing to read more. I thought the style was very intriguing, how the backgrounds were very realistic looking, in yet, the character's had a very simplistic cartoon style to them. Overall, a very good comic that I will defiantly read more of. 

Class Discussion 9/8/11

Dream of the Rarebit Fiend
 
Winsor McCay uses a lot of exaggeration and crazy scenarios in his dream panels and at the end of each strip the character is shown in bed waking up from this crazy dream. In the bed panel the character is usually in a position that hints back at what he was doing in his dream. Winsor's style is very gritty and rough, he uses just ink- no color. The comics seem to all be pretty outrageous and extreme- for example, in one of the comic's a man is run over by a vehicle multiple times and gradually looses his appendages. When it cuts back to the man in bed, you see just his head- which is recalling back to him loosing his body parts. 

These comics seem to be about how random our dreams can be. Winsor obviously makes these comics for comedy purposes. 

Krazy Kat

Immediately I got the impression that this comic is very slap stick- characters throwing things at each other, etc. The panel transitions are very reliant on the reader using there minds in some points to fill in the gutter, but then in other scenes the panels are seamless. The story going on in the comics can be hard to follow in some situations and the dialect can be quite strange. The style is very sketchy and reminds me of the Mutts comics in today's newspapers. This comic is also done in just ink with no color. The words and the actual pictures are very closely related- they look like they were done both by hand so they carry the same qualities. 

After reading a few Krazy Kat comics a theme begins to form, the reader knows to look forward to the characters beating on each other and the story to be very comical.

Little Nemo, Krazy Kat, Peanuts, and Calvin and Hobbes

Little Nemo

I found Little Nemo to be different from the other comics found on this list, because it seemed to be very deep and surreal. The comic seems to circle around this boy called Nemo, and what he dreams about. The last panel seems to always be him waking up from the dream, it has a very big Alice in Wonderland feel.. for example, one of the ones I read, he was walking through a garden with Flip and the plants were growing at an unreal rate- towering over Flip and Nemo. It looks like most of the comic strips all have this very trippy and unique style.  I like that it this way due to the fact that it will never get old, there is so much that the comic can do- there are no rules in dreamland.

Krazy Kat

Krazy Kat reminds me a lot of the current comic strip found in today's papers called Mutts- from a artistic aspect. Both strips have a very scratchy low detailed feel, where it is just done in ink very simplistically. It seems to be very slap stick like- characters throwing bricks or dangerous objects at each other. The main character Krazy Kat has a very distinct dialog that seems to be a mixture of different languages- for me this makes it kinda hard to interpret in some of the comic strips. I also had no idea that this was adapted into a cartoon, this I found to be very interesting!

Peanuts

I don't think there's anyone on this planet that hasn't at least heard of this comic strip. I've known about the Peanuts for as long as I can remember- on holiday's I would turn on the Peanuts show adaptions and watch The Great Pumpkin or a Charlie Brown Christmas. There are so many lovable characters found in this comic, there's something for everyone! Snoopy & Woodstock are always the fan favorites, and there's always Charlie Brown & his friends. I find it very cool that they have such a variety of characters- that they can focus on a set few every strip, that way its always fresh and new. Who could forget the skit where Charlie Brown tries to play football, but when he goes in for the kick Lucy is there to take the ball away.. CRASH Charlie falls flat on his back. When all the characters are gathered around the piano dancing to the music. Or when Snoopy sits on top of his dog house with pilot gear on, and flies his house around as if it was an actual plane! The Peanuts, in my opinion, was the beginning of bringing comics into the public's eye. People loved the Peanuts back then- and still do today! The Peanuts are still alive and thriving, and I'm sure for many more years to come.

Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes is probably one of my absolute favorite comic strips. I find the adventures this young boy has with his imaginary stuffed tiger adorable and hilarious. I usually take time to stop and read if I find a Calvin and Hobbes comic lying about. I've always been so fascinated by the fact that Hobbes is just a stuffed tiger to everyone but Calvin, and its interesting that he almost acts as the voice of reason or Calvin's conscience. To Calvin this stuffed tiger is his best friend and you can't help but fall in love with their funny escapades.