Blacksad

This week we look a comics found around the world... I picked up Blacksad. Let me start this off and say that I'm not a furry or into furries! However, I found this comic to be extremely enjoyable! The art was beyond gorgeous, I mean, the details found in each of the panels was breath taking. The anthropomorphic animal characters I thought was a nice break from the human centered comics I have been reading lately. The film noir style was also very attractive, I have always found film noir to be very dramatic and very attention grabbing. All in all, this comic was just screaming to be read.. so I did. John Blacksad, I found to be very down to earth, and realistic. He shares many problems that normal people have everyday. He ran from the police since he was young and grew up in a bad part of town, now he runs around doing detective type work. He is a very intense character and that's what I love about him. I thought this comic was also very well thought out in that all the animal species are specifically picked and have something to do with defining the character. For example, the officials are portrayed as German Shepard's and the bleak and dark characters can be reptiles. When I picture a cop, I automatically think of a guard dog or a blood hound.. This comic is so clever in this aspect. It really make the positions these characters are in believable- even though they are animals!    

Astro Boy

   Now, I want to first start this post off by saying that I'm definitely not a huge fan of Manga.. and Anime in general. I never got into it when I was younger, and as I got older I never found it very appealing. I don't understand the need to emphasis the emotions in such an exaggerated form, and why most of the Manga comics out there seem to be so far fetched. This is all my opinion of course- I know plenty of people who love Manga and I respect that! I just never got into it and probably never will. So with that said when this week rolled up and we had to go out and find a Manga to read I had a very hard time choosing. I ended up deciding to go with Astro Boy.

I felt that Astro Boy had more of a generic simplistic plot- the boy is a robot, lets watch him fight bad guys. Simple right? Well, as I dived into it the plot became more interesting-- if not disturbing. A father who is also a scientist looses his boy to a car accident and decided to recreate a robot of him to fill the void. Sounds a lot like the movie AI to me.. but I digress. The father soon finds out that his new robot son cannot fill the void of his lost son and rejects him. Astro boy ends up in a circus for some time before he is found by a man who is the head of the ministry of science.. from there on out Astro Boy fights crime and saves the day! Not super involved, but I will admit that I didn't put the comic down- I finished it. I didn't feel like this was the best comic I ever read.. but it defiantly wasn't the worst. I guess I'm just not cut out for Manga.. or at least not right now.

I will point out however-- that I have watched Wolf's Rain and found that anime very enjoyable! So don't take me as a hater, please. 

American Born Chinese

This week I chose to check out American Born Chinese. The stereotyping can be seen just in the title of this comic- blatantly labeling this character with his race. I enjoyed the fact that his comic has three different sections to it, with them all combining in the end and effecting each other. This helped keep the plot interesting, and prevented boredom. The tale that I found most intriguing would be the second tale with the boy, Jin, I thought his struggles and daily challenges caused by his stereotype was very heart wrenching. His crush on Amelia was very touching and cute and I appreciate the fact that she didn't let the cultural differences change her thoughts and feelings for Jin- unlike their classmates. I seem to find out right stereotyping so hard to watch-- or in this case read. Especially, when we are all human- we all make the same mistakes and have feelings. The other two tales dealing with kung-fu and Chinese folk lore was also a nice touch- it gave me a cool incite into some of the cultural aspects in China. The next thing that stood out to me was the style found in this comic- I adore the simplicity of the characters. I believe this makes it easier for me to relate to them, and to create an attachment to them. It made me really feel for Jin and all his obstacles he had to face. In the end, I thought this was a very good read.

MAUS

MAUS

Art Spiegelman

I've seen this novel sitting on the shelf at the book store on many, many visits. I never really had a reason to pick it up- it seems like a rather depressing book from just the cover. Now, that I've been giving a reason to give this book a try, I'm so glad that I did. The initial idea of the book is a story from the Holocaust, except that the Jews are portrayed as mice and the Germans as cats. This difference in species is very important, in my opinion, because it visually shows that the Germans saw a huge difference between them and the Jews- so much so, it was like the Jews were a different species. I also was researching this and found that he idea for Jews as mice was taken right from Nazi propaganda- they would make the Jews out as "vermin" that needed to be eradicated (truly disgusting if you as me). You learn right off the bat that the author of this book wants to tell his fathers Holocaust story. The book is actually split into different parts based on time- things that happened in the past to Vladek and things going on in the present. There for the book has two different storylines happening- Vladek's experiences during WWII and the relationship he shares with his son. It seems that Vladek is haunted by the Holocaust even after it is over and done with- he makes many comparisons to the Holocaust to his son through out the story- for example: when Art was a boy and fell on his roller skates and his friend continues on without him. Instead of Vladek being a normal parent and comforting his child he decided to relate this incident to when he was in the Holocaust. Another big theme I noticed in this book is all the feelings of guilt that Art has about the things going on in his life, like his guilt about his mother and not being the best son. There is also guilt that Valdek and Art both seem to share about the Holocaust- Valdek by living through it and surviving and Art by growing up with two parents that survived the Holocaust. Besides the thrilling storyline there is also the images going with the words- Maus seems to have a very distinct art style that is very gritty and simplistic. I believe the simplicity is very important to this book, in that, it makes it very easy for the reader to get lost in the story and truly walk in Art's or Vladek's shoes. In turn, the reader fully understands all the underlining meanings and feelings found between the panels. I also like that it is in black and white- I think this also helps with keeping the harsh, cold feeling that can be found in this book. The black and white print reminds me of prison colors- which the mice were prisoners so it fits. In the end, I believe this book is really a great read- truly inspirational, but also very emotional and depressing. You can really learn a lesson or two by reading a book like this.

 

Blankets

I found Blankets to be a very different comic book then what I was expecting.. I went into it thinking that it would be a simple, cute love story about a guy and a girl- boy, was I wrong. The first thing I thought was wild was that the main character is the creator as a young boy. So, this is the story of his adolescence. I also found his struggles in his love life and his religious views to be intriguing. There were some parts of the comic that I found some what disturbing and was shocked to see- but I guess its a good thing because it causes me to keep on reading. I found the break up in the end to be inevitable and quite sad. From an art stand point I found the style to be very simplistic and pleasing for the eyes. It's art like this that inspires me to one day make a comic of my own! The drawings are iconic enough that in some cases in the story I could put myself in the characters place and really relate to him/her. The set up of the comic was another reason I found this to be a great read- it was never hard for me to follow, but it almost had some of its own unique ways of telling the story with crazy looking panels. All in all, even though I found some of it shocking, I did come to realize that this is really an awesome comic book.