Wednesday, November 18, 2015


<3

Revised post - Women's comics



Safari Honeymoon was great, weird, and funny. It was definitely an enjoyable short comic.




I also read This One Summer. It's a great coming of age story about pre-teen girls and also just a great read in general. I think as an adult you can connect with the story. It really brings you back to those times when you start thinking about boys and wanting to be more grown up, as well as how you start to notice adult's relationships and how they affect you. It really captures what a pre-teens life is all about and that transition from a child to a young adult. It's beautiful written and illustrated. The images really add to the mood of the story and they give you a warm feeling.

I think we need more stories like this. Comics and graphic novels written by women, theres no reason why people should continue to see it as something that only men do or a boys thing.
I really connected with the story and it reminded me of how I felt as a pre-teen and how you want to change yourself and grow and be accepted by those older kids that you look up to and admire.

~

Women are definitely becoming more involved in reading and writing comics. There's a lot of support for that too from both women and men which is great. Of course there are still some ignorant folks that probably think women writing comics is stupid, but they can't stop the women who are doing a great job of bringing new content while helping to get rid of gender roles. 
It's specially helpful that the internet makes it easier for people to access these new comics that women are self publishing. They can also get support from their audiences by creating kickstarters and gofundme pages in order to help them with publishing their comics and continuing to their work. 
Women feel more encouraged to create their own comics and comic strips. I constantly see characters and comic strips done by female artists on sites like tumblr and it's great to see that growing. 

Week 13 ~ Reconsidering Superheroes


I grew up watching the Batman Animated Series on Cartoon network, it was a really great show. I never really had an interest in reading comics, specially superhero comics.
This week I read Arkham Asylum and its way darker than I thought and clearly intended for more mature audience. Unlike the Batman cartoons, this comic was dark and really showed a different side to Batman. The style of the illustrations are very expressive and perfectly fit the story. They further emphasize the dark and psychological themes. The type also fits each character. For example when it's the Joker talking they use a red on white font thats just crazy and really suitable to the character.
I think it's great that over time each super hero or villains show/cartoon have catered to audiences of different ages, as well as how much these characters have evolved. I never really watched the old Batman show with Adam West before, it's funny and I think it's also fitting to the style of the 60's.


Week 12 ~ Comics by women



Safari Honeymoon was great, weird, and funny. It was definitely an enjoyable short comic.




I also read This One Summer. It's a great coming of age story about pre-teen girls and also just a great read in general. I think as an adult you can connect with the story. It really brings you back to those times when you start thinking about boys and wanting to be more grown up, as well as how you start to notice adult's relationships and how they affect you. It really captures what a pre-teens life is all about and that transition from a child to a young adult. It's beautiful written and illustrated. The images really add to the mood of the story and they give you a warm feeling.

I think we need more stories like this. Comics and graphic novels written by women, theres no reason why people should continue to see it as something that only men do or a boys thing.
I really connected with the story and it reminded me of how I felt as a pre-teen and how you want to change yourself and grow and be accepted by those older kids that you look up to and admire.


Week 11 - Comics as Contemporary Literature





 I read The Bus. It takes one object and shows how many different and creative ways you can use it in a comic, it sort of messes with your head and show some fun and exciting scenarios that are impossible but make it a really interesting read. It's really fun and a nice break from comics with text. Sometimes just having images that you have to put together in order to understand whats going on works just as well for comics.





I also watched Persepolis, it's honestly one of the best things I"ve seen. I think it's great that it was made into an animation. It's really great to see an autobiographical graphic novel written by a woman of color who shows her perspective of things and life, and what her family and people in her culture have to go through. I think it's a great example comics as contemporary literature. It provides something fresh, something that I think is important to have. Comics and stories by people of other cultures should be supported more. 


Week 10 - Yaoi Cinderella



I read a lot Manga when I was in middle school. I was mostly interested in a lot of the magical girl
stories, some of the romantic shoujo manga as well. I hadn't read any since then and I decided to check out Yaoi Cinderella. The idea of Yaoi never appeals to me, even though male characters in manga have very feminine features as well. I think it's interesting and funny that yaoi is like erotic novels for housewives. It makes sense too that women would be the ones to enjoy it more. 
Like a lot of other mangas and anime this one was very dramatic. Manga about bands and artists seems to be very popular. I remember reading some about young girls that were singers and teen idols. 

Week 9 ~ World/ European Comics






European comics were different from American comics. They had a variety of different styles and attracted different audiences. Stories that could appeal more to adults as well. There is also nudity in some of the comics but it didn't feel like sexuality was the focus, unlike a lot of underground comics.
I looked at some of the Stories From Heavy Metal. The styles were really mature and not so cartoony, except for maybe the Horny Goof, but even that grew into something more serious and intricate.