Week six

This week I read some Zap Comixs in addition to the other underground comics that we read in class.

    The underground comics overall resembles more with the newspaper comics in terms of format, and is less like a graphic novel. For the most part they don’t have a lot of variations with different angles and shots to tell a story. The stories are often short and not as complex as for example Will Eisner’s stories. That is why they don't really require dynamic film language to make their story work. Some of the underground comics are heavily objectifying women. I really don't like some of the underground comics about that.

   Compared to the other underground comics that I read in class, “Zap Comix” doesn't have a lot of sexual related subjects and the use of drug. It is in a way not so much different then that of a newspaper comic strip. In the first strip the way he draws himself as a character and said he was up to something is quite interesting. 

week five

    For this week I read Will Eisner's "A Contract with God." I think my reading experience with this graphic novel is a very nice one. This graphic novel is very engaging to read.

    When I was reading it, my feel as though I was watching a hand drawn film. Will Eisner used different types of shots and the continuity between the pictures to keep the story flowing like a movie would. A notable thing for me for “A Contract with God” is that there are a lot of long silent parts in the story. Almost like what Shaun Tan did, Will Eisner also had to make good use of cinematic languages to tell his story.

    Personally, I think the part about the street singer is the most interesting. Everything that happened to the protagonist is without proof that they actually happened. And on top of that, he also could not find his way back to the famous singer’s place anymore. If he could not go back, there was no way he could prove anything to anyone. It feels like non of this might not have happened at all. Everything might just be in his own head. He was just imagining everything.

    I also enjoyed Will Eisner’s drawing style. It's not in a tightly rendered style or a clean style. It is overall nicely drawn with a bit of roughness and life to it. 

week three

    As of the comics that I read for this week, the Little Nemo stories and Prince Valiant stories are more interesting for me to read compared to the others.

    For the most part, I’m not very used to reading comics that are meant for newspaper strips. A lot of the newspaper strip format comics don’t have a variety of shots and the drawings are very simple. Sometimes the gags are somewhat hard for me to understand. I would find myself staring at a comic strip for longer period of time then most other people.

   I think the reason I like Little Nemo and Prince Valiant better is because they are both in some ways different then most other newspaper comic strips. Little Nemo is elaborately drawn and is full of interesting details of the characters and the environments. It is interesting enough just to simply look at the beautifully drawn pictures. And also, the way Little Nemo woke up is somehow different every time is interesting for me.

    The reason I like Prince Valiant better is not only because this is also drawn with a lot of details. Prince Valiant is more like an illustrated storybook then a newspaper comic strip. There are a lot of descriptions as appose to dialogues, and also a lot of variety in different types of shots.