scott schoenike's blog

 one of the first things I noticed about the comic march is the artwork. simply put: it is extremely good. The gestures are clear and easy to read, the facial expressions relay every little bit of emotion, the camera angles are dynamic and every panel aids in the visual storytelling. Even the more comic-y elements are amazing: the way that panels are used to express space and time is extremely successful, not to mention the clever things they do with the word bubbles. They change the shapes and fonts we see in the word bubbles to express a certain voice of the person talking, making it clear how a person is delivering a certain line to make the impact of it hit harder. The style is also extremely successful too: its very very real, why still being expressive enough to have personality, but not so much that you cannot take the matters seriously; which you could imagine is extremely important for this kind of story. I talked about this in the last entry and I am starting to think it ...

 according to my calculations I got a 70 for the mid term (35 points) , however I feel I have miscalculated or messed up on adding my points. I read everything which we were supposed to read and have engaged as much as possible in class and have not missed a single class to date, so I don't think this grade reflects my progress and the work i've put in for this class. I don't mean to sound cocking or anything like that (though it's hard not to with this kind of message), I just feel this grade is not a fair reflection of what I have done in this class and I deserve at least a B if not an A.

  I found the narrative style of Maus was extremely effective, jumping between the stories of the father telling his story and the actual story itself. It also helped to make it feel more real. with things like how the son is a comic artist who wants to do a story on the war, and also elements like the father telling his son not to include certain stories, helps to show just how autobiographical this narrative is. It helps to ground this story where most of the characters are anamorphic mice. I will say I wasn't super pleased with the art style and mouse imagery the author used. There is no real reason to draw them as mice, the story works just as well if not better with real humans. it's not even an allegory they talk about real people, places and events throughout the story and it would help to better sell the biopic nature of the narrative. also the drawings are not the best with facial expressions minimized due to the style of the artist. This hindered a lot of the emotiona...

     amongst the underground comics which i have read for this assignment, a common thread is a dedication to going purposefully against social and artistic norms. they have an objective of stirring the pot in such a way as to possibly push for some kind of change, or they may just be doing it because these are people who are less sensitive than others and find it funny when people are insulted by things they can calmly deal with.     for example, in air pirates funnies, they use images of cartoony, simple characters associated (at the time) with animation and news comics. However they pervert these images and add things like penises and vaginas and show these cute characters activity having sex with each-other. They are also very direct in having these characters use curse words. They ignore the rules of social convention (at the time) and sometimes they ignore the rules of copy right, showing characters like mickey mouse and friends doing things like...

 There is a very powerful level of engagement created in "contract with god" through the medium of the graphic novel. Not only was it a very powerful story, but the visual elements helped it a great deal. The low angles to show Hersch being weak and without power, versus the almost scary lighting and upshots on him when he takes control making him look intimidating, it all helps to really sell the story. Actually this was the most engaged i have been with any story we have read, and i firmly believe it was a combination of the strong story and the striking visuals. these same elements transfer over to blankets. a common technique used by the author was to use value and the roughness of line shading to create a certain mood. usually to emphasize a mood of depression. However in blankets the author also uses metaphorical imagery, such as exaggerating their size, or turning them into demons, or holy figures, thus getting use more into the mind and imagination of the view and thu...