scott schoenike's blog

 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...

 It's very easy to see the appeal of comics in the 20's and beyond. Television wouldn't become mainstream for another 30 years, which made them the perfect form of entertainment. People love action, adventure, and stories which are very simple to understand. and comics brought all of this to the table. Sure as they evolved over time they eventually became more and more complex (then simple again and the complex and so on) but during this time, anyone could pick up any issue and not only know what was going on, but also be entertained by it. Another appeal was the price. Comics were extremely cheap to create, and as a result it made them easy to sell and easy to make. From a business standpoint, early comics were targeted at kids more than adults, which made the simple stories work even better. However it wasn't always just dumb entertainment. comics would reflect the views of the times, such as during world war 2 when the world was dark and depressing, comics gave us ri...

  The comic I read was called Gasoline Alley. I do not see many specifics as to which one this was, but I do know it was the comic on page 115 of the Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics. The comic stood out to me as having these strange, trippy, dream-like scenes throughout the entire comic. While this one takes place in a dream so this weird abstract world makes sense, this was a lot more common in early comic strips then I originally anticipated. Tons of comics strips throughout the 20’s to 30’s had weird almost abstract drawings, which is interesting because the medium was in its early stages and already people were experimenting with it. The prevalence of this type of art style also shows that, while not the most popular, it was very popular amongst the average comic strip reader. Which is odd because now these hyper abstract worlds have fallen (for the most part) out of popularity. In Fact it seems that this shift even happened by the end of the 30’s. In this issue of G...

  In understanding comics, there are several points which i think are very important, but one of the most important is understanding transitions from one panel to another. Understanding the 6 different types of panel to panel transitions is important to not confuse the reader of a comic. Much like in story boarding or creating a movie, you must not let the view get confused as to where everything is in relation to other things. Once the viewer loses their spatial awareness, they will become confused and their immersion has been broken and their enjoyment might have been tampered with. I also found his analysis of Japanese versus European and American comics to be very interesting. Different cultures will create different standards for entertainment no matter where they are. It’s an observation that is obvious when pointed out but unnoticed when it is not. Americans want simple uncomplicated stories but because they are easier to understand and because of the limited space our comic...