I remember first picking up Bone in '97 (I know because my Aunt sent it to me with a pack of the trading cards and a calendar from that year) and reading the over-sized comic with my dad. It was the only book I owned that wouldn't fit on the shelf, we had to keep it next to the atlas. We read up to The Dragon Slayer, which was all that was out at the time, but that's as far as we got. A few years back I tried to find my old copies of the book, but it seems my mothers favorite slogan "if in doubt throw it out" finally related itself to something other than lettuce. It was great to finally be able to pick up the series again, I read the series in 2 days.
The art, characters, conversation and the structure are incredible. I really enjoyed it.
pg 249 Art of carrying on a conversation and the stupid rat creature on the left always brings up quiche... again happens on 484, quiche rat is on left
pg 258 it disquieted me that he went on watch and wrote a letter, the way this was inserted was strange but i'm not so sure its a good point.
pg 283 i like how the background functions to portray the mod, and how the dream panels are all the same horizontal shapes.
pg 334 interesting dramatic motivation, but not totally logical, don't understand why, if Grandma Ben was going to walk off, she would have announced herself by opening the door. but still fun
pg387 grandma ben looks like joan of arc.
pg 497, the way the villagers have changed the log into a wall is very Zelda-y actually all of the villager mentality that we overhear feels like walking around Zelda. Also, apparently Zelda is a recognized proper noun in spell check.
pg 754 and 755 i like how the two actions are proceeding in different directions, that plus the rain makes it feel even further out.
pg 916 i like how the scythe is given a back story. Instead of making it just the Grim Reaper icon... or at least to transcend it.
I love the series
Made me cry
I like that the belief system of the bones is more modern and fits us even though we can physically relate to the image of the valley dwellers. Although in Scott McCloud's comics he mentioned that we can more redily relate to more abstracted figures.
I love Bartleby and the Red Dragon.
Points: page155 Tom Looks a little like Rasl
Friday, March 26, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
JOKER Origin story, Batman #1 (Spring 1940)
Like "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" the Joker was based off of an earlier issue of The Shadow.
Bob Kane's Joker is more fleshed out than the character appearing in The Shadow's Grim Joker, and whereas the first issue of Batman was a brief imitation of another story, the Joker is enriched. The story too covers a wider scope than Police HQ and Crime Scenes.
This issue begins with an older couple listen to The Joker as he publicly broadcasts his threats. The murders themselves are again very similar to the style of deaths in the beginning of "The Partners of Peril" but there is something to showing an old couple listening to the radio, the mob boss reacting in public to The Joker's kills, that adds depth to Gotham.
Also the language used in the comic is great, very period. (Haymaker) And some of the fight scenes read like boxing matches, which is no longer the same popular, widely broadcasted sport.
From this new creation of the Joker, the Joker's public announcements continue with the character. In the Burton movie Jack Nicholson, as The Joker, holds a parade to deplore his gas, in The Animated Series Christmas episode The Joker holds a special broadcast taking over all radio stations, and in the most recent movie, "The Dark Knight," Heath Ledger as The Joker announces, like in this comic, who he will kill in advance, and eventually sets public threats, bombing a hospital, and threatening two boats full of people. This public threat and his games, challenges, and wagers, are what really make the character. As a mortician running a crime circle in "The Grim Joker" the character was just strange. The Jokers disguise as the chief of police in this episode is awesome, in "The Grim Joker" the Joker full time acted as one of the members of the crime investigators. I like that the Joker in this simply drugged the real chief police. So much simpler, impulsive.
Bob Kane's Joker is more fleshed out than the character appearing in The Shadow's Grim Joker, and whereas the first issue of Batman was a brief imitation of another story, the Joker is enriched. The story too covers a wider scope than Police HQ and Crime Scenes.
This issue begins with an older couple listen to The Joker as he publicly broadcasts his threats. The murders themselves are again very similar to the style of deaths in the beginning of "The Partners of Peril" but there is something to showing an old couple listening to the radio, the mob boss reacting in public to The Joker's kills, that adds depth to Gotham.
Also the language used in the comic is great, very period. (Haymaker) And some of the fight scenes read like boxing matches, which is no longer the same popular, widely broadcasted sport.
From this new creation of the Joker, the Joker's public announcements continue with the character. In the Burton movie Jack Nicholson, as The Joker, holds a parade to deplore his gas, in The Animated Series Christmas episode The Joker holds a special broadcast taking over all radio stations, and in the most recent movie, "The Dark Knight," Heath Ledger as The Joker announces, like in this comic, who he will kill in advance, and eventually sets public threats, bombing a hospital, and threatening two boats full of people. This public threat and his games, challenges, and wagers, are what really make the character. As a mortician running a crime circle in "The Grim Joker" the character was just strange. The Jokers disguise as the chief of police in this episode is awesome, in "The Grim Joker" the Joker full time acted as one of the members of the crime investigators. I like that the Joker in this simply drugged the real chief police. So much simpler, impulsive.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Legend of the BATMAN - Origin Story
In the 2005 film "Batman Begins" we rediscover Batman's past. The first page is the same, while the second page explores Batman's training and self discovery. But still the ideas that he studied, that he trained, that he used his wealth in the end and that his costume is a symbol of fear are included. I like though how the inspiration for Bruce Wayne's disguise, and his past are fleshed out.
In Batman Year One by Frank Miller the simplicity of Batman's origin story is used in short form. It can be summed up that: Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered in front of him when he was young. He inherited their fortune.
Wolverine's origin story is similar, his desire to recover his past, and punish those who made him a weapon drives him through several stories. The level on which the origin story creates the character in both Wolverine and Batman is different than that of The Spirit in this way. The Spirit was already fighting crime, he just changed his identity, and gained some powers. Batman and Wolverine undergo physical transformation, but their personalities, obsessions, and morals were created with them.
This is one reason why revenge is such a powerful narrative device. By implying the concept of revenge one makes assumptions about the society, the world, the identity and the sanity of the avenger. The loss of a family, or a loved one, is enough for a member of the audience to understand revenge. If the audience does not understand the motivation for the revenge, the character seems unstable.
Revenge happens because society does not grant justice to the avenger. Usually the revenge happens outside of societies methods. Gotham city is corrupt, and for Batman to seek justice he must fight his way around the law. Outside of society.
The revenge also deals with a loss of identity, which is what makes Wolverine's revenge powerful. Bruce Wayne looses his parents, which effects his identity from son to orphan (in a blunt/direct statement). The Shadow looses his physical identity, but the portion of his world we had seen, the portion of his life, did not change. He was positively identified as a detective, in his death this identity did not change.
Idk, its 3 in the morning and I'm playing around with these ideas. Let me know what you think.
May, 1939 The Batman! (The Case of the Chemical Syndicate)
Going into this issue of Batman I had read that Bill Finger was influenced by Walter B. Gibson's issue of The Shadow "The Partners of Peril" and I knew that the premise was the same, but I didn't assume that the comic would be a sparknotes of the fiction. There isn't much to say for the writing. Some of the dialogue indicates, not trusting the images enough, but its fine.
Today in my storyboarding class the professor recommended keeping a bible of every day things, anything that is interesting. Floor patterns, furniture, etc. I had heard this before, from I think it was the Art Crumb documentary Crumb, in which the famous cartoonist goes through Polaroids he's kept of telephone poles and buildings.
With this in mind I went back through the batman comics, and I noticed that there aren't telephone poles or even much detail in the background.
The negative space is lighter than the filled space, which has a darker grade.
Today in my storyboarding class the professor recommended keeping a bible of every day things, anything that is interesting. Floor patterns, furniture, etc. I had heard this before, from I think it was the Art Crumb documentary Crumb, in which the famous cartoonist goes through Polaroids he's kept of telephone poles and buildings.
With this in mind I went back through the batman comics, and I noticed that there aren't telephone poles or even much detail in the background.
Most of the backgrounds in the comic are different gradients. I didn't notice the flat space this created, or the lack of background detail while I was reading it, but it works, its something I didn't really think of before. Which makes the items in the room more prop like. The details all do set the tone, and aren't ever in excess in the frame. The technology is very period, and each of the suits has excellent, and different texture.
The negative space is lighter than the filled space, which has a darker grade.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Rasl: The Drift
I haven't seen a face like Rasl's in a long time. I know from the interviews from Jeff Smith about Rasl that he wasn't trying to create a good guy, that he wanted his character to have low morals. It interesting then how he created his character.
The roundness and pug nose of RASL, the heavy eye brows, both remind me of early American Gangsters, with faces like James Cagney's
Or the man on the left from The Sting. I wish there were a profile image of him, but his nose is shaped very differently than anyone I see on the street these days, and its not just a difference in costume. RASL's long hair and clothes don't scream the 30's, but I can't get past the association of his face. I always associate that style mug with characters like the ones played by Cagney or Bogart, The Ellery Queen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellery_Queen) man. The character with unscrupulous morals, but not really a bad guy, and dispite his associations, usually has a big heart and keen sense of justice.
From the interviews we had listened to in class, I was expecting a character a little less stock, and a little more immoral.
I can't say this story grabbed me. The ideas are cool, and I like the machine's design, but I don't feel the space really exists, or that Smith is choosing the most interesting ways to tell the story.
(Insert page 31)
There is also a lack of shadows which is interesting for a noir comic. It feels like light is existing everywhere, as opposed to the desert where shadows are generally long or distorted.
The roundness and pug nose of RASL, the heavy eye brows, both remind me of early American Gangsters, with faces like James Cagney's
Or the man on the left from The Sting. I wish there were a profile image of him, but his nose is shaped very differently than anyone I see on the street these days, and its not just a difference in costume. RASL's long hair and clothes don't scream the 30's, but I can't get past the association of his face. I always associate that style mug with characters like the ones played by Cagney or Bogart, The Ellery Queen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellery_Queen) man. The character with unscrupulous morals, but not really a bad guy, and dispite his associations, usually has a big heart and keen sense of justice.
From the interviews we had listened to in class, I was expecting a character a little less stock, and a little more immoral.
I can't say this story grabbed me. The ideas are cool, and I like the machine's design, but I don't feel the space really exists, or that Smith is choosing the most interesting ways to tell the story.
(Insert page 31)
There is also a lack of shadows which is interesting for a noir comic. It feels like light is existing everywhere, as opposed to the desert where shadows are generally long or distorted.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Batman Year One
I really enjoyed reading Frank Miller's Batman Year One. There is more gravity to the crime presented in this comic than in other comics we've read this semester. In both The Spirit and The Shadow the crime affects those who have, more or less, willingly participated in it. There still seems to be a sphere in which crime does not exist. But in Batman Year One all of Gotham is supersaturated with crime, and it seems like all Gordan and Batman can do to fight it in a comic world of deep reads, blues and purples, hardly any greens but as highlights.
Adding to the tone as well is the use of 'gutters' in the comic. Scott McCloud, in his "Understanding Comics" explains gutters as being the space in between panels, in which different amounts of time can exist. This page of the comic is a perfect example of that. The big squares of black note the conscious state of the commissioner as time passes through the actions of Batman.
The black panels again note Batman's helplessness/unconsciousness:
Details like this are personal, which is another aspect of Batman Year One that sets it apart from the earlier comics we've been reading. Batman is very human, unlike The Spirit, who, in his origin story, instantly gives up his life to become the ultimate detective, or The Shadow who miraculously solves crimes off screen, or senses danger through superhuman, yet unexplained skills. Miller shows Batman failing, and learning how to become the vigilantly icon he is today. He explains to the audience how Batman manages to achieve what he does. This exposition of his strengths and weaknesses makes Batman more human, more relate-able.
Adding to the tone as well is the use of 'gutters' in the comic. Scott McCloud, in his "Understanding Comics" explains gutters as being the space in between panels, in which different amounts of time can exist. This page of the comic is a perfect example of that. The big squares of black note the conscious state of the commissioner as time passes through the actions of Batman.
The black panels again note Batman's helplessness/unconsciousness:
Details like this are personal, which is another aspect of Batman Year One that sets it apart from the earlier comics we've been reading. Batman is very human, unlike The Spirit, who, in his origin story, instantly gives up his life to become the ultimate detective, or The Shadow who miraculously solves crimes off screen, or senses danger through superhuman, yet unexplained skills. Miller shows Batman failing, and learning how to become the vigilantly icon he is today. He explains to the audience how Batman manages to achieve what he does. This exposition of his strengths and weaknesses makes Batman more human, more relate-able.
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