Angelica Centeno's LMST340 Blog

Jack Kirby held a tough and semi-successful career filled with stolen fame and plenty of comics, and his work greatly influenced the rise of comics in the middle of the 20th century. It was interesting to learn that his work with Stan Lee was a more collaborative effort, and frustrating to see that Stan could not have shred the limelight with the person who helped make these stories a reality. Although popular for the time, I struggled through the  Best of Young Romance  and  Challengers of the Unknown.  One huge impression is the amount of work Kirby has done, and the range of his material, especially when it came to his romance comics.  Young Romance's  stories were definitely dramatic and often filled with cliches, although they were probably not cliche at the time of its original publication. As for  Challengers of the Unknown,  these definitely fill the pattern of handsome heroes get in trouble or find trouble, then heroes find a way to ...

Windsor McCay, although not the inventor of comics nor animation, can be considered one of the great early innovators for both forms of media. He can also be considered an absolute workhorse, creating a massive amount of political illustrations and comics over the course of his career- but on top of that, also creating thousands upon thousands of images for his animations as well. I would focus more on his animations, but to me, his comics are the star of the show (not to mention this is a course on comic literature). His comics are exceptionally drawn, when compared to other comics of the time period, and even current comics on occasion struggle to be even near the quality of McCay's works. Especially with what I consider his greatest work, Little Nemo, he pushed the boundaries that were set in that time period with his creative paneling and almost making each panel its own full illustration. The work he was passionate about almost always was filled with joy and wonder, and the ch...

After going through The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, I found what to me was one of the most well-made works was  Gasoline Alley . It really stood out to me with it's vibrant colors and marvellous display of craftsmanship, often changing design and inspiration every page. The comic almost feels like a love letter to both comics and the different art movements, that each page features, somehow without any jarring contrast. It really feels like the characters belong in the world, no matter how artful or strange it gets, Frank King was always able to create a strong sense of unity in the works. It feels almost like the dialogue takes a back seat as you instead catch yourself in the artwork or the strange and intricate composition like for the one where the entire page is one continuous background. The second to last Gasoline Alley comic in the book seems to be a homage to Little Nemo by Winsor McCay, at least I assume so, as one of the main characters falls asleep and hi...

 Making comics is not simply just a good read for people who want to make comics-it is almost an invaluable resource. Although outdated due to the rise of digital media in the 2000s, most of its material is still relevant, as the elements of comics still remain the same. I have found myself over the past few months referring back to a chapter or two whenever I am unsure about a decision I need to make. The book even has some additional information about each topic discussed at the end of each chapter, including exercises and references to other works. It is difficult to pinpoint what parts of the book I found most important, but I can go through some of my favorite chapters. The first chapter, simply named 'Writing with Pictures, discusses the ways panels transition, such as action to action and subject to subject, to name two. This chapter gives you a great understanding of how and what to communicate to viewers through images, and makes you think ' is this panel saying anythi...

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is an immigration story. The story is able to distinctly depict how it truly feels moving to a new place by creating a new world filled with unique traditions, foods, and all about general world building. Everything from transportation to how to get food has been meticulously picked over and made truly alien. The way the world is built, it feels almost like all of humanity discovered a new planet or continent, and because this place was so isolated, it had no influence from the rest of the world, therefore this world was built in a vacuum and became unrecognizable to us nor the characters who move here. Doing this meant that no one that would read this would ever relate to the this place, and makes us just as confused as the main character, making the story very immersive. This story offers a truly unique point of view for those who have never experienced anything like this before. My mother moved to the United States from Puerto Rico when I was still fairly yo...

 Page 167 of The Comic Book History of Comics introduces us to Classics Illustrated, which were comic book adaptations of classic works of literature. This peaked my interest as I had been considering doing a literary comic adaption for my thesis. Although not my sole reason, I had read a graphic novel adaptation of Beowulf during middle school, and it had entranced me and was subconsciously one of the reasons I became not only a fan of literature, but of more sophisticated comics as well. More recently, I had discovered a renewed passion for both after reading an adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, which was illustrated by Brenna Thummler (an RCAD alumni) and published fairly recently in 2017. Thanks to that book, I had this idea for thesis. From further research, I had discovered that a majority, if not all, of their stories were based on pieces of literature that was public domain, meaning that it was no longer copyrighted and could be used without any legal strife. Another thin...