Angelica Centeno's LMST340 Blog

 Assignments: 39 Attendance: 8 Total: 47

  Maus definitely lives up to all the good things I have heard about it since I first became interested in comics. It had always been on my list, and I am glad to have finally had the time and opportunity to read such a monumental work. Its storytelling is straight to the point, and chronologically shares the story of the author's father, who was was a Jewish man in Poland during World War II, and how he and his wife survived through sheer luck, kindness, and resourcefulness.  This isn't all these books provided, as between parts of the story, we are taken to the present day, where Art, the author, is in the process of interviewing his father. We are shown a window into the rest of Vladek's life, and that they do not get along very well, but love each other much the same, even if it isn't said within the story itself. These two intertwining stories leaves the reader on the edge of their seat. I for one, would be desperately reading through each section, wanting to know ...

 The Complete Wimmin's Comix are probably one of my favorite things I have read, as most of the stuff we have read so far is very male-centric, with female roles are few and far in between, and are often the role of damsel in distress or a love interest. The stories in this compilation of work definitely represents the feminizm that really began to flourish during this time, as many of the stories featured women struggling and their transition to empowerment, and other tough subjects like abortion and sexuality. My favorites would have to be Monday , Lavender, and Breaking Out.  Coincidentally, all three of these were in the same book, and the beginning of the reading (I swear I read a lot more than just the first segment), but these three stood out to me the most.   Monday is about a woman at work, being the Jungle Queen (a parody of Tarzan, King of the Apes,) who fights for the equality of women before being woken up by her reality. Lavender talks about a powerful...

   Contract with God  by Will Eisner is one of my favorite things that I have read for this class. Its stories are very well written and interestingly formatted, feeling almost like a fusion between novel and comic, which I guess makes sense, since it is a graphic novel. Each story feels complete and are very well written, featuring a cast of characters filled to the brim with personalities, woes, and aspects that make them all feel truly human. The shared environment after each story feels like you are more immersed within the beautifully hatched environment. Speaking of which, the artwork is phenomenal. The composition is immaculate, the use of hatching to create his environments creates strong silhouettes and defines a great sense of space within the panel. His characters have an amazing flow and are uniquely designed, having their own shapes. My favorite story would have to be Contract with God. The grieving man forsaking his religion, finding it dissatisfied, and try...

 I read E.C Comic's Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, and Weird Fantasy. Weird Science and Weird Fantasy  can easily be paired together. Both focus on a collection of stories about mysterious circumstances, whose settings were either present day their time, the past, or a sci-fi/fantasy setting. These works featured everyday normal characters discovering a strange creature, item, or person, and either destroying or surviving the strange event. The events are often unexplained and left to mystery. These stories can get a little spooky, and shows slight graphical elements, such as dead people and cut fingers, nothing too hard core, unlike Tales from the Crypt. If there was any reason for the Comics Code Authority to be created, it was definitely these comics, and not Weird Science and Fantasy. Although maybe not as powerful of a scary story during the 21st century (that might just be my opinion,) but it definitely has some kick, with more nasty stories and visuals. Half rotte...

Calvin and Hobbes combines the day to day struggles of a child, the power of imagination, and a teaspoon of introspection. The dynamic duo's day to day shenanigans remind me what it was like to be that age, but also a sense of wonder that was lost as we grew older. Yet, at the same time, Calvin is able to create powerful mental visuals that would make any child jealous, and spew out more adult concepts, such as celebrity, that could at least make any adult smirk. Unfortunately, reading Calvin and Hobbes when I was little was a bit of a struggle. The visuals were quite pretty, but the words were too much and went over my head. As a result, I was often bored by it and only occasionally read it when I was truly desperate for any for of entertainment. Unfortunately a few years back I gave it away as a birthday gift, which I deeply regret today. Even now, on the more complex stories I have to slowly ready word to word to ensure I'm getting it right, but that might just be me. I'...

 Peanuts is one of the most iconic comic strips, and for good reason. A charming cast of characters, and a nearly family friendly attitude has charmed countless of generations. I selected works from 1950, 1975, and 2000, since they are exactly 25 years apart from each other. 1950 was the most different, with a more circular style to the kids characters, and much less unique (at least I think so). The kids have more of a classic 1950's overly simplified cartoon look, while the new style has more fun with shapes, and tends to over exaggerate and have more fun with the shapes overall. I would say the newer version is the superior style, as there is more room for expression and fluidity, compared to its circular and stiff ancestor. The story was more rude, with a girl even giving one of the boys a black eye for no reason! There were some sweets moments sprinkled in very occasionally. 1975 has the classic Peanuts look, and the ratio of sweet to rude evens out a bit more, with a greater ...

 Herriman's work is charming, and takes what Winsor McCay invented, and polishes the technique. From what I can tell from the two Krazy Kat animations, the characters are now separated from their backgrounds, giving the animators the ability to reuse and loop animations, unlike in McCay's work, where he had to instead play it forwards and backwards as a result. As for the comics, unfortunately, they were inaccessible from the weekly assignment page (404), but I was able to find some bits online. One strip that greatly intrigued me was the one where the mouse was telling her kids to accept Krazy into their family, and the children asking whether to refer to Krazy as aunt or uncle, which the mouse replies, 'Suit Yourself'. I think I vaguely recall Dr. Steiling mentioning that Krazy's gender changes throughout the comic. I would love in the future get a better opportunity to read more about this, as well as the comic as a whole. From the little I read, the characters a...