Angelica Centeno's LMST340 Blog

As someone who has only heard the retelling of Frankenstein , it is interesting to read this rendition, which assumedly, is fairly faithful to the original. The artstyle and writing is very accurate to the works created during this time, and there is nothing technically special about this work, which doesn't mean it's not good! The comic also does not hold back on the gore or violence, most likely to be a one to one reenactment of the original in these cases, although that is just an assumption. As I am in the process of adapting Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, I am surprised and intrigued how well 280 pages translated into a comic of a little over 48 pages, and give me hope, as Carmilla has only 108, and I am planning to do it in 32 pages. I am going to use another Classics Illustrated  that I have read the original for as a resource for the project. It's really interesting comparing what I supposedly thought was in the original story, actually wasn't. I also really enj...

 This is probably the first comic I've read for this class that I have read in the past, but, I wanted to read this because I hadn't in over 12 years. My family owned the first three books, and I would read them over and over again, I hope someday soon to finish reading the entire story, as I never had the opportunity. It's interesting comparing what I recall from the story and now, as when I was younger I was much more invested in the illustrations and the general plot, skimming through portions with lots of dialogue, getting the vague sense of what was happening. Now that I'm much older, I was able to enjoy the book as a whole, especially since I know know what a quiche is (when I was little, I thought the word was pronounced kwee-cheh haha), and that I'm actually paying attention to the dialogue and learning about the characters the way I am supposed to. The artwork is very clean, and the human characters give me the sense of almost gritty-disney. As for the Bone...

 I read the first chapter/issue of Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes , written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg. Although I am still unsure of the setting of the story, whether it is the realm of all dreams or just one person, I found the whole concept quite intriguing. Gaiman created a strange world filled with characters from many different mythos, such as Cain and Able from the Bible, Hypnos, the Greek God of Dreams, and the three that are one, which are found in many different mythos, and refer to them as such. During the scene where the older woman wanted to see her son, I was very concerned when they referred to the place where he was imprisoned as 'Arkam'. The dread of this possibly being connected to superhero comics was confirmed by the eldest fate, who says Hypnos' stone was with the Justice League. I really enjoy the tone and interest of this comic, and I am curious to read more in the future and see how Gaiman writes these well know...

Ghost in the Shell , as well as many other manga and graphic novels throughout my journey. has been strongly recommended to me again and again, and once more, definitely lived up to the hype. The artstyle is very much closer to what I expect for the time period, with some surprisingly adorable chibi faces mixed in dor tasteful comedic effect. Although both have their distinct differences, Akira  by Katsuhiro Otomo definitely has a similar energy within its tone and themes, although the world-building surpasses even Cowboy Bebop (created by  Shinichirō Watanabe), although both approach their stories with an episodic approach, having the characters each volume/episode focus on one villain. Ghost in the Shell's world building is extremely powerful, with an entire chapter dedicated to how androids are created, and the team's adorable AI robot assistants contemplating revolution. Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, and Akira all have their similarities when it comes to tones and etho...

  Phoenix 1: Dawn  is made by Osamu Tezuka who is considered the godfather/god of manga. This is the first time I had the opportunity to read something by the prestigious author, and I am fairly surprised! I wasn't sure what to expect. but it certainly was not what this piece was. The story followed a group of characters and their journey through life, with an ever-present Phoenix that is a cause for some of the events. Many of the characters featured actually came from Japanese history and Folklore, with its plot being carried by the historical time period. Other things that surprised me was the style and humor of the Manga. Tezuka's style is definitely iconic, especially to anyone who had watched or read Astro Boy , one of Tezuka's better-known works. His artwork is very simplified and round,  and very cutesy. As someone who has read many modern Manga, this one certainly threw me through a loop, as Tezuka's style and form of comedy strongly differs to what you would s...

 I read Moebius' The Goddess, The Garden of Aedna, Upon a Star, and Harzach.  The first three were for the ongoing story of the two characters Stel and Atan, and their strange and amazing journey throughout space and existence itself. I unfortunately read them out of order, but were my favorites to read. The visual appeal combined with the colors lead to crisp and clean drawings and interesting moody colors with great draftsmanship. At points the story can seem so tame and within almost realism while still within this fantasy world, and at other points, the pages seem also psychedelic with its shapes and brilliant colors, which is a strong contrast against its strong and straight lines.  The story itself felt ever winding, as it felt almost like each book focuses on a new world and slowly slugs away in regards to plot- to the point of almost distinct transformation. For example, Atana starts as a genderless human thing to a woman to a goddess. As for Harzach , the entire ...

  Andre the Giant: Life and Legend by Box Brown  opens up the comic with a foreword discussing the creation of this book. The author had to take certain liberties to ensure the story would be proper for that of a graphic novel, providing plot and visual intrigue, while still making things as accurate as possible to history. There was also the issue with some of the details of certain stories being disputed, as there wasn't always a camera recording every single detail of Andre's life, two people may have two different versions of the same story. The artstyle is simplistic, but very impactful, as many instances displayed the mass of Andre compared to the people he was with. Not only that, the artstyle (although being very simple,) was able to accurately draw the features of many of the cast, and made each person look distinctly themselves. The story was also very interesting as there a few moments within the book where a certain very important fight was broken down, even explai...