Joeanna Steuber's Comics and Graphic Narrative Blog

       For this week, I read the Jack Kirby Interview, Young Romance , and the Fantastic Four story boards. Reading his interview first gave a lot of insight to what he makes and how he makes it. When he first became interested in comics, he really went for quality comics, and he says Milton Caniff was one of his inspirations, which I think reflects in his art. I think it particularly shows up in Young Romance . The art for Young Romance had a very familiar style to Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon . I also found his story boarding to be interesting in both how comic story boards are produced, as well as the format of the story boards. Overall, it is interesting to see how someone who is proficient in drawing comics goes about the process of making one. Seeing the less detailed work and panels that are completely 'x'ed out made it possible for me to get into the mindset of how an artist might go about making one. Additionally, I thought it was interesting that he did n...

 I think the most interesting thing to me about the Little Nemo comics is their context. From what I have seen in regards to 'Sunday Comics', very few comic creators stray away from snappy, quick humor or punchlines. Many of the art styles and stories are simple and rely on efficiency. With Winsor McCay and Little Nemo comics, however, a short story with very specific stylistic decisions is what makes them stand out from most Sunday comics. While the basic premise of Nemo falling asleep, having a dream that transforms into a nightmare, and jolting awake with the aid of one of his parents does not change, McCay still makes a successful effort to provide to the readers a world with depth. Additionally, we get to see more and more of the dream world with each new comic, rather than see the same generic setting that many artists default to in their comics. Furthermore, the art that Winsor McCay uses for his comic is not simply a quick and easily copied drawing. His style is refine...

 One of the comics strips that I found interesting among all of these newspaper comics was the Buck Rogers comic. To me, it felt more like a page out of a comic book than something that belongs in a newspaper, which is why I think it stood out to me from the rest. There are a few key factors that made the comic feel less like it was from the newspaper and rather made it feel more like a comic book. I think the art direction, the panel diversity, and the thought-out story work together to make this comic strip stand out from the rest in newspaper comics. The art direction shows that the creators put a lot of time and care into the comic. There are a lot of unique designs for outfits, characters, and worlds. Additionally, the color choices, while very saturated in some cases, help to differentiate the background and foreground well. The panel diversity also assists the comic to feel different from the rest. Few panels in the comic break themselves from the traditional square column-r...

For this case study of the Archie series, I chose to read Archie Annual No. 1 (1950), World of Jughead No. 469 (1978), Archie No.1 (2015 Reboot), and for fun, Afterlife with Archie No.1 (2013) alongside the required reading of Archie's Favorites from the Vaults. 1.  Who do you think buys and reads  Archie ?  Why do you think they buy and read it?     I feel the answer for this question somewhat depends on the release of the comic. While I think that all of the comics are accessible for a large age range leaning towards the kid and young adult range, I feel that the earlier the release date correlates to a younger intended audience. This is caused by both art style and the hijinx that the characters get up to. Looking at the style for Archie Annual No.1, we see that the art style, which is more soft and chunky, lends itself to a more child-like look. This, along with more frivolous or fun scenarios that Archie finds himself in, is why I think originally...

 One of the topics that Scott McCloud discusses about in his comic, Understanding Comics, is that we use a variety of styles and symbols to represent humans, and he talks about how far we can go in simplifying the human face and still recognize it as a human face. He goes on to talk about how simplified cartoons of ourselves and in general are more universal, and therefore, more pleasant to their audience. Being someone in the art world, I get to experience this theory on a day-to-day basis. Most times when viewing self portraits of my friends, I find that they use a stylized version of themselves. By drawing a caricature of themselves, they open up the appeal of the drawing to more people, and it becomes a desire of others to see themselves in that style. McCloud also explains that, when we see a realistic face, we do not see ourselves represented in it, yet if we see a cartoon of anyone, we can see a bit of ourselves in it. While he explains this as being a result of never truly ...

 Thursday, The Rooster's Laughter A woman selling the eggs of chickens is approached by a small rooster. With eyes on the woman, the small rooster communicates with a looming, large rooster man, who takes her and kills her. Laying her out on a bed, he gets her ready for her casket, which he and another rooster-man in black lower her into a hole in the ground. Present for the lowering, a naked lady watches. While the two rooster-men decide on the garments of the woman, other dazed women lament the death of the one in the casket, knowing their fate could come to the same conclusion. In the bed chambers, two roosters stand next to and over the corpse of a woman whose fate had come to such a conclusion, while in another room, a woman appears to adorn the outfit of a rooster who stands in the nude behind her. At another area, a hen-woman who is armed with a stick accompanies by two distraught women. Later that night, the women hide with a crane from a naked rooster man, but he finds the...

 The Arrival by Shaun Tan follows the life of a man who leaves home in order to find new opportunities for him and his family. He sets out alone, and seems often confused about the new culture he is around. With the need of guidance, he asks people around him for directions, he asks for assistance in daily tasks, and he searches for a job, all the while encountering people who also have, at some point in their life, fled their home to this new place. I felt that this story dealt a lot with the bittersweet feeling of this new life being mostly uncertain contrasting with the certainty of his family. One of the more bittersweet moments for me was when, after a series of tests and procedures, the man goes to his new, cramped home and pulls out a briefcase that has his wife and child at a dinner table in it. To me, this represents his uncertain future contrasting with his memory of his family motivating his determination to keep going even through difficulties adjusting to this new envi...