Joeanna Steuber's Comics and Graphic Narrative Blog

      Andre the Giant has a very different style than what I thought it would be before reading. After taking a quick look at some of the other styles, I feel that the Andre the Giant comic stands out. I think, by using this particular art style for this comic, the creator has created both negative and positive connotations for the representation of the real people of the comic.      While I think that making the style for this comic simple could create some negative connotations, I also think that this style had more positives than other styles would. The negative aspect of creating this topic and depicting these people in this style is that it could be interpreted as taking away some of the struggle that Andre dealt with. It made his appearance a caricature of what he was, and it sort of made it difficult to comprehend what he was going through. However, If we turn this idea around, It would be equally as bad, if not worse, to attempt to draw this st...

 41 reading points+ 7 class points

      Maus Part 1 is not what I thought it would be going into the graphic novel. I had never read it before, and I had little knowledge of what it was about. That being said, I think that Maus is one of the most effective graphic novels I have read in this class. Although I was thrown off at first by the amount of content unrelated to the Holocaust, Maus presents this subject in a way that draws the reader in to the story through art style, anthropomorphic characterization, and by creating moments that are in the present to give the characters more life.      Maus very successfully communicates it's story through the art style. The art style, despite depicting a horrible real life event, was charming and allowed the reader to get through the text with ease. The simplification of forms and panels alongside carefully thought-out compositions and line weight helped me when reading Maus. Additionally, the style of the characters helps to simplify AND ampl...

 For an additional personal reading that I did this week, I read Luisa: Now and Then, a comic that deals with a girl realizing some truths about herself. I felt that this related to some of the underground readings that I read this week, so writing about this feels relevant. In the comic, Luisa in her teenage years finds herself somehow transported to the future after riding a late night bus to the end of the line. After some confusion, she meets her older self, to which both find each other upsetting. Younger Luisa finds older Luisa upsetting because she wound up alone with a different career path than what she wanted, and older Luisa is upset that younger Luisa acted like her mom by barraging her with many questions about her life. Along the way, we learn that Luisa (both younger and older) has feelings for women, but younger Luisa has a harder time admitting it because of her mom's and friends' homophobic beliefs. The story turns into a coming out story with the realization ...

 Air Pirates: This set of comics were very uncomfortable to read. It took many famous cartoon characters and turned them into what is essentially porn. In most cases, the women would take the brunt of the sexuality in these comics, yet they would (most of the time) end up 'wanting it'. To me, this shows the horrible mindset of the artists making these comics. In addition to being super raunchy, the comics were also just difficult to read along to. The panels were laid out in a way that was counterintuitive to where my eye wanted to go. I do not see much similarities of this comic in comparison to comics today other than the characters,  Gay Comics No. 1: This was much more pleasant to read than the first link of comics. One important detail to remember when reading this set of comics is that it was created by and for gay people. Keeping this in mind, these comics were actually relatable as well as enjoyable. These comics, while still having sexual themes and scenes, came off m...

 While their art styles are very different, the way the characters move, interact, and express themselves is very similar. When it comes to comics, expressing one's self through face alone is not enough for comics with heavier topics. Less intense comics, such as some of the Sunday comics we have been reading, can get away with just using facial expressions as a way to convey a mood. I think this works because those topics do not typically necessitate a complex reaction to their environment. However, in works like Eisner's and Thompson's comics, only using faces for expressing characters could lose out on some of the nuances of the characters.  Eisner's characters are more realistic in both their style and their expressions as compared to Thompson's, and I think this relates to the seriousness of the topics. While both of the topics presented in their comics are serious and, at times, very difficult to read, the style and characteristics of Thompson's work lends...

 This graphic novel was a tough read for me since it brought up some pretty touchy subjects. I think that Eisner dives into some sensitive subject because it was unique from the comparably 'safe' comics that others were producing. In the first part, it deals with a man who has been told all his life that God will favor him, but God betrays his trust when he takes away the life of his adopted daughter. Initially, I thought this story might have been a criticism of God and how people use him, but it seemed to make it more about making a victim of childhood lies into a bad guy and killing him off. I felt that this story was more about the unfairness surrounding the 'truths' he was told in his childhood. He was told all of his childhood life that because he did good things and helped people, God would help him and be there for him. Yet, when he needs God, his daughter dies, and understandably, he gets upset. It is upsetting that the comic makes such a bad thing out of going...