Total Points Midterm: 48

My Favorite Thing is Monsters (6 Points)

For the week that we read these, we were asked to discuss whether the comics we read should be considered literary or not. My first reaction was to break down what made something 'literary'. I was inclined to say that as long as something had words and was telling a story with some amount of depth, then that was what I considered literary. However, I realized while talking with team members about this question that I had a new consideration of literary comics. I like to think of comics the same way I think about art, and that is that anything can be art. I do not think that we have to tie down the constraints of what is and is not literary because that can put writers who just want to create into a bubble. Whether I used my old definition or my new definition, I think My Favorite Thing is Monsters is definitely a literary comic. It masterfully uses its media to tell a fantastic and relatable story. Everything about the comic felt real and was very engaging, the art felt in sync...

Eisner Novel: A Contract with God (3 Points)

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...

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