Contract with God compared to Sin City Booze and Broads & Bullets

The short story of Daddy's Little Girl seems like a homage or a retelling of Grossmans short story.
They both involve a woman who lures a man to falling in love with her, but tricking the man into doing something terrible. In Daddy's Little Girl the woman wants the man she convinced to love her kill her father. But In the Grossmans story she steals the heart of a 15 year old. But the ending is the same in both stories, the woman does all this just for her real husband or lover to get a boner. In Franks tho the violence is more gruesome and its the young man that gets beat up not the girl.

I like Frank Miller but after this semester of understanding comics I feel that he has, used Will Eisner as more than a reference. I'm not saying any thing bad about it, because I love his work. But its just something I noticed.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. II

I really enjoyed this book it was a nice adventure ride. The part that made this book stand out for me was the character Mr. Hyde. Mr.Hyde comes off as a beast and monster, but he is not dumb. He just hates the world and the people in it. Except for Miss Murray see fears him for being a monster but she does not hate him because she her self has seen a greater monster than Mr.Hyde. I think this Dynamic of Mr.Hyde have feelings for this woman other than hate and disgust. Is neat to see him question his look on the world. Ya its like Beauty and the Beast in a way, but the kicker is she picked Alan over Hyde.  Which I think in turn makes him hate the world more than what he normally did before. But its nice to see him go through almost  a break up and makes the character more relatable.

But in the end he gives his life not for humanity or the rest of the League, but all ultimately for her. But before he goes to fight his one last fight he asks her for a kiss and to feel her breast. In doing this he said he would never ever hurt her. but when he touches her he feels her heart be fast and scared knowing that she would never truly love him,  but thats what I think.

Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde from groundlift.org on Vimeo.

Kevin Smiths take on the Green Arrow

Green Arrow Quiver. I picked up the comic because I say Kevin Smith had written thinking the movies he writes have a lot of character development and because I'm a huge Jay and Silent Bob fan. I'd never really read or knew much about the Green Arrow other than he was like Robin Hood and was a socialist.

The thing i really enjoyed and was the character development of the Green Arrow. It was a cool twist Kevin Smith had in making Green Arrow come back to life before he was "damaged". So you got to discover who the Green Arrow was along with him.   It was cool to see so many layers in a character other than what you on top of them. I really liked the ending of the book where you find out he has been resurrected as a body without his soul, and the soul its self is in heaven. When the two meet you see that "real" or the soul Green Arrow is acting like he figured every thing out but he still remains selfish in staying in heaven and not joining his "body". But when the "body" Green Arrow convinces the Soul to join him to save their son. It was cool to see that enlightening  moment of self awareness in a comic.

Batman Harvest Breed

It wasn't the typical Batman comic, the style veers from serene photo-realism to a violent expressionist fantasy. Which was neat to see that style applied to a superhero comic. The look of Batman was even different he looked like a tall feather weight boxer rather than a muscle bound running back. It was weird though gave him more of a venerability look to him, like he can be beat. The nightmares he had I thought was in the style of light shinning thru sand. And the fact his nightmare was being to violent and actually ending a life was clever. It was jus confusing at times when the panels had action it took me a minute to see what was happening. Overall I enjoyed reading it. 

Underground

This week I made a trip to libraries selection of comics and looked for a comic that I'd never heard of nor had any superheros. The comic i found was Iron West by Doug TenNapel, the story is of a anti hero cowboy who must rise up against Robots that want to concur the west. Its started of like a Butch Cassidy tale robbing trains. But than came the robots, they looked like a 1900's terminator, and if that was enough there was a indian big foot. I personally like the story and the illustration style. I think this story should of gotten a movie unlike cowboys and aliens. 

 

Batman Arkham Asylum

The story of the novel can be seen as Batman locked inside Arkham to face his deadliest foes. Or the story can be seen a disturbing telling of Batman facing his own personal horrors and demons. I personally think think you need both haves to tell this story, like two face one will feel incomplete with out the other side.
I liked how the Joker took a different side to his role with Batman, he became his guide through this experience of self healing. There where times reading this where I was just in shock of how deep this story goes on an psychological level. One of the great scenes in the book was at the end where Batman is being attack by the Doctor. But Batman being a master martial arts expert he can't get this skinny lunatic off him. Like he was battling his inner psyche and calling out for another part of him to save himself.  Its a brillant concept is Arkham really a persons mind that dreams them to life, and that it could be Batman's head. Over all I enjoyed the ride of the story.

Maus

For me reading Maus was like listening to my grandfather tell me stories of world war II, and the pain his family went through in the Holocaust. I found Maus hitting me more on an emotional level than any comic I have read previously before that. I enjoyed it, it was almost like I was viewing an experience my family went through.   I liked the way he used animals to represet the people, I got a laugh seeing the cats cause I hate cats. I liked how the representation of the dark times where illustrated in a more contrast and almost dirtier environment than the present.


MAUS from Daniel J. Winter on Vimeo.

Blankets

Blankets is the autobiography of the author  Craig Thompson. For me personaly I did not find this graphic novel appealing. I mean I understand its well written and nicely exicuted. But it got too Zac Effrony for me. I'm just had a hard time finishing the book due to the fact it was very emotional. After I read Blankets I imeaditly read Hellboy and Savage Dragon comic. Which I found way more appealing, like who dosent want to read a slugfest like that. 

VS 

Nemo

While reading Little Nemo, I found the story or the adventures he would go on not that exciting. But the art  work on the other hand was very eye pleasing. The Layout of the panels was very graphic with the use of margins and in the latter published panels got a more modern graphic design look. I enjoyed that there was a new adventure every week. The one thing that kind of was an eye opener was how psychedelic some of the designs and layouts where. It was cool that someone was doing that type of style while not on acid. At least I don't think he would of.

Understanding comics

In Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics their are many interesting things that I have not noticed before while reading a comic book. One of the things that was an eye opener for me was in chapter four, time frames. The idea that we could see and understand time in comics, but not as a single moment but almost in real time. The thing that tricks are brain into the illusion of time is sound, closure and words. After reading the chapter it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I realized that I have spent a good one too, two minutes on a single panel because I was tricked into the idea of time. The way Scott uses a rope as an example of time passing through a panel is genius. He made it very easy for people to understand that there can be time and motion in comics. But also in that time and motion is where you get a sense of emotion and humanistic feeling. Basically what I got from this book is that the author is a genius in describing how you would understand a comic.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

The story I understood from The Arrival is someones journey to find a better place, the American dream. To me the thing that stuck out was the representation of the horors and the hard ships the people went through that made them migrate to that free place. I couldn't help make connection to WWII and the invasions of countries at that time. For example the giants with flame throwers destroying the town, which felt like it should have been Nazi tanks destroying the town instead. One of the things I thought was very clever on avoiding words in the novel, was making up his own representation of immigrate trying to learn a new language. With the use of symbols and than the main characters drawings in his journal to help show others what he needed.

The way the pictures are laid out is very similar to a story board, which is the back bone to the films and animation. Which I think made the readability and the understanding of the book easier on the readers. 

CLASS UNO

ANALYZE

Pic one - A woman becoming free from her oppressor. Standing over a chicken or cock a male roaster. While her oppressor is laying at the bottom of the stairs.

Pic two - A woman represnting sleeping beauty or snow white figure in a slumber. But in stead of a prince
charming there is a big rooster man standing above her. To wake her up and make her slave.

Pic Three - A woman is dead and appears to be in a grave. Also a naked woman holding her clothes or a cloth is standing in the back. Showing she is the next girl to be a slave to The Man.

Pic Four - The woman finding her freedom, killing her self to escape her oppressor.

Pic Five - The cock man standing behind a book shelf where a woman had just hung her self. With another woman standing close by, but not in shock or fright when gazing upon the dead woman. Showing that she too is dead or she is dead on the inside.