Panel by Panel

 Total Points for second part of the semester: 63 points + Zoom Sessions 8 points = 71 points Webcomics  - 3 comics: 15 points Killing Joke - 2 points Woman making comics ( 1 novel and 2 Lumberjack) - 8 points Contemporary Literature - 12 points for 2 novels Tezuka - 9 points Moebius  3 volumes - 6 points The Fifth Beatle by Vivek J. Tiwary, Andrew Robinson with Kyle Baker. - 5 points March, 3 volumes - 6 points 

For this week, I read “Step Aside, Pops, ( Hark! A Vargant)” and “Perry Bible Fellowship". Plus my favorite "Lackadaisy" Both of them are web comics strips. This is one of my most favorite media to read when I am bored. These tiny strips are so funny and easy to read. In Perry Bible, I enjoyed that most of the humor is very dark and very bright. The author should look at life from a different perspective than others. I also immensely enjoyed the art style, so simple and perfect for this kind of small stories. I love how only some moments and details are over-detailed or rendered, but only when the artist wants to transfer our attention to the specific moment. With Step Aside, I enjoyed that some of the strips' characters are a historian and political figures, so to understand the idea you need to know some history or at least what is relevant right now in the world. The style is so loose, but the characters are extremely funny drawn. I especially liked the part where...

 1) After reading the Killing Joke, I had a weird feeling that I don't usually feel after reading or watching a superhero movie or comic. I thought that this story might actually happen in real life. Of course, there are some romantic fantasy elements, but they look so harmoniously in the story, so you really start to believe in it. I really liked how these comics portrayed the relationship between Batman and Joker. They seemed like old friends who just now hate each other, but are still friends and have similar past or at least similar experience, but each chooses their own paths. Overall, I liked this story because I wasn't expecting it to be so severe and dramatic. I believe after such a depiction, readers started to expect more dark and real stories of superheroes. 2) While reading the Killing Joke, I noticed many times that I genially am scared of Joker during this story. I am not a big fan of superheroes, but I watched some movies with Joker, and never I felt that he is t...

I read Fun Home for the previous week, a female writer and artist did that, and for this week, I also read "The Handmaid's Tale" graphic novel and the first two issues of "Lumberjanes." For "The Handmaid's Tale," I watch the first episode of the show based on the book, but I wouldn't say I liked it. I thought it looked dull and felt boring. But with the graphic novel, I had a completely different experience. I enjoyed the style of the drawings. Not only by the way the tremendous watercolor work is done. But also the way it was designed. All the costumes, little details looked much more fantasy-like than in the show. That way, it was easier for me to believe that we are in the new totalitarian country. I believe the story follows the book much more correctly than the show, so I think this graphic novel is a great way to read this story if you don't like books. Lumberjanes is a fun story about five girl scouts that discover a lot of mysteries...

For this week, I read "Fun Home" and "Asterious Polyp." With "Fun Home," I believe it is an excellent story with some fantastic art. I love how simple and yet expressive it is. The artist uses just the black inks and the blue marker. And this color choice and style makes excellent sense for the story. The story itself is pretty heavy and a bit depressing for me. Even though I am not a fan of such stories, I think it is important to read such stories, primarily autobiographical. It is vital to find out different people's experiences about their life and feelings. That way, we can understand the world better. The story of Asterious Polyp left me with more feeling than the first one. Even though it is too biographical and a bit sad. But I fell in love with the art style of this comic. The way artists show different people using different colors, types, bubbles, and even just the art style is refreshing and fun. I love how sometimes artists can become abst...

I read three volumes from Osamu Tezuka about Buddha. I knew about this artist and his style, how he loved animation and was so highly inspired by Walt Disney.  But I never read his works, but I also knew what manga is and what I can expect. I expected a cluttered art with many details, many dialogs, and just overall beautiful but slow reading.  Instead, I was amazed by what I got. His manga is incredibly appealing, straightforward, and just fun.  I was feeling like I am watching a Disney animation movie.  I can easily see the influence the author got from Walt. All lines are soft and round. Eyes are big and round. And it is incredible how Osamu draws action scenes. They are so clear and fast. He uses many secondary lines and adds extra limbs to his characters when they are running or doing something fast.  This method is often used in animation.  Also, I was surprised how clear, clean, and simple his paneling style is. His mangas are the easiest ones for me...

I read some graphic novels from amazing artists - Moebius. Such stories like: "Upon a Star," "The garden of Aedena," "The Goddess," and "Arzach."  Before I started reading, I was already familiar with Moebius art. I think the way he uses lines and colors is breathtaking. The amount of detail that, no matter what, still doesn't make the art heavy is just incredible.  So, I already knew that I would enjoy reading his graphic novels, but I wasn't sure about the story.  I was always looking just at Moebius art, but I had no chance to get his full story. So I didn't know how he panels his novels, what stories he does, how he represents different characters, etc.  And I was really surprised that I was very into the novel not because of the unique art but also because the story is very interesting.  I enjoyed the story about Stel and his partner Atan and how first it is just a space adventure story about two friends from a super far future, ...

 I love listening to the Beatles, and for sure, I never knew that the famous four had a fifth element of the group. And perhaps if not him, we would never hear any song from the Beatles.  The story about Brian Epstein feels very warm and comforting. But with just one element that keeps going through the entire comic, the story doesn't make fully relax. The fact that Brian is always taking his pills to rest makes you feel uneasy.  But you try to forget about it while watching how Brian dresses up the dirty, messy Beatles boys, how he is giving them a style, a recognizable look. How he teaches them like a kind father how to behave, not to swear. How he fights for their music to see the light. How he believed in them with his whole heart and was saying all the time that they would be more famous than Presley. And how terrible it was on him their decision to break to stop recording. How he could not sleep and took too many pills and fell asleep forever. In some ways, we, as a...

  March I love such types of comics like March - the non-fiction comics.  This is an excellent way for all the people who don't like to read or for children to learn science or history. Usually, autobiography or history books are boring to read, especially for young adults. When this topic is transformed into a graphic narrative format, it becomes much clearer and much more fun to read.  And with March I think this works very well. Politics history is complicated. And most of the time, it is tough to make people feel the event through blank text. But when visuals are involved, the story makes you think and understand situations and problems you even don't associate with. And with some topics, it is essential to know how others feel in certain situations, and pictures with great expressions and poses are helping people become more emphatic. As an international student, I don't know much about US political history, and it was interesting for me to discover the life of such ...

Classes attended - 7 classes Classes missed - 0 Week one - "The comic Book History of Comics": 3 points, "The Arrival", "Un Semain de Bonte": 1 point = 7 points Week two - "Understanding Comics": 3 points, Archie's comics: 4 points = 7 points Week three - My comic strips ( Comic track: ? points), Little Nemo: 2 points, Comic strips: 4 points, George Herman comic strips: 2 points,  "Peanuts": 2 points, "Calvin and Hobbes": 2 points, Case 3: The illustrated Comic Strips: 2 points = 14 points + comics track Week four - Jack Kirby "New Gods", "The young Romance", story boards: 3 points, E.C. Comics "Weird Science 07", "Weird Fantasy 22" and 13: 2 points, Carl Barks: 2 points = 7 points Week five - "Blankets" and "Contract with God" = 6 points  Week six - Zap Comix No 0-5 : 5 points, Arcade Nos. 1-7: 3 points, Middle - class Fantasies No 1, Complete Crumb Comics Vol.1 ...

Maus is a massive graphic novel that is hard to read. Not only because of the hard theme but because of how it is drawn.  The drawings are black and white, without any shading. Just thick, heady lines and a lot of small panels per only one page. These thick lines made me feel that the artist had a big hand while drawing his comic.  The way panels are packed makes the reading process slow and hard.  And think that no matter if this is the artist's style or he made this artistic choice, this way of drawing adds more feelings to the story. The story is about a young artist that wants to make a comic about his parent's story. About how they survived the horrors of Nazi Germany. While he is telling his father's story, he is also trying to figure out why the war made his father this way and why his mother killed herself.  This is a personal story that is told by the events that touched millions.  I liked this graphic novel, even though it was a challenging experience....

 Zap Comix No 0-5 After reading Zap Comix, I had a feeling that I came back to the old comic strips panels style. The art style of a different artist, just like in early comics, is very whimsical, in some parts sketchy, not accurate, and sometimes disgusting. The paneling style stayed the same. Some even frames on the page tell the story or not tell it at all, but just give us bits of information. The story style sometimes is peculiar but innocent, but most of the time extremely adult like. Although for me, these themes about sex, lust, and laughs because of it are not adult ( I think adult stories are maybe simple in themes but at least a little deep), but the opposite. I had a feeling that people who were doing these strips were more children if these themes are the only ones they could draw about. But I guess taking the times these comics were made, it was an act of protest for these people. A gesture to show everyone that they can do whatever they want, and they are not afraid ...

 It is interesting how it was much easier for me to find both Will Eisner's "Contract with God" and Craig Thompson "Blankets" in my country bookstores than Superheroes comics or Peanuts.  I think my country was first introduced to the world of comics starting with graphic novels and only then later with something else, at least that is I remember it since my childhood.  Maybe that is why it was much easier to read these two novels then Jack Kirby's comics or comic strips.  Something about this style feels right to me. It may be the art style, pacing, paneling, or just the fact that the story is told more like a real novel. The pictures read like a novel.  The art style of both Craig Thompson and Will Eisner is simple yet very beautiful. Even though it is much more cartoony than the superheroes art style, it feels more real. More clear. All emotions are very clear because of the style, all the body poses are very expressive, each drawing with its expressions,...

It was so lovely to read such appealing and easily comics books by Carl Barks.  For me, reading his comics was almost the same experience as watching a cartoon with just a little be more words. Maybe it is because of the characters I mostly saw in the TV series or the great clear and cartoony art style. Or maybe because the was author tells the story is just very clear and straightforward. Yet stories themselves are interesting to read because most of them are adventures and give me Indiana Jones vibes.  Plus author uses some story elements that you can't often find in the comics that days like, for example, parallel storytelling. When in the 'Prize of Pizarro," characters are moving forward to find the treasure, and in the meantime, the villagers are trying to stop them. Still, every time unsuccessfully, so the main characters can't even see them.  The mains characters themselves are very interesting. I really like how the author introduced us to the main character fe...

I really enjoyed reading "Weird Science 07" And other Weird comics, like "Weird Fantasy 22" or 13. I found myself genuinely caught up with the story and wanted to find out what will happened next.  I noticed that in many stories, the end keeps unclear or with the question or unshown horror or mystery.  For example, when a scientist went to the fourth dimension and had come back with a look of horror in his eyes. And authors just leave us with the question - " I wonder what did he saw in the fourth dimension that scared him so much?" I love how this idea just leaves unshown because the author knew that audience's imagination would draw the bigger horror picture in their head on their own.  The same thing happened with the story about scientist's love. He was hiding her from his wife and turned her into a statue with her device.  His wife broke the statue, and the scientist picked up the pieces to make his girl come back, but at the very last second,...

 I decided to read the "New Gods" by Jack Kirby because this is a universe and the characters I didn't know before.  It is hard to say something new about the art of Jack Kirby's work. It is just brilliant—godlike looking characters. The line art looks just right with the line width and the amount of it in the image. By looking at this art, you may be sure that the artist who drew it had an excellent line control. The colors are very bright, but they all work together perfectly. It is okay for the ground to become blue and for the sky to become red. It will still read as ground and the sky. And I like this simplicity in colors. I think it brings more creativity to art.  But not also art is excellent here. I really enjoyed the universe and characters that Kirby creates. The world seems complicated, significant, and yet understandable. The good old fight between good and evil is now takes here in planetary masses.  The most fantastic thing is the main character. I was ...

Illustrated comic series are indeed illustrated. First of all, they are amazingly beautiful. The Flash Gordon's characters all look so anatomically perfect, like from the student anatomy books.  I want to take some images to study anatomy and great posing.  But not only bodies of the characters are amazing. The whole way the artist paints his comics. They are very colorful, with exciting color choices. The artist could not take the mixes of the colors and only the pure, clean colors and think about how to place them together.  That is how sometimes the ground can become blue and the sky pure red. This is very unusual and interesting. But I think it fits the story because the story goes from Earth's planet where everything can happen. Dinosaurs, monsters, lion people, the underwater realm, birds people, and more and more.  And this fantasy sci-fi combination makes the artist use bright colors that fit the story.  It is interesting that to the comic's end, the art...

Calvin and Hobbes -  It is a four-panel comic strip. This time characters here are more pronounced from the very begging. A father and his small boy with a vivid imagination think that his best friend's tiger toy is alive.  And based on this characters characteristics come all the funny situations.  Comparing with the "Peanuts", I would say that "Calvin and Hobbes" are less fun for me. But the style of the drawings I enjoyed more with "Calvin and Hobbes." This style is just more straightforward to read. I think mostly because of a lot of free white space around the characters. It allows the audience's eyes to breathe a little and make the overall comic to read better.  As for the story, I liked those characters, but not as much as with Peanuts. I think this is a very personal subject. I enjoyed Peanuts character's more just because I can relate to some situations. For example, I have a dog too. And Peanuts dog reminds me of him. And for Calvin ...

 Peanuts I read the early comic strips of "Peanuts" from 1950 and more late ones from 1985. There some significant differences I noticed.  Artists developed his style and style of his characters. Their big heads are still significant, but some features are now very recognizable. Like the shape of the eyes, nose, or the way they walk. The more significant change happened to the dog. First, he was just a small puppy, and he was like a side character. But in more later comics, he became more significant and now a fully developed character independently.  The structure of Peanuts is genius. And it stayed the same throughout the history—four panels in each story, black and white drawing with no shading. Very fun and easy to read and fast to draw, that is why there are so many of them. Thought the style might seem very simple, it is tough to make a complete joke in just four shots. But Charles Shulz makes it amazingly. Sometimes jokes are verbal, as the moment with Charlie Brow...

 Major Ozone. I think that Major Ozone is one of the uniquest characters I have ever met in comics.  He is just a simple old man who wants to enjoy the fresh air. That is it. And around such a specific and unusual situation, the artist creates a lot of hilarious comic strips. Most of them are based on slapstick or action humor.  The character gets hit, gets into a heavy smoke, or falls into the water—all drawn in a hilarious and expressive cartoony style.  But the funniest situations for me were when they are based on verbal humor.  Like strip when Major Ozone sits near the open window, and in the next window, his neighbor smokes a very smelly pipe. Major Ozone says that the man's pipe smoke smells fantastic. He kept saying that until the man closed his window, not to make Ozone smell this "beautiful" smoke. The last comment of the major Ozone made me smile.  He said that that is what he calls Diplomacy.  This is amazing how many situations you can mak...