Akira

Akira, though long, was a surprisingly quick read. I found it entertaining, certainly, and quite action-packed. I don't really know what to say about it in the way of analysis. The story progression is engaging because the author provides the major details about the huge bomb but the reader is gradually informed about the government endeavors and the anti-government gang. It is still unclear what exactly is going on at the end of the first volume, however this entices me to keep reading and purchase the second volume. I wonder, especially, what the number means that they assign to Tetsuo, and how he is related to those strange old-baby creatures (reminds me of Benjamin-Button!). Kaneda, as a character, is controversial because I like him but he is very frustrating. Kaneda is constantly taking risks, not obeying and even harassing Kei, he is very cocky and self-involved and I'm not sure what his goal is exactly. Especially when he finds out that Tetsuo is the new leader of the clown-gang, did he want to rescue him or destroy him? 

I like Kei, I wish we knew more about her and that she had a bigger presence in the story. Perhaps she will in later pieces.  There is a lot about the revolutionary group that I still don't know about and look forward to understanding. 

In terms of the pictures, I don't entirely understand why the first few pages are color and the rest is black and white. Despite that, the drawings lend a lot of action to the story. Akira seems to have more action than Watchmen, which may be because of the physicality of the illustrations. Yet, sometimes it was hard to determine what was happening, especially in some of the chase scenes and fight scenes. This got a bit frustrating. 

Over all I enjoyed Volume 1 of Akira as my first experience with Manga. 

We3

Someone told me that We3 was like a mix of "Homeward Bound" and the "Terminator" and that is exactly what it is. The comic is quick and entertaining, at times I felt sympathetic for the characters animals. Especially the dog, during the parts when he is scolding himself for being a "bad dog" . I like that the animals can talk a little bit, it makes it interesting in terms of the emotional aspect of the characters. The illustrations were impressive, were they done on the computer? The gradients make the drawings look digitally produced. My favorite panel is the two page spread of the animals flying in the air at night. I don't have a lot to say about We3. I was entertained for the 15 minutes it took me to read it. I'm not really sure how there can be more comics to follow, as the rabbit is dead and the cat and dog are no longer attached to their terminator parts. Perhaps I will pick up the next issue and that may provide me with a better sense of the series.

Words on Watchmen

A first impression of Watchmen: The coloring is absolutely amazing. The colorist, John Higgins, manages to take a dark story and make it so colorful and bright. The gray statue is not gray to Higgins, it is a mix of greens and purples that blend together to resemble stone. On the pages he has a common checkerboard type structure, where the corners and center box are a red hue and the other four boxes are blue. He does this with various combinations often because the different colors represent two different times or two different places at the same time. Either way, the way he uses mostly vibrant hues turns this dark story into something much more fantastical, but still dark and creepy and stunning. 

The story itself was a bit difficult to follow, as I was reading it sporadically: 3 pages on the subway, 15 pages during my lunch break, 20 pages before I go to bed, and so on. The story has many layers, following a number of characters (Rorschach, Jon, Dan, Adrien) as well as numerous stories (the excerpts at the end of each chapter, the pirate comic, the wars in the news...) which made it difficult to digest in the way that I was reading. However, the writing was very impressive, especially in the last few pages of each chapter. I also enjoyed the short quotes, sometimes by singers, that ended each chapter. There are many many allusions in the story, most of which I'm sure I didnt catch. However, I did notice numerous references to the Gordian Knot. Also, I enjoyed the consistency of the environment with the Gunga Diner wrappers and signs all about as well as graffiti that said "Who Watches the Watchmen." 

Rorschach is definitely my favorite character. He is depressed and sad, he ends up dead in the end, but he is the most consistent. Of course, I very much enjoy his costume too, though they leave it unexplained, I like that his face changes with every scene. My favorite chapter was the sixth, where Rorschach is in jail being analyzed by Malcolm. I think Rorschach's story is the most interesting and affective, the way he ended up with this costume and his perspective both were really fascinating and emotional for such a monotone man. He is quite bad ass in the jail too. 

In the end, I found Watchmen very enjoyable. Sometimes it was hard to get through, but I enjoyed the challenge. The author, Alan Moore, twisted the story in a way that left me completely unaware of how the plot would end. Too, the story ends with a moral dilemma: to kill few to save many, or do nothing and save no one? Is Adrien truly evil or his good? Is Rorschach weak because he is unable to, like Adrien says, get past the black and white of his own perspective? (I did think it was a bit abrupt that Jon kills Rorschach like that) I could certainly read this book again, and I look forward to seeing it on the big screen!

On Eisner

I'm glad that I read the two comic books before reading his bio because that allowed me to determine my own personal opinion and familiarity with Eisner before learning about his contribution to the comic world from the perspective of comic connoisseurs. It seems that in his bio they focus mostly on his artistic style and his desire to push the artistic aspects of comic books to the limit. I wonder, comparatively, how Eisner's dialog compares with other comics from his time. Also, I believe it's very possible that many of the musical and historical references he adds to his comics are ones that I don't get, so maybe that lessens my appreciation for the language he employs. I wish that I knew what thee comic books look like in color though, I feel that might add an entirely new and exciting element. One of my favorite things about Watchmen is the unbelievable use of color and Im sure Eisner was equally masterful in his use of color.

Lorelei Rox

Lorelei Rox is good taste of what The Spirit comic must be like. I do enjoy the variety that Eisner uses in his panels more than anything else about these comics. Because I'm not generally attracted to superhero-villain stories and I think the dialog is funny and unrealistic the aspect that appeals to me most is the structure and artistic style. It's true that these comics are very similar to film. I took a film course and had to story board my ideas, those story boards were similar to comic books in a way I never recognized. Comic writers must be very interested in film too, do many comic writers go into film? The close up of The Spirit's eyes on page 88 is great and full of emotion; the lowest left hand panel on page 90 has a great use of negative space where the tree is supposed to be and the panel on the top right on the same page convey's great emotion through the line-style of "Dead". My favorite drawing in this issue is on page 91, the top left, where you see the spirit and the reflection on the windshield of the road. I think that drawing is brilliant. Also, On page 92 the large box with Lorelei is indicative of a bay watch type scene with the seductive female's hair blowing in the wind, the largeness of the picture foreshadows her unsuspecting strength over the Spirit. On page 93 the zip ribbons used in the middle right box add intensity to the movements, all of the background is eliminated to portray the mind set of the two fighters. For both of them they are probably thinking of nothing else but themselves and their respective opponent. Over all Eisner does a fantastic job of combining words and pictures to convey the over-drama that seems typical to comic books. His style is very cinematic. Are all comics as cinematic as Eisner?

The Spirit Emerges

The Origin of the Spirit is a great example of a comic that sets the scene. Now I see how a comic can do nothing more than introduce the key characters and the essential plot of the series. We know how the Spirit came to be, we know that his mission is to fight evil, and we know who his first enemy is. I found the lay out to be fairly dynamic with some subtle inconsistencies that added to the story. One box in particular is quite packed. On page 24, the middle right box consists of three boxes and has obvious social implications. To start, the box to the left bleeds into this one, but for what purpose? Perhaps to emphasize the larness of the cop, or maybe to connect the subject-to-subject construction. Also this box contains three parts: a word baloon that sets the scene, a small illustration that shows the action of the cab, and then the bigger illustration that shows Dolan in the cab explaining where he wants to go. Of course the cab driver is ethnic, very obviously resembles a monkey more than a human, a direct reference to the negative opinion of raced people that remained at the time, and the cab driver stutters with an accent that suggests further stupidity. I suppose even comic book writers must have been influenced by the social prejudices of their times, but Im sure little black boys would not maintain positive self-images upon reading these stereotyped characters. Also, this aspect is just so unnecessary as far as the plot is concerned. It's simply offensive.
Anyways, other than that, which I was clearly bothered by, I thought the dialogue was cheesy and unrealistic, but I suppose that is how comics were written. A final comment about dialogue is that it seems between McCloud's book and this comic that artists tend to write in all caps nd use boldness for emphasis. What is the purpose of using all capital letters? For easier reading? The most creative part of the issue is Eisner's use of gutters and bleeds. I wonder whether the slanted boxes are representative of italics, emphasis, or movement, or whether Eisner was just playing around with style.

The Spirit Covers Reviewed

The Spirit covers seem to vary a fair amount. Three of the samples provided have the same title in style and font, however the rest are different from the others. Also, Will Eisner changes the placement and structure of his signature on all the covers. Sometimes he puts his last name to the right of his first name and sometimes to the left. On all but one of the covers he writes "The Spirit by Will Eisner". On No.26 he just has his name, faded, behind the web. My two favorite covers are the No.26 and No.28 because of the depth of the illustrations. On No.26 the web and the three characters with the woman closest and what Im assuming is the villain furthest away creates 3 layers of dimension. This layout causes the reader to feel almost like they are being sucked into the comic. The Spirit No.28 has the same effect that is created by the tunnel that extends behind The Spirit. The other thing appealing about both these covers is the consistancy of the type. Sort of like how a magazine has a signature font and style of lettering that is consistant in every issue, I think a comic series should have the same consistency. Both No.26 and No.28 have the bold serif lettering that is both angular and curvy. The other covers are less cohesive. They have pieces in the picture that don't seem to be grounded by anything. For example on "Davy Jones' Locker" cover the ripped picture of the Spirit seems out of place, this feels more like a collage, it's not as engaging. Also, I like the covers that are primarily picture and not language, the "Davy Jones' Locker" issue uses font in a way that makes the cover almost a first page, not a cover.

Understanding Comics Vocabulary

Comics: "Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer."

Cartoon: “An approach to picture-making—a style…” (21) Often used by comic creators, often describes a single panel and is a less realistic approach to drawing a subject.

Icon: “Any image used to represent a person, place, thing or idea” (27).

Splash page: a full page drawing, often including the title and credits as the first page of a comic book

Clear-line style: A style of illustrating that combines “iconic characters with unusually realistic backgrounds” such as Tin Tin (42).

Narrative box: narrative boxes are used to convey information not easily understood through thought or speech bubbles and drawings

Abstraction: a “non-iconic variety [of illustration], where no attempt is made to cling to resemblance or meaning” (50)

Pictorial Vocabulary: language (words), the picture plane (drawings/representations) and reality

Closure: “the phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole” (63).

Gutter: the space between the panels

Panel: the space where illustrations and language exist

Panel-to-Panel Transitions:
1.Moment-to-moment: requires very little closure, a small movement such as closing eyes
2. Action-to-action: a single subject completing a distinct action before and after, such as a batter hitting a baseball
3. Subject-to-subject: the movement between two different subjects while maintaining a scene or idea and requires more reader involvement to follow the flow of idea.
4. Scene-to-scene: transportation over significant distances of time and space, this requires much reader participation
5. Aspect-to-aspect: this transition bypasses time and shows the reader different aspects of a place, idea, or mood
6. Non-sequitur: no logical relationship between two panels

Mono-sensory Medium: “relies on only one of the senses to convey a world of experience” (89)

Bleed: when a panel runs off the edge of the page

Motion Line: aka zip ribbon. Represent the paths of moving objects through space (111). Often done by streaking or blurring.

Polyptych: a moving figure or figures is imposed over a continuous background to show movement. (115)

Synaesthetics: Uniting different art forms to appeal to numerous senses (123).

Word balloon: often where language that expresses a characters speech or thoughts is placed (135).

Thought balloon: internal character dialogue, usually represented in a bubble

Picture/Word combinations: page 153-155
1.Word specific: “pictures illustrate but don’t significantly add to a largely complete text”
2.Picture specific: words do little more than add a sound track to a visually told sequence
3.Duo-specific: both words and pictures send essentially the same message
4. Additive: words amplify or elaborate on an image or vice-versa
5. Parallel: words and pictures seem to follow very different courses
6. Montage: words are treated as integral parts of the picture
7. Interdependent: words and pictures go hand in hand to convey an idea that neither could convey alone

The path of the medium that is comics: page 170
1.Idea/purpose: the content of the work, the motivation, purpose, or philosophy
2.Form: the medium… comic book
3.Idiom: the genre, style or “school” of art
4.Structure: how the piece is composed
5.Craft: executing the concept, constructing the work
6.Surface: production values, finishing… the part that’s most easily appreciated

Additive Primaries: Red, blue and green that when projected together in various combinations can create every color in the visible spectrum

Subtractive Primaries: Cyan, magenta and yellow that when light is filtered out they can create any color in the visible spectrum