The Right Number by Scott McCloud is about a man who meets a girl named Jodie at his University library. They start dating and eventually move into an apartment together. Things are going very good between them and one evening he calls Jodie up on her cell phone and asks her out to dinner. when they get there for dinner everything is going great and then he notices that the women he is out for dinner with is not not his girlfriend. In fact, her name was Julie and he dialed her coincidentally. Things start heading south with Jodie and she ends up moving out. So, he calls Julie and they go out on a date and then move in together. He meets Julie's friend from college named katie and finds outs that her phone number is once again one number off from his girlfriend's. He believes it is a sign and soon after he walks in on his girlfriend with another guy. He then trys to ask out katie and she denies him. After that he basically goes crazy and looks for the girl of his dream by looking only at their phone number.
I really liked the whole web comic thing, I thought it was better than readin a book! The reason i say that is because there isnt alot going on on each slide, unlike a comic book where there is alot of things going on at one time (usually). The comic itself was kind of weird because no one in their right mind would do something like that, but i really liked the format of the web comic and it was very user friendly. Each pannel didn't have alot of wirting on it but it didnt need it because of the great visuals each slide had on it.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs
This Graphic Novel is about a husband and wife who meet in 1928. It describes the things they went through and life in general back in there day. This GN is a true story and is a true story about the Author's parents. The book's chapters are split into different decades.
A real big theme in this GN is history and what i mean by that is that the whole entire book recalls their lives. Every piece of history that occurred during their lives is talked about. For example, they talk about Adolf Hitler, Joesph Stalin and even the latest invention at the time... the television. I thought was great how Ethel didn't even really understand or pay attention to it and when i think back to the stories my grandparents used to tell, they didn't really care about it either.
I'm very interesting in how he knows this much detail about his parents lives. Did they write a diary or was it all passed on by way of mouth because i have one hell of a time trying to remember what i did when i was one year old to when i was five years old. I think the history is probably right on, but you never know. I have touched on the fact that when you read GN's like this that you never really get the whole story, but you get a good enough picture of what their lives were like an the struggles they went through. For example, they went into their bomb shelter every time a plane went over head. That is no way anyone should have to live their life and you sometimes forget the things people go through during times of war. I pray that me or my family never has to go through something like that.
I really truly enjoyed this Graphic Novel because not only is it about these peoples lives, it also is about big historical events that took place during their lives. I think without the historical events in this book it wouldn't be half as good because you would be missing so much about the characters and how they respond to things that happen to them. This book was a great mix of romance, history, family, and love for one another.
A real big theme in this GN is history and what i mean by that is that the whole entire book recalls their lives. Every piece of history that occurred during their lives is talked about. For example, they talk about Adolf Hitler, Joesph Stalin and even the latest invention at the time... the television. I thought was great how Ethel didn't even really understand or pay attention to it and when i think back to the stories my grandparents used to tell, they didn't really care about it either.
I'm very interesting in how he knows this much detail about his parents lives. Did they write a diary or was it all passed on by way of mouth because i have one hell of a time trying to remember what i did when i was one year old to when i was five years old. I think the history is probably right on, but you never know. I have touched on the fact that when you read GN's like this that you never really get the whole story, but you get a good enough picture of what their lives were like an the struggles they went through. For example, they went into their bomb shelter every time a plane went over head. That is no way anyone should have to live their life and you sometimes forget the things people go through during times of war. I pray that me or my family never has to go through something like that.
I really truly enjoyed this Graphic Novel because not only is it about these peoples lives, it also is about big historical events that took place during their lives. I think without the historical events in this book it wouldn't be half as good because you would be missing so much about the characters and how they respond to things that happen to them. This book was a great mix of romance, history, family, and love for one another.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Fun Home is GN about the author Alison Bechdel's youth and the things she deals with growing up. She is a lesbian and her father dies of what she thinks is suicide. She talks about her mother who never was really there for her, her father who was a closet homosexual and her two brothers. she discusses how her father who owned a funeral home called it "Fun Home" (which i thought was quit interesting that he called it fun home because who names a funural home that) and how she believes her father swayed her into being a lesbian with out ever saying so.
HISTORY:
This Graphic Novel is all about the author's history. The GN is focuses on her life growing up and the changes she went through. The whole book is told from the author's point-of-view which is nice, but i feel like there is three sides to every story. You have what she says went on during her life, what her father thinks went on during her life, and what really went on during their lives. So, i think the history is a bit tainted, but at the sametime very real. Because it is about her life from her perspective and you get to really good grasp on her childhood experiences.
THEME:
This GN has two major themes. The first being sexuality, the whole book talks about her father being gay and her being a lesbian. I think she was very bitter about her dad being gay and never coming out of the closet because she feels her life could have completely different if she would have known earlier in life. She talks about him having realtions with his students, and many other men. so, i believe sexuality is the main theme and the backgorund theme is family. Family is the second most talked about thing in this book. she recalls her life when she was younger and the struggles she had with her family. She really had no one in her household she could really relate to because everyone had their own little secret that kept the family from ever being a "normal" family ( I hate saying "normal family" because no one's family is really normal, but you know what i mean).
SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE:
I like the book because it is very different from what i would normally read. This book opened my eyes alot to homosexuality and what it can do to a family and the effects it can have on children. i couldn't really identify with the Alison, and the problems she went through as a child. But i know that every kid goes through things in their life that shape them into who they are when they are older. So, i could identify with the fact that her family wasn't perfect because i know what its like growing up and the hardships kids go through.
OBJECTIVE RESPONSE:
I think that if this was some regular old book it wouldn't be as interesting because the pictures really back up what she was written on the page. The details in this Graphic Novel were great and i really like the way it was layed out on the page.
HISTORY:
This Graphic Novel is all about the author's history. The GN is focuses on her life growing up and the changes she went through. The whole book is told from the author's point-of-view which is nice, but i feel like there is three sides to every story. You have what she says went on during her life, what her father thinks went on during her life, and what really went on during their lives. So, i think the history is a bit tainted, but at the sametime very real. Because it is about her life from her perspective and you get to really good grasp on her childhood experiences.
THEME:
This GN has two major themes. The first being sexuality, the whole book talks about her father being gay and her being a lesbian. I think she was very bitter about her dad being gay and never coming out of the closet because she feels her life could have completely different if she would have known earlier in life. She talks about him having realtions with his students, and many other men. so, i believe sexuality is the main theme and the backgorund theme is family. Family is the second most talked about thing in this book. she recalls her life when she was younger and the struggles she had with her family. She really had no one in her household she could really relate to because everyone had their own little secret that kept the family from ever being a "normal" family ( I hate saying "normal family" because no one's family is really normal, but you know what i mean).
SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE:
I like the book because it is very different from what i would normally read. This book opened my eyes alot to homosexuality and what it can do to a family and the effects it can have on children. i couldn't really identify with the Alison, and the problems she went through as a child. But i know that every kid goes through things in their life that shape them into who they are when they are older. So, i could identify with the fact that her family wasn't perfect because i know what its like growing up and the hardships kids go through.
OBJECTIVE RESPONSE:
I think that if this was some regular old book it wouldn't be as interesting because the pictures really back up what she was written on the page. The details in this Graphic Novel were great and i really like the way it was layed out on the page.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Mid Term
2. "Fun Home," Alison Bechdel
Time Magazine- The first thing mentioned about this GN is Bechdel zooms in on her enigmatic, controlling father, who, we learn early on, was an apparent suicide during the author's late teens. I found that very interesting that they describe one of the best selling GN's like that. they also talk about how her Father's secretly gay life corrupting her vision on her own life. The thing they mentioned that was negative about Fun Home was the fact that at some times it felt like you were reading a personal essay with illustrations instead of a fully organic piece of literature.
Entertainment Weekly- they describe Fun Home as litany of nutty parents, adolescent woe, and an awkward sexual awakening. which i think fits this GN perfectly; i couldn't have said it better myself. It then goes on to tell about her father who is a her fraught relationship with her closeted gay father, Bruce, who was born, raised three children, and died at 44 (possibly a suicide) in rural Beech Creek, Pa. In this ''small-minded small town,'' he taught high school English, ran the funeral home, and, aside from some epochally misguided escapades with local teenagers, channeled his erotic energies into the florid renovation of the family's Gothic Revival house. I really enjoyed reading this review because it is almost exactly how i would review it.
Houghton Miffin Company- I chose this last review because i have heard how two every well known magazines described the GN and now i wanted hear what the publisher had to say about it. they first describe it as a A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books. which i think is again very accurate description of this GN. They describe her father as a a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. I thought this review was very true, but the thing i didn't like was they didn't have anything bad to say about it.
4. Ultimate Fantastic Four, "N-Zone," by Marvel
In this GN gender plays a big role becasue it is written for young boys who maybe need a rolemodel in their life and there's no better rolemodel then four super heroes that save the world (at least in America). You can say the characters are very simple and the plots really arent that deep. each super hero GN you read is basically going to be the same, a beginning, a middle and an end and the super heroes always win. the characters in this GN are very simple and relate to kids because you have Reed who is a scientist who is very smart and can stretch into just about anything. Then you have Ben or the Thing who is made out of solid rock and can destroy anything in his way. Then there's sue who everytime she get angry or mad she dissapears and then there's the human tourch who can fly and is like a human fire ball. Every kid would like to have those super powers right? The plot of this GN is very simple because it was written for children, none of the characters use big words and plot is always very similar, but the cool thing about this GN is that all of the characters are very up to date and they are discussing problems of today. For example, when Reed goes to get permission to fly into the N-Zone he tells the capton of the army that if they can breakthrough into the N-Zone, that he would be able transport Nuclear bombs through there to bomb the middle east. So, i think it is very intresting that they through that in there even though children might not pick up on it; it was one of the first things i noticed. The narrative point-of-view is also very simple you dont know what the character is ever thinking all you get is what they write down on the page. You can really come to your own conclusions about the characters. The genre of this GN or comic book is without question superhero.
5. I think that GN's can be a good source of history, but you can only get the history from someone's point-of-view rather than what reallly happen. So, what it is a part of history instead of the whole thing because it doesn't allow you really to come to your own conclusions about what happened. I think it would be Intresting to hear all three sides of the story in "Fun Home," the dad's side of the story, the daughter's, and then what really happen. I think GN's are historical texts, but if i was teaching a history class i would never bring in a GN like 9/11 report in to class and start lecturing about it. I think the representation of history in "Fun Home" and "Watergate Sue," are very differant because in Fun Home it is an auto biography and she is telling the story from what she recalls happen in her life. Then on the other hand you have Watergate Sue where there is some narrative speaking in it, it's not just her telling the story. I really think that these two are great pieces of history because they are telling you about actual events that happen in their lives. But to make a good story that really flows together nicely you have to not tell the whole story because real life doesn't flow like a story. So, my point is these great pieces of litterature are history, but only to a certain extent.
Time Magazine- The first thing mentioned about this GN is Bechdel zooms in on her enigmatic, controlling father, who, we learn early on, was an apparent suicide during the author's late teens. I found that very interesting that they describe one of the best selling GN's like that. they also talk about how her Father's secretly gay life corrupting her vision on her own life. The thing they mentioned that was negative about Fun Home was the fact that at some times it felt like you were reading a personal essay with illustrations instead of a fully organic piece of literature.
Entertainment Weekly- they describe Fun Home as litany of nutty parents, adolescent woe, and an awkward sexual awakening. which i think fits this GN perfectly; i couldn't have said it better myself. It then goes on to tell about her father who is a her fraught relationship with her closeted gay father, Bruce, who was born, raised three children, and died at 44 (possibly a suicide) in rural Beech Creek, Pa. In this ''small-minded small town,'' he taught high school English, ran the funeral home, and, aside from some epochally misguided escapades with local teenagers, channeled his erotic energies into the florid renovation of the family's Gothic Revival house. I really enjoyed reading this review because it is almost exactly how i would review it.
Houghton Miffin Company- I chose this last review because i have heard how two every well known magazines described the GN and now i wanted hear what the publisher had to say about it. they first describe it as a A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books. which i think is again very accurate description of this GN. They describe her father as a a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. I thought this review was very true, but the thing i didn't like was they didn't have anything bad to say about it.
4. Ultimate Fantastic Four, "N-Zone," by Marvel
In this GN gender plays a big role becasue it is written for young boys who maybe need a rolemodel in their life and there's no better rolemodel then four super heroes that save the world (at least in America). You can say the characters are very simple and the plots really arent that deep. each super hero GN you read is basically going to be the same, a beginning, a middle and an end and the super heroes always win. the characters in this GN are very simple and relate to kids because you have Reed who is a scientist who is very smart and can stretch into just about anything. Then you have Ben or the Thing who is made out of solid rock and can destroy anything in his way. Then there's sue who everytime she get angry or mad she dissapears and then there's the human tourch who can fly and is like a human fire ball. Every kid would like to have those super powers right? The plot of this GN is very simple because it was written for children, none of the characters use big words and plot is always very similar, but the cool thing about this GN is that all of the characters are very up to date and they are discussing problems of today. For example, when Reed goes to get permission to fly into the N-Zone he tells the capton of the army that if they can breakthrough into the N-Zone, that he would be able transport Nuclear bombs through there to bomb the middle east. So, i think it is very intresting that they through that in there even though children might not pick up on it; it was one of the first things i noticed. The narrative point-of-view is also very simple you dont know what the character is ever thinking all you get is what they write down on the page. You can really come to your own conclusions about the characters. The genre of this GN or comic book is without question superhero.
5. I think that GN's can be a good source of history, but you can only get the history from someone's point-of-view rather than what reallly happen. So, what it is a part of history instead of the whole thing because it doesn't allow you really to come to your own conclusions about what happened. I think it would be Intresting to hear all three sides of the story in "Fun Home," the dad's side of the story, the daughter's, and then what really happen. I think GN's are historical texts, but if i was teaching a history class i would never bring in a GN like 9/11 report in to class and start lecturing about it. I think the representation of history in "Fun Home" and "Watergate Sue," are very differant because in Fun Home it is an auto biography and she is telling the story from what she recalls happen in her life. Then on the other hand you have Watergate Sue where there is some narrative speaking in it, it's not just her telling the story. I really think that these two are great pieces of history because they are telling you about actual events that happen in their lives. But to make a good story that really flows together nicely you have to not tell the whole story because real life doesn't flow like a story. So, my point is these great pieces of litterature are history, but only to a certain extent.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Ultimate Fantastic Four VOL. 3
I just finished up reading the Fantastic Four "N-ZONE," by Marvel. This was my first GN i have ever read and it has gotten me hooked on GN's forever. I never thought I would ever be interested in reading about four super heroes and the stuff they go through.
I think that this GN is very well put together and very interesting. it kept me wanting to continue reading. they are trying to get into the N-zone which is a universe parallel to earth and the only way to get there is to get a space ship from NASA. the reason they want to go there is to reverse their super powers. In order to be able to get there they need permission from the caption of the army. So, they tell him that if they are able to get through into the N-zone he will be able to transport bombs through there to bomb the middle east. after they get permission they start the work on an old space ship to get them there. once they get into the N-zone they find it very different from what they expected! they find very little signs of life and that it's way smaller than they had expected. they come across a space ship and so they go in and explore it. at first, the caption is very nice and welcoming. Then he snaps and tries killing them because his universe is going to collapse before he is dead. so, he wants there space ship to get to earth and make it his new home, but the fantastic four is too much for him to handle. they escape and make it back home safely and live to save another day!
I think that this GN is very well put together and very interesting. it kept me wanting to continue reading. they are trying to get into the N-zone which is a universe parallel to earth and the only way to get there is to get a space ship from NASA. the reason they want to go there is to reverse their super powers. In order to be able to get there they need permission from the caption of the army. So, they tell him that if they are able to get through into the N-zone he will be able to transport bombs through there to bomb the middle east. after they get permission they start the work on an old space ship to get them there. once they get into the N-zone they find it very different from what they expected! they find very little signs of life and that it's way smaller than they had expected. they come across a space ship and so they go in and explore it. at first, the caption is very nice and welcoming. Then he snaps and tries killing them because his universe is going to collapse before he is dead. so, he wants there space ship to get to earth and make it his new home, but the fantastic four is too much for him to handle. they escape and make it back home safely and live to save another day!
Monday, July 16, 2007
understanding comics
I enjoyed reading " Understanding Comics," by McCloud because it answered just about every question i had concerning this class. Before reading McCloud i had many uncertainties about this class because i had no background in comics and had no idea what to expect or if I would even like them. As i continued to read i started to understand the history of comics, how they were created and how to read them. i think this book is a great tool for people like me who have never read a comic. i also think, that this book should be read before the class is started because i now have a whole new outlook on this class and i am looking forward to reading many comics in the future.
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