Literature of Comics and the Graphic Narrative

I thought Asterios Polyp was pretty good. I think something that stood out to me was the way Mazzacchelli made each character really distinct through color, shape design, and typography. Like Asterios defining color is blue, his shape design is angular, and his speech bubbles are cornered; Hana’s defining color is pink, her shape design is rounded, and her speech bubbles are rounded. These choses fit their personalities as Asterios is a very tidy, organized, dualistic, self centered, know it all, while Hana is a shy, sensitive, spineless optimist. It made sense the author made these distinctions this way as it made it clear which times Asterios’ and Hana’s reality were separate, together, or even conjoined. He would accentuate these differences as well to show their disconnect from each other like when they fight after visiting Kalvin’s the composer’s house. It is like style overtakes them as they become more separate and their realities become more out of sync. Hana becomes purely def

 I thought Cigarette Girl was a pretty relaxing easy read. It's a collection of pretty easy going slice of life stories about young adults and romance. I thought the art style was pretty charming with the goofy looking characters that juxtapose the detailed well drawn backgrounds. The stories themselves were charming as well and sometimes pretty cute. Like the story set in a geisha house about a comedian and a geisha he has a crush on. He finally gets her to agree to meet up, but he misses the time because he gets drunk while entertaining someone. He slides into her room quite humorously as there are other people in the room, since he missed their arranged time. “The Taste of Coffee” and “To Somewhere” were pretty cute as well, though they felt a bit like wish fulfillment/ escapism I think. Like both feature a sort of timid guy who is friends with a more expressive/ spontaneous girl, and they quite seamlessly become a couple at the end. Maybe this happens for some people, I don’t k

I really liked this series of short stories, probably one of my favorite works from the readings so far. I like these sorts of contained more human realistic stories. Like the stories follow fairly average individuals, in a somber and increasingly modernizing and isolating world with their very human flaws and misery laid bare. That's a key factor that I think tied the stories together, there are panels that consist of main characters being lost in the crowds of people or stuffed in train cars like sardines. I thought it was interesting how a good portion of the main characters didn’t talk all that much, like how in the 2nd story, the main character’s only speech is “I’m going to get tea.” This is when his fiance starts to remind him of his mother and how she “did so and so for him, and all the trouble it was.” He goes back to find her dead, after he left her. Tatsumi also does some interesting stuff with metaphor as well. In the third story, it is revealed that the secretary is t

  I haven’t read any of Tezuka’s work before, I’ve only heard of him through recommendation, and watched the Metropolis movie (which is a great film). I thought Buddha was a pretty enjoyable read. The style is really cute and very reminiscent of early disney work, which you can see quite clearly in the expressive round animals. I thought a really strong aspect of the work was how clear the paneling is. In action scenes you really understand what is happening like after Chapra, his mother, and Tatta return to the village which was attacked and invaded by soldiers. Tatta and his gang hide in pots to attack General Budai. You really understand who’s attacking who, how they commence their plan, the key reactions of everyone, and where they are in space relative to each other. It’s clear how Tatta takes the General’s sword, and attacks. You almost don’t even need the dialogue to understand what is going with how clear the art and paneling is. There’s also an aspect of humor that lightened t

  I read this a while ago in highschool when it came out. I remember liking it quite a bit, but I don't have a great memory so I wanted to try rereading it. I thought it was good, but I definitely think it resonated with me more back then. Though I think a lot of the stuff Nagata deals with in this is pretty relatable. Like the vague desire to be accepted unconditionally, but not knowing how or not having the social skills to make any realistic or tangible steps towards that desire. I’ve definitely felt this before, I think most humans do to some extent. Like she goes to work at a family mart, expecting it to be like a family, but of course it isn’t like that. She also has this insecure and imagined desire of wanting to live up to her parent’s expectations. I've definitely felt this at times, and just a desire to please people I admired in general. I think that sort of thing is just inevitable when you’re wildly insecure and desperate for the unconditional acceptance that was t