Sep. 7 "Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Waterson

    Reading Calvin and Hobbes again I remembered why I liked this comic series so much and it gave me a whole new perspective on why it is so lovable. The whole idea of it is centered around this young 6-year old's crazy imagination and what it is like to be a child. Calvin and Hobbes remind me of how important it is to remember that there will always be and forever be a little bit of childlike wonder in all of us. That one point is the main thing that makes me feel sad and disappointed when so many people forget what it is like to be curious, creative, and think outside the box. For me, that is what made the comic so memorable. Many scenes where he pretends to be Spaceman Spiff or try's to journey amongst the dinos in the past, the images become so vivid in detail that his imagination completely steers away from what Calvin's life actually looks like, it is his own little world. The comic is something that is not seemingly forced into being commerce. It does not mainly focus on politics but leaves very little to where adults and children can enjoy the comic equally. Calvin and Hobbes is something both young and old audiences can enjoy! The bright, cheerful colors also are very relative to the usual happy, wondrous, curious life of Calvin and just really makes people like me happy as it resonates with me personally when I was a child and even today as an adult.

Aug. 24 "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan

     The Arrival by Shaun Tan is the perfect example, to me, of a visual narrative. Looking back on what I know I know a visual narrative is a story that is told primarily through the use of visual media. It can be told using media such as still photography, illustration, or video, and can be enhanced with graphics, music, and voice. They can also be combined together to create something beautiful. I noticed that in every image, on each page of the story, has a specific color, tone, and style that helps to resonate certain memories or experiences. For example, the sepia brown-gold tone you can clearly see helps to identify the scenery with day or afternoon, a calm and peaceful, happy atmosphere whereas the gray-blue-black tone resonates more with a feeling of uneasiness, worry, and trouble brewing. I even started to feel worried, I become concerned as I knew something happened, something bad. Each image also has a direct action, continuous or transitional, from one scene to the next, which helps me to identify what objects are important, what is the current situation, and who are these characters? Going back into the comic we see that the said man has a family he needs to provide for so he decides to go to this foreign land where he hopes he can find a decent job to support his family. His house as we can also see is very little, a little messy, and rundown. The family is financially unstable, given the context in the images, and the dad is an immigrant traveling to a foreign land. What the lesson here is that these said scenes only crop in or out on what the author wants you to focus on, what is most important to understand the story. It is kind of like playing a movie in your head! Each image hints in on certain things and we take each of those pieces together to create a whole story! No words are needed in The Arrival because the detail and action is already there, the mood is already set and all we need is our imagination and creativity to make the story come to life.

Aug. 31 "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud

     Reading “Understanding Comics” by Scott McCloud really helped me to see comics in a different perspective. In the comic it is stated, “…The more a cartoony a face is, the more people it could be said to describe!” is completely correct. When I read comics my eyes see what my mind imagines. Some comics are shown clearly detailed, others simplified and others are really simplified. The human mind is something that, even when given little detail, can make something completely different out of that image. We search for some sort of start and end, meaning, a purpose for that drawing or sense of identity. As quoted earlier “…something more is at work in our minds when we view a cartoon – especially of a human face – which warrants further investigation.” Our minds start to create our own character, and we start to question what we are really seeing, who are they, what are they, and what is their story? That face could have any identity for all we know! So imagination plays a huge part here when we are given just a few lines, that we know simply, as a face, but that is all we are ever going to see.  For example, we can see our own face if we look in the mirror correct? Though what we see in the mirror is not what our mind sees. We can see our friends in their reflection, but how we see them is completely different to how they see themselves or you.