21st Century Comics- Webcomics- Girls with Slingshots, Oglaf- Humor can have a Brain.

Since the use of internet and computers, the populace has found a use in disrupting their media through the world of online. Before, comics were viewed through newspapers and grocery stores. Now they can be viewed online where the world, even different countries can experience other peoples work of art. Even now, I can enjoy some online webcomics when I'm bored or just follow along to the narrative the creator has given the lore of their world. I know of 2 webcomics that I would highly recommend to people since they each offer a little slice of life.

The first one had JUST recently ended her series after going along for 11 years after starting in 2004. It's called "Girls with Slingshots" and it was created by Danielle Corsetto. The comic stars Hazel Tellington, and her friend Jamie McJack going through the struggles of unemployment, relationships and other problems in life. The series has a lot of humor in it and has a variety of characters with different personality quirks that make them all unique and interesting. What got me interested in the webcomic is the way the characters behave around each other and how they go through these relatable problems that life seems to throw at you. The running theme is the girls drink a lot and discuss sex to a degree that you'd think they need it to survive (which they probably do). After a couple of years, the stories had gotten serious while still including a little humor hear and there. They start at getting split into main arcs to discussing so and so breaking up and how they coped with the aftermath. Or the marriages between another character and how their friends and family react to the engagement. The themes are also imaginative with a talking Scottish talking cactus , McPedro, that (originally) could only be communicated through drinking, a ghost kitty that floats around screaming "DOOOMMM" and many more anomalies.

The series later become known for including different sexual orientations specifically lesbians. While there were a few gay and lesbian characters, non were the main cast before and were originally just used for a punchline or a joke. But when romance came into play, soon the lives of two main characters came to discussing how to make their romances work while dealing with their own personal struggles. To credit Danielle, she kept her characters's personalities in tact without changing them to society's agenda to how others deal with these issues. While being interviewed by the Washington Post, Danielle was asked the question of including a transgender character into the the mix. I love the response she gave since it's how I feel about characters in comics in general. She states:

"The inclusivity of sexual subcultures and unusual relationship dynamics in “Girls With Slingshots” can again be attributed to the people I surround myself with. The world of  “Girls With Slingshots” isn’t unlike my own, where every other person has some unusual kink or relationship dynamic, or doesn’t fit into one label for their sexual orientation.

I avoided intentionally adding a trans character to  “Girls With Slingshots” for two reasons: one, because I found it insincere and borderline rude to add a character solely to exploit their hot-topic sexuality. And two, because I know practically nothing about trans people. Oh! And lest I forget the third reason: I didn’t want blunt, insensitive, oblivious Hazel interacting with a trans person. It would have required a lot of carefully-written PSA-style strips to make up for whatever insulting comments Hazel would casually drop, and the cast is already large enough that I didn’t feel I had enough time and space to dedicate to such a delicate topic, one that I knew so little about." 

She based the character's personalities and struggles on people that were a part of her life and she had set their strengths and weaknesses in advance rather than focus on the hot topic social issue that's become popular. I will miss the series since it was able to provide me a slice of life with humor into the mix. I was always excited to know what the characters were going to do next after the next day I read it. The comic helped me make sense in what confused me in life, that I can feel the amount of time and love in the piece. I hope Danielle will continue to find passion and love in what she does and sets out to her new journey. 

The second webcomic I love reading is coincidently one posted on the blog. It's Oglaf. I loved the humor and lore told through a medical fantasy realm using sexual references... or actions...either or. While the story first started with the tales of the apprentice Ivan, it continued even after he was "put to rest" with a lot of humor and gags. To many people I've talked with the book about, they didn't know one of the authors was a woman (Trudy Cooper). I love that she's not afraid to state that male AND FEMALES love sex and use the action constantly for their daily lives. Sometimes the stories can offer different themes and religions that people tend to not think about. Overall each page has a humorous result based on the actions that people make. 

Both Oglaf and Girls with Slingshots can offer themes of real life elements into the narrative but still produce humor into issues that one would think is serious and challenging. 

More Girls with Slingshots comics

More Oglaf comics

Comics as Contemporary Literature- Neil Gaiman "The Sandman"- Drama told through Mythology

 xI've grown a love for mythology since coming to college. The lore that it presented in the stories seem like a soap opera to me. All the tales of betrayal and some gods trying to kill demigods. All of it excited me and made me welcome to know more. What I didn't originally know was that Neil Gaiman had already written things for this.

Neil Gaiman's literature, "The Sandman", is about a character that rules the dream world and his known as the title as The Sandman (alias being Morpheus). He is trying to rebuild his kingdom after being imprisoned for 70 years by a ritual cult and is trying to change his actions after what he did before. He's known as a tragic hero, someone who had not done wrong and you start to see their morality decline and understand his or her motivation to do so. In the Batman movie, "The Dark Knight", the character Harvey Dent could be considered a tragic hero since he started as a defender of justice to a fallen broken man. While the story starts off as a dark setting in later books it's more of a fantasy genre with myological beings introduced into the mix. It's art style is surreal and it's narrative goes from one character to another, even introducing characters that won't stay long for the story.

I'll be honest, my first time reading "The Sandman" I started on volume 9, "the Kindly Ones". I didn't know what to expect in reading it since it was my first time reading one of Neil Gaiman's work. I was confused (probably because I started in the middle of the arc instead of the beginning) but I wanted to know more about the characters, more about the world that the Dream Kingdom took place in. After reading the book, I actually started in the beginning to know what the hell was going on. I was shocked to know how little mythology was included in the first novel since it was a prominent thing in the ninth volume. The myological aspect didn't start till the fourth volume with the giving the figure Lucifer more background rather than just someone Morpheus pissed off.  When I first saw the art style, I wasn't all that interested since it was too abstract to my taste, but with the narrative and mythological references you'll grow to love it like I have. What I didn't know originally was that a character from the DC universe, Lyta (Alias: Fury) was incorporated into the universe and that some of the actions effected their replicative books and even tied into the Doctor Fate series. There are no points where I feel disappointed in the narrative and feel that the lore has some ties into everyday life that people endure (another reasoning that most of the setting takes place in the modern world).

Neil Gaiman "The Sandman" has amazing flow and pacing. The art is mystical and abstract and it plays in favor with the setting. I would say that I enjoyed his work and hope to find more mythological aspects in other works he's done.

Preacher Questions

These are a series of questions asked within the class to the comic "Preacher"


Were there any prominent symbols in what we read and how were they used?

Well there were a lot of symbols of the theme of God with the depiction of Genesis and how they were incorporated into the story. Genesis was used as a being from heaven coming down to Earth to process a soul and it soon processes Jesse and destroys the church. Jesse later states that the voices that he hears in his head are similar to the voices of God commanding him to give voice to the lords teachings, kind of fits since he's a preacher. You could say his killing people in the church was him killing all of the sinners for their actions and them not being excepted like Noah's ark.

Is there a aspect of the story in which you were able to make a personal connection, what was the nature of the connection?

I'm not sure that I felt a personal connection with the elements presented in the story since I didn't really go through all of the "edgy" matters that happened like running away from enforcers or the truth behind people. I guess I could say it was based on when everyone went to church. While in the comic people only went to church just to see Jesse make a fool of himself in front of everyone like he did in the bar the night before but for me it was different. My mother usually goes to church when we visit her home town and when she does she usually see's people who were in gangs or how sold drugs or even those that had babies from different men and they went to church acting all mighty and worshiped despite their past actions. They would tell others about their change even though others have been going to church longer. It's like the two rapist who went to church acting like going there would make their actions forgivable. It was disgusting and hilarious to see people go through that metamorphosis like there were always little angles. That's the only real connection I felt.

If you were to adapt this story to another medium, what changes would you make and why?

While generally most people would go for a movie, I would try to go into the video game genre. I would make it be a objective based game while caring elements from the video game "Heavy Rain" where the cutscenes were more interactive and environmental. I would have to remove the word nigger and fag and replace them with other forms of dialogue that gets the point across of them referring to African Americans and a cigarette. I would also make the violence not that impactful but still have the effect of brutality in the slaughter of the cops and people in church. I feel a video game effect is more interactive than just viewing a movie and you could get away with more crazy effects while keeping the tone the same or at least similar to the comic.

Manga and the Japanese comics traditions- Osamu Tezuka's Buddha- The Power of a Cartoony Art Style

The Japanese Manga industry is a whole different genre than what I expected when growing up. Their use of black and white ink to create emotional pieces of art are what makes their work interesting and creative. 

Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha is no different from what I experienced. His use of simple character deigns helped connect me to relate with the characters while keeping it cartoony to get away with exaggerated movements. Still though, when I saw the cartoony look, I didn't expect some mature themes like death, alcohol or even religion (though it should have been obvious since the title is names Buddha). Tezuka's work has always interested me since my first time reading Astro Boy. While these elements that I stated are common in his work it was still surprising to still feel connected to the story even though it's kind of dated. Reading only his first volume (where Buddha is born) has left me wanting more to know what happens next to the characters and the story. While no set protagonist in the first volume, each of the other characters lives are intertwined with each other and they impact on what happens to characters later.

Another mange that most probably haven't heard of is called MAR (Marchen Awakens Romance). It starts a school kid named Ginta where he's transported to a fairy tale like world that use magical items to do battle with the antagonist the chess pieces. How it connects to Tezuka's work is that it's able to take a cartoony appearance while addressing mature themes in the narrative. The characters have over exaggerated expressions and act upon their reference like Jack and the Beanstalk or Wizard of Oz, and even Snow White. It impresses me that you can still depict artwork through black and white inking and still keep the reader focused on the story. Both pieces or work have a play on magic and supernatural occurrences as well has oppression based on social class. Don't get me wrong, there are still humorous moments in the story but it more so focuses on the pressing issues the world and setting that was at hand.

I hope later in the near future the world will continue to remember that Tezuka and others worked on in their earlier stages since it's a hole lot better than some stuff that is produced today. 

Wide World of Comics- (Wakfu, Persepolis)- Are they so different from America?

"How I spent my spring break? I worked on thesis, chilled with the family and of course read some comic books." Is that the stereotype report people give when asked about spring break in school? I don't remember, I may be thinking about summer vacation or something like that.

Anyway, the topic for today was the Wide World of Comics. Specifically from European artist. I've read a bunch of comics from European artist since I try to read all types of comics from different genres. I could list a lot comics that I've read but that could make this post go on and on and I would rather focus on one specific style and recommend the others later. The one comic that I focus on is from the series called Wakfu. It's basically from a French video game series that's a tactical MMORPG developed by Anakma Games. The series plays on a mythical world where there a twelve character classes that are based on the twelve gods that the world lives by. Why do I go into so much detail on this series? I wanted to get into the basic understanding of the world for people to understand the narrative of the comics. Even though the series was developed as a game, it became MORE successful as a television show and comic book series. what make this series comics different from the ones America have are that they tie into the narrative of the games and the TV show. It's narrative is either on the main characters in a different scenario or the origins of the side characters that are in the games and shows. One specifically that I really enjoy is called "The Black Raven". It tells the origin of Kabrok, a former warrior relapsing that his adventure days are over and trying to continue his life as a salesman. He's not only mostly known in the games, he even appears several times in the show. Now the talk about the comic itself. The colors and art style are colorful and cool. The themes of alcohol and sexual escapades are rather apparent even though the series is suppose to be for children. The series has been known to talk and illustrate things that most American comics feel is too controversial. It's something that a lot of French comic series seems to tell. They don't see those themes as something that is too inappropriate.

Another series that I read, or re-read since I've read about this series in high school is Persepolis. The story is more about a comic in a graphic narrative format that's in black and white. It tells the life of the writer, Marjane Strapi's life growing up during the islamic revolution. She get's into really specific  detail in the struggles in being an Iran woman living in a oppressed country where they weren't allowed to be free. The first book more so focuses on Iran and her childhood where she would sometimes see herself speaking to god (till the death of her uncle). The second one focus on her coming of age into America and how she adapts to living in a country full of freedom. You don't have to be a specific gender to connect with the story and understand her struggle. From my point to view, I loved how she wrote about her life since the point of view from woman in Iran is rare and I've never heard much from them in most medias, specifically in a graphic narrative format. Her issues with sticking to her free will and her faith in religion are things that most people go through or at least through similar situation. How her work differs from American comics is the narrative of a realistic problem that comes with realistic solutions and losses aren't shown that much. A narrative that is based on another country is also something more fascinating since different countries problems ins't that well know to others. What makes the books stand out from others tales about their life in different countries is that the way the characters are portrayed are of a cutesy styles with no humane details in their portrayal. While this cartoonish look would not usually work in many other tales, Marjane can still staple their issues with them and you can feel a similar emotion that many people in life have come to relate to. I've enjoyed re-reading it to understand what got me interested in this series before (though in high school I was forced to read in for class). I've even seen the movie twice and loved the humor shown. I would highly recommend it to anyone, it's not long and it's really enjoyable.

While many European comics may not be as popular, they are able to tell different struggles and issues that many Americans didn't go through but many can still relate to and understand their points of view.

Mary-Sue Incarnate - Silk

Oh god, I've been wanting to talk about this for a while, there's writing a female character to help reinforce that there are women in the comic book industry. And then their's creating a character with abilities that's greater than your main title's incarnation.

This is Cindy Moon. Her alter ego is Silk. She was created by the current writers of the Spider-Man series, Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos. She's introduced as a girl that was bite by the same radioactive spider as Peter Parker (aka. Spider-Man). After her powers developed she didn't have much control until she was trained by Ezekiel Sims for a couple of years till he chose to hide her within a bunker to keep her safe from a vampire villain named Morlun. She was then recently released by Spider-Man and has taken on the identity Silk.

Now that the backstory is out of the way, I can get to my opinion of her. When I first saw her, I was a little hesitant since she started out with skills that were greater than pater than Peter's.  With a stronger spider sense, the ability to produce organic webbing from her finger tips, and faster agility, she was a little over-powered without any balance to her stats. A little extra push was that the spider that bit them gave them this thing that lets them feel their pheromones, which cause them to want to fuck like rabbits. The way it was handles felt like this character was forced down our throats without any pacing or breathing room to embrace her presence. But her annoyance was minor and first and it didn't have much impact on anything...yet.

Once the Spider-verse arc (an arc where all the Spiders from different times, universe, and creations are brought together to survive from the Morlun) was brought to light that's when her personality or what was given at the beginning was thrown out the window. She starts with breaking into Peter's place and can't stop talking about either replacing him or wanting to fuck each part of his body. The character feels different from what was originally given. She goes from wanting to find her family after realizing that they left to wanting to focus on Peter's earlobes and replace him despite him doing this longer. She still keeps trying to fuck even after meeting the other spiders. Her dialogue changes from a serious character who experienced a loss of 13 years of her life to a simpleminded teenager making horny and juvenile responses. Despite having greater skills than Peter, she only got by with dumb luck and finding the radiation that could kill the Morluns, did I forget to mention that her webbing can INSULATE HER FROM THE RADIATION! It's another bs power that she didn't need. It gives you no fear if the character will be harmed in the end or makes it less interesting in how she would take out foes. It should also be worth noting that with Dennis Hopeless writing her in the new ongoing Spider-Woman just makes her lines cringe worthy and her behavior childish and stupid. This wasn't what I thought how the character was going to turn out.

I know people are saying that having an asian woman super hero will make it more appealing to woman but it's just a sad result of bad characterization and not enough pacing to make her personality really fleshed out. This is what I was worried about when characters like this are introduced into the comic book industry. It doesn't matter that there is no consistent to her personality and overpowered skills to others. As long as she meets the status quo of being female, not caucasian (asian), and having powers where she can take care of herself (Sadly this could apply with most characters in comics today.) Tumblr sure will be happy to have their little sue is making comic equal not even glancing at why she would be off putting to people other than (OMG THEY HATE MY SOCIAL CORRECT CHARACTER BECAUSE SHE FEMALE IN MALE DOMINATED FIELD.)

I actually feel that Spider-Gwen is better represented than Silk since she actually has a original story and balance powers without needing to prove herself better than the original. (Plus her outfit design is awesome.)




With one saving grace to her is that she's gotten her own ongoing solo series that's being written by Robbie Thompson and illustrated by Stacey Lee. I've read the first story and to my surprise, I actually had fun with her character's portrayal and interactions. Compared to how she was written before, she's finding it hard to cope with her powers since they're a little unbalanced since last arc. She's concerned with her family, she's not use to super hero life and doesn't know how to deal with life outside her bunker. She's described that she' not that sociable and that life feels foreign to her after 13 years. She even has regret on how her life was like with her family in the past. This clear personality is what I wanted in her character for a while now. The comic has humor and actual treats the same sex as a joking side section rather than trying to make a point central. The art style is more playful and fun while fitting in with the tone of the genre. It's a big step up compared to how she was originally written. I hope Thompson continues with his work and resolves my issues with her.









Wow this is a long post. Just wanted to get this off my chest and have a little hope that people can create a character while having balance and a clear personality.

 

Better Version

Oh god kill me.

Stereotype in Comics - King- "Does it take Offense?'

Oh boy. Just thinking about the topic makes me feel uneasy. What I can say about stereotyping in comics, no, in many media is that it's mostly used as a means to represent a race or people's culture in a negative light. What my opinion about it is that it exist, and that it's based on a one-sided misleading view of a group or cultures actions. It's not really necessary for work or even as an ideal but it's used constantly. Why is that? Well as an African American man, you would think that seeing my race simplified as eating watermelon and fried chicken or being into materialistic objects like shoes would have me offended and disgusted. But to my surprise it doesn't. With how comics portrayed people in past comics and the ever more known Blackface, what may look offending to others now was simply how people were viewed and accepted before. It's how people were portrayed BACK THEN. While it was insulting and misleading, I can't change how things were viewed in the past. I can't feel insulted by past actions that have been shaped before. The big lips and the wacky face was racist but it's something that's not accepted anymore. It should never be used as a laugh or a joke but unless it's events that are still taking place today it's pointless to get upset about it. The only real action that you should make toward it is to look down on it and shake your head in shame.

For me personally, I can take my race with a little humor without feeling offended. I personally use stereotypes to joke around with my friends on how misguided the culture was before later times. The only thing that would bother me is if people take the stereotype seriously and use this as an actual basis for fact. This dark humor isn't just used by me and a few others, people who make Vines also joke around with black behavior. On youtube videos, in television shows and many more. It's not to be confused with wanting these treatment to re-appear, it's to play around and mock that people had those views in the first place.

Since I'm talking so much about my race, it's a good time to mention that I have read the graphic novel, King by Ho Che Anderson. It depicted the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and all of his actions follow the time of segregation. It was a interesting read since while I've read some stories on his life, there are even some things that was never covered like how others behaved toward him in a negative light that WASN'T against de-segregation. I loved the art style that everyone has with black and whites using the black color to shape the character of the face and using the white as white space. The  story was carried by the pictures as the text was plain and simple. It didn't match the style of the work and it seemed like it could have been a last minute placement. I also love the switch between the past and the present with one having color and the other is black and white. The story lacks the stereotypical designs that I've been mentioning for this post but it more reinforced the struggles that Black people had to deal with around in the 1900's. It makes me more thankful that I wasn't born in a society that doesn't have White people and Black people separated. That I can be treated like an human being without fighting for my human existence. I like how Anderson has covered the different sides of MLK that most wouldn't have seen and how the issues he's faced weren't meant with an easy stride from his "Have A Dream" speech.

Stereotyping is all around but to take offense from past events and getting mad at people are taking light of the situation is ridiculous and pointless. It should be something to learn from and not take it as actual facts and believable material. I don't feel all that affected by the stereotypes that are shown though the industry but it should be known that I also don't approve of the belief. But I can still have a good laugh at the false belief.