Literature of Comics & the Graphic Narrative

Black Panther (2016) by Coates, Stelfreeze, and Martin This week I read Black Panther (2016). Last year I watched the movie multiple times as I loved it so much, so it was interesting to read its comic.  First of all, I loved its beautiful art although I kind of miss the old-fashion texture of classic superhero comics at the same time. My favorite part of its art is the use of color; since several different tribes are depicted in Black Panther, the color really enhances their difference and uniqueness. The first page (before “You have lost your soul”) is such a great illustration and excited me to read this comic from the beginning; In this page, three colors -blue, green, and red- show each groups and in the foreground, T’challa’s black costume contrasts with those colors. Though the comic is new, I like that the use of contrast between shadow and light (a big area of shadow, sometimes whole figure is in silhouette) still look classic. The way they use geometric patterns ...

Batman The Killing Joke What is the reaction to the text you just read? I actually don’t know the other story of Batman (I should…), so it is hard to compare this comic to other classic Batman. The comic is very well illustrated with its detailed and clear art style; however, those great illustration are also frightening for me at times when the artist depicts Joker in close-up. Also, the setting and characters of Joker’s theme park looks disturbing; but I think they are supposed to be disturbing as Joker uses this theme park to make people lose their sane, thus the artist successfully portrays this setting. I like the last page (pg50) showing Batman and Joker’s interaction in nine panels. It is sort of ambiguous what happened to Joker at the end, but for me, this vague ending seems appropriate for this comic. By reading only this comic, I felt like the change in Joker (how he loses his sane in the past) is very abrupt. I understand that he lost his wife and baby, but he did n...

This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki      As I started reading This One Summer , I finished reading it in one sitting. It was very interesting and aesthetically appealing. At first, especially when I saw the montage pages (page 44-53), I expected that this comic is a “diary” kind of story which doesn’t have a big climax… I was wrong! Though this comic captures even tiny moments of the characters’ life, it also tells a family drama in where each characters’ emotions are carefully depicted.      First of all, I wonder how Mariko Tamaki is able to capture those moments that a lot of us experience in our childhood; looking down on cartoons and trying horror movies, digging a nonsense hole at the beach, having a crush on someone older than you (and that person is not as cool as you thought when you look back…just like the Dud in this comic!)…I recalled similar memories from my childhood because of this comic, but those childhood memories are har...

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli      This week I mainly read Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. I was immediately fascinated by its color aesthetic and use of shapes, but moreover, what makes this this work interesting is its philosophical contents. The story and ideas in Asterios Polyp is complicated and I felt that I sometimes wasn’t able to grasp the ideas enough; however, that is probably a great thing about this comic. It requires me to reread in order to understand, and I will find more and more things I didn’t catch in the first reading. Also, the interpretation of this work will vary depending on each readers’ experience, age, and situation, since the ideas suggested in Asterios Polyp such as duality, identity, self, etc. can be significantly different for one person from another.      My favorite part of this comic is the depiction of relationship between Asterios and Hana. While Hana is a great character (not just “an ordinary ...

Buddha and Ranma Vol#1      This week, I read Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha (Vol.1) and Ranma (Vol.1) by Rumiko Takahashi. To be honest, I have never read the work of Osamu Tezuka (especially as a Japanese, I really should’ve, but the manga I read in my childhood were mostly Doraemon by Fujiko Fujio, Mitsuru Adachi’s works, and other recent ones such as One Piece ). I’m glad that I got a chance to read them this week as he gave a huge influence to a lot of Japanese artists (and even worldwide). Moreover, I found some interesting differences between American comic books and Japanese manga; and thus I felt that I was able to know a little bit more about my own culture from reading manga.      The difference I felt the most between American comics and manga was their character archetypes. When I was reading American comics in the previous weeks, I feel that many comics/comic strips often have the characters based on archetypes: hero, villain, heroin, clow...