Hello Fellow comic book lovers and followers, and welcome to another installment of my comic book/graphic novel review! Today, I will be reviewing a personal favorite of mine that follows a little bit of history around a controversial situation between Iran and Iraq during the Islamic revolution. If any of you have guessed by now through that major hint, you will know that I will be talking about, “Persepolis” by famous writer, animator and graphic artist, Marjane Satrapi.

This whole autobiographical novel, (or two depending on if you order the book in two parts form the English formatted one) is an illustrated biography based on Satrapi’s life as a child growing up to be an adult during the Islamic revolution and what her country’s culture dictated for men and women. In the beginning we are introduced through a third person narrative by Marjane herself in almost a flash back series explaining her transformation from a little, innocent Iranian girl to a proud middle eastern feminist.  The introduction to her life is simple and innocent, as all children’s childhoods are, but like many children, their fates will be shaped by the direction their curiosity faces when in the direction of the real world. In Satrapi’s case, the march of revolution. As she grew older, Marjane, paid more attention to the ideals and knowledge of her parents and her parent’s friends who were also supporters in the revolution. For years, struggles, raids and bombardment of terror, death and political ideology conflicts plagued her home until there was finally change made in the revolution. Unfortunately as she grew more and more into adult hood and learned more about the teachings and edicate for Middle Eastern women, this would lead her down a path to explore and understand the universal means of freedom and equality for not just for basic gender rights activists, but for humanitarian rights for her and her people.

This would conclude what I have to say for this wonderful and emotionally powerful novel. I could go on and on in more detail about this autobiographical piece of literature, but I have more readings to read and prepare for reviews so unfortunately, time is of the essence for me. However, I will leave off on a strong recommendation and approval for people who would like to read this book and experience it’s amazing art and true story for themselves, as well as taking a look into the animated film styling’s of Persepolis as it was turned into a full feature length animated film which looks as if the book itself came to life.

Greetings followers! Are you all ready for another instillation review on this week’s comic discussion? Great, because that might not happen! Now hold up everyone with your confusion and your questions, and just hear me out right now. In my class today, there was a lot of debate and discussion that covers a certain commonality in not just comics but in media itself and seems to have infected people’s way of life interlay. I’m talking, of course about, stereotypes. Now to my honest confession, I have not really read a comic preparing us for class for this discussion, but if many of you who have been following me from the beginning or have recently started following and have seen/read my previous bogs/reviews, may already know about the case and point I made about the character, Mr. Ebony from the classic comic, “The Spirit”.  For those who have read my discussion about this character and have checked it out for them selves, kudos to you. For those of you who haven’t, I recommend doing so, so that way you not only get my references to this discussion, but also understand my personal view points in this blog instillation. Now without further a due…

            It’s no secret that there has been a lot of stereotyping done in the world of comics since it’s take off into mass print and publishing to hundreds and thousands of people. Depending on why writes a series for a while, the writing to some characters might change slightly or dramatically that can for better or worse grasp the readers attention more. Stereotypes have been around for as far back as early communication between cultures. Let’s face it; there was something at one point that people caused people to think one way about certain cultures and so on and so forth. Hell, these things are still apparent and apart of society today and can be found through most consumer brands, products, advertisement, commercials, books, movies, documentaries, I can literally go on and on folks, but I think you get the point of what I’m trying to make there. Stereotypes do exist to a degree and based on just the matter of choice in the provided stereotype(s) upbringing. In comics, the rules of stereotypes existed mainly due to the era’s culture (in this example, America). American comics now are definitely more diverse and challenging against the racist, sexist and gender stereotyping that leveled them out to be way back when during the early 1900’s. But the main thing comics and reality have to offer in commonalities is that, with a growth and evolution of a country and era, people are bound to step away and break free from what generations of labeling have had to subject them too. Women in life and in comics used to be portrayed as objects that men would have to rescue and claim as a prize. Now, they are the ones that can do the saving for any human being and stand just as tall with the boys as they stood alone for years. Even different races are being mixed in with the overly white washed selection of characters that have been provided for our enjoyment for decades. But through a lot of these comics we as society can learn the ideas and possibilities of hope and a freer tomorrow for all people to live in peace with one another.

            Well, this would basically conclude what I have to say for the roles and positioning of stereotypes in not only in the comic book media but in society as well. I’m sorry for sticking to only bold pieces of input from this topic. I know like a lot of you, I can go on for hours and hours worth of writing and speaking on this subject, but for right now, there is more work to be done, more comics to be read and other things awaiting us in the days to come that desire our attention more then just having to focus on this one subject. So thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say about this subject and stick around for the next installment in my comic blog reviews, fellow comic lovers.          

   

Hello comic lovers and followers! My apologies for not posting anything for... a few weeks. Things have been pretty hectic in my life recently or rather in the past few weeks for school and projects wise and I really lost track of these blog reviews. I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear back from me on my recommendations and reviews and again, I am sorry for being this late. But I'm gonna try to blow out as much and all posts/reviews as possible between now and the rest of the week. So with out further a due, let's get started.

This new review will be on a very well known novel that has a very sensitive, historical significance from the times of WWII Nazi occupied Europe. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm talking about the well known (animalized) emotionalized dark journey that is found in the famous graphic novel, Maus.

For those who aren't familiar with this novel, or have been thinking about reading this novel today's your lucky day. Now for those of you who are history buffs or want to learn more about the first hand dark sides of the Nazi occupied Poland, this is the perfect read for you, and don't worry, I won't go into too much detail about the novel to give away spoilers or the rest of the story so you all can check it out on your time. With that said, let's begin. In the beginning, we are introduced to more of a "present tense" situation of a mouse (I know, shocker.) interviewing his elderly father about a biography he is working on about his experiences in Poland during WWII. When the father begins his story, life appeared to be simpler for him as he was explaining the classic parental story of how a father meets the mother. Now things tend to go rather stereotypical during this point in the father's life as he explains the complication of leaving behind a girl that he used to "fool around with" for the girl he would end up marrying and going through the struggle of meeting with the girl's parents, getting a business job from the girl's parents to start up a family and all that fun happy jazz. Things seemed to have gone well for the (past tense) until war finally broke out from Germany of the Nazi party and began to plague Europe like a disease. For the grandfather, he had no choice but to be drafted into service for the Polish military and fight against the Nazi army on the front lines. Only to be captured, taken prisoner and left to survive cruel environments that were the Nazi POW Camps (Prisoners or War). After working off his sentences as a prisoner by the Nazi’s our main antaganist is set free to return to his family and together, find a way to survive a Nazi occupied Europe. 

One thing that was very interesting about this novel and how ironically and playfully well it managed to fit with the title, was the animalistic depiction of the races of people. The Polish/Jews were portrayed as mice, while the normal Polish people were portrayed as pigs and then the evil German Nazi’s (enemies to the Jews) were designed like big, intimidating cats. This helps the viewers make more sense (in my opinion) to know what is going on for this depiction of actual life events in WWII and Europe's separation and classification between cultures.

Now I know you’re all not going to like what I’ll have to say… but I’ll say it anyway and be “that guy” and stop the description/review here. I know I know.. “what the hell, Matt?!” well, you know what they say, keep them wanting more. But in that turn of phrase, I’m really only doing it to favor the author and the book series. Hoping that all of you who read this, will be a little more interested in reading or re-reading this story and better remembering this man’s family history and remember the tragedy that took place so many years ago.

Oh, and again, my apologies for not providing consistent upload blog every week like I have been doing before, again, life’s been very busy and hectic on my end. But don’t worry, I’ll have all the blogs I’ve missed out on providing for you all from the past few weeks up and ready for you to read soon. So in the mea time, keep reading my followers and fellow comic lovers!

Hello humble followers, and welcome to another installment on my blog of comic books! In this entry, I will be talking about a little something a lot of you may not be familiar with, and that is a collection of comic stories called "Little Nemo Comics". And no, I'm talking about a comic series that inspired the movie "Finding Nemo" by Disney. I'm talking about a collection of multiple variety newspaper style comics.

Everyone these days (young or old) can name at least a few old time newspaper comics, such as Peanuts, Garfield, and Calvin & Hobbes. But hardly anyone (including me) know about "Little Nemo" comics (until my professor introduced me and my class to some examples for our history of comics). What Little Nemo comics are series of short storied newspaper comic strips that are collected from a variety of newspapers from earlier decades of the beginning comic strips. Many of these books will more then likely have a surrealist art to many strips that try to be more representative to other foreign countries and people that most people in common "civilized" countries (like the United States) saw how other beings lived in wild countries by means of abstract representation. Now some of these did however include to be very stereotypical and often at times "racy" towards other cultures or people of different countries. These story strips show a wonderful and colorful history in the world of newspaper comics. I would highly recommend checking this series out as a source of artistic research and references. Especially to any person studying the world of art and comics, and hope that they find this well categorized selection of illustrated short story notations useful in their pursuit of becoming an artist/comic writer.

Hello blog followers and comic book lovers, if you're reading this and or notified of this post, then that means exactly what you think it means. Yes, my good followers it is time for yet another comic book review! Now for this blog entry/review, I will be reviewing a well recognized and timeless comic book classic, "The Spirit" by the famous writer and artist, Will Eisner. Now for those of you thinking, "there was an actual comic book that weird 2008 movie was based off of?" and before you even think of anything else relating to that movie, let me just say, yes... and no. God no. Sort of. There was an actual comic book called "The Spirit" that had a completely different take then the movie did and whatever sort of rewritten decisions new writers decided to do with the characters after Will's passing in 2005. So keep that in mind when you read on to the actual review below.

One other suggestion to keep in mind before I go into any further details about the book and if anyone is already familiar with this story/character or is looking this up before I get the the actual review (shame on you for jumping to spoilers, but I like you're enthusiasm) is consider this a... "warning" for anything some may find "offensive". I know people (especially on the internet) in this day and age are complaining about a lot of things that go way out of proportion and just get people mad, stupid(er) and confused and a lot of good people get burned in the end. People may find reading the original series, somewhat controversial, for (in my impression) one character in particular called, "Mr. Ebony". So if anyone who thinks of anything "racist" about someone with that name, then you're probably right on the money to assume so. Now I'll go into more detail for the actual review in just a second, but I just want to let you people know what to expect about something and remind you to not jump to any serious, aggressive "P.C." (politically correct) drama or complaints about this series because of this is what comics were like back during the early to mid 1900's. We've come a long way since then to be more diverse in comic books today then earlier prints back in the old days. Learn and respect the past to build a better future. Now, with that being all said and out in the open, let's go straight to the review.

The Spirit was a mixed experimental media comic series that was written and drawn up by Will Eisner in the early 1940's and is still around in the publishing world today. Now obviously, many comic stories undergo a transformation in styles and developments as the decades go on, so the version I will be reviewing will be the original 1940's version. This classic comic book series doesn't exactly follow a common plot point or story unlike most comics during the time (like DC and Marvel) The Spirit is more of a selection of interestingly composed short stories about this rogue free spirited (no pun intended) detective hero called, The Spirit and his pursuit to solve mysteries and crimes. Following him on many of his adventures, is his faithful companion/friend Mr. Ebony. The series shows a great variety of different art styles for the characters and environment that really try to bridge the old, news paper comic art strips and the more realistic illustrations of people, objects, and places. One good example would the comparison of Mr. Ebony and The Spirit. Aside from the physical appearance and the way characters talked, would be the illustrative styles of who/what they were representing. And I'm not saying that in a way that would make black people viewed less respectively then a white person in a comic book, I'm saying that in terms of the styles they are made. And if people are still hung up on the race issue then look at other examples such as some of the mob goons, police official, hell even the white commissioner character looks more cartoony then most others (especially compared to The Spirit). This comic series is nothing to be taken seriously in terms of how people should be or were viewed back in those days. This series is something more then just simple ideas and viewpoints and that is it's creative artistic dynamic. The Spirit challenged the use of different art styles in characters to make things seem more "comic" like then real like until it was redone several times throughout the decades. It shows balancing styles in a sense of wanting to be more harmonized and in unison with one another to tell a story. A great modern day example would be the movie, "Who framed Roger Rabbit". You see a big variety of art style selection in a noir themed time story that balances between reality and cartoons. That is what I believe "The Spirit" in it's original form was trying to do. To make way and challenge the different methods of artistic story comic book making for writers and artists some day succeed them. So, to wrap everything here up as shortly as possible, I would highly recommend checking out Will Eisner's early work such as "The Spirit" and approach it with an open mind and open interpretation and to have a drive to wanting to learn more about the wonderful and colorful past about the comic book.

Hello loyal followers! It has been quite some time since my last comic blog update, and I apologies for the delay. Not too long ago, I was fortunate to catch a bit of a break with scholarly duties, but in the process of finding some rest in my comfort and relaxation, I found myself starting to slack in my duties to provide a good review for all those who follow and want some good comic reading recommendations. With all that said and done, I would like to talk about one comic that many people are well in doubt familiar with from our childhoods. No, I'm not talking about a superhero comic (be patient, those will come later). What I am referring to is the classic Hergé series of "The Adventures of Tintin" (more specifically) in... Explorers on the Moon.

This story follows our beloved boy adventurer Tintin, his dog Snowy and the rest of his pals in an adventure unlike anything on Earth, because this time their adventure takes place.. on the moon! Yes, that's correct (as if you couldn't already guess by looking at the title) the moon. Tintin and his faithful companions embark on a dangerous mission to explore the deepest parts of the moon and explore the mysterious caves that rotate above earth, to see if there could be any signs of suitable life sources (such as ice or water) to see if the moon could be a suitable place to colonize some day. Upon their launch and arrival on the moon, they detect that someone among the crew is trying to sabotage the mission. It's up to Tintin and his adventurous crew to find out who is trying to sabotage their mission and return to earth in one piece, or suffer an unimaginable fate in space.

Well, I hope this is enough to capture everyones attention. I know this may not sound much like a review and more like a trailer advertisement for the story, but that's pretty much what happens when you try not to spoil anything for the readers. But in a formal review style, I will say that this story of Tintin may not be as "adventurous" as a lot of Hergé's work of Tintin in the past (or even some after this one) but it does open the minds of those who back then thought that the ideas of concurring space travel and exploration to such places (such as the moon) seemed to really capture the minds, attention and imaginations of readers back then. In many cases it's really quite interesting seeing how one author thought what many people believed in and adapted it in a creative story. With that said, I would recommend reading this story (to see if anyone would see the fascination of what the author and we as a society imagined what space travel and exploration would be like) and to check out Hergé's other amusing stories of the Adventures of Tintin.

Hello viewer(s)/follower(s) and welcome to another comic literature blog post. This week's blog installment is on a book that breaks down everything we know about a comics and why they exist and how we see them as a form of representational reality. If any of you are wondering what I am talking about, if not then your questioning is at an end, for I am talking about the wonderful and insightful "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art" by Scott McCloud.

This insightful and articulated piece of deep thought and understanding of the entirety of what is the comic book, is actually something that I have myself have read previously many years ago while still attending high school at a summer class program for comic creation. So this was actually a rather nice surprise to  refreshing lesson that I had all but forgotten many years ago. In this illustrated academic book the viewer is not just being reading something narrated by the author to be addressed to the reader by mere words, but the creator himself. Scott took a comic like approach for this book and had himself guide the reader in what makes us fascinated with comics and explains ho we are able to translate what we are seeing/reading into a story where we identify people, environments, creatures, emotions and even the language. Scott provides the viewer with a fun variety of art forms and narrative techniques that the viewer of this book or any comic book can understand. What is really something interesting that he provides is the break down of simple designs and illustrations of faces into a recognizable form and how we recognize them as a human face, and breaks past the simple two dots and a half circle inside a circle (to become a face) into the simplistic form of text and how that can be worked at in the opposite direction; from basic to detailed. One thing I will say about this book that I would say be problematic to the viewer is that even though much of his examples are very informative and solid evidence to understand, they are very noticeably dated. From a personal view (based on several new issues from rising publishing companies that I have seen) there are more and more artists that are experimenting with different narrative forms of illustration that could be great examples of work to feature in this book for more diversity in his art studies. But even though much of examples are dated, they are very noticeably used as reference for new art forms to be taken in these days in the comic book industry. Perhaps Scott could do a revision or an edited re-release of his book in the future, but if not, then I really see no harm done in not doing so. In conclusion, I would say that this is something any aspiring comic book writer or artist should read to understand the diverse techniques that exist in the world of art and graphic narration.