Week #7: Legitimization of Graphic Novels

Maus, by Art Spiegelman, is a story with a connection to who I am today. The holocaust is arguably one of the most horrendous acts committed against a minority group. The others being the genocide of Armenians and Assyrians (who virtually no one talks about).

While all of our people were being slaughtered, one thing in common is the chronicles of survivors. Many survivors dealt with what had been done to them in a myriad of ways. Art Spiegelman took the route of immortalizing their experience, for good or for worse, to ensure history won't be forgotten. That's where are chant comes from: Never Again.

Anyway, moving on from the eulogy.


This is a autobiographical piece focused on the aftermath of the holocaust and its effects on the victims. There are several moments in this graphic novel where I couldn't help but empathize. I remember every detail of my great-aunt's account of the war that it's unbearable to keep moving. It took me some time to watch every panel.

Two pages in and we have the entirety of a lifetime of suffering in a few panels:

Vladek: "Friends? Your friends?"

Vladek: "Trap them together in a room with no food for a week..."

Vladek: "Then you'll understand what friends are!"

In just a few sentences, there is a lot of history to tell. Which is a segue to the chapter's title "My Father Bleeds History". His suffering in the camps shaped his personality forever. Cynical, paranoid and plagued with nightmares.

Vladek: "My life could fill many books; nobody wishes to listen to this kind of stories, anyhow."

There is a lot of truth in the words of Artie's father. I can see why Art wanted to immortalize this, because stories are meant to keep the future from repeating the mistakes. At least we hope so.

Throughout the chapters, he starts as a normal guy who identifies with his country, and second as a jew. It's a tradition, but his life as a Polish was what made his life. He had tribulations and life problems like any other non-jew. Love mistakes and such.

It's a true story.

Talking about more technical devices of this graphic novel, it does have refined aspects of storytelling. It has great pacing, letting the reader take in what's happening, the subtleties and the emotional impact of every scene. How different Vladek becomes by the end is very noticeable.

He follows each panel by switching between narration and present. It's quite seamless and it's not jarring, in my opinion. I'm already immersed in the story, and I can imagine this as an animation:

                                     

"Hey, look! Adding the figures, it sums to 18, which is 'Chai', the hebrew letter of life"

He follows each panel by switching between narration and present. It's quite seamless and it's not jarring, in my opinion. I'm already immersed in the story, and I can imagine this as an animation. This scene is specifically moving to me, because in Judaism, sums that result in certain mystical numbers mean omens and special letters (Kabalah). It's touching to see how their faith keeps them alive and supportive of each other.

 The story, even though he speaks in ellipses, is understandable. The character motivations are easy to understand as well. The nazi purposely snatched the prisoner's hat, which by the way they had to use otherwise they'd be punished, just to shoot at the prisoner when he went to grab it. The guard did that in order to receive an "honour" for "stopping an escapee". You can see their intentions in subtext even though the tone is flat and nonchalant. Like telling a casual story.

By the end, he finds salvation in the allies. They find respite and good treatment. You can see how different they are, dogs and puppies with big smiles and kind demeanour. That's really the whole point of representing the characters in animal forms. Easier to distinguish, but without much personalization. It's intended to make the reader pay attention to the story, the dialogue, the action, the scene.

The change between present narration and the dialogue is a good transition.

And finally, another example of ellipsis that cuts all unnecessary filler. We see Vladek breathe his last breath, then it abruptly cuts to his tombstone. After all, this is Artie's father's story. It ended when he died. And so many other survivors, whose stories weren't told, died, and with them, the truth.

A sad story of redemption and eternal peace.

It's a story that hits most of us who are relatives of a survivor.

And I agree that this graphic novel has made it into history by portraying how versatile is to show the images of the author's mind, accentuating the emotion and showing the father's detachment from start to finish, we understand why by the narration, and we see the relief by the end.

Week #6: Underground Comix

Underground Comix appeared 1970s and 80s, all up til now. They are comics that don't fit the childish nature of superheroes, and deal with mature or daring content. They also comes from small publishers for specific and niche magazines. The underlying point of underground is the transcendent subject matter, for example, people complaining about small things, or intruding in someone else's life because they are different. This week's readings start with Robert Crumb's Mr Natural.

At first glance, it looks like a comic straight out of Asterix and Obelix. It's cartoonish and looks innocent, but the dialogue and story is pretty daring for a comic of those days. Mr Natural is pretty much a jerk to characters, and wants things his own way. For example, the poor Buddhist Shuman wanted to concentrate on meditation but Mr Natural was tempting him with all material possessions. Somehow, they end up in a good ending, with Mr Natural being appreciated.

Mr Natural reads like a comic strip from a newspaper, simple gag. Many panels with lots of dialogue-driven action. Playing with the reader's patience and empathy.

The next comic I chose to read is different in style and layout.

Gay Comix. A compiled anthology of gay and lesbian comics dealing with those issues of the time. Homosexuality was seen (and in some cases currently as well) as immoral and deviant.

They are comics that play with the theme, Being Gay, maybe the reader can relate and laugh or cry about it. They're different themes, it can be a statement of society, arguing against the arguments of intolerant homophobic people, or personal stories, or fantasies.

Week #5: The Emergence of Graphic Novel

Will Eisner was one of the first artists to make the graphic novel medium viable and deeper in meaning than it was purposed during earlier decades. I read "Contract With God", a graphic novel that deals with the urban jew community of the big city. Of course, I relate to this because I am Jewish, and I understand the difficulties of being at odds with religion and everyday occurrences like dealing with the death of a loved one, or grand loss. We blame G-D, and doubt his contract and his care over us.

What's interesting about the first graphic novels to break out of the comic mold is how loose they become with lettering. Lettering now becomes a part of the illustration, and not just text to inform the reader. Lettering has character, let's say.

Many of the pages in this graphic novel are one panel, splash pages, with accompanying narration following Frimme Hersh. It set an interesting precedent of reducing the number of panels per page in order to make a slower pace with more detail visually to appreciate. And that coupled with the new stylized narration, it combines into a well-balanced page.

To top it all off, the storytelling is a breakthrough. No longer are stories upbeat with happy endings no matter what. This compilation of tenements stories take a bittersweet twist with a pinch of irony and an existential question. This trend starts to bleed into mainstream comics decades after.

If we look at it from the perspective of storytelling, it's a parallel autobiography, I would say. Stories of people lives who are at odds with their faith.

Another comic who follows this sort of few illustrations per panel accompanied by narration is Craig Thompson's Blankets. 

It's an autobiography, and this is a trend that has been going on since the 90s. There is a need to tell your own story, take out pages from our diaries and place them in ink. Lives are good material to write, because we know more about ourselves than a fictional universe. I feel like people are into this genre to experience the emotions of the author.

Thompson uses similar elements from Contract With God, using lettering to express emotion rather than simple information.  Dialogue has character, and this is something pretty new in the evolution of graphic novels. Loose and full of life.

I feel like this manner of expressing words is successful because it brings the attention of the reader and imagine the tone in which the character is saying the words.

Week #4: The Comic Book

I read "The Adventures of TinTin: TinTin in Tibet" by Herge (1960), and I must say, it's sophisticatedly crafted for an early derivative of mainstream comics of that time. His style is unique. Definitely speaks for and differentiates himself from other competitor artists.

I will compare Tintin with several other comics all throughout this post because I admire Herge and his stories. A bit biased, I know. Bear with me.

His panels are balanced in picture and dialogue, so the story is complemented successfully. I notice the way he handles colors is slightly more polished than many of the action superhero comics of Tintin's contemporaries. I assume this has to do with the publishing company's technique in printing, perhaps using more tones than the usual limited tones for comics.

For example, look at the difference in % of margin of color tone error with the serialized Action Comics (1954).

Because of the printing technique difference, the product quality is different. It may also have to do with technology advancing through the years, and perhaps by the time TinTin came around, the technology in printing got slightly better enough to show progress. However, they both conserve the simple flat coloring style, but one is more refined (TinTin) than the rushed style of comic compilations like Action Comics.

Another similarity is the overload of words and description in each panel or bubble. Both comics, and probably many of the contemporaries, have a lot of words put into each bubble and box. It is a double edged dagger for readers of today, because a lot of words could confuse the reader and may take away from the art of each panel. With overload of words come too many panels per page. This might have to do with the fact that magazine page sizes were big enough to hold more art and information.

I haven't felt that way with TinTin, however. Maybe because his arrangement of composition and character in relation to the text felt non-intrusive, I had no problem reading and appreciating both. Like I said before, they complement each other. The flow of panels felt natural, the true mastery of Herge can be seen.

There's a good balance of storytelling elements and timing! I feel like one would be hard-pressed to find a gem like this in the early times of comics, when the medium is still finding its place in the world.

On to another comic of the times, Carl Barks' "Uncle Stooge: A Spicy Tale" (1962) is quite similar in quality as the Action Comics (Superman, etc), and that was surprising to me. The toner technique was still prominent and the panels were not as composed as Herge's. 

We start to see less dialogue per panel, and less panels per page, which are the bones of today's comics and graphic novels.

Last but not least, I read EC's Vault of Horror #36 (1953). While the quality is pretty much the same as its contemporaries, what was really interesting was its subject matter. The violence in each horror story is pretty much every climax. The details in the art is at the par with Action Comics, which makes things even creepier.

In conclusion, those decades fostered the birth of many genres and styles of comics. Including the technology and refinement each artist and writer decided to produce.