Bethany's Literature of Comics Blog

 Right off the bat the first thing that stuck out to me was the use of color in The Long Tomorrow. After reading Maus, and March, it was refreshing to see such vibrant use of colors in this comic.  The sci-fi theme and plot of the story reminded me of an episode of Love, Death, and Robots that followed a similar plot line. I was shocked out how in you face the sexuality was. It was very real and honest for lack of a better word. I don't think that it was done in a erotic or pornographic way however. It just came off as realistic. It's very cool to see how the medium was taken more seriously in Europe than in America at that time an that Adults were open to reading comics.  Silver Surfer was a great read, it was a longer story than The Long Tomorrow and it had more depth. At first, I was a bit lost because I didn't have much backstory on who the Prophet was or why his sister chose to escape and steal a helicopter but it started to make more sense as I read along. The langu...

 Reading March directly after reading Maus was great because I was easily able to compare and contrast the two works. The art style of each is very different but I appreciated both. I've come to realize that the quality of drawings in a comic make little difference if the story is compelling. In Maus, the drawings were more crude but still just as compelling and emotionally stimulating as March. The art style of March was something I truly appreciated though and hope to adopt some of that style into my own work when it comes time for thesis. The art style of March was almost cinematic. The "shot" choices and angles, as well as lighting, felt like that of really well done storyboards for a live action film. I think that the style was fitting given the very serious tone of the story however, Art Spiegelman did prove that the art style can be more simplistic and not take away from the seriousness of the story. I thought that in volume 1 the backstory of John Lewis went on a ...

I am so incredibly grateful that this book was a mandatory reading for class. I now find myself recommending it to everyone I come across. What a powerful story. I understand why Spiegelman chose to abstract the story a bit by portraying all of the characters as mice and cats; to lessen the severeness of the topic. However, even so, I felt deeply while reading this story. I cried several times and was in awe by the sheer amount of love that Vladek and Anja had for each other. I felt Vladek's pain and his aching for Anja when he cried and asked his son why he ever remarried and started crying out Anja's name.  To see the beauty of Vladek and Anja's relationship and all they went through together and how their love grew stronger after all of that was truly inspiring. I understood Artie's pain and his contempt for his parents, having undergone childhood trauma but feeling it wasn't valid since it was nothing in comparison to the trauma his parents had gone through in A...