Week 13

Calvin and Hobbes was my childhood. I always woke up on Sunday happy that there was a strip waiting for me by the door. I even spent my money so that I could buy all the anthologies and collections of the comic, and absolutely cherish it. There were a lot of themes with Calvin and Hobbes that even still I realize went over my head as a child. That was part of the incredible charm of Calvin and Hobbes. Is how incredibly complex and adult themes were simplified and expressed through the whimsy of the imaginings and adventures of a child and his stuffed tiger. However these themes were somehow relatable to me as a child, even when sometimes I wouldn’t even understand a lot of them. Themes that include existential crisis’s, to employment and all adult and universal themes were so enjoyable to watch Calvin try to deal with and discuss with his fellow and more mellow philosopher Hobbes.

Week 12

One manga that I wanted to talk about was is a manga called Magi, Labyrinth of magic, and is probably one of the only ones that I follow today. It starts out with a relatively average manga adventure story, but very definitely has a strange history and mystery hidden inside of it. What I sometimes say to compare this story to is actually a strange comparison, but to Game of Thrones. I use Game of Thrones because I feel a lot of times is that Game of Thrones does something very hard; it blurs right and wrong in personal decisions very well, and is what I find so fun and interesting about Magi. Eventually as the story goes on, it characters and plot go from a generic good against evil story, and actually starts throwing what are truly hard questions and moral decisions upon characters that create a grey are for the characters to follow. I love that because it adds so much more depth to the characters and story rather than just “Hey hes a badguy kill him.” In this story what is right and wrong are so blurred that even the readers get stumped as to what is the right thing to do. The depth of the world and characters truly add to the story and one particular arc in the story is one of the most amazingly well done arcs I have ever read, to the point where the comic makes you truly think about how you act and people act in real life.

Week 11

The second comic that I wished to discuss and write about is an awesome and beautiful work called blacksad. I absolutely love Blacksad because of the dark narrative it tells and the incredibly amazing art that it illustrates. The art itself is an amazing find and I made a point to buy it when I went to Europe. I regard blacksad as a great example of work that I wish I could make. It is a constant inspiration for me to follow. The use of watercolor and expressions brought by the characters is fantastic. The compositions are extremely graphic and well thought out and is incredible. It was very Disneyesque but I thought it was done extremely well and almost served as an inspiration towards the recent movie that came out called Zootopia. It was also a real fun treat having the Disneyesque style and art be used to tell a much more unique and darker story than Disney would usually allow.

Week 10

I decided to spend and allocate a lot of time talking about a few comics that I really wanted to talk about, and the first one I wanted to talk about is a type comic that I believe you should have a week to allocate time towards as well. Sinfest is a webcomic that I absolutely loved. It was actually one of the most enjoyable reads for me that I have ever experienced in a very simple way. It told the story of characters with obvious flaws, whether it was lust, greed, sloth, or any of the other sins, every single character was a delight to follow. It implements a world where god and the devil exist, the devil, an avid salesman who tries to sell evil to all the characters, and god being a lonely goof who communicates through hand puppets. This form of comics was a delight to read also in part because a strip came out almost every day. Being able to casually read them, or even binge them as a form of a whole comic was a lot of fun. However, this comic unfortunately took a sudden turn and turned into a horrible rant on third wave feminism in recent years, and the recent work has generally been regarded as to have been completely a pointless read  if only to spark anger and arguments on the internet.

Week 9

Mox Nox was a fun read, although overall not my taste. Some went a little to far and was a bit too graphic. The art was overall fun to look at with it’s colors and humor that it adds, and felt very simple and minimalistic. He got his message across directly and without more detail than he needed. It was carefully thought out in a painstaking way to tell the story in a simple way. I appreciate art like that no matter what. The characters are all thematic in its choices and memorable to where it was a fun read. I don’t really have a lot to say on it however, and I don’t really have a strong opinion on the work one way or another however, which I suppose is a bad sign.

Week 8

Bone by Jef Smith is one of my favorite books that I read as a child. I hadn’t actually read it in such a long time to the point where I didn’t even remember any of it. I chose to read it again, and found it was like returning home after a long, long time. I collected them all, rather than grabbing the anthology, and was familiar with both the black and white and color version of the story. It was always and still is a fun read and a joyful world to dive into. It was a grand adventure for me to wade through and although the characters are simply drawn, it reminded me of old Disney characters, and were all extremely charming. The world that it built was always a delight for me to delve into and told a theme that I could get behind. It showed characters that grew and explored growing up and is a comic book that I one day hope to have my children read as well.