Jarod- Exploring Visual Literature

For the purposes of this assignment I will be reviewing, (shortly) several web comics I consider to be worthy of a person's time, and listing my reasons for doing so.     Series Comic: Imperial Entanglements Link to web comic: http://imperialentanglements.thecomicseries.com/archive/ This is an interesting parody comic based in the Star Wars universe, more specifically, during the time of "The Old Republic," a time period that has received numerous GREAT games and official comics, (of which this story is set in the MMO video game, "The Old Republic") but no movie or animation releases like the more famous Clone and Galactic Civil Wars, (Episodes 1-6). Focusing in on an unapologetic Imperial point of view, (typically considered the "Bad guys" in every other media) this story follows a Sith and an Imperial Agent in their comedic centered adventures through "The Old Republic."     Series Comic: The Daily Planet Files Link to web comic: 

1. My initial reaction to the text I read was sadness followed by acceptance, while certainly a MUCH darker overall tone that ANY golden age Superman story, this joint collaboration by Alan Moore, Curt Swan, George Perez, and Kurt Schaffenberger, is a damn near perfect end to this "run" of the Superman story. Focusing on the dramatic end of Superman, the story throws all of his most, and a few of his lesser, memorable villains and allies at him at once, a sort of collage of the entire Alan Moore run with the character. As Batman later describes it, "like walking through fragments of a legend." This comic celebrates everything that built Superman, from his allies and backstory, to his bitter enemies and emotional struggles; it ties up and ends practically every loose end previously left open in previous issues of the Superman story, while also providing one massive, yet satisfying cliffhanger at the story's end. 2. I grew up loosely following various versions

The reinventing of superhero has been an almost routine process throughout the past few decades, from iconic symbols of ideals to relatable "every-men" to representations of diversity to psychological explorations, the "super" hero has been put through many a test to stand as its own archetype of a character. Still closely tied to their classical variants of the characters, modern superheroes often dip into both comedy and tragedy, while including moments of action and moments of stillness/tenseness. While one exploration of the superhero, “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” might be more closely associated with the explosive, over the top fantasy of the superhero persona, the gritty “realism,” and psychopathic ideology of “Arkham Asylum,” shift the focus away from action focused into almost purely abstract character narration and exploration. But comics don’t have to be one or the other, “The Dark Knight Returns” by Frank Miller serves as a combination of the two extreme

For this week I read the surprisingly enjoyable and approachable visual novel, "Ms. Marvel," a modern take on a modern Marvel fan. It is made obvious numerous times that this is NOT the "actual" Ms. Marvel, or even any variant of the character in previous versions, (there is a quite enjoyable sequence in the first/second comic that shows her transforming into various previous variants of the character). The bulk of the story centers around Kamala Khan, a girl with strong heritage and close family ties that feels like a freak/outsider in nearly every scenario in her life. One of her most powerful lines of dialogue probably includes, "Why does everyone get to be normal but me." While not the most original story or concept, (the storyline of someone feeling alienated, lonely, or unsure of what to do with their powers has been seen many, many times a la Superman, Spiderman, etc) its defining characteristic is the execution of these aspects

For this week, I decided on reading "Alice in Sunderland," an exploration of famous literature and how it relates to the numerous "wondrous" events that occurred at the city of Sunderland, in North East England. Specifically centering around the famous accomplished writer Lewis Carroll, this sort of biographical novel, sort of review of decades of literature is an interesting mix of art and writing styles. It explores the various connecting factors between the writer, Lewis Carroll  and the Sunderland  area, with wider themes of history, myth and storytelling. The greatest bulk of the story is told from an elderly “rabbit” performer in a near empty theatre, save one loudmouth youngster, who starts off very detached and jaded from his work and focused more on something as “mundane as age.” This relatively relatable, realistic setting as our basis for the story only furthers the imaginative themes discussed in the novel, and makes for a nice reliable background to g

For this week, I decided on reading “Death Note,” written by Osamu Tezuka, and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. A chilling murderous mystery based around Japanese folk lore and dark magic, specifically about the  Shinigami Ryuk, a dark spirit/god that drops magic into the human world out of boredom. Following the ensuing chaos that results from a young man and woman trying to use the murderous artifact known as the “Death Note,” the story has been very highly respected for decades, being translated into numerous other languages, has acquired world-wide publication, and even been reimagined as several live action films, an anime television series, and even a musical. While trying to rid the world of it’s villains, our main character, “Light” ends up being corrupted by his newfound power and even declares himself a “God of this New World,” prior to being betrayed, (once again, out of boredom) by the same Shinigami, Ryuk. Showing very dark results of good intentions creates an interesting