Skip to main content

The Emergence of the Graphic Novel, (Week 5)

Will Eisner’s approach to archetype is an interesting one, somewhat influenced by his religious background. Using his characters as a mouthpiece for his ideals, such as in his story of “A Life Force,” where our primary characters, one of which is a hobo, discuss how “they” perceive life and the human experience. In one particular scene I adore, the homeless man is sitting in an alleyway talking about the struggles that both a man and a cockroach must face; and relates this to the shared idea of survival that the sane human race collectively agrees on, regardless of personal ideals or religion. “It seems to be the only thing we can agree on!?!” Comparable to his energy filled discussions is his approach to art, especially the way he designs his characters and their expressions.


Many of Eisner’s characters are very expressive, using their whole body to convey an emotion. Using their shoulders, hands, faces, even the positioning of their feet or where their eyes are can tell us subtle emotional or logical shifts. Vast abstractions of these characters’ actions can help show their archetype, whether a shifty salesman or a sweet old lady, the way that they say what they want is just as important as what they are saying, if not sometimes more. If two characters in Will Eisner's story are talking about the price of a hot dog, but one is saying it while checking all around him and having his voice toned down during the conversation, contrary to the opposite character who is beaming with a smile and practically shouting his opinion, their actions tell us far more about the character than what they are saying. The use of expressive character along with the complex themes explored are what make these stories resonate initially and stick with us for years to come. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 13- "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" - In class assignment

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 11- Contemporary Literature

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Analysis of Early Comics

From Little Nemo in Slumberland  to Calvin and Hobbes and Krazy Kat,  so many of early comics were primarily if not entirely based around cartoons and lighthearted, shorter "strips" of comedic observation or slapstick. Involving simple stories and characters, the objective of many of these seemed to be to attract younger audiences with the cartoon characters, never delving into more serious themes, reserving those for political cartoons or propaganda. Some early recreational comics however do explore more developed characters, such as Alex Raymond's Flash Gordan, an early adventure comic that focused on themes of science fiction, romance, and even aspects of war; (though HEAVILY filtered). These early adventure comics were some of the first comics to have continuing stories over multiple issues of a comic, involving much, much longer comics rather than a traditional "strip" of panels like previous cartoon oriented comics. These adventure stories were aimed at sl...
Post a Comment
Read more