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 go back to
in between discussions. These kinds of comics as contemporary literature allow
for a more visually sophisticated, (and very diverse representations) exploration
of themes, and used very effectively by the writer and artist, Bryan Talbot.
What could have been just another simple, (and let’s face it kind of boring) history
and/or philosophy textbook recounting the accomplishments of other people is
instead a recounting of epic storytelling and real-life human accomplishments;
all while creating interesting art, imaginative literature, and producing
memorable and engaging work that stands upon yet separate from the works
discussed in the comic.
As per the assignment, I am improving one of my previous blog posts, Week 12's "Women in Comics," for my final assignment for week 15. The comic, "Ms Marvel," is a title that many familiar to Marvel comics already know, but none quite like this more modern take upon the IDEA of a Ms Marvel, by Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker, G. Willow Wilson, and Adrian Alphona. 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). This story is incredibly powerful for being not only a super-hero action and comedic story, but also one of an empowerment fantasy, and assimilation. We see the character struggle not just physically with the challenges she faces, but on a deep psychological level. One of her most powerful lines of dialogue includes, &quo
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