Skip to main content

Week 12- Women In Comics


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 combined along with a voice headed by a somewhat dramatic, somewhat comedic viewpoint. While I personally don’t take a lot of inspiration from this story, it is nice to see another alternative take on the idea of what is truly heroic, this time from a combination of feminine and foreign points of view. Well executed with a lot of relatable, funny, and diverse characters, this newest addition to the Marvel universe may be a fan-girl, but she stands unique from and beside those she admires.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analysis of Shaun Tan's, "The Arrival"

Jarod Frank Analysis of Shaun Tan’s, “The Arrival.” Shaun Tan's, “The Arrival,” is a fantastic example of conveying narrative themes and complex character interactions without the use of dialogue. Through the emphasis on gestures, body positioning, and facial expressions, we are able to “fill in” to a great degree what we imagine the characters are conveying; regardless of anything literally being said. One such fantastic example of this is when the main immigrant man is trying to find an apartment, beginning by asking another man where it could be. We see the quizzical look he local man as he looks over the immigrant, who pulls out a drawing pad and draws a bed, pointing to it. Such a natural progression of actions, reactions and continued actions are the basics of human communication, not necessarily needing words to convey an experience we all are familiar with: questioning. While the situation is mundane, the comic being able to convey this series of emotions here and n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 13- Reconsidering the Superhero

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 10 - Manga

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 interest...
Post a Comment
Read more