Briana's Blog

Ranxerox It didn't take much from starting to read this comic that it was definitely more for an adult audience. One of the first things that gave it away was the dialogue. Swear words and other vulgar language was used throughout the comic which definitely gave it more of an "adult story" feeling. In addition to this, though styles can vary and still be applicable to a wide range of audience, this style in particular seemed to be more grunge and intense. The way men and women were portrayed was very rough around the edges (literally) and the colors were not bright and happy. Things appeared to be almost dirty throughout the pages. Moreover, the characters themselves looked tired, oddly dressed, and greasy...I don't know why greasy came to mind but that was my initial reaction. Sexual themes were also spread out through the comic as well, of course a lot of it being directed towards young female characters. Violence was also very prevalent in this comic as well. A...

Stereotypes are everywhere and they can affect everybody - at least to a certain degree. From my own  perspective and opinion on the topic, I view them to be mostly bad, but sometimes based on a percent of truth. The reason I say this is because in many ways, stereotypes derive from some fraction of truth. Obviously with a disclaimer of: Stereotypes, when handled in humor, should be handled at a VERY specific degree, and with the acknowledgment of the true  nature of persons belonging to the background the joke pertains to. In many cases, people belonging to the group that is being stereotyped can share laughs about these kinds of jokes. However, I can really only speak for myself. Recently, a friend asked me if it was ok to tell me a "racially insensitive" black joke. I said sure, because I was curious about what it would be and if I'd even be offended (typically I try not to let things like that offend me because I know the truth and am pretty comfortable in my colo...

This weeks reading of Maus was interesting. It was a comic that told a deeper story even through its somewhat child-like cartoon style. To me, the overall style was what made this comic so impactful. Some of my favorite stories are ones that are told through simplistic styles of art with the compliment of a more serious undertone. I find that by doing this, there is a good balance between what the reader is seeing and what they're understanding. Sometimes I find that stories with complex details in the art can take away the attention from the story because the reader is so caught up in analyzing the visuals. In addition to this, it was interesting that even though the story was being told by animals, (mice to be specific), the reader still got the sense of human-like qualities from them. Personally, I was able to completely overlook the fact that they were animals and focus on the story with no problems. What was also interesting was the subject matter of the characters convers...

This weeks reading pertained to offensive or sexually explicit comics. It was already really funny to read some of these comic titles, but I was really interested to actually find out what they really meant. I decided to read some comic from the comic book titled Tits and Clits. It seemed pretty straight forward so I didn't have to guess that it would be about women. These stories all varied in subject matter, drugs, rape, masturbation, and sex with men and women. All of them that I read, though, was from the perspective of a woman. The one I found to be very funny was the one with the mother who just wanted time alone to masturbate. She was constantly interrupted by the phone, her parents, her kids, etc. In the end, she is able to "overcome," but the whole journey to that was just really hilarious. Another comic from this series was that of drugs, rape, and prostitution. I'm pretty sure the woman who ends up becoming a sex addict was raped and that was what awoke...

The comic called "life force" was an interesting read. From the style of art, to the subject matter itself, it leaves the reader questioning their own life. Through the art style specifically, Eisner was able to convey a strong sense of mood, emotion, and atmosphere. Some panels contained lots of detail to set the scene, while others were taken up by mostly the color black, minus the drawings of characters themselves. By doing this, Eisner varied to intensity of each panel. Something else I really enjoyed about the artistic style approach was that it wasn't in color. I feel that if it were in color, it would have taken away from the intensity of the emotion throughout the comic. More specifically, in moments where characters are having their "existential crisis," the simplicity of black and white allow for the reader to focus more on the emotions and words the character(s) are expressing. The overall atmosphere of the comic is one of confusion, sadness, longin...

The comic book, though still seen as something more appropriate for children at this time, has started to evolve and develop more mature content which would soon begin to appeal to an older audience. Even from limitations from publication companies, artists have been able to create works that can carry some depth and complexity in terms of the storytelling. This, in part, was due to the members of military desiring comics with more adult themes. Comics, like Batman, start to delve more into more serious themes. The Batman comic that I read in class demonstrated examples of more serious topics that dealt with murder and mystery. Though I'm sure children would still enjoy these comics, I feel like it was one of the first comics to probably appeal to older audiences as well because the dialogue was much more complex as compared to comics such as "Peanuts." In Dateline: Oslo, the target audience definitely is adults. The subject matter is completely serious with slight ...

Throughout history, comics have changed in many ways. From being in all black and white, to color, and then even down the subject matter, comics are a bookmark to specific time periods. The Archie comics, for example, demonstrated a time of what people thought teenage years should be like. It was almost this "guideline" for the younger audience of the time. It was as if it told you the biggest things you'll be worried about as a teenager is who is dating who, what kind of clothes you're wearing, etc. In terms of the style of comics, they started to cary from more realistic to cartoon, and from black and white to color. The subject matter also ranged from completely silly to serious. It was as if there was a comic that could cater to any kind of reader. Of course with more dated pieces, there were many comics that contained racist jokes and humor that favored making women look stupid or useless. Sometimes it wasn't as "degrading" but it still had an...