Vinny's Literature of Comics and the Graphic Narrative

For this week, I had read My friend Irma as well as Diary of a Dominatrix. For Irma, I found the comic to be pretty sexist. Irma shares a resemblance to the reworked Archie comics of the 1950’s, with the character design and color palate choice. Looking at the 1950's, the culture was more conservative to say the least and women weren't treated as fairly at that time. Dominatrix was disturbing but also comedic, it blew my mind as to what some of these guys wanted to go through. She was a smart gal that knew the ropes of her trade and damn, whatever I had been expecting for this was so much tamer than what was portrayed in the comic. Something I had found funny after reading both stories was the fact that the cardboard doll was used more in a joking sort of manner in the story of the dominatrix. It was a moment where the comic became self-aware, and made fun of that self-awareness. The contrast in color was noticeable as well, Irma had the traditional coloring techniques of the...

For this week, I'd sat down and read the series of strips knows as The Bus. I was both pleased and confused by it at first, it touched upon a form of existentialism that i was not prepared for. The linear loop of the comics made them feel complete, albeit a strange repeat of the loop. Using the Imagery of the bus from scene to scene worked to give a continuity of subject matter, but using different techniques and short cuts to create the strange array of loops and bounds. It reminds me of the earlier subject matter in the class where we had created continuity where there hadn't been with the chicken men, I felt the same sense of continuity and confusion from strip to strip. The strip about the big questions had me rethink the whole comic after viewing it, leading me to re-read the grouping altogether. What is our existence, do we occupy the same space as ourselves in other planes of existence? Do we feel deja vu because we've experienced an event in one of our extra l...

For this week, I read the first installment of Alita: Battle Angel. I was first caught by the sci-fi style of this particular manga. I couldn't tell when it was created, the style of vehicle and armor of the enemy soldiers reminded me of the military design in the Fifth Element, with the usage of non-linear storytelling painting a complicated picture of Alita. I'd found the crazed professor funny, seeing his reaction to the flan with such fervor made me realize i was a bit hungry myself. It was almost like a pheonix, rising from the ashes so to speak. The faded memory backstory with the slow rebuild of the protagonist makes this a building climax of an character builder. With a newly built body, a cluttering of memories, and an unburdened free will, it leaves you wanting to know what is going to happen in the next edition of the series! One thing I feel has transferred well for some manga to their anime forms is the dramatic reveal, with alita there was a massive amount of buil...