Maus by Art Spiegelman

Maus by Art Spiegelman is a clever story about a man learning his father’s WWII story for his story. I enjoyed how Spielgelman included how he collected his father’s memories. Maus is centered on Vladek Spielgelman, Art’s father, recounting what happened to him and his family during WWII. Vladek is a well off Jew, living in Poland, with his new wife, Anja, when the war breaks out. Vladek and his whole family are Jews and quickly try to escape the persecution. Throughout the book Vladek uses his money and influence to protect his family, but when the war worsens he realizes that money has no power. They’re all on their own. The tale is a haunting one, recounting how all of Vladek’s family, including his first-born son, was killed. Vladek and Anja were the only ones to make it out alive after surviving the Auschwitz death camp. Intermingled with the story of Vladek’s past is the story of his present. Art Spiegelman, Vladek’s son and author of the book, is trying to get his father’s story while having to deal with his father’s stubbornness and constant tirades with his current wife, Mala, who was also a concentration camp survivor. Vladek recounts how he met his first wife, Art’s mother, and the obsessed girlfriend he had before his wife. He then explains how he became successful with his own business and had his first son with his loving wife, Anja. Shortly after his son is born, Vladek must join the army and once in battle against the Germans he’s taken in as a prisoner of war. He’s released and goes back to his family who he hasn’t seen in two years only to be shoved back into the claws of war when the Nazi’s begin hunting down all the Jews. The story is truly haunting and unforgettable. Art Spielgelman depicts the Jews as mice. Perhaps he does so because, to the Nazis, this is what the Jews represent. Dirty, filthy, mice. The Germans are depicted as cats, which we all know are infamous mouse destroyers. The depiction of mice can be viewed as a negative thing, yet mice are one of the few creatures of our planet that have persevered over hundreds of thousands of years, through natural disasters, being hunted by predators, evolution, climate change, and so on. They are very strong survivors. Mice hide better than most creatures and Jews were forced to hide, many times in the same places mice hid. There’s even a part of the story where Vladek and Anja are hiding in a bunker when they encounter some rats. The use of animals to depict people was a very clever decision that Spiegelman made. The style of art was also very supporting of the mood of the piece. The quick, dark hatchings set the tones of the WWII era. My favorite panel of the entire book was the one in which Vladek and Anja are walking down a sidewalk shaped like a swastika. This visual representation is just so clear and powerful. It’s definitely an image not worth forgetting.

Blankets by Craig Thompson

I’ve never heard anything about the book Blankets, by Craig Thompson, before I took this class. What a shame. No other graphic novel, or just plain novel for that matter, has ever inspired me to want to do something similar as much as this one has. After reading this book, I’m seriously considering making a graphic novel about my life. Of course in the far future, when I have time. Craig Thompson used all the elements to make this story a masterpiece. The drawing style, the intertwining of different stories, and the unabashed approach to revealing his inner most secrets to the world. This man is brave. This book dealt with so many problems that people go through everyday. The book focuses mainly on his first love: Raina. Unlike so many love stories this book never feels cliché or generic. This is because Thompson was completely honest about everything he ever did, thought, or witnessed. He mentions the great moments and the moments that made him ashamed of himself. He never hides anything. His wistful, delicate lines illustrate the emotions he once felt towards Raina. He uses tangible objects as metaphors of his past; blankets being the most important. He uses images of snow a lot. Perhaps the snow represents bliss. Snow is pure, clean, and new. Before it’s touched it blankets the ground perfectly and flawlessly. Thompson refers to a fresh batch of snow as a blank piece of paper waiting to be marked upon. Thompson’s love for Raina had the same pure, flawless feel to it. I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit this, but when I first picked up Blankets my initial response was “Oh God!” The sheer width of this book was pretty intimidating. But it took me all but three pages to realize that reading this book wouldn’t feel long at all. I was in the back of the library reading the thing for over an hour and didn’t even realize I had been there that long. I would have read the whole thing in one sitting had it not been for some lady turning the lights out on me and telling me the library was closed. Who knew the library closed so early on Fridays? Seriously though, I think I’m going to buy this book and share it with friends and family. It’s just so amazingly beautiful.

Doot Doot Garden by Craig Thompson

Doot Doot Garden by Craig Thompson was a pretty weird read for me. It amazes me that he made this entire comic in only 24 hours. The drawings don’t look like they were drawn that quickly. Thompson used line width to illustrate different moods and emotions throughout the comic. Thompson cut the book up into four different stories. The first story, Salty Yellow Rain, is about a character diving into a blank piece of paper and entering a disturbing world filled with human excrement. In this mini story Thompson used a combination of thin, controlled lines and a deluge of thick, slashing lines during more dramatic moments. The panels were made in a very organic way. The lines that separate the panels are wavy and resemble plant vines. Another short story in the book has an entirely different feel; both because of the story and the way it was drawn. Chunky Rice the Turtle Moves Away was a cute little story, about, well, a turtle moving away. He gets on a boat and sits next to an annoying redneck that talks to him for the rest of the story. The drawing style and panels are much different in this story. Most of the panels are small squares and rectangles that line up perfectly and are separated by thick, black lines. The story has a calmer and more solemn feel to it, so Thompson probably didn’t feel the need to use crazy lines and weird shaped panels. Overall, Thompson’s story telling is very random. He writes these funny little stories that end very unpredictably. To me, it seems like he ends all his stories at what should be the middle of the story. The last story in the graphic narrative is An Insect Invention. The story is about a boy who’s shown an invention by his friend. His friend runs out of candle money so he invents a way to take the juice from fireflies and use it to make a super powerful light. The story randomly ends with the firefly light burning out and the little boy having to walk home in the dark. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that the ends of Thompson’s stories are kind of a let down, but in a way it makes them some what funny.

Plastic Man!

Today I had the pleasure of reading some of Jack Cole’s Plastic Man. At least I think it was pleasurable. It was funny and colorful, so yeah, I guess I could say it was pleasurable. Anyways, I realized that when I was reading some of these comics my eyes were traveling very quickly and turning the pages every minute or so. Something about the story and the way the dialogue was drawn out made me want to read very quickly. Probably because the characters in Plastic Man were very fast paced. They were here, and then they were in the ocean, and then Plastic Man was stretching across a few frames on to an entirely different street of his made up city.

The colors in this comic were very bright and primarily red, blue, green, and yellow. The colors were flat and weren’t used to bring extra dimensions to the buildings and landscapes that gave the overall feeling of the comic book a very “acid-trippy” feel to it. The stories are pretty cheesy and ridiculous but I think this is what made the comics so funny. The first one was about Sphinx, a rotten crook that has a plan to use the cute Bright Eyes as a way to con people of their money. Sphinx is also buying orphaned children to sell to parents hoping to adopt. When his plan begins to fail he puts all the children in a boat that sinks and Bright Eyes ties himself to a string with the other end attached to the boat. He swims to shore and is found washed up on the beach by Plastic Man and his sidekick Woozy Winks. When they find Bright Eyes Plastic Man saves the sunken ship with the children and comes back to tell Woozy that everything’s all right. I thought it was funny how they never actually show Plastic Man save the children; he just comes back in a flash and claims that he did. This is what I thought was so funny about this comic. Everything that seemed weird and impossible was quickly explained by one of the characters. It was like “Dues ex machina” or “God in the machine”, where situations were easily handled or explained through an impossible or “God-like” miracle. I read a little about the life of Jack Cole and thought it was interesting that he went on to draw for Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine. I quite liked the cartoony nudes he painted with watercolors that he made as considerations for the magazine.

Peanuts

Peanuts is such a classic. How can anyone not love these comics? A bunch of funny looking kids getting into all their shenanigans. It’s no wonder I like Peanuts. This strip is a lot like Calvin and Hobbes. Or I should say Calvin and Hobbes is a lot like Peanuts. Calvin and Hobbes author, Bill Watterson, was very much inspired by the Peanuts adventures and it’s not hard to see why. This is another story about children with big imaginations. Maybe they’re not as crazy as Calvin, but they sure do some funny stuff. Charlie Brown, probably the most recognizable Peanuts character, is always slacking on homework and falling for Sally’s tricks. In one strip, Charlie Brown is watching the clock in class and thinking to himself, “Come on bell! Ring, ring, ring! Please don’t call on me!” The bell rings and he’s able to wait another day before he has to give his book report. Linus says to Charlie, “Well, now you can do your report, “ and Charlie says, “No, I’m going outside to play.” It’s simple, yet so true of adolescent behavior that I’m sure all of us can relate to it. Peanuts is a very children friendly comic, yet still contains plenty of mature humor for the older generations to enjoy. For example, the psychiatrist stands Sally sets up. Or the kid that’s constantly playing Beethoven. Snoopy is a fun character as well. He’s always lying on top of his doghouse on his back and for some reason I always think, “Doesn’t that hurt his back?” Anyways, when I was reading the Peanuts collection in the library I noticed how, unlike Hobbes, Snoopy talks in thought bubbles. It seems at times that Charlie Brown can talk to Snoopy, but I’m confused as to if he really is talking to him or just pretending he is. I usually like comics that are short and concise. Peanuts is one those comics. One strip doesn’t last more than a few frames but still packs a powerful punch of humor in one little comic. They’re never too long, or too wordy, and are overall just easy and enjoyable to read.