For this week we were to read women’s comics. I read Lillian Chestney’s Arabian Nights. I found this story very enjoyable to read. The new bride of an arrogant king is about to be beheaded when she cleverly dodges her death by distracting the king with her amazing stories. She unfolds the tales of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Tale of the Magic Horse, The Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor, and Aladdin and His Magic Lamp. The art was very unique and beautiful. The colors were very vibrant and alive. All of the stories Scheherezade (the beautiful new wife of the king) had told were folk tales from the Middle East. The comic was uniquely feminine in the fact that the female characters were strong, intelligent women who used their wits and charm to escape the oppression of men. Scheherezade was to be killed by decapitation twenty-four hours after she married King Shariar. She distracts the King from ordering his death sentence by telling him a number of folklores. In her story of Ali Baba the heroine is Cassem’s slave, Morgiana. She pours boiling oil into 37 leather jars, killing the band of evil “cut-throats” who are hiding in them. Although Morgiana was a slave and the King was controlling Scheherezade they both managed to outwit the males in the story. I felt like the comic overall was very simple. It wasn’t a deep or intelligent read; however, sometimes it’s nice to read a story that doesn’t take too much interpreting. I liked reading this version of Aladdin and comparing it to the Disney film. Aladdin is one of my all time favorite Disney films. It amazes me how different the two stories were from each other, but also very alike. For example, very specific things happened in the comic that also happened in the movie. When the evil old man, Jafar in the film, becomes a genie he uproots the castle with Aladdin inside it to banish him. The same scene is played out in the film. Of course it’s a bit more elaborate in the film, but the comic had some very fun points. I give it an A-.

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

I read Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. I really enjoyed the stories with the main character, Jimmy, as a little boy. The story would cut between Jimmy as a kid, a middle aged man, and an old man. I didn’t really like the stories about Jimmy as a man or old man. They were some-what confusing and a bit depressing. I can’t tell how the different stories are supposed to relate or if they’re suppose to relate at all. Jimmy as a child is very smart and invents rockets, shrinking potions, and new dads; things we know are most likely just figments of his imagination. The older Jimmy mopes around talking to his dead mother. He attempts to meet women but they never like him. It seems like the little boy version of Jimmy is nothing like the older version. Boy Jimmy is smart and creative. He makes wild adventures for himself. Older Jimmy is bland and pitiful. Maybe Ware is trying to show how people lose that childhood spark. Even amazing children can turn out to be losers. Getting to the art style of the book, I thought it was well drawn. The panels were very tight. What I mean by this is that Ware didn’t draw outside the panels or leave a panel without a border. They were all drawn in thick, black lines. The characters and backgrounds were also drawn with thick, black lines that didn’t waver. It seemed to fit the rehearsed, monotonous lifestyle of the older Jimmy. I thought it was strange how Ware never showed any of the women’s faces. It’s as if Jimmy is so detached from women that to show their faces would be unreal. I like the page with the house drawn on it and where arrows directed my eyes through the phone call Jimmy was making to his mother. I thought it was well conceived. I didn’t however like the fact that there wasn’t a starting arrow. I didn’t know which part to read first. So, I guess overall the book was well conceived and drawn out, yet the story to me was very annoying. I didn’t want to read about this sad, old guy who didn’t have anyone in his life.