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-.