Thank you and final paper!

Thanks for your insightful comments throughout this semester! Please don't hesitate to be in touch as you complete your final papers if you'd like any feedback (I am happy to look at introductions or early drafts) or have questions. I hope to encounter some of you in class in person in the future!

Stitches

David Small is widely known for his successful children's books. Stitches is obviously a book that is geared towards a more adult audience. This can be seen in both the book's content and his art style. What about this book do you think makes it geared more towards teens/adults. Which of McCloud's concepts relate to this stark difference? You can use samples from his other books such as "Imogene's Antlers" and "Eulalie and the Hopping Head" for reference of some of his other work.

Stitches, By David Small.

The memoir Stitches is tale full of grim insight into David Small’s life. The opening scenes describe a family where each member has their own unique language, His mother had her cough, his dad had his punching bag, his brother had his drums, and he had “getting sick”. Throughout the story there are several parallels that run through the storylines. Both David and his mother express themselves in silence; the silence of course is forced on David by his parents through their lack of medical urgency. However do you believe that David mother’s silence may have been forced on her as well by her own upbringing by Grandma Murphy?

I also thought there was an interesting tension between David being teased as being a homosexual early on in the memoir by the other children for pretending to be Alice from Alice in Wonderland and his mother’s own silenced homosexuality. Additionally Dr. White Rabbit being the person who tells him many truths, one of which being “your mother doesn’t love you”. Is there significance to these things being veiled in the “magical” world of Alice and Wonderland?

And lastly, did anyone read the information about David Smalls mother at the end of the book? Did this change your perspective of his mother at all?

Stitches

Stitches is set in home in Detroit during the 1950's. This was a different time for families and for the way problems were dealt with emotionally. David's mother especially would likely be living a much different life if she were born in a different time period.  What other facets of David's life would have been different if he were born in modern times? How so?

The art in this book is very strange at times, almost reminiscent of a horror film. What do you believe the author is trying to portray with his chosen artistic style? Is he making a statement by using black and white or is there a more simple explanation?

David has a slight obsession with Alice in Wonderland. This manifests in several areas of the book, including his therapist being depicted a the white rabbit. What are the connections between Alice in Wonderland and David's life? Why was the white rabbit chosen, is it simply a character we recognize or does the author suggest a deeper connection between the two?

Comic Extra credit submission

Morning

Sofia Castagna

When making this comic, I came about it sort of in a poetic way. I didn’t want there to be much dialogue, but to use the sequence of imagery to tell the story. I set up the narrative in a way that the viewer sees the character performing the mundane act of preparing breakfast. While the storyline is subtle, I wanted to create perspectives that made the action more interesting. I felt myself composing the panels like a director would compose his cinematic views.

To imitate the gentle light of morning, I tried to draw with low contrast, to create a soft atmosphere. Again, the lack of drama adds to the mundane nature of the action. I wanted to create and ending impression that kind of comes out of nowhere, but again, is not too theatrical or like a movie twist. My aim was to set up an atmosphere that the viewer can pick up on, and then question their own judgement at the end.

Throughout the process, I found myself making the same choices that I do in my other work, not surprisingly. Typically, I make subtle figurative work which captures a candid moment in time. Using comics as a medium allowed me to create more than one still frame, which is typical of my work, but create an ongoing narrative. The excuse that I love doing any kind of assignment that involves art led to me dedicating way too much time to this comic, however it was worth the end result. I had hoped to challenge myself to create a more stylized drawing, but thus is life.

I would love to hear feedback from all of you, Thanks!

Arab of the Future

The Arab of the Future depicts Riad, the child of a French mother and Syrian father, growing up in a family of mixed cultures and customs. This memoir follows Riad and his family through France, Libya, and Syria as they try to settle into a place they all three can call home.

The primary focus of this story seems to be on the father in particular, Abdel-Razak Sattouf, and his struggles to be both a well educated man of Arabic decent and a proud loyalist to his country and cultures customs. It seems that throughout this memoir we see Abdel-Razak constantly struggle in defending his family from the cruelness of his own culture as well as defending his culture and customs to his wife and children.

Abdel is a smart man who knew the dangers of moving his family to Libya and Syria to become a teacher despite having many offers to teach elsewhere, why do you believe he chose to bring his family to these places despite the opportunity to have a better life that he worked very hard to achieve? Additionally, do you sense that his attitudes towards education and his culture shift as the story goes on?

Where do Riad and his mother fit in amongst his father’s story? Despite being in almost every frame, his mother seems to be a secondary character in this memoir, her only true defining scenes being in opposition to her husband’s culture and the things happening around her. Of what importance is her character?

The Arab of the Future

This graphic novel is set in three different countries. Each country is set to a different color: yellow, red or blue. Do you think there is a reason each color was chosen to represent each country? Do the colors represent anything else in regards to the story?

 The Arab of the Future presents a gritty, unflattering depiction of the residents of the countries the story visits. Is the depiction of the characters fair, more so is the depiction racist? What role, if any, does race play within the story? 

The use of time is critical to the story and allows the reader to experience tension in a creative way. Do you believe this type of storytelling works or does it feel forced?  Does this “time travel” help or hinder the characterization of Riad? 

The Arab of the Future

This week, we embarked on another intriguing journey with new and exciting characters. This graphic memoir depicts the author's father, Abdel-Razak Sattouf, go through the transition of living in a young, hopeful state of mind, to realizing that his country was not bound to catch up to freedom and falling into the negativity surrounding him. Essentially, it is the loss of innocence that Abdel-Razak experiences when he realizes that the world around him isn't changing. 


My question for you all is to discuss why you think Abdel-Razak was portrayed the way he was. It wasn't exactly a flattering portrayal, and his character was not highly likable. Being that this is a memoir, does that portray how the author feels about his father? Or is it something else entirely? How does racism come into play in this novel?

Final Paper Instructions

                                            (From Matt Groening's School is Hell)
Your final papers, due Friday, April 29th via email, should be somewhat more complex and research-heavy than your midterm papers. I also ask that the papers be 9-10 pages.

For this paper, I do not ask you to respond to a prompt, but instead to choose and explore a topic of particular interest to you. That means that you can look at a text or issue addressed in class that you DIDN'T explore in your midterm or transcend the boundaries of the class to focus on comics or issues in comics about which you are passionate.  I am more than happy to respond to ideas for papers and/ or provide you with a series of possible prompts if you like. However, you do have freedom to pursue what you choose.

As for finding research, I'd like you to include approximately three sources to enrich your argument (these might include peer-reviewed articles, books on comics lit or theory, or interviews with authors). I am also happy to help you find appropriate research for your chosen topic. By now, you should all have received your midterms with comments. I am happy to discuss them with you and help you figure out how to integrate my comments into final papers. Overall, I was impressed by the caliber of your work!

The Arab of the Future intro and comments post

This week, we've been reading The Arab of the Future, by Riyad Sattouf, a Syrian-French cartoonist living in Paris. Sattouf's work has been celebrated in Paris and throughout Europe--especially in the wake of the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices (he was once an illustrator for Charlie Hebdo).

 For more on the Charlie Hebdo shootings, check out this article/ timeline from the BBC.

For more on Sattouf, read this New Yorker profile.

At the same time that The Arab of the Future is immensely popular in France and, now, after its translation into English, in America, a number of critics have worried that the comics portray the Arab world in a negative light, trafficking in stereotypes about Arab physical and cultural difference. What do you think? Does Sattouf's work skate too close to caricature? Should a personal work about a group of individuals have to answer to critics about how it represents the larger groups to which these individuals belong? How does it differ from the memoir works we've read over the course of the semester?

How does Sattouf draw the differences between Arab characters and French characters and between his father and mother? What about the differences between France, Libya, and Syria? French and Arab children?

How do the recent events in France (both the terrorist attack at the concert and the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices) affect our reading of the graphic narrative?

As early as 2005/6, debates over the representation of the prophet Muhammed rocked Denmark, and, soon, the rest of Europe. Why are comics becoming such a flashpoint for debates about race, representation, and censorship in recent years?

Linda Barry's One Hundred Demons: an autobifictionalography

Linda Barry’s One hundred demons is a stark contrast from the other comics we have read in this course thus far. I think first and most notably is the style in which the comic is done. It seems assembled in a scrapbook fashion, each story has an intro page with miscellaneous drawings and seemingly three-dimensional adhesives and ends with a single drawing “summarizing” the story she just told.

Between these two book-ends is contained a sort of organized chaos that is her “autobifictionalography” What do you think of reading a comic that is both autobiographical and made up? Are there any stories that seem less “true” than the others? Do you believe that this is a commentary on the authenticity of our own memories?

            Along with embellished tales of her childhood, Barry also includes many exaggerated depictions of the people around her in her drawings. What did you think about her distinct style as I believe its much different than anything we have discussed or learned about in class.

One Hundred Demons
Lynda Barry



Barry's graphic novel contains various stories within it, which by far makes it one of the more interesting graphic novels we've come across during this course. These different autobiographical accounts have different imagery, and I want to discuss how these different artistic strategies portrayed different tone and mood throughout the first half of the novel.

I also would like to discuss the significance of the 100 demons and Buddhism throughout the story, and how this theology plays into the novel.

ALSO: Who's story was your favorite and why?

Fun Home 105 - End (Nehring)

Fun Home is a memoir written by Alison Bechdel, Alison like her father grew up with complicated feelings. They both were were attracted to the same sex. Knowing this, they have a lot of the same problems and are almost polar opposites, because they were attracted to their own gender. This also made them very similar.

From this point in the graphic novel we explore much of the later portion of Alison's life. While is does continue to skip around a bit. Chapter 5-6 seem to focus on her diary entries where she reflects, but the end of Chapter 6, her entries stop. 

Chapter 7, Alison talks about how for the first time when she is visiting her mother's friend Elly in New York with her dad and brothers, she notices gay people all around her for the first time. Later on in College Alison finally embraces her sexuality and joins the gay union club on campus. Finally, she learns about her father.

What do you think of Alison's relationship with her father? She tries to make a connection with him and he is just not willing to open up with her.

What do you think of Alison's reaction to the news? What do you think this symbolizes?

What do you think of her choice to use art in her work instead of doing a traditional memoir? What does it add and/or take away from the work?

Fun Home: A Tragicomedy

Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel, is a memoir graphic novel that depicts her relationship with her father, and how despite her feelings that he was always someplace else mentally, and that they had very little in common, that in fact the two were very similar.

What we see in the second half of this graphic novel is more development and a better understanding of her stressed relationship with her father. The two bond over literature, and have this very emotional connection on that level, while still feeling that sense of detachment, as her father is repressing his sexuality.

We also see Alison's development, sexually and physically. She struggles with her identity, knowing that she has certain masculine qualities, and at a young age wishes she could identify as a boy, not understanding that sexuality and gender are two different things (at such an age, it would be rather confusing).

My question for you all is: when do you think Alison first discovers the difference between sexuality and gender, and when does she first have an inclination that perhaps her sexual attraction is to women? Hint: I would look to page 118; this is where I felt I saw it. Please discuss Alison's development and how you feel that affected her relationship with her father positively or negatively.

I would also like share, just for fun, the beginning/ending parallel of Icarus. I have attached the photo from the beginning, and now that we have finished the graphic novel, I challenge you to search the story of Icarus if you don't know it already, and try to relate that back to her relationship with her father considering the ending.

Alison Bechdel and Fun Home

 Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic was named one of Time magazine's 10 best books of the year in 2006. Prior to the publication of her graphic novel-cum-memoir, Bechdel was best known for her comic strip, "Dykes to Watch Out For," which was syndicated in a number of alternative publications throughout the country. In Fun Home, Bechdel persists in exploring some of the themes she first examined in her strips, particularly gender and sexual orientation, as well as the trials and tribulations of a smart and witty young woman in America. However, Bechdel's memoir is an even more personal and poignant account--both of growing up gay and simply growing up. Bechdel's book asks us to look at the future of contemporary American literature. Will the "great American novel" be something other than a traditional novel? Have we moved past the genre of the novel onto more hybrid literary forms, such as the graphic memoirs of Spiegelman and Bechdel?

See below for resources on Bechdel:

Comics Journal interview

All About Women Festival interview

Book with great chapter about Bechdel

Announcement of MacArthus Genuis grant award

Dykes to Watch Out For strip

Musical version of Fun Home

Cvetkovich article on the queer archive in Fun Home

Extra Credit Assignment

Extra Credit Project!

 Due on April 20, close to the end of the term, your extra credit optional assignment asks you to draw your own comic of approximately one to two pages, inspired by the work we've read this semester.  You might write something autobiographical, like Spiegelman's Maus or Bechdel's Fun Home, or entirely made-up, like Gene Yang's American Born Chinese.  You can use black and white or color images.  I only ask that you submit one copy to my mailbox at McMicken and upload one copy to the blog (we can make sure those entries are private if you request it), so we can discuss your work with the class.  I also ask that you include a 1 page write-up, explaining your work/ experience making the comic.

 I know some of you are better artists than others.  The assignment is more about seeing the ways in which the work you've read have influenced your use of panels, space, and narrative structure, rather than your artistry.  If you can only do stick figures, do stick figures.  If you want to use digital tools to make your images, that is okay, too (see example). The author of "Hyperbole and a Half"  (pictured above) uses Paintbrush.

There's a lot of information online about creating comics.

Look at:

rules for drawing comics

making a comic

this youtube video on making a comics page.

how to draw comics 

this WikiHow on making comics

how to make a comic book

online comics tool