American comic book

with such distinctiveness. Our faces not to be forgotten. I was in my early twenties when I read my first real comic book. I had grown up thinking that comic books…

Comics, graphic novels and manga can tie generations together, can start a trend or a give a group of friends a place just to hang out. And the store that houses them can make a difference. Going into a mainstream store as opposed to a smaller-in the hole-comics/graphic novel store is a bit different. For instance, you really have to dig deep within the comic locator or friends of friends to find these small-tucked in the corner of nowhere-places. The mainstream bookstore that I went to was…

Another unconventional feature that the Gond art has introduced in Bhimayana is the use of distinctly shaped speech and thought bubbles. David Carrier, in his book The Aesthetics of Comics, says that the sequence of images in a comic strip or graphic novel constitutes a narrative which brings this medium closer to that of mainstream literature. The author asserts that, to analyze the narrative, the reader’s awareness about the ‘speech balloons’ is important. In Bhimayana, we find two types of…

a fascinating art style in this collection of comics. Yours truly is pretty sure it's actually impossible to know every single comic artist working on the Internet these days. Sure, you might follow one or two, but there are just a lot of them out there. So, when Ten Speed Press sent me Fran Krause's The Creeps, I was not really surprised to find that Krause runs a website, Deep Dark Fears, where people submit their fears and he turns them into comic strips. With that in mind, though, The…

she did introduce the uniqueness of her book to the world as a tragicomic. As the writer and artist of this tragicomic, she only shows what she wants the readers to see. The work is a black and white representation of her coming to a realization of her own homosexuality and a complex relationship with her father. However, Bechdel offers a graphic narrative so in depth and honest that her experience and the fact that she directly narrated and illustrated her book make it more personal, therefore…

1: Argue for or against effectiveness of this book: regarding purpose. The work is a black and white representation of her coming to a realization of her own homosexuality and a complex relationship with her father. However, Bechdel offers a graphic narrative… 2: presentation Comic can be used as an adjective which has the meaning of “funny,” or as pertaining to comedians, which can cause confusion and readers usually steer clear of such comic books for the most part. Highlights the maturity,…

The first appearance of Al Capp’s “Shmoo” was in the classic comic strip, “Li’l Abner”. As said by Life Magazine, the nation was instantly “Shmoo-struck,” and his “Shmoo” became a big hit. There are many stories, comics, and TV shows with and about the Shmoos, the story we’re focusing on is “The Short Life and Happy Times of the Shmoo.” Their life in the book goes through love and hate. With only the desire to please the humans of Dogpatch, USA, they lay eggs, give milk, and if you look at them…

On page 20-21 of the Ghost of the Grotto, the most prominent panel-to-panel transition is the action-to-action transition, which is the most used in comics books. These transitions gives the impression that the story is progressing rather quickly, similarly to an action scene. Given the subject of the scene, when we understand that one character is being held captive, it gives the narration a sense of urgency. By using aspect-to-aspect transition, Barks’ shows us simultaneous scenes, the one on…

Jiri G. Ruzicka’s “American Superheroes and the Politics of Good and Evil,” poses the statement, “The United States of America is the promised land for comics” (Ruzicka 46). Comic books have been around for a very long time — almost dating back to the late 1800’s. Many see these books as merely a form of entertainment; however, they are more significant than that. Comics and graphic novels reflect the American societal values of the time through their main characters, the character’s struggles…

Historically, literary themes regarding the LGBTQ community have been omitted from comic books mainly because of censorship regulations and the presumption that storylines that include sexual orientation are not appropriate for children. The social mores of the past caused the exclusion of LGBTQ issues and characters from children’s comic books because the LGBTQ lifestyle was considered immoral. However, in recent years, comic book creators have started to take on the task of representing the…