EC Comics

Created in 1968 and running until 2016, Zap Comix was a ground-breaking and defying comic book that defied convention and societal law (Comic Code) it became a model for the Comix movement. A comic that has evolved with the ages taking a progressive and often regressive stance on ‘hot topics’ of the time. In Zap Comix Issue 1 Crumb describes himself as a ‘raving lunatic’ through the use of self-caricatures in this case; Flakey Foont and Mr. Natural. Showing from the get-go Crumb wasn’t one to…

Background Comic books were in the groove in the 30’s and 40’s. After DC Comics published Superman in 1938, stories of mean, costumed superheroes battling criminals and enemies of the United States arose. However after World War II ended, interest for these stories decreased and superheroes were up the creek. In order to gain back the public’s interest of comic books, publishers began to fill them with romance, crime, and horror. In the early 1950’s, crime and horror comics arose, quickly…

Comic have been one of the newest forms of literature, with the first comic strips being introduced nearly 120 years ago. One cartoonist who has been instrumental to comics gaining notoriety in recent years is Art Spiegelman, who drew and wrote Maus: A Survivors Tale. This series of comics gives a detailed account of Art’s Father, Vladek Spiegelman and his survival of the Holocaust. While the world is no stranger to Holocaust literature, Maus brought the genre to comics in a manner which takes…

father and her husbands affairs. The color scheme that a graphic novelist uses in his or her narratives go a long way in describing the setting and tone of the story. Ware uses a different color scheme for the two separate pages of his comic. On the first page of the comic, for instance, the colors are more bright and vivid; giving it a happier, more relaxed tone. Ware uses a bright panel when he illustrates the grandmother and the little girl bonding in the kitchen while cooking pancakes (Ware…

If there was one article that really stuck out to me throughout the semester, it has to be Nagel’s “What Is It Like to Be a Bat”. It’s concept and philosophy fixed itself into me and I tried applying those ideas to other articles as we went on. This article addresses one of the big questions of consciousness that tends to float around when discussing philosophy, which is what is it like to be something other than yourself? It isn’t too often that you debate on whether or not something or someone…

Scott Mccloud’s discussion in Chapter 7 identifies comics as one of the various forms of “self-expression and communication” (Mccloud 162). Mccloud elaborates on his ideology by denoting art is anything that does not involve reproduction or survival (Mccloud 165). For example, making music or dancing is not imperative for our survival, however they strengthen our mental statues and overall health (i.e. exercise). Lastly, Scott states there are six steps that every work in every medium will…

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…

well-established education is a key factor to help the children. Comic books will lead them onto the path of success. Incidentally, comic books are often perceived only as a form of entertainment, rarely is it seem as an educational book. As we advance as a nation, more and more educators start to divulge into graphic novels and begin to see the educational values within them. Remotely, most people are unaware of the vital use of comic books. During the Great Depression, it was a staple in every…

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…

“[It is] tempting to suggest, in [recollection], that our family was a sham. That our house was not a real home at all but the simulacrum of one, a museum. Yet we really were a family, and we really did live in those period rooms.” (Bechdel 17) These words of Alison Bechdel perfectly describe her family. Bechdel may not be widely recognized, however 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…