Understanding Comics

challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising and comic books. One of its aims was to emphasize the elements of any culture, most often through the use of irony. Jack Kirby a forerunner of comic book illustration was a resounding artist who led much of what pop artists drew their inspiration from. Revolutionizing the styles and techniques used by comic artists of the time, Kirby took a more coloristic and surreal approach to his art, this…

go to a comic book shop and pick up a comic book that has Comic Code Authority “approved” logo. And then you are wondering hmm, what’s the story beside this symbol? Did Comic Code Authority contribute to decline of popularity of comic books? Well it’s a long story. Since the beginning comics where known for kids, but as of now times have changed and writers broke the Comic Code Authority in the 1970’s so writers can focus more on complex themes; social issues. After two decades Comic Code…

evolution and changes of comics throughout history. Specifically, he illuminates the development from pictures as words in language, to the reemergence of pictures and words working harmoniously together to enhance the ideas of a piece of writing of art. My own view of comics was very limited before reading this article. I had preconceived notions that comics were always around as a more laid-back, artistic style of writing. Truthfully, I never completely connected comics as a writing…

the Batman movie called The Dark Night Rises was being released. There are more than 15 Batman movies have been produced and released in the past six decades. Lethem chose to publish this article on Rolling Stone is for the sake of attracting more comic fans and explained reasons that Batman has been popular for so many years is because Batman is "the only human superhero." A preface gives a general idea of the article or how to develop the idea. In Lethem's text, his starting strategy was to…

that I will focus on: narration and the narrators, the visual elements of the comic, specifically the use of color, and the presentation and handling of social issues, including gender and sexuality. This paper will aim to consider and analyze these areas within the comic through the critical approach of narratology, with some assistance from the cognitive approach. First, let’s talk about our narrator. For most of the comic, our narrator is Suzie. She is the first one to talk directly to the…

non-sensory image of a blood stained sidewalk which grasps attention right away and persuades the audience to continue reading and see exactly why this person was killed. The Watchmen is a graphic novel that is unlike your stereotypical old comic book. It uses real world emotion and imagery to convey a sense of reality that is really important in telling the plot. Most of the images used in the novel, are put into panels of sequences that combine the panels in order to really…

When and How to Go Graphic Comics and graphic novels are more popular than ever. Every comic convention that I exhibit Flutter, my graphic series, I meet more people who are exploring the world of comics for the first time. The response to Flutter has been wonderful by comic fans new and old. Currently, I’m doing a Kickstarter for the upcoming release of Flutter Vol. 2, and the response to that has been amazing. I’m often asked why I decided to write Flutter as a graphic novel. Like many…

the social perspective and the difference between male and female gender roles and their inequality. No matter how hard women try, it seems as though they will never be looked upon the same way men are viewed even in films and comic books. Creators of such films and comic books continue to create such representation of idols because it portrays a clear image of inequality of gender relations between males and females. The sexualization of the female image as Jessica Chastain mentioned, is what…

Comic books are contemporary forms of art that touch in the categories of art, literature, and entertainment. From DC and Marvel (which are my personal favorites) to the other comic book companies and brands that are less known by the outside readers, there is a broad range of comic book characters and story lines. Like art and literature, comic books and their characters, styles, and icons change over the course of time. Similar to entertainment in general, these changes are made to better the…

people say we all judge books by their covers! When we look at comic book covers there is often a clear representation of a certain genre. The genres have varying art styles to match, along with color schemes, even certain words that trigger certain genre expectations. This is prevalent, especially in the 40’s with Plastic Man # 19 and True Crime Comics #2. The true crime genre was undoubtedly one of the most memorable genres of comics during the 40’s. It had highly deplorable themes and images.…