Understanding Comics

So I remember this was assigned once as reading for a different class and I really tried to read it.  Unfortunately I ended up glossing over it because it was too much for my brain to process.  But this time, I got through it.  I know it is kind of upsetting but I find it terribly hard to get through this comic in particular.  I mean the information you get out of it is really helpful, but for me it is kind of like reading a dictionary.  In my opinion, it just reads like a textbook. I feel like he explains things like three times.  Like the transitions between different comic panels. He explained it once and had the little examples and I was like okay that makes total sense.  I never thought about it like that before.  And then he showed a few examples in real comics and I was like alright other artists use this too, okay.  And then I hit the  part with the bar graphs I was just like NOOOO. STOP. STOP NOW.  And they kept going! It was like three pages of tiny bar graphs. And I know I'm probably overreacting because they did illustrate a point but still.  I don't want to see that many bar graphs. No one does. And no one should have to explain something four times. My reaction:

And when he was defining comics in the beginning I kind of wanted to slap things. It was just very drawn out. And I felt like we weren't getting anywhere.  I guess it's one of those things where you you look at a chair and then you have a definition of a chair and then like you end up farther away from what you were originally striving to get to (the chair).

But I really do think McCloud's writings really hit home on a lot of points that really aren't usually brought to light.  I really liked the comment about Japanese comics and how they tend to be more lengthy and more about the journey than the destination.  I think that is completely true, I've read some Japanese comics and that is completely true, especially of manga like Naruto that literally is still going after 615 pages strong and no nearer to any part of total resolution.

And I do think that this was very entertaining to read.  Anytime I would get bored of the lengthy explanations, there was always something to look at and I agree, his simply designed main character was very easy to follow rather than a hyper realistically rendered character.  When I got to the part about how we see faces in everything I just think about how I used to see faces in my blankets.  I still do and its weird.  I liked how his character seemed to walk through the different motions of everything he was explaining, it was very surreal and frankly, it kept me hooked (as long as there were no bar graphs or lengthy explanations)

The Arrival has arrived. YEH!

         I’ve seen this comic before but I’ve never had the chance to read it thru. I think The Arrival really shows how you can get a story across without any words.  We forget how much we rely on language to get thru our daily lives.  But the comic still makes sense, you understand what is going on through gestures, patterns, and shape recognition.  I mean, I didn’t even have to read this twice to understand what was going on.  You just really had to pay attention to the information the characters were relaying back and forth to each other.  Everything was important so you really couldn’t skim the pages because you might miss an important gesture.    

I think Shaun Tan really did a great job on this plot-wise.  I mean he’s created a whole new world with different stories interwoven.  And it makes sense.  I mean, the pacing was slow, but I think it worked because of the high amount of detailed information you had to take in from certain panels.  It kind of worked as a breather, and it helped flow into the next segment of panels.  I mean there was an entire double page of 60 clouds.  You don’t usually see something like that in popular comics.  But the clouds were lovely to look at and they did give a feeling of time passing and repetition.  Plus, Tan used similar imagery later for when the husband woke up and saw his new creature-pet on his bed.

         This comic really reminded me of immigration to the Americas and Ellis Island.  It was interesting how each of the characters the husband met had similar stories about some form of oppression or evil entity that drove them to assimilate in this new location.  Also, I liked it how the story ended up going full circle.  The husband started out not understanding the language of the new land but he learned where to sleep, how to get food, he got a job, made friends, and it ends with him reuniting with his family.  His daughter passes on this knowledge to someone new that has to go on a similar path.  It’s like the circle of life, but with language (and no Simba).

         I really love the panels for this comic.  They look like photographs or little worn out postcards.  Each of the images in the strip are so highly detailed and his sweeping environments are breathtaking.  He really knows how to use light and shadow in his work to make a place seem scary or inviting.  And the panels really flowed together well.  Some of them read almost like an animation to me, like the old man’s story about being in the war and losing his leg.