kvaillan-litcomics

     The artist I loved the most visually and to read about was Nell Brinkley. Her illustrative style is very appealing and dainty. I love her line work and the way she draws hair and the female figure. It's a very romantic style that is accompanied by tiny swirls and etching. She went on to inspire many others to use a delicate pen style. Following her I also enjoyed the simplified take that Ethel Hays created. The Flapper Fanny comics that were later taken over by Sylvia Sneidman were drawn in a very cute and pretty style which I enjoyed. I noticed that usually the earlier comics centered around women and children and rarely featured men unless it was in a romantic context. They style is typically pretty and cutesy and barely has anything grotesque or dark undertones. That's why I was very excited when I was reading the Mrs. Fury comic because it featured a strong and independent female lead. It seemed to be the start of women creating comics with darker undertones and ...

 I absolutely loved this comic. The shape language and motif of his head shape was incredible. The colors were visually wonderful and I loved the internal monologue of his relationship with his twin that died at birth, with himself, and with his lover. When they drifted apart I thought it was so clever how they would show that with their shapes breaking up and becoming disconnected. Because that was exactly what was happening. This comic was a fantastic read and I found myself loving the characters flaws and cheering him on despite how he was sometimes full of himself and over bearing. I related a lot to his lover and how she felt that she was being overpowered by him. She wanted independence and to shine on her own. This is something I think a lot of women can understand. 

     Reading this comic while knowing Jeffery Dahmer's whole story and time line is very daunting. It's very interesting to hear about what his childhood was like and how that affected who he became. It's crazy how people knew he was strange but couldn't see the signs. The more eerie thing was when all the high school guys got together and joked about him becoming a serial killer. It's crazy how people can be ignorant or more likely refuse to believe something as true. The way Dahmer lacked empathy when other's got hurt, or just killed a fish and stabbing it multiple times without a second thought. He's repressed the sexual desire so much that something about homosexuality and sin must have been twisted in his mind. His family life was definitely a factor. His parents left him isolated with only his thoughts and guilted him out of admitting he was lonely. The extreme drinking problem seemed like a scream for help that was largely dismissed and met little ret...

Blog Post Points : 44 Attendance Points : 7 51  * 2 = 102 (hope I understood this right, sorry for any miscalculation.)

I enjoy the way the story is told and the style. I like that the boy is telling the story and hearing it from his father. I like how the time period is represented well and how even though it's a story about the holocaust, it first starts with an individual's life before the war. It makes it clear that this is his fathers story and not the author's. It also shows how the father is different after having the experience of war. For example, he has to take a lot of pills, has one glass eye, and had suffered two heart attacks. In the story it shows how when he was younger he had delicate hands and was very handsome. It highlights how Jewish prisoners were viewed different from polish ones. I think the way Vladek's father starved him to prevent him from being enlisted to the war was also training him to survive the holocaust. He was tougher than others and even bathed in freezing water and did exercise to stay clean. It's funny to compare his ideals to his son's. I l...

Tits and Clits was fun to read because I finally got to see Underground Comics by the gender that was less represented. They expressed, from the female perspective, their sexual desire from an explicit point of view and how many of their views are pretty similar to men. I noticed that they lesbian content was more accepted by the female gender than men and gay content. In these comics the authors seemed more open to drawing women in intercourse as well as with men. It also makes fun of a lot of the things men find attractive about women. For example, how big breasts are more of a pain to deal with in many situations and sort of just get in the way. Also it talks about vibrators way more than men do, probably because it's another way to get pleasure without having to find a man. It's just more efficient. It brings the realization that women and men have similar sexual desires, as do humans. 

Reading the Gay comics this week I noticed that they differ from the other Underground comics in a lot of ways. Many of the Underground comics are explicit, rude, and unforgiving in the opinions they express. They're very dirty, gross, and express the worst in humanity. The Gay comics aren't like this. They are more personal and follow a storyline and a way to connect with the character. It's unfortunate that these comics were considered underground just for the fact that they were gay which was unaccepted by society at the time. It seems that this was their only outlet for telling their stories and getting their work to audiences. The comics talk about what it's like desiring something that's considered forbidden, dirty, and sinful. It talks about the struggle they have with expressing love just like in straight relationships and if you look deep into it it's not that different from any search for love and belonging.