Week 4-More Reading

Blankets-Craig Thompson 
I thought this was a well-crafted graphic novel, and almost seems somewhat autobiographical in a way. I think Craig was an exceptionally well-crafted character. I found him to be introspective and relatable. I sympathized with him when it came to his religious upbringing, and found it ridiculous  when Craig's church members called 'Art' demonizing. Craig's views on religion were interesting he never seemed to be extreme about his dislike on religion, but yet seemed to have evidence and researched more based on his views: such as defining Hebrew words and Latin words, and stated Revelation being written in a rather pessimistic tone, when in fact it could be written rather optimistically.

The art was also simple, but especially well-drawn. The brush-work was laid out on the page in a way it was extraordinarily expressive, and depicts and the inner world of the main character. For instance, when Craig is being bullied, the bullies look more grotesque and are depicted as bulky. When Craig is calm, such as the drawing of him and Raina in the trees-the lines are more flowy and smoother.

The way in which Raina and Craig's relationship was depicted was beautiful, bittersweet yet sad. I thought that the title 'blankets' may have to do with the temporarily warmth that was in Craig's life and the fact he has moved on--as the only thing he kept was the blanket as a remembrance of that dear memory. Although I found it great that Craig has reconciled with his brother and could somewhat deal with his parents by the end of the story.

Reading the end of the story I feel a sense of emptiness-maybe because of the snow and blank space filling the pages at the end, but rather because I feel that the main character has yet to complete his emotional journey. I would've liked to see more closure-but either way it is a well-written story.

I like stories like this, and wished there were more stories like these (I do like superhero stories as well, but I would like more depth.)

A Contract with God-Will Eisner
I thought the title was interesting-as I find it impossible for a human to ever be an equal terms with God. The story was told in a dramatic, sad, yet realistic way. The graphic novel was kind of a depiction human life. At first appears to be going well for Frimme, he thought it was because of his 'contract' or relationship with God that life appeared to be going smooth. However after the death of his daughter Rachele, his starts to be unhappy despite his successes. The ending I found sad as Frimme formed a new contract with God, but at the expense of terminating his old one, which resulted in his death. The epilogue was ironic, with a new child getting the contract. I think it was ironic because God's depiction of happiness and a human's depiction of happiness may be different, so I am guessing the point being that one should not plead to God and expect God to solve all their problems.

Other than that another thing I enjoyed was the art. I found Will Eisner's lettering especially pleasing to look at, it was freehand with a sketchy style. His panels also have a loose sort of sketchy style to them. Will Eisner's use of full-page spreads also showed mastery of the medium, there would be times he would integrated the words with the image, such as bordered the words within the frame of a door, I admired his free way of placing things on the page. Also his use of borderless panels was fascinating.

As for narrative voice, I found it to be dramatic--not overly in your face dramatic, but subtly allowed to bring the viewer's focus to the character--which was a great thing.

Dropsie Avenue-Will Eisner
What I liked most about the Graphic Novel was the way in which Will Eisner depicts time. His art style as usual is flawless, he often depicts seamless, slowly panel borders to depict natural disasters such as fire or smoke when it is occurring. Another way he depicts time in through the character. I was quite impressed as each character only occurred for a short time and yet their stories were memorable when you looked at them (although I didn't remember their names.) My favorite characters were Mr.Cash, Ms.Rowena, and Abbie Gold.

I noticed a lot of motion lines were used to depict movement, and surprisingly there was a lot of violence in this graphic novel. I think it was probably used to depict how bad the area was, but although Eisner does not show some of the violence at times I actually found it a bit scary. (Not enough to be frightened of course.)

It was interesting to see the development of Dropsie Avenue and what had become of it, issues brought up such as interracial integration was quite interesting to read as it reflected the attitudes of the time. Dialogue was also well-pronounced for each of the ethnic minorities. Either way I enjoyed reading it.