An Introduction to Manga - Anime

Manga, or more so Anime was a large part of my everyday experience growing up.  Everyday I would wake up and go to school, then when I would get home I would immediately turn on the television to cartoon network and catch the latest Toonami episodes of Dragonball Z  This was a huge part of the culture at school and a common subject to talk about in middle school and high-school. I remember talking mainly about the compelling adventure story and extremely interesting action sequences which took place amongst the characters, whether it be Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Cell, etc.

Thinking back to my opinion of the series then, compared to my opinion of the series now is an interesting reflection.  I still feel the same love and passion for Dragonball, however my ability to discern what made it such a compelling and interesting entertainment format has grown.  I now realize that a lot of the success of the series has to do with the hundreds of extremely talented artists involved in the production of the work. On top of that one has to appreciate the amount of effort and work placed into developing the characters in a way that excites the audience. And most importantly the Japanese ability to tell an adventure story, and bring along the viewers for the experience.

Much like video games, the Japanese Manga and Anime mediums have an ability to create not only a personal memory with the work, but help the viewer build a personal narrative relationship with the experience.  The ability to bring the audience into the piece, and feel as if they were one of the adventures themselves is a true accomplishment.  I think this inclusion of the audience is one of the main differences than what is being produced over here in the Americas. Often times with superhero formulas the reader is left on the outside as someone who is insignificant to the main protagonist, i.e, superman.  However, in many Manga/Anime based stories it is believable to feel like part of the experience, because you "grow-up" with the characters.

Osamu Tezuka:

We discussed the importance of Osamu in class. His works range from Astro Boy to Phoenix.  He was considered by many to be the "Walt Disney" of the Manga medium.  He is also personally responsible for a lot of the aesthetic sensibilities one sees in Manga.  Another interesting story that Osamu created was: Kimba the White Lion.  There is an interesting controversy over close relationships between The Lion King and and Kimba, however it is important to note that Kimba was first published in 1954.

Sterotype: American Born Chinese

This week we discussed the importance the role of stereotypes play in comics.  It was an interesting discussion and very relevant because the importance is quite obvious in many situations. For example,  the idea of recognized symbols which readers can quickly pick up help to better convey the situation and context for specific characters.  A perfect example of this would be the physical manifestation of super heroes, who generally have an alpha-male physique and the standard heroic proportions.  This also applies to a number of other characters we can quickly recognize: the nerd, the dork, the jock, the mom, etc.


Another important component of comic book stereotypes includes more than the characters appearance, but the characters actions and mannerisms, whether that be speech, gestures etc. Often times African American representations are a perfect negative example to help illustrate this concept. For some reason the artists chose to change the speech bubbles to blathering, almost incomprehensible dialect which indicated sounds that were more likely to come from an animal rather than a human being. However, this helps to illustrate the idea of stereotyping in comics, because it is a powerful means of communication that can quickly be understood by the masses.

For this weeks reading I chose to look at: American Born Chinese.  This work is a great example of the use of Stereotypes in comics, and explores a much more literal approach to the subject. The novel follows three separate Chinese tales, which all come together in the books climax. Danny is the Chinese boy born in America, who is visited by his traditional Chinese cousin named Chin Kee.  I also found this novel to be a great representation of ethical and moral obligations to a culture or stereotype, which provided an interesting format to address these issues and explore the intellectual concepts that make stereotypes important in the comic book medium.

Maus

Maus: A Survivor's Tale by:  Art Spiegelman, documents the life of the artist's father, a Jewish man who lived in Germany during the early 30s through the end of world war two. His father later moved to New York, which is where Spielgman grew up. Maus is considered to be one of the most important works in the history of the comics.  This comic is critically and academically important for several reasons.

Maus earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. This is extremely important in the comic world, because it showcases the power of the comic medium amongst academics.  This work won the prize for several reasons: first of all, the depiction of the characters in the novel brilliantly display the ridiculousness of the Nazi stereotype. How are the characters depicted?  The Jewish race are depicted as mice in the novel, and the Nazis are portrayed as cats.  This simple but very visual metaphor is striking in the message it conveys, and helps the viewer to easily "classify" and separate the races in the book. As ridiculous as that sounds, its very similar to the inhumanity of the German people during the war.

The second major success of this book, other than quickly expressing the lifelessness of war, is the ability to tell a story with compelling characters.  This story is in-fact based on the real life of Vladek Spiegelman, and his son, Art Spiegelman, who is trying to gain information and storys from his father's life.  Interesting subjects are talked about throughout the novel ranging from his father's early relationships to his persecution in the war and the oppression of the Jewish people.

I found this to be a really interesting read, and I think it only helps to exemplify the power of the comic and its ability to transport the reader.  The story communicates very quickly and the metaphors are powerful and very accessible to all readers, which is extremely important in any form of storytelling medium.

"I have been convinced that Art Spiegelman is perhaps the single most important comic creator working within the field and in my opinion Maus represents his most accomplished work to date." - Alan Moore

Underground Comics

Today in class we discussed the topic of: Underground Comics.  This has probably been one of my personal favorites.  Underground comics is a great example of a rich sub-culture and one that consists of very passionate and devoted followers. The sub culture of comic books explores areas of interest that very few mediums would have ever considered before the popularity of the internet.

Sex, drugs, lust, nudity, violence, racism, religion, etc are all very taboo subjects, when being handled delicately, which underground comics used to fuel their own personal success.  The sub culture of comics used these different topics and themes and pushed them to the extreme.  The opening showed sex in various panels, along with nudity and violence. A lot of the underground comics showed all of them combined in the same issue.  The underground artists were not afraid to explore the medium.

In class we discussed the use of drugs and psychedelics, which were often popular amongst the underground comic genre. Various underground artists, would try to represent the feelings and emotions experienced during drug use, sex, etc, through the comic book medium. Some artists were heavy users of hardcore drugs like lsd, and heroin.  However, this honesty and pureness to their work provided an experience to the viewer which is rarely felt, through media which has been heavily censored by corporations and various censorship committees. 

Dr Atomic was the underground piece that I had a chance to look at in class. This was a really hard one to put down. One of the more important notes to make about underground comics, lies in the mastership and execution of the medium. A lot of the work which came out of this field was extremely well done. The artists were amazing artists who explored amazing ideas. Dr. Atomic is a great example of this. The panels flow very interesting and are amazingly well drawn. One never finds himself having trouble becoming immersed in the action and following the zany character, who is Dr. Atomic.  Besides the pure aesthetics of Dr. Atomic the content also fit perfectly into the underground comic culture. This particular issue dealt with the irony of uneducated social classes, who pass judgment and show discrimination towards other groups with different opinions. This issue also touched on the absurdity of the media and the news networks, prompting Dr. Atomic to build a spaceship which would take him off of earth. Awesome!

Underground comics are a goldmine for anyone looking to think [outside of the box.]  The topics and issues explored are not for everyone, but there is also something for everyone if you dig deep enough. The culture is very strong and the popularity of this comic craze has only grown with the development of the internet and the availability of information on topics that are not considered main stream or normal.  These comics feature some of the most interesting and pure explorations in any artistic medium and have indirectly helped  pave the way for a lot of the "crazyness" which has become the internet and popular culture today.

Will Eisner

COMING SOON

The Comic Book

Today in class we talked about the comic book. I had the pleasure to read Action Comics #1. Why is this comic book significant?  Action comics #1 is the piece that introduced Superman to the world.  I have heard about this issue before, but never had the chance to read it. I think a lot can be said about this issue and has more than enough substance to deserve an entire post.

Superman clearly paved the way for the future of superhero comics.  This iconic character brought a new formula of the mythical hero to light, and did so through the use of the comic book medium.  One can quickly see in today's society the impact Superman has had on us culturally, by taking a click glance at the box office. Lets see.. in the past two years how many blockbusters have been produced, which have had superheros as the main protagonist? The answer is astounding: three spidermans, three batmans, two hulks, two fantastic fours, three xmens, two ironmans, a catwoman, and the list goes on... amazing, and what can we attribute this to? Profit and Action comics #1.

This comic shows a much different Superman, than the one of today's standard. Instead, the first superman reflected a lot of qualities of the ideal conformist, who believed in providing safety for the police and serving men of political stature. In class there was the discussion of the creators of superman: Jerry Siegel/Joe Shuster, who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. The first superman dealt with several common issues in the first pages of his existence, one of them being domestic abuse.  It is apparent that the creators put a lot of their own personal concerns and love into the man who became superman.

Why was Superman such a success?  A lot of his success can be attributed to the timing of his birth. World War II was raging and it superman provided an icon and symbol for the american soldier.  He represented something the average American could attribute to become, and someone who people ethically and morally responded to at the time. The good guy standing up against the powers of evil and restoring order to the universe.  This characteristic paved the way for hundreds of superheros who followed the man we know as superman.  However, this trend did not last for ever. The arrival of the anti-hero eventually paved way for a new hero, which a much different nation related to years later, after Superman had clearly been established.

On a more trivial note, Superman also had undeveloped powers in the first Comic. He did not have the ability to fly and was not as evidently super as he is represented today. For instance, when he would need to get from point a to point b: he would simple run and jump! Yes, he would jump super far to transcend different heights and traverse the urban landscapes. Not nearly as exciting as flying?

In conclusion, everyone should have the opportunity to experience the birth of Superman. It is really interesting to see the qualities and essence of the character distilled into the very first pages of his existence, but like many comics it does just that. The idea and clear characteristics of Superman can be felt by the reader from the very beginning.  The success of Superman has had a huge cultural impact on today's society. We would not have the movies we have and the heros we love today if it were not for the success and importance of the iconic Superman.

The Comic Strip

Krazy Kat, a comic strip series by George Herriman is a great example of the power the comic strip possesses.  Krazy Kat is a perfect example of the creating emotion and connection to a simple representative art style, which easily communicates to every reader.  However, simple is hardly a word to describe the complexity and creativity that goes into each frame of the Krazy Kat Series.

Through further investigation and analysis of just a few strips of the Krazy Kat series, one can quickly start to see the deeper workings of the strip.  For example, further analysis of one of the Krazy Kat strips revealed various deeper psychological and personal themes represented by Herriman.  The idea of race and movement that affected Herriman's life showed up in several examples discussed in class.

One of the most interesting realizations I had during class was the effectiveness these simple comic strips have on an emotional level.  It seems the simpleness of the art form and quick ability to make a personal connection to the characters, quickly entices the users mind and helps transport the reader into that world. This is interesting to me as a game artist, who's primary goal is to immerse the player into a world different than the real one.

On a final note, it was enticing to talk about the "essence" or primary theme of Krazy Kat, that being the cat chasing the mouse. One of the great aspects about the comic strip, whether is be: Krazy Kat, Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, etc. is the continuation and seemingly simplistic method of conveying a certain: mood, theme or idea in every strip.