LitComics_SalvadorCasellas

For this assigned reading I read Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Johnen Vasquez. I really dig the art style of this comic, the sketch messy look really works for the theme of it. The black and white also gives it more of a crazy look. I found that the main character of Johnny is actually very intelligent, it seems as tho Vasquez intended him to be a commentary on modern society as a whole. For example, when the guy comes around with a questionnaire and talks to the lady in the beginning of the second comic, she seems surprisingly calm even commenting about how she doesn't want to miss Oprah. As well as when Johnny is answering his questions while yes insane as a whole I find that it had some commentary about today's media and violence normalization that might actually have some truth behind it. Another thing I found really interesting is the nonsequiturs in some of the comics, for example in the comic where Johnny is eating a taco and killing someone it suddenly cuts to two cros

For this assigned reading I read Neonomicon by Alan Moore. The story started off in the middle of two FBI agents going to interview a psychopath, they are looking into a copycat killer that is copying the man they are interviewing. After this, they go to a club to bust their suspect. He ends up getting away, then they go to his apartment, where they find his mother dead. (I'm not going to summarize the whole thing), I really enjoyed the art style of this graphic novel, it was clear and crisp, it was also detailed but not in a super realistic way. The story of this graphic novel really takes some twists and turns through the whole thing. The one scene in particular that stuck out to me was when the two FBI agents went to investigate the sex cult dungeon and one of them ended up getting shot and the other got raped. This stuck out to me because it was so unexpected, I didn't realize this graphic novel was so gritty. During this scene I had to stop reading for a little bit and c

For this assignment, I decided to read This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki. It is the story of two young girls who only get to see each other when they are both in their summer cottages with their families. They have now known each other since the main protagonist Rose was five. As the summer progresses you can see slight differences between the two, Rose is more mature while Windy is more childish, you can see this start to wear on Rose as she is now more into her teenage years, therefore, more into that sort of thing. What I really like about this comic is the fact that the art style has a very illustrated sort of look, something in contrast with the clean edges of more modern comics. This looks almost as if the protagonist herself had decided to make her life into a comic. I also really like that we only know (For the most part) what Rose knows. aI find the elements of the story that drew me in the most were those of the adults, especially Rose's mom. The subpl

For this weeks assignment, I read Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli, a great comic. The first thing that stuck out to me was the style of illustration that Mazzucchelli used in this, it has bright blues and muted purples and every character has their own style and shape, and I love all the the jumps from the narrator explaining one thing and then going back to another almost as if he gets distracted. A thing that really interested me was the fact that this story was being told through the eyes of the protagonist's brother who was stillborn. Another thing that I loved where the full page panels that used a lot of elements on them, I can really relate to some of those panels, I can see the careful placement of the the layout, it made me think of posters in graphic design (that is my major). Another thing that really stuck out to me was the use of misdirection in the beginning of the comic, we see the protagonist watching what we assume is a dirty movie (Pornography) with text bub

For this assigned reading I decided to read Ranma. When I first started reading this comic, there were parts where I had to go back and read twice and even three times, because the gimmick in this comic is that Ranma is a boy who can turn into a woman whenever he/she gets wet. As well as Ranma there is his father, he transforms into a panda whenever he gets wet.  I think the concept is executed in a way that really works. I think the dynamic between Ranma and the three girls he lives with is something that I wish was explored further, instead they keep coming back to some jock in the school who likes both Ranma in his girl form and one of the girls Renma lives with. I really enjoyed the subtle hints through the comic of how Ranma was starting to also fall for the same girl the jock was after. The art style was very clean and exaggerated. I of crouse loved the fact that it was in black and white, the contrast really works well for the action that is happening in the comic. I think the

For this weeks assignment I read two comics, I read Corto Maltese and Persepolis. both comics had a black and white aesthetic that I have come to really enjoy over the course of the semester as we keep reading more and more comics that are black and white. The first comic I read was Corto Maltese, from the very first page I could tell I was going to enjoy this one, the whole pirate theme and the style of the illustrations reminded me of comics I would read when I was younger back in Puerto Rico. The story of Corto Maltese revolves around a character of the same name as the comic. Found adrift in the high seas by Captain Rasputin, Corto Maltese is recruited to help make a deal with a German sailor that needs coal, all the while dealing with hostages that Rasputin had taken earlier. The second comic I read was Persepolis, for this comic I really enjoyed the development of the protagonist, from someone who didn't really understand the world transforming into someone who saw and un