Skip to main content

Week Six: Underground ComiXXX

I really loved how music was integrated into this weeks reading. Both the music and the art styles seemed to twist and flow together in one moment of nonlinear expression. It’s like you could feel the culture of the time, dripping out of its conventional constraints through any and every available crack or gap. The religious experience of Phillip K Dick, was really intense. I've heard a few people talk about his experience before, but had never realized that it was centered on Christianity. I also really enjoyed some of the underground stories and art styles in the Mothers Oats Comix. The pinnacle of this particular reading experience was listening to In-a-gadda-da-vida, while flipping through “The Dope Dealer”. I also really appreciated the diversity of style and storytelling, in “Gay Comix”. It was pretty awesome hearing about different things people had experienced, and seeing the individual ways they wrote about and expressed those experiences.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week Thirteen: Webcomics

The greatest web comic I’ve ever read – and possibly the greatest web-comic of all time, is without a doubt Steve Lichman by Dave Rapoza and Dan Warren https://rapozacomics.carbonmade.com/projects/5313679 I think Steve Lichman is a great example of why web comics are so successful. The rough linework and simple color palate give it a personal touch, while the relatively short panel size make it quickly rewarding and easy to scroll through. It really feels like someone’s labor of love, that they come home to each night and scribble out when the mood hits. It also looks like something one of your friends might’ve drawn, and I think that makes the comic feel more personal and contemporary. It s simplicity also makes it feel more visceral, like all of its guts are right there on the page for you to see. Another thing that I think makes it so successful is the overall tone, and the humor and wit, that seem to seep out of every panel. It’s freaking hilarious, and I think that the hu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week Eight: Stereotypes and Ethics

It was definitely interesting learning about how far we’ve come as a culture when it comes to the stereotypical representations used in early comics and other forms of media, especially in terms of race, sexuality, gender and ethnicity. To me, despite the current cultural climate of dissatisfaction, I think that we’ve come pretty far as a culture in one lifetime. It actually seems like we’re probably pushing the limit for the amount of change and adjustment that some people can make to their worldview in one lifetime, without completely plunging them and the culture into a state of mass anxiety and hysteria. That being said, I wish we would have acknowledged that in class in a more positive way, and approached this topic in the lecture from a more reassuring perspective - especially in today’s current media-fueled maddening political climate. It would have been refreshing to hear about this topic from the perspective that the changes we need to make as a culture, have already happ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week Eleven: Contemporary Comics

This week for comics as contemporary literature I read Transmetropolitain by Warren Ellis and The Bus by Paul Kirchner. I think it’s really refreshing to see contemporary comics grow up a little with their audiences and tackle more literary topics. I love the simple yet somewhat profound themes handled in The Bus, and really enjoy stories in general that create a space to break the rules, leaving one magic stationary place that you can count on, piloting through the madness with the regularity and drollness of a bus stop. I also thoroughly appreciated the subtle nods towards Hunter S Thompson in Transmetropolitain – although I hardly think the good doctor himself would have approved. In one of his documentaries, Thompson goes into a bloody rant in the middle of his kitchen when the first directors set to direct Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas try and turn his famous San Francisco “Wave” speech into a cartoon. Thompson hated being characterized, especially as a cart...
Post a Comment
Read more