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Photo Essay

I really liked the photo essay. I thought it was a fun and interesting way to get into the topic of comic books. One of the things that the photo essay really helped to accomplish was that it forced me to go out into the community to figure out how comic book culture was influencing contemporary culture. To be truthful, it is not a subject I had ever really given much thought to before. Even in class, while we were discussing the topic, it never really hit me everything that the comic book industry influences.


The photo essay let me discover things that I knew, but never really noticed before. For example, I knew there were superhero themed movies out, but I had no idea that they were making a parody of superhero movies. And I had a vague idea that they make foods in fun shapes, but it was not until I was searching for superhero themed products that I realized there was Spiderman shaped macaroni and cheese.


The photo essay was also what prompted me to go out and discover the comic book shop. I went to take a few pictures, but came back with very positive experience that encourages me to go back to the store and further my experience. I went to “A Comic Shop”, and they were so friendly. Not only did they take an effort to show me exactly what they had in the store and where when they heard it was my first time there, but they also were involved in what I was browsing at and offered information about more events and opportunities going on in the shop. I also went on the day they had the event about the Skrull invasion. This was wonderful for the photo essay because it let me get my picture taken with a Skrull.


The photo essay also let me see why comics might be declining. After such a wonderful experience at “A Comic Shop”, I went to a comic store in the mall. Not only were they not as enthusiastic as the other comic shop, they seemed down right disinterested. Their behavior and the mood that permeated the store with a centralized location and regular flow of traffic makes it seem obvious why there are fewer people interested in comics.


I loved the creative opportunity the photo essay provided. It is the first I have ever created and I hope it is something that I will get to do again in my other classes.

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