The decade most of us remember growing up in is the 90s. When we were children we watched shows like All That and The Fresh Prince. Cartoons were something that attracted the attention the children and young adults at the time, but cartoons were not something that were among them. There was a small majority of students who were fans of comic books, but why are cartoons today making a comeback? Today it seems like the most popular tv shows are family guy, the simspsons and American Dad. Where do these shows come from? They are similiar to shows like Seinfeld and Two and a Half Men because they both are humorous shows with very distinct able characters. Growing up I was never a comic book kid. I was into sports and tv shows and never read much of anything. Coming into this class I had the predisposed view of comic books that many people have who are not avid readers. They seemed like a fun way to pass the time. After reading Understanding Comics, I realized that a great deal of thought and effort is put into the making of a comic book. Unlike a book, the comic book really gets the reader involved. You aren't just reading line after line. Your eyes are constantly jumping around the page looking at the different characters and conversations. To me, reading a novel can become very stagnant and often times puts me to sleep. Many comic books are about super heroes and Hollywood today is giving them a second look. So many movies have come out recently about superheroes and they all have been hits with the viewers. Americans historically have been obsessed with the idea of a superhero since the first comic about one was written. Are comic books as widely read today as in the past? No, but their influence on the movie industry is still felt today.
To begin with, I really do like the idea of reading a comic about comics. I think it's a great idea and it's very well executed. As I was reading the first two chapters, I was surprised at how many examples there were of art in recent (and ancient, in some cases) history that are variations of "sequential visual art" and thus the foundations of modern comics. I'd never even thought about it before and it was hard to believe how many different kinds there were. I also love all the discussion about how our human brains automatically interpret certain images in a specific way, how we see others constantly but we identify ourselves when we look at cartoons, and how inanimate objects automatically becomes extensions of our bodies. The pyramid of styles was very interesting too as a way to conceptualize and almost graph or "place" a specific art style in comics. In Comic Book Nation , I enjoyed reading about the evolution of early comics from "funnies...
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