'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

I am going to be honest; I did not like doing the photo essay. I feel like we were too restricted with what we were supposed to do. I believe that it is difficult to be creative if we are held back from doing what we really wanted to do – and honestly, I feel like a photo essay is a great opportunity to be creative. I think it would have been interesting if we could have written our own comic, any comic we wanted to create, as long as we integrated some important issues that America faces today. But, either way, this was not our assignment. Although, to be completely honest again, I had a difficult time understanding where the line was between comic book culture and something that has nothing to do with comic books, but it can be seen as comic book culture if you look at it from a different perspective. I would have loved to pick ten very complex and abstract pictures that do not have “comic book culture” written all over them, but rather pictures that indicate a comic boo...

When trying to figure out what to do for the photo essay I found that there are many important topics that are associated with comics and our society today. International, as well as American, culture is well reflected in comic books. Comic books reveal the fears and tensions that exist throughout the world. As I thought about this, the topic of atomic weapons and fear of their use is what I began to focus on. My photo essay discussed the fear of atomic power that existed during the Cold War , present day, and in the future. I had pictures that represented international struggle to plead with those individuals responsible for the use of nuclear power. They pleaded for these individuals to halt their usage of atomic power because of the impending death that the world would face if they went through with their plans. These men continue with the experimentation with atomic power and destroy the world. The world has fallen because of an accident and billions have died. There is hope t...

The 1980s seems to be the era that defined the comics we read now. Works like Watchmen defined the way we see heroes now, and how we interpret graphic novels today. The cookie-cutter images of heroes could no longer prevail in prominent mythos. But why is one comic so influential in this way... because its AWESOME!!! For the most part, superheroes remain unchecked, and even after events like Civil War, superhumans can still basically due whatever they want. Watchmen shows how heroes would actually act in the real world, meaning they would all be a bunch of murderous, impotent, aging buffons. I also liked that being superhuman was not a requirement of the characters in the book. There's an odd bit of comfort in the realism in dystopian society Watchmen operates in.

Reading JKeeley's post I was prompted to post the following: When asked "Who watches the watchmen?" Jkeeley replied, "We should not have to depend on superheros to survive."  This idea is very similar to the idea in Civil War because the issue the government has with the heros is that they do believe they need them but that they have to much power.  So while in the watchmen someone is trying to get rid of the Superheros, in Civil War this is not the case, because here the government is simply trying to lessen their power and have them under their control.  This idea of who watches the heros is interesting, because as Civil War points out, no one does and thus they should be feared because they are all-powerful. 

Wonder Woman as Brad stated earlier has always been drawn as a beautiful woman with a short, somewhat revealing outfit.  However what he failed to mention were Wonder Woman's proportions.  In reality the earlier Wonder Woman would not be able to stand up without falling over, her waist was so tiny and her chest so large that if anyone so much as touched her she would have fallen over.  However we all know as comic book readers that comic book characters are not always realistic.  This however can prove problematic for young girls reading Wonder Woman comics.  While the WW comics are now a bit more realistic, they  and other forms of entertainment such as Vogue, still portray the ideal skinny woman with a perfect body as what is normal. In reality about 5 percent of women worldwide actually have the figure of a model, which means that more than 5 billion people do not.  Yet all these forms of media portray these ideals, an insane amount of comics show skinny characters and in doing ...

As I discussed in Class I believe Dr. Manhattan's responsibility is to protect laura, but after they break up he feels he does not have that responsibility to her or the human race.  Laura goes to Mars to bring back Manhattan but he states she was the only thing he cared about and that he is not responsible for the human race.  He says he is responsible for protecting what is special and that the things on Mars are special and need protection.  However with a bit of chatting Dr. Manhattan realizes that humans are special because they are the result of one sperm and egg connecting successfully.  Dr. Manhattan is a bit fickle in my opinion, because he is the most powerful living creature he has no way to relate things or reason in a way anyone else understands, or even which he understands.  I think Dr. Manhattan was a very confused individual who should have been in therapy.

This is a bit random, but last night I had a dream in which everywhere I went I saw a big yellow smilie face, and the only conclusion I could come to was that it had to do with the cover of the watchman.  What exactly did that face symbolize?  I know that the comedian wore it and that it appeared on a ledge outside on a terrace, but what did it actually mean?  I had the theory that it might be like a face on a clock, but seeing as there is no clock in the smilie face itself, I then jumped to the conclusion that it might have symbolized being watched.  That there is always someone watching you.  I am still not sure what I believe it to mean, but those were just some ideas I had while reading the comic.