Final...dunt..dunt DUHHHH!!!!

Using p126 of McCloud as a reference/ guide, define the line style of one of the graphic novels you have read SINCE the midterm. How does the line style impact the storytelling of that specific GN?

Hellsing is a horror anime by Kohta Hirano who adopts quite a few different techniques with line style to portray his story. Hirano’s overall style closely resembles friendly lines, where everything is kind of rounded yet dynamic coupled with a signature style. These two styles along with lots of action lines to make doors seem freighting, and add to the suspense, create a very nerve wrecking story. The signature lines can be seen throughout Hellsing, showing a more complex character. Basically these emotion lines let us see inside the characters mind. This can be seen when the “cop girl” is attacked and being, around her are dark lines with breaks of white, which makes the reader feel tense like they are being attacked. Also towards the beginning is a very good example as the vampire who is about to get killed seems nervous. The reader can tell that the vampire is nervous due to the shaking lines that are outlining his body. Line is very important through out this graphic novel due to the fact that on many pages Hirano opts to leave out language all together. This means that Hirano’s language and message must they be portrayed through his art. The emotion of the characters must take shape through lines and style. On pages 138-143 there is only one word “Amen”, the tone is left to be set by the action lines that represent the horrible struggle between Alucard and the priest. These lines are dark and sharp where someone is getting attacked, then thin and light where the gun is being fired. Without emotion lines and action lines it would be quite difficult to tell what any of Hirano’s characters were feeling or doing.

When using a comic book/ GN to record history, which narrative voice serves this format better, first-person or omniscient?

In graphic novels when portraying or recording history, it is best when an author uses omniscient format that first-person. Omniscient makes the reader detach from the writer, instead of in first-person, where the reader questions the narrator. In first-person format, the story is being told by the person who was there. However, this format makes me question how reliable the narrator is; whether or not they were impartial to the story, or was holding on to some biasness. In omniscient format, the writer removes him or herself from the hot seat. They come off to be a more reliable unbiased perspective. This can be seen in the handout comic in class about the journalist who was portraying the events at the boot camp for the Iraqi army. The comic portrayed how the United States Marines felt about training the Iraqi and why the Iraqi was there to be trained. It was difficult to really question the author’s intentions or if he had a hidden agenda, because he was not represented in his comic. The author used an omniscient format, which made it feel as though the characters were speaking for themselves. This eliminated the question of whether or not the author was biased against the Iraqi, or biased against the Marines. The comic just focused on what was being said by both parties. This created a feeling as it did not matter who created the comic, if you were there watching it, you would have seen and heard the same things. If it was to be first person, and the author chooses to put himself in the comic, it would have created questions such as: did he only feel that way about the Iraqi’s because they did (insert incident here). It would have taken away from his credibility by being apart of the story instead an outsiders view. The author in this case almost becomes a video camera, recording the everyday happenings at Iraqi boot camp. And who would question a video recording of an incident?

Examine/ explore the six steps of creation (p170-184) of one of the graphic novels you have read since the midterm.

The six steps of creation according to Scott McCould are: Idea/purpose, form, idiom, structure, craft and surface. I will be breaking these six steps down in the creation of Sin City “The Big Fat Kill” by Frank Millers. The purpose of this graphic novel is to tell a story about a murdered police officer that needs to be covered up to keep from ruining all of the Girl’s of Old Town’s lives. He wants to create a world of sin, using very emotional characters and tones. This can be seen by the day to day lives of the characters. The form Miller chooses to illustrate this story was in the form of a graphic novel, words mixed with pictures. He then turns this graphic novel about a murder into a part of the action/drama genre. This is achieved by the brutality of the events and how in depth Miller goes into each fight, and car chase. The drama part, is the few romances going on, between the murdered cop who abuses his girlfriend, and the love hate relationship between Dwight and Gal. One moment Dwight and Gal are at each other’s throats the next they are fantasizing about one another. Miller’s structure starts as a time line. He begins with how Dwight’s night began, with the fight at the cop’s girlfriend’s house, to the race to Old Town, to the murder and then finally the cover up, and the solution to the problem. His structure is very easy to follow, it does not jump back and fourth through time; it’s just a linear progression. The language takes the form of a first person narrative. This strategy makes it simple to follow the story and the multitude of characters, since they all have their place in time. The next step in Miller’s creation is craft, understanding anatomy, vanishing points and perspective. Miller’s uses all of these attributes to contrive his graphics. None of his frames are less than well refined. They each show a great understanding of what the anatomy of a human is and should look for each pose. They also have the appropriate vanishing points. The perspective changes throughout, from looking upon the characters, to what the characters are looking at. Miller chooses the uses of line and negative verses positive space to add a new look to a familiar genre. This created an entirely different surface look. Though he went through the same process of creation that all writers would, his choices along the way created the graphic novel “Sin City: The Big Fat Kill”.

Using p105-106 of McCloud, address how the format of webcomics influences or frustrates closure, as well as the unique narrative opportunities that the open, free flow of the digital format affords. How do webcomics sit as a unique opportunity for reader involvement? Also address how this is similar to the structure of the class, specifically with regard to picking your own path to the end.

Webcomics make it harder for the use of gutters, and different ways to start the comic. In printed comics, there are several panels scene at once, and depending on what ketches the eye is where the reader starts. Webcomics frustrate this developmental reading, because the reader must scroll down to see more than one or two panels at a time. Also the format of webcomics is quite different, the gutters are not standard. They usually consist of panels on a background, this make closure a little different, because it’s hard to tell quite how long to pause, because the reader must scroll during the pause. However, webcomics create a new kind of reader involvement. Depending on what can be view on each screen the scrolling can add suspense to a comic. Also if the panels are one at a time in a liner progression downward, it can create the affect of taking a trip in the webcomic.

One webcomic in particular “My Obsession with Chess” by Scott McCould is structured like that of this literature class. It gives you a choice of ways to move throughout the story, depending on where you start creates the story you get. With the structure of the class, depending on what graphic novels the students chose and what they chose to look at created their experience. Even if two students read the same graphic novel, their blog may not be anywhere near the same experience. This is the same for this comment. I could read this comic and start reading left to right, however another reader may start right then drop down or over, such as chess. During the class, we could start where we wanted with either a required text, or a choice text. From this text, we were free to tell whatever analysis suited us. Each student has left this literature with a different understanding and experienced based upon what they wanted out of it. As with the webcomic “My Obsession with Chess” which allows the reader to bounce around freely and still understands the experience.
Link to webcomic http://scottmccloud.com/comics/chess/chess.html