Maus by Art Speigelman

First of all, when I saw the naming of the title, I think it was pretty interesting. The pronunciation of "Maus" sounds similar to "mouse," which is the character in the story. The story was written by the comic artist Art Spiegelman after World War II, about what the Nazis did to the Jews, and how did it affect their lives afterward. I think the storytelling approach that Spiegelman took was interesting. Instead of showing vivid blood and tortures from the war, he used cute animals mouses to be the characters, and pigs for the German soldiers in the camp. All of the characters were in minimalistic drawing style, and the environment was, too. I understand the author's intention to not use the visuals of real people but a metaphor of mouse instead-- because it would be too brutal to see those cruel scenes. The minimalistic images gave an emotional break for the readers, so they can read it in an emotionally less intense level, just like watching animations. Also, I think the comic is more words driven than visual driven, the words tell a big part of the story, but the visuals were supplementary. 

In the second part of the comic, his dad Vladek talked about his experience in the Nazis concentration camp. I was surprised to see that Vladek met a "nice" German soldier who saved him a couple of times. Vladek taught the soldier English language; in return, the soldier gave him a fitted pair of shoes, clothes, and decent meals (which to him was banquet meals almost). 

He also told a lot of stories about the little things that happened in the camp which I think was interesting, because I didn't see it elsewhere. Most of the movies portrayed the more significant impact of the war but ignored the details, but the comics showed it out. The scene I liked the most was when Vladek brought his friends a belt and a pair of fitted shoes from the soldier-- he didn't forget his friends even if he receives something. It was the little things that Spiegelman portrayed that were very touching. 

Underground Comics: Mr.Natural

The comics Mr. Natural basically surrounded this one character--Mr. Natural and his journeys. First I read the Mr. Natural's 719th meditation, I realized how he actually wrote in the language of mindfulness meditators. He used a lot of words such as "karma," "raise awareness of higher-self," etc. It tapped into the meditation culture well, but it was somewhat cynical towards the people who meditate or the religious groups who believe in higher-self. 

Mr. Natural's characterization is funny, when he was going to refuse the offer by the meditator, he said, "I left a pie in the oven; otherwise I would..." At the same time, he was kind of annoying because he messed up the meditator guys' practice. It seemed like wherever he went, there would be a drama and a mess. His visual characteristic is also pretty iconic-- bald, long white bear, a gown, fat and short body. It's easily recognizable, and I think it might be one of the reasons why he got so famous. 

There were black people in some of the characters in the comics, and they weren't portrayed nicely. One story centered on how a group of black people robbed a beggar's money and required him to give them more later on. They were portrayed as rude and violent. Even the visuals of the black people were portrayed as animals. I don't quite like the stereotypes about the black people here. 

There is another story from Mr. Natural-- Little Johnny Fuckerfaster in the Mr. Natural's comics. It showed a young boy teasing a girl from the street and forced her to perform oral sex for him. The girl seemed to be obedient and ignorant and did so. She was portrayed as a retarded adult baby. I don't like how it portrays women in the context, and I think the visuals are pretty nasty. I don't appreciate how the novel portrays the sex scenes; I think they are pretty disgusting. 

I also took a glance at some other underground comics such as Harold Hedd No.1 and Air Pirates Funnies. The Air Pirates Funnies seemed like a re-creation of Mickey Mouse's stories. The majority of the underground stories contained a lot of sexual violence elements and added a "ruffian mood" in them. It is almost a counter-cultural comics at that time. 

Graphic Novels: A Contract with God by Will Eisner and Blankets by Craig Thompson

I read A Contract With God after reading Donald Duck, and I found that the two are so different from each other. In Donald Duck, the background setting is mostly in the rural area, where there are forest, small houses, etc. However, the setting of the stories in A Contract With God is all in the city, in people's apartment. And the approach, is surprisingly realistic, just like the mood of the magazine Humans of New York, talking about the drama of urbanization. There are a couple things that I found interesting from his novel: 

• In the first few pages, there were words intervene with the graphics instead of limited in a box, and the whole page stands out like a poster. The experience is more interactive, and I appreciate it

• The character’s faces changed in different situations. For example, when Frimme's mistress asked him to sell his old building, her face was suddenly so ugly, showing all the little details of his dislike emotions.

• The theme about immigrants and religions is unique. It’s less like the type of funny, entertaining novels, but a more serious one that reflects a social context. But he made it interesting. 

• One of my favorite sentences is “friends came offering comfort words which he accepted in stony silence.” It was said when the main character's family died, and I think the sentence is constructed nicely. It won't have the same effect if it says "friends came to comfort him, and he didn't say a word." The word "stony silence" describes the atmosphere of heavy and depressing very well. 

After researching, I found that Will Eisner's graphic novel usually tell the history of New York's immigrant communities, particularly Jews, including the novels The Building, A Life Force, Dropsie Avenue and To the Heart of the Storm. Moreover, the Stories reflected the community and society at that time, rather than stories focus on the character styles. 

Wes Craig Craig’s graphic novel Blankets, on the other hand, tells people a lot about the narrator’s psychological thoughts, shown in the stories of his brotherhood and schooling. It is interesting to find out that they were actually based on his brother and his real experience. And a lot of people who have siblings like me can relate to the childhood experience that he wrote about.

Interestingly, both of Craig's and Eisner's novels include the theme of religions. Christianity definately played a role in their novels. Craig had once said, “I'm playing with Islam in the same way I was playing with Christianity in Blankets, which proved that the topic of religion isn't just in one of his novels-- it is a big element in his work. 

In general, I appreciate Craig's graphic style which has exaggeration which presents the characters vividly and brought out the stories. I also like Will Eisner’s topic of the immigrants because they were unique, and they reflect humanities that I haven't see elsewhere.