Underground Comics

The underground comics I checked out were Air Pirate Funnies, Tits and Clits, and Gay Comics. These comics were definitely very crazy. Sometimes they didn't really make since to me because like in the Gay Comics there would be points where the main character would be thinking, but then you would go into the main narrative. I understood what they were trying to do, but at points I got really confused. They were definitely different from your usual comic and I think that might be a main reason why I wasn't really interested in them. I kind of figured they would be a little absurd, but I guess I was just thinking of a lot of sex talk and boobs and all that kind of stuff. I wasn't expecting to get lost so much. I was hoping for more narrative, but I didn't really get that. The Air Pirate Funnies were definitely funny and very twisted in a way. I never expected to see some of my favorite Disney characters in that subject matter. The Gay Comics had a little more narrative than the other underground comics, but again I still got kinda lost. I guess I can see why they were unground comics. They were very funny, but very obscene and a little too much to be selling to a wide audience.

Blankets

I read "Blankets" for this week and I have to say it was a little girlie. I enjoyed reading it, but at points it was kind of romantic and lovey-dovey. It seemed very much like and autobiography about the author. I looked it up and saw that it actually is an auto biography about the illustrator/writer. I can really feel that he his telling us his story of how things in life happened to him. How he loved this girl and wanted to be with her. And also how he was coming from a very religious family and how he was very instilled with this Christian faith and wanting to go to heaven and to just be happy for the rest of his life. In some fashion I feel that he takes the emotions he was feeling and really forces you to listen to him. He deals with what almost every kid deals with like bullying, sibling rivalry and closeness, parents that drill their opinions into you, etc. But he puts it into a way that you want to know his story and how he deals with it. I love how he goes through all of this time to try and have a strong relationship with someone and almost finds it with this girl Raina, but even that doesn't work. He really goes back to his roots and finally connects to his family and his brother which I really feel is where a lot of people go back to, in my opinion. We really see that we can rely on our family and that the relationships that we have to look for probably aren't the best ones to be in. I feel that after reading this I can understand how a relationship is ment to be and how we can really have strong bonds with people if we let them happen.  

Tin Tin / Comic Book

Tin Tin was definitely a very fun comic strip to read. I read the "Tin Tin: Explorers on the Moon" and found it very fun and exciting. I really felt points of fun and laughter, adventure and peril, and even fright for the characters when things would seem to be a bit of a tussle to deal with. I enjoyed the illustrations a lot of the characters. The characters seemed to be really simple and fun, but the backgrounds seemed to be a little more detailed and realistic at times. Overall it seemed to pull the whole story together for you to really be brought in and want to see more and know more of what is about to happen in the story. One thing that I found really fun in particular was the quarrel between the Captain and Tin Tin after the Captain was floating off into space. Tin Tin almost seemed like the adult in that situation and made the Captain seem like a child. Although I'm not entirely sure if Tin Tin is a child or a young adult. Sometimes they make him seem very mature so I think that is why I think he might be a young adult. I also think it is really fun how the dog is almost always with Tin Tin it shows the companionship with a man and his dog. This is really a fun strip and very adventurous. I have yet to see the movie, but after reading the comic book and seeing the trailers for the movie I can really understand the fun adventure and almost comedic fashion of the story and I definitely understand why they would want to make this into a movie. There is so much substance there that you can't resist not making a movie about this guy and his dog.   

Comic Strips

I really enjoyed reading these comic strips overall. The comic strips I read were "Little Nemo" "Calvin and Hobbes" and "The Peanuts". When I was younger I always read the newspaper comic strips. Although I don't remember ever reading the "Little Nemo" comic strips until now, but I did of course read "The Peanuts" and "Calvin and Hobbes". I feel that they are timeless classics that can be brought into not only the comic strip, but in even television and film. And he comic strips are some that have conquered both realms very well.

The "Little Nemo" comics I will admit were a little strange, but what dreams aren't strange. Winsor McCay really captures the essence of a dream through this little boy who ha such great adventures in his "dreamworld". I do find it really fun how Nemo wakes up in whatever situation he left his dream at. In a way it makes you wonder if his dream was real or just a dream. In some ways I guess I feel that way about the strip because I have also seen the animated film "Little Nemo" and I remember even in the film Nemo wakes up in the same fashion as he left his dream. Some of the illustrations even were very dream-like. Almost as if Nemo was on drugs (sorry for the humor). But almost all dreams seem strange and almost unreal, but that is what makes them dreams.

"The Peanuts" I think are comic strips that everyone can remember. They were so fun and very entertaining as a child and even till now that I am 21 years old. It also shows how a comic strip can be timeless being that I read them as a child and my parents remember reading them when they were younger, and the comics still have that comic humor in them. Each character was very different and special in their own way and they kept those personalities through the mediums that "The Peanuts" were carried through. From the strip to television. I think one thing that always made me laugh was how almost adult the quarrels between the characters were. They handled the situations almost as if they were young adults. Very funny and always a timeless classic in my book.

And last but not least is "Calvin and Hobbes". This comic strip for some reason has always been one of my favorites. They were both such fun characters. I feel that I really related to this strip because I myself had a favorite stuffed animal that was a Tiger doll that I got from Disney World when I was a kid. In a way it was odd, but funny too. I really could understand how Calvin really confide so much with Hobbes and shared so much with him. The strips make you believe so much that Hobbes is real and when you see him in some strips as just a stuffed animal you are a little baffled and taken back and you want to see him real again. We in a way become Calvin and really want to connect and be with a friend like Hobbes. This strip really shows how some one can have a special friend and have fun with them all the time even if they are just a stuffed animal. A side note that I need to point out is I love how sometimes Hobbes is Calvin's voice of reason and sometimes vice versa. But mostly Calvin has these grand ideas and wonders and thoughts and Hobbes is almost there to tell him how it is or they go and discover the answer together. Really a wonderful strip and one of my all time favorites.