At the University of Mary Washington
Earlier in the semester, we explored Emily Carrol’s first printed graphic novel, Through the Woods. I enjoy horror films because I love being scared and the short-lived adrenaline rush you get from watching something on screen pop up out of nowhere. When reading Through the Woods, it wasn’t so much a fast-paced adrenaline rush I experienced; […]
In 2008, horror manga artist and dog person Junji Ito was met with a curse more daunting than any he had ever inflicted upon his protagonists: owning cats. Two of them. First was Mu—a sweet Norwegian forest cat with big fur and a welcoming face—who was soon followed by his fiancée’s family cat, Yon: the “cursed” […]
In lieu of the popularity of Japanese manga, the need to expand their audience, and also to further a product line, book publishing companies are starting to adapt young adult novels into graphic novels.There is already a large economy based on the production of manga and anime, so some American publishers tried their hand at […]
A theme that often occurs in the graphic novel “This One Summer” is the tug of friendship between Rose and Windy as they both face adolescence at different paces and stages throughout their lives. This theme can be seen multiple times throughout the novel, including: when they are at the beach and Windy is obviously […]
“The One Summer” by Mariko Tamaki was one of my favorite comics that we have read this semester. The comic had one theme that stood out to me and was consistent throughout the book and affected all of the characters and that was depression. The mom of Rose, Alice, was going through a lot […]
Allison Bechdel’s tragicomic Fun Home pushes the boundaries of what it means to be an autobiography so much so that it has coined a new term for itself: autography. In her article titled “The Space Between: A Narrative Approach to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home,” Robyn Warhol explains why Bechdel’s breakthrough memoir is deserving of a new […]
In a post entitled Sweet, Sweet Baby Blues, blogger Livesay discusses just what it is that makes this 26 year-old comic so lovable. The consensus, it seems, is that the strip is honest, realistic, and relatable. It’s no doubt true that many parents can identify with Darryl and Wanda MacPherson, especially given that the show is […]
If you’re looking for proof that you can publish a comic disassembly project, look no further than Jeanne Martinet’s book, Truer than True Romance: Classic Love Comics Retold. The compilation, published in 2001, parodies classic romance comics of the 1940s-70s by replacing the old dialogue with a new, satiric take. While the images are pure, […]
I’m not a very good bowler. I have bowled at various points in my life, but was never really good at it. Growing up in Wisconsin, (home of the bowling hall of fame), a sport like bowling gave people another excuse to drink beer in the winter-time. Plenty of my friends played and were actually […]