Megg and Mogg and the Comics of the Modern era

For the final reading of the semester, I've read some comic issues of Megg and Mogg. A hand drawn comic strip by Simon Hanselmann, which tells the stories of a witch, her cat, an owl, and other nefarious animal characters living life as stoners, and going against tropes set up from stories they were made up in. The entire comic strip is about fictional characters living like drug dosed parodies of their fictional selves, with only the Owl acting as the one who has any sense of intelligence with the group.
The comic may appear crudely drawn out but it still has enough adult language, and mature content that could make any comics artist smirk. Each story follows a different variation, but they all still feel like they end in ways you wouldn't expect. From drug abuse, to full mental health issues, Megg and Mogg may appear childish and low quality, but they still entertain from a narrative standpoint.
In many ways, this comic strip represents the level of quality comics, have gotten to in the modern era. Not so much graphic novels, as they still can tell about mature themes with amazing artwork, but comics not as much anymore. One reason could be drawing characters for multiple storyboards can be draining, and time consuming. However so is writing a story, and yet Hanselmann has well written stories with crudely drawn artwork. Wether or not the art was done by him is another story, but it still feels like while comics have grown more mature with their writing, they've also changed with their art.
Megg and Mogg is not a bad comic, it's just one that feels like it could be made by anyone, and in that sense that's ultimately what comics are. Something to be made and read by everyone. And while it's humorous, and well written in ways that make me keep on reading, it still could be so much more.

The Relevancy of The Killing Joke

Batman as a character has been known for many things in his stories. Dark, grim, nearly depressing, and brutal in its storytelling. Sometimes Batman can be dark in its subject matter, and how it relates to modern society. And no where is this more the case in its overall subject matter than the famous story Batman The Killing Joke.
In most cases, Batman would be the main character, and the story would unfold from his perspective, but in this case, the spotlight is entirely on his greatest arch nemesis The Joker. Primarily as it follows his origins as the villain, and madman he has become. Although he doesn't have a name at first, the character is roped into a world of crime to help support his family, before a turn of the worst happens, and his wife with their about to be born child is killed in an accidental fire. So on the night he lost his family, he also had a job with two gangsters, and nearly lost his life in the outcome. Except in this case the only thing he really lost in that event was his humanity.
Years later as the titular villain, Joker manages to escape from his prison in Arkham Asylum, and permanently scar Commissioner Gordon, and his daughter in multiple ways. For the start, he shoots Barbara and cripples her, then he kidnaps Gordon and makes him experience a traumatizing realization that his daughter is no longer able to walk. All while Batman tries to find, and stop Jokers Madness does the story of The Killing Joke play out.

Throughout the story, I was genuinely moved with the storytelling, and the illustrations on the pages. It really felt like Alan Moore was attempting to make as gritty, and as grounded a Batman story can be, without losing the identity of what makes the characters in their universe fell unique.

The connections made with the story are themes of sexual assault, but mostly insanity, and traumatization. This can run particularly with The Joker himself, as during the story when he loses his family, it feels like he can no longer live on with his life, as he lost the one he truly cares about. Even before his wife and pre born child passed on, he still felt like a failure and couldn't be any better for them. So in a way, it makes The Joker before he went insane more relatable as a character than when Batman/Bruce Wayne lost his parents when he was a child.

The changes I would make to the story would be to make the designs of the characters less groveled/gritty in design and make it more of a cell shaded appearance. This would follow in the same color style of the novel itself, and be more modern designed, but it would still follow in the spirit of the story. Finally if it were to be adapted into another form of media, I would make it into a movie, but instead of animation or live action, it would be in the same style as the comics, and every scene would be a transition form one comic layout to the next. This will give it a more graphic appearance, and feel more faithful to the original novel in style.

My Friend Irma

The reading I did during the week was the comic strip My Friend Irma. A comic written by legendary comic writer, and illustrator Stan Lee. The comic itself is based on short written stories about a woman named Irma, who goes through life living as a character with an unusual sense of ideas in the world. She can be best seen as an imbecile. Someone who's clueless about the world they live in. In many ways it's what gives Irma her personality. Almost exclusively.
While it's fascinating to see that the creator of Marvel also created a slapstick comic strip that may have been funny at the time, it seems rather dated by todays standards of comedy. Not just in the prejudice about women (Although that also has dated) but rather with the tone, and general feel of the comic as a whole. The general comedy from Irma is based on her current areas of interest, and makes it seem like she has no idea what's going on. Which can be funny at first in a well written way, but over time can get tiring, and ultimately make the reader more sick of the character in question than endure them.
Overall My Friend Irma is a comic from the time. Old yet still an interesting read if interested in the stories it tells. However it may be best used as inspiration for how to write good women in comics, and hopefully not the only one.

Box Office Poison Love Life

Graphic novels are slowly becoming more and more of a new form for literature than they've ever been. And with the rise in more mature graphic novels, comes the growth in more grown out audiences. From gore and murder, to sex and appealing to one specific demographic, graphic novels have constantly been growing out to more people in different backgrounds, and more areas of interest. 

One such novel is Box Office Poison. From this story, it tells of a writer named Sherman living his life in New York after a breakup with his former girlfriend. It later tells of his time finding a new apartment in the city, where he falls for one of the tenants to the building Dorothy. 

The whole comic follows Sherman from his past experiences with his ex girlfriend, to moving on and hoping to find a new life ahead of him as a writer. It also deals with personal issues that we all face with in our futures. From adulthood to relationship issues, the general idea of the story is based on real life issues that can relate more to us than simple comic books. 

Akira, and The Future World Problem

Throughout the week the manga I've read was Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo, who would also direct the anime version in 1988. With the story, it focuses on a futuristic post apocalyptic society after  nuclear explosions fired off across every major nation, and country in the world, leading effectively into a new world war. Thus decades later in the future, it focuses on a future biker gang in "Neo - Japan" as they attempt to live out their lives in a society building itself back up again.
This all changed when Shōtarō Kaneda gets in an accident with his friend Tetsuyo, and starts to gain psychic abilities that the government sees as dangerous, comparing it to the Akira, which was known as the cause of Japan's destruction years ago. Tetsuyo begins to have hallucinations ranging from his body decomposing, to inanimate objects coming to life, and haunting him. So the hunt is on, as Tetsuyo, Shōtarō, and the others in their gang are being persued by the government, and must survive a rapidly changing world, much less affect it themselves. 
The story of Akira can be hard to follow especially in the manga, however overall it is a story that follows how anyone can change, or destroy the future if they're not careful, and it shows that true power can be held from within us all. It's a story that tells what happens if power gets to our heads, and that if we leave control of our society to those with unparalleled power, it will lead to our societies end. 
Without a doubt, Akira has been widely considered one of the greatest anime of all time, and has been a major inspiration to many artists, and their styles. Every modern story has followed behind Katsuhiro Otomo's story, and manga/anime would not be in the place it is today without Akira. 

Persepolis

Adult comics can often invoke themes of adult ideals, and imagery with subject matter that shouldn't be recommended for children. European comics gave this off more than graphic novels written in America, and these comics could range from themes about humanity, to sex.
However one trait a lot of these comics have is that they tell personal stories, and the struggles of living in radically changing worlds. One example of this is the graphic novel Persepolis, which was adapted into an animated movie. In this novel, writer Marjane Satrapi writes about her life experiences growing up during the Iranian Revolution in the 1980's.
In this story it deals with Satrapi growing up living her life as a woman during the nations most infamous time. Learning the hardships of Sexism, life and death, and the meaning of losing what means the most to you.
The comic is split up in two parts, where is tells about Satrapi's childhood to teenage years living in Iran, and the second volume tells about her experiences living outside the nation, and finding her place in the World.
As a whole the entire volume series of Persepolis is very mature themed when it comes to telling stories about living in a changing world, as much as it is about the hardships of womanhood in Iran when once upon a time, it never had its problems like this before the 1980's. Yet that's why the story is so well told even today, as it will stand the test of time as a cautionary tale of taking your life for granted, and having it disappear so quickly.

The Problems with Stereotypes

The use of stereotypes in media can be a very hard thing to adapt, and talk about. Primarily because stereotypes can often give the wrong impression of a specific group of people. However if done well, they can often be the highlight of the story they are in.
In modern culture, the use of stereotype characters has lowered over the years, and it's good that it's not as prevalent as it used to be. Yet there's still something so fun about having a character, or many characters be the epitome of the "stereotype" class. It can really make a character shine out more than even the main protagonist, so long as they are written just as well as everyone else.
But ultimately, no story absolutely needs a stereotype in their cast to make a good story. If say a movie was type casted specifically by people who are represented by one class each, then it would be a drag of a movie to get through. And overall it wouldn't be fun to watch.
In my life, I can't say that I have personally been affected by stereotypes in real life. Although I can understand where they come from in media. Throughout my life, I have watched movies, tv shows, and even read books where there's always one character that comes off as annoying because he/she is a stereotype. And I've always felt bad for that character, because the actors are just doing what they're told to. So I never minded the characters themselves, nor the people that played them.
All this said, I don't believe characters that play stereotypes are necessary to make good entertainment, so long as the characters are written well, and feel like real people, that is good enough for me, and not as some comedic misrepresentation of someone else.