Comic Books Commentary
This year for our comic section of our media project, we have been learning about comics from the Western and Eastern parts of the world. The Western side of comics we learnt about was called Marvel, and the Eastern was called Manga. Our aim of this project was to compare both comics together and to see how they both use different techniques and styles in the way they are written. After all our lessons our practical project requirements were, making a comic book cover using Photoshop, creating a double page spread which was about any chosen subject with a reason behind it, using a programme called ‘comic life’ and finally a finished detailed commentary on our comic project.
What are comic books? Well the word comic means ‘funny’, so you are probably thinking they are going to be hilarious. But besides this comic book is a form of magazine that uses pictures to tell a story and are usually fiction. They use a comic strip which is a template for picture to go into and also use a lot of speech. Some researches which we covered on comic books were:
Thomas Rowland’s Dr Synax; this series was published in 1812, and was an early start to western comics in this era. Dr Synax was originally originated from the artwork of an English artist in the 18th mid century. Thomas Rowland wrote Dr Synax’s adventures as a series of long poems. Finally in the stories, Dr. Syntax, a white whigged curate and schoolmaster, leaves home on a series of adventures. He sets off on an old mare and runs into all sorts of trouble.
Another great author, painter, cartoonist and caricature artist we researched was Rodolphe Topffer, due to an eye defect; Rodolphe was initially unable to pursue a career in the visual arts which he loved doing and was great at it. Töpffer has earned most fame for his picture-stories which are considered to be the first and the best in the comic genre. He wrote different stories and ones which are remembered to this day are, 'Histoire de M. Jabot' (1833), 'Monsieur Crépin' (1837), 'Les Amours de M. Vieuxbois' (1839), 'Monsieur Pencil' (1840).
We also learnt about a type of British book which was a fiction publication called a ‘penny dreadful’. It was around in the 19th century and was very popular as they contained a number of serial stories appearing in parts over a course of weeks. Each part of every series cashed in at a penny hence its nickname ‘penny blood’. The name penny blood came from the reason that these parts were like your blood which you could never leave.
Next I move onto two major US comic book institutions called Marvel and DC. I will start by introducing Marvel. Marvel produces American comic books and was founded in 1939. Marvel cover all genres, a few examples are crime, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and war. Marvel is a huge success and this is due to key factors. They produce superhero comic books and have made a huge success with some worldwide known heroes such as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, X-Men, The Punisher, Daredevil and Ghost Rider.
I will choose to write and explain about marvel comics as I think that they have made better and more superior superheroes than DC. Although DC has amazing superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Wonder woman. I prefer the fact that Marvel uses more of their imagination when thinking about creating their superhero. My favourite Superhero is The Incredible Hulk, the reason I like this superhero is I love the storyline behind how this superhero was created. I love the imagination from Marvel to think of such an amazing storyline for this beast.
I am going to explain and write a case study on The Incredible Hulk. Firstly this character is a fictional character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Incredible Hulk’s first ever appearance in the comic book in May 1962 called The Incredible Hulk #1. The reason the Incredible Hulk was created because the creators wanted to make a superhero that was different. The idea came from Stan Lee, the reason the Hulk was created was originally from the film Frankenstein, Lee spotted that the character Frankenstein wasn’t really a bad guy. Stan Lee famously quoted 'Wouldn't it be fun to create a monster and make him the good guy?”. The Incredible Hulk was an ordinary man who used to turn into a massive monster if he ever got angry. It’s most famous for his colour of turning green like a monster. The Incredible Hulk would turn huge and his shirt would rip off his body. He wore purple trousers which slit when he turned into this beast. The reason why the incredible hulk was green was to symbolize him being different and unusual like a monster. The target audience for this character was aimed at teenagers and young adults.
We learnt about one book written by Dr.Frederic Wertham called The Seduction of the Innocent which he created in 1954, the reason why Dr Wertham created this book was to stress reasons on why comic books were bad for children and he tried to stop comic books from being published and sold. An example he used to stress comic books were bad for children was that he said it caused asthma, Dr Wertham claimed being indoors reading comic books meant children were unable to get fresh air.
People read this book and the reputation and sales of all comic books went down dramatically. However some of the comic books greatest fans were sticking right behind keeping their comics in shop windows. Suddenly the comic code authority got involved in this conflict as it was turning very aggressive and fans of the comic books were upset. Then after every comic book that was published had to be considered appropriate and had to be approved by the Comic Magazine Authority. This meant any rude, violent or misleading things which could of harmed any children were taken out of all comics.
This year for our comic section of our media project, we have been learning about comics from the Western and Eastern parts of the world. The Western side of comics we learnt about was called Marvel, and the Eastern was called Manga. Our aim of this project was to compare both comics together and to see how they both use different techniques and styles in the way they are written. After all our lessons our practical project requirements were, making a comic book cover using Photoshop, creating a double page spread which was about any chosen subject with a reason behind it, using a programme called ‘comic life’ and finally a finished detailed commentary on our comic project.
What are comic books? Well the word comic means ‘funny’, so you are probably thinking they are going to be hilarious. But besides this comic book is a form of magazine that uses pictures to tell a story and are usually fiction. They use a comic strip which is a template for picture to go into and also use a lot of speech. Some researches which we covered on comic books were:
Thomas Rowland’s Dr Synax; this series was published in 1812, and was an early start to western comics in this era. Dr Synax was originally originated from the artwork of an English artist in the 18th mid century. Thomas Rowland wrote Dr Synax’s adventures as a series of long poems. Finally in the stories, Dr. Syntax, a white whigged curate and schoolmaster, leaves home on a series of adventures. He sets off on an old mare and runs into all sorts of trouble.
Another great author, painter, cartoonist and caricature artist we researched was Rodolphe Topffer, due to an eye defect; Rodolphe was initially unable to pursue a career in the visual arts which he loved doing and was great at it. Töpffer has earned most fame for his picture-stories which are considered to be the first and the best in the comic genre. He wrote different stories and ones which are remembered to this day are, 'Histoire de M. Jabot' (1833), 'Monsieur Crépin' (1837), 'Les Amours de M. Vieuxbois' (1839), 'Monsieur Pencil' (1840).
We also learnt about a type of British book which was a fiction publication called a ‘penny dreadful’. It was around in the 19th century and was very popular as they contained a number of serial stories appearing in parts over a course of weeks. Each part of every series cashed in at a penny hence its nickname ‘penny blood’. The name penny blood came from the reason that these parts were like your blood which you could never leave.
Next I move onto two major US comic book institutions called Marvel and DC. I will start by introducing Marvel. Marvel produces American comic books and was founded in 1939. Marvel cover all genres, a few examples are crime, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and war. Marvel is a huge success and this is due to key factors. They produce superhero comic books and have made a huge success with some worldwide known heroes such as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, X-Men, The Punisher, Daredevil and Ghost Rider.
I will choose to write and explain about marvel comics as I think that they have made better and more superior superheroes than DC. Although DC has amazing superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Wonder woman. I prefer the fact that Marvel uses more of their imagination when thinking about creating their superhero. My favourite Superhero is The Incredible Hulk, the reason I like this superhero is I love the storyline behind how this superhero was created. I love the imagination from Marvel to think of such an amazing storyline for this beast.
I am going to explain and write a case study on The Incredible Hulk. Firstly this character is a fictional character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Incredible Hulk’s first ever appearance in the comic book in May 1962 called The Incredible Hulk #1. The reason the Incredible Hulk was created because the creators wanted to make a superhero that was different. The idea came from Stan Lee, the reason the Hulk was created was originally from the film Frankenstein, Lee spotted that the character Frankenstein wasn’t really a bad guy. Stan Lee famously quoted 'Wouldn't it be fun to create a monster and make him the good guy?”. The Incredible Hulk was an ordinary man who used to turn into a massive monster if he ever got angry. It’s most famous for his colour of turning green like a monster. The Incredible Hulk would turn huge and his shirt would rip off his body. He wore purple trousers which slit when he turned into this beast. The reason why the incredible hulk was green was to symbolize him being different and unusual like a monster. The target audience for this character was aimed at teenagers and young adults.
We learnt about one book written by Dr.Frederic Wertham called The Seduction of the Innocent which he created in 1954, the reason why Dr Wertham created this book was to stress reasons on why comic books were bad for children and he tried to stop comic books from being published and sold. An example he used to stress comic books were bad for children was that he said it caused asthma, Dr Wertham claimed being indoors reading comic books meant children were unable to get fresh air.
People read this book and the reputation and sales of all comic books went down dramatically. However some of the comic books greatest fans were sticking right behind keeping their comics in shop windows. Suddenly the comic code authority got involved in this conflict as it was turning very aggressive and fans of the comic books were upset. Then after every comic book that was published had to be considered appropriate and had to be approved by the Comic Magazine Authority. This meant any rude, violent or misleading things which could of harmed any children were taken out of all comics.
