Sunday, November 9, 2014

In The Shadow Of No Towers

I'm a big fan of comics and the art of sequential storytelling, so getting to read something by the legendary Art Spiegelman was exciting to me.
First off, the art is amazing, it plays a lot with the line between iconic and abstract (as defined by Scott McCloud). He's also great at making his characters act. Characters all have very expressive and recognizable looks on their faces with intentional body language. There's a direction with the way everyone holds themselves that relates right back to the characters situation at the moment and helps drive the story. Spiegelman also has great taste in his panels and panel structure. I love the effects he adds to the Maus caricature of himself smoking. He's talking about how he's anxious and scared and it has him smoking, and there's an effect with the smoke even coming in front of the word balloons, really emphasizing the what he's talking about. It makes this empty scenery of just Art talking more moody and tone defining by making the smoke make even the panel feel more anxiety ridden and panicky. I also really love the metaphor at the very beginning with the shoe dropping. It made me laugh at how clever it was, but it made me uncomfortable that I laughed.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Zac,
    What did you think of Spiegelman using comics to write about the events of 9/11?
    ~MS

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  2. I really liked the way he used the comic medium for this. It was the best use of stream of consciousness I've seen in a comic. It was also the best interpretation of essay I've seen done in the comic medium. I really liked the way he used extra side spaces and things to explore other related ideas and parts of the main idea without interrupting the main narrative.

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