The future of comic

I read Cyanide & Happiness, which is a comic series made by Explosm.net. It is definitely an interesting comic with all these adult content, sexual content, and ironically burlesque. I love how it takes everything simple and funny. The comic strip itself is like draft which draws on a lined paper, but the rough drawing and the black joke make this comic pretty intense. The comic writer for this comic must put a lot of time and took a lot of drugs to create such imaginative comic. Cyanide & Happiness reminds me, Rick and Morty. I remember there is a short video of Cyanide & Happiness which has a very similar scene with Rick and Morty. A couple goes shopping, and the man is trying to get the milk from the fridge, then a milk-like creature grabs him and put him into the cart. It reminds me of a scene in Rick and Morty when they run through all these planets and see human ordering pizza by using a phone, pizza ordering phone by using human, phone ordering human by using pizza. The way they express the humor is similar, and I enjoy it.

The Dark Knight Returns

"This is a fictional story. Things in the story may or may not happen..."
Once upon a time, this sentence often appeared in American comics. Basically, these comics are just fantasy world of the author. The contents are nothing more than Bruce's retiring to the second line, or Robin inherits the robes and spreads the bats... Even if there is a tragic ending, it is still about heroic dedication. Frank Miller version is different. Robin is dead. The 50-year-old Batman has retired several years. Gordon is about to be forced to retire. Gotham City, the violent crimes on the streets have intensified.

In other words, all the efforts of Batman in the past are in vain. So He returned. He also awakened the enemies of the past and was regarded as an extrajudicial murderer by the new Police Commissioner. Is the existence of criminals creating Batman, or is the existence of Batman driving crime?

Miller "violated" the dogma of all previous comics. There are no intrigues, no bright bad guys, no flashy "death traps" and props. The reason for the crime is simple: money, power, or simply perversion. There are no handsome guys, no righteous heroes, no gorgeous battles. There's only a ruthless real world, and a man who tries to challenge the system.

Batman in this work is not a hero, but an anti-hero. His heart can't withstand the constant battles, but he still faces all kinds of pursuits without fear. He refused to accept the result of "the veteran is not dead, just withered."

Batman conquered the street gangsters and formed a new gang. It’s hard to say whether they are criminals or victims. His cooperation with Green Arrow (which used to be a leftist position in comics) is more political. Superman who faithfully obeys the president in exchange for the living space of the superhuman, becomes a lackey of the authorities. As mortal, Batman signaled no compromise, even if the price is death.

reading response: Batman The Killing Joke

The Killing Joke is a originate story of one of the antagonists from Batman comic, the joker.

I really like the comic. It explained why joker is the joker and the relationship between the Batman and Joker. It is definitely not a comic for kids because of the violence in the comic.  Although I think it is bloody, I believe some things work from this comic. Criminals don't appear suddenly. They are the result of the environment.

I'm a creator myself. My connection with the story is, I will always have a back story of my character.  It makes more sense to the character of Joker. Joker is created by the environment. He said in the comic, he just wants to prove that "there's no difference between him and everyone else." 

If I can adapt to this comic, I will definitely make a film of it. I believe this story will fit Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, but I would not do exactly Christopher Nolan did. The idea is to make their character complement with each other. I will add some lines to the ending. I like the way that comic talking about good and bad, but I think there must be something more between Joker and Batman. I think there will be one more reason that Batman doesn't want to kill Joker. He doesn't exist if there is no criminal. He needs Joker, and Joker needs him. I will change the Gotham city to this peaceful city, because what Batman did. I will make Batman more worry about what's going to happen if there's no criminal. I will make Gordon crazy after what Joker did to Barbara. 

Women's Comics

I read "Diary of a Dominatrix" by Molly Kiely. It is a comic with sexual explicit. Somehow I think I'm reading a pornography comic, but this comic is definitely not one of them.

It is interesting how the artist brings the mood in easily. The beginning starts with Zelda cutting her nails. Everything goes smooth, it's like a normal morning when a normal female was doing normal things.  I like how it presents the protagonist. Then it shows the makeup process and the dressing process that a woman goes through at morning.

I also read "Pretty Deadly" by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Spanish artist Emma Rios. I love the art. Everything is a very atmospheric first page in. However, I don't really like the way it tells the story. The storytelling is affectation because I still can't understand what was going on after I read Volume 1. I do like the storyboard. It is a very beautiful piece.

The third comic I read was "My Favorite Thing is Monsters" by Emil Ferris. I love the style. It seems like the comic was drawn on lined papers. The style is so interesting and the story is easy to understand.

The Fountain and Box Office Poison

I read "The Fountain" by the author Darren Aronofsky and the artist Kent Williams. Before I read the book, I noticed that the book had been adapted to a movie, The Fountain, which was also directed by Darren Aronofsky. I remember I seen some clip from the film are beautiful. The comic also surprised me when I look at the image. It seems like the artist use color painting to drawing this comic.






There is one sequence I like, which is when we first see the Captain Tomas Verda's face. He puts the ring on his left hand under his nose, smells it, and the next page it jumps to the flashback smoothly. It is a very cinematic transition which I can understand it without reading the dialogs.

I also read "Box Office Poison" by Alex Robinson. It also presents a lot of flashbacks, but the way is different from "The Fountain." In the beginning, it starts with the flashback image with this stamp edge. The stamp edge demonstrates the story is in flashback, and last you will see more flashbacks in stamp edge.

Battle Angel Alita

I read the Battle Angel Alita "Last Order." It is not the first Sci-Fi manga I ever read. I used to be a big fan of Ghost in the Shell (not the movie in 2017). Battle Angel Alita is the second Sci-Fi manga I read.
The wasteland atmosphere sets up quite successful. I am happy to see there are philosophical thinkings about human and machine in this story. Those fighting scene always makes me feel passionate. Action design for this comic is very well.
If I read it earlier, I will love it more. The plot seems very old-fashioned, even a little bit cliche. The growth of the protagonist accompanies everything about the hero. Finally, the theme sublimated when her goal was completed. The temptation of dreams, the death of relatives and herself, and the love she's seeking for make this story unflattering.
All living beings are working hard to live. No matter what method is used, no matter in what way, no matter how inferior. This is the place where the whole comic is the most fascinating to me. No matter how inferior a creature exists, it has its greatness. I believe there is no noble and base between different animals.
I noticed that the manga is going to adapt to a movie. I don’t know what the film will look like, but I hope it will be good.

Asterix

Asterix is such a funny comic to read. It makes my day whenever I read it. Asterix is a French comic. I noticed that it had been translated to 111 kinds of language. It is very worldwide.
The story of Asterix is about this small town in Gauls. Roman had occupied Gauls in 50 BC. However, it was not totally controlled by Roman. There is a small town haven't been occupied. People in this town have magic water which can get superhuman strength, which can defeat the Roman army.
Image result for Asterix gothIt is very funny because there is a lot of detail in this comic. When Asterix meets people from different countries, the font of their dialog will be different.
For example, Goths have this Gothic font when they talk. Egyptian's speech balloon is always pictograph.

I also noticed that there is also some stereotype joke in the comic. For example,  ancient Goths in the story has been described as very militarization. Ancient Britains like to eat boiled food.
Somehow I think the stereotype jokes are not very sensitive. Although it is hard not to think that this comic is not racist, it really controls the stereotype in a suitable range.