1. Precious Glass

2. This story was about an older couple on their way to dying. There were two major incidents that happened in the story. There were two deaths that occurred. There were not too many exciting things that happened in the story. It was not a predictable story, it was a more drawn out story. There were three main characters in the story. Lars, he is a funny caring old man. The things he says are funny, he likes to reminisce back on the past. He likes for things to be his way. He also likes to do things for his self. Another main character in the story is Rachel. Lars’ wife. She is demanding and she also likes things to be her way. She does not really talk as much as Lars. They are both loyal and compassionate to each other. The last main character of the book is Lars’ daughter Laura. She is a caring person she takes time from her life to take care of her father and step mother.

3. The artwork in the book was great. It was not messy, and it was very clear to understand.  There was a lot of repeating pictures. The media that was used was ink. You can clearly see that the pictures were drawn with ink, but they were put on a computer in order to be made into a book. It is very realistic, but as a reader we can still tell that it is meant to be a comic stip. The picture are polished with a clean lines and clear backgrounds. The lines are very dark and bold. Some of the lines are thick and some of them are thin. There are no other colors except for black and white.  The pictures seem to take up the right amount of space on the page. They are easy to read and easy to follow along with. There is rhythm in all of the pictures. All of the features are constant to each character. 

4. The purpose of writing this book is because the author wants to tell a story.  She has been through a hard time in her life. The story parallels a real life even that happened in her life.  She wants people to know that she has been through something and is strong enough to make I through. In this book she is letting her emotions show but in a controlled way.  This book was also written to give people who are going through a similar situation hope, and a new outlook. To show that women can be strong as men. People should give this story the time of day because death is the only thing that is certain. 

5. The biggest strength of this book is it allows you to wonder what is going to what is going to happen. The story keeps you guessing. Some books are just dull and flat, the story line plays out just how you think it will. This book has irony, and things do not go as planned. This book makes me think about to older people in my family that I am close to. The story made me want to keep reading it I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. My reaction after I read this book was, I like this book more than I thought. The author took an original idea, and twisted it into something new, and better.

6. The biggest weakness of this book was that is was only black and white. I wish there was some color on at least some of the pages. Also, the word choice could have been more advanced. The words that were below the pictures that looked as if they were part of the background need to be fixed.  Otherwise there were not anymore weaknesses of this book. 

7. There are a few groups of people I would recommend this book to. First I would recommend this book to anyone who likes graphic novels and comics. Also I would recommend this book to people who are in a similar situation, or who have went through a hard time dealing with the loss of a parent.

8. Another book that Joyce Farmer wrote is Tits & Clits. This was in the 80’s. 

9. I give this book a 5/5. It was a great story and it kept my involved in the reading.

1. Nicolas Howard Herrild

2. This graphic novel is composed of several different stories all into one book. The novel ranges from short little stories to small individual jokes which consist of a picture and a short humorous description. The story topic’s can leave a person with night mares or laughing there butt’s off. A suit made from celebrity buttocks, getting rid of breast cancer, a woman’s boobs secreting fecal matter, a rape machine (disturbing), death from a shit puddle, and many others that will turn the guts.

3. The artwork in this novel is indescribable consisting of a couple different mediums used. Most of the stories were done using ink, while the short, to the point jokes, were a form of watercolor paint. The detail to the characters was not only realistic and expressionistic and distorted, but disturbing at the same time. The novel was very organized and neat meaning the drawing were not outside the box and stayed within the confines of the window. The drawings were created by using dark/ heavy lines that demanded attention as well as has light/ airy lines that described movement of each character.

4. The author’s purpose of writing this was to make innocent perverted fun. Johnny Ryan seems to be one of the only authors that could write and draw about such taboo perverted things and make them seem so innocent and humorous. The purpose behind this novel I feel was for Johnny Ryan to challenge society and step outside the box to make a graphic novel that was perverted but socially acceptable. Ryan stepped outside the boundaries set by society and was successful. I feel that Ryan accomplished what many wouldn’t be able to.

5. This graphic novels art and language synchronizes very well using a comic book style with panels. The language and art used makes this novel stand out among several other graphic novels I have read. This novel makes many of society’s taboos and manipulates them to be socially acceptable. My first reaction to this book was created from its cover, a little disturbing but I’m glad it caught my attention. A few stories into the novel made me have mixed feelings of disgusting humor. This is definitely a novel that should be read individually and not out loud to a group because there are many ways someone could react to the material. This novel keeps a person on their toes with all the twist and turns of the offensive language and art work.

6. The book only has one small weakness that I found; this weakness was the color scheme in the short stories. Most of the short stories were black and white, but I feel if the drawings would have more of an impact if they were colored. The black and white coloring doesn’t do the novel justice.

7. A person with a perverted sense of humor or just a person looking for a good laugh may want to check out this novel. The male gender would most likely make a better fit for this book sense males seem to be more perverted. This is a novel that should not be kept on the coffee table for just anyone to read and children and teens should be  limited or even denied access to the book.

8. Johnny Ryan’s other books that may also be appealing are “Prison Pit 1”, “Prison Pit 2”, and “Prison Pit 3”. There are also many more that can be checked out at www.johnnyryan.com

9. Rating of 4.5 of 5

1. Jason Clements

2. This novel is a psychological thrill ride swapping between the story of Amadeus Arkham and a story where on April Fools day Joker and the rest of the inmates of Arkham Asylum take over the asylum and take hostages. While the reader slowly learns about the tragic events of Amadeus Arkham’s life the story is constantly interjected by the other story. The inmates have asked for Batman in exchange for the hostages. Upon arriving Batman is forced to fight throughout the maze of the Asylum while meeting many notorious enemies throughout the way such as Two Face, Mad Dog, Scare Crow, and Killer Croc. During this battle through the maze of Arkham Batman also faces the battle of losing his own sanity. Eventually Batman makes it through the maze to find out Dr. Cavendish had been trying to relive the madness of Amadeus Arkham and follow his legacy by starting the riots and madness at the asylum. The story concludes with Cavendish leaving Batman’s fate to be determined by chance and Two Face.  It was very hard to follow the story, but I did the best I could. 

3. The artwork in this book is a constant mix of insanity. Every page screams something different the book uses many forms of media such as charcoal, pen, paint and photomontage all combined to create a collage of artwork. As much as the words help to tell the story it is truly told through the art and images. The art can also vary from realistic and refined to crude abstract and surrealistic. Proportion, space, light, time and motion are all altered to increase a feeling of craziness. The one constant in the art is diagonal lines to incite uneasiness, tension, and energy. The novel also has a large focus on using different color schemes to exemplify insanity and create changing mood throughout the story. The novel has color schemes unique to individual pages that constantly change. All of the formal elements and principles are giving unconventional values. Most scenes shift the balance to create tension. There are also many different textures used that were often rough or unpleasant textures.

4. I think the purpose of the authors writing this book was to invoke emotions and play with the mind s of the audience.  Morrison and Mckean work together efficiently to use words and art to create the emotions and fear of insanity. They do this through the use of constant tension in the artwork along with the themes of the story. This is the use of surrealism

5. The biggest strength of the book was how the art implicated strong emotions and create feelings of tension and insanity.  The details and all of the constant changes combined with the distortion and surrealism captures the reader in a state of constant insanity. It is awesome how the artist is able to capture the reader and make them feel uncomfortable through images. These images contained both unpleasant things and unpleasant styles.

6. The largest weakness of the book stems from its strength. Since the book implicits constant insanity the story is hard to follow. It is also hard to follow with all of the constant scene and storyline changes. The story also has many characters that just come into the story randomly and it is hard to figure out their purpose. It makes the story hard to follow because they do not fully make sense. Despite this weakness the compromise was worth it and the story was still great.

7. I would recommend this book to older teens and young adults most likely males. The content of the book would be scary and difficult to follow for anyone younger. I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to those interested in classic super heroes seen in new ways and psychology. I would not be surprised if other objected to the book because it had difficult material and can make the reader uncomfortable. This book has increased my interest about the relationship between fear and the mind.

8. Some other books by this other that are popular are Animal Man a story of a b-list super hero fighting for animal rights and All-Star Superman which modernizes the traditional Superman story. 

9. I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

1. Kevin Slimak

2. This graphic novel starts off showing an attack on a city following the point of view of a professor. He constantly says sorry as if what is happening if his fault.  He then wakes up showing the reader that it was just a dream, or flash of the past.  After waking, two people find the professor, the names of these two characters are Tom and Colleen, who are a couple and are the main characters that the story follows through the story.  At this point the professor does not know who he is, or at least says that he does not.  They begin to walk through the wasteland as Tom and Colleen explain how they discovered what had happened.  Just then the professor remembers a place that is “safe.”  They begin to make their way towards this place, and on the way there they meet two people who were working at a nearby exclusive party and begin to explain what they witnessed there.  The things that are described are disturbing and horrific to say the least.  After describing the events the man that was working at the party decides to leave and go back to have a look around, so Tom, Colleen, the doctor, and the woman party worker move on heading to the hotel.  When they get there they first find that all the doors are locked and Tom is injured by a random group of men, this is the point at which you find out the name of the professor, and that he is also a doctor.  While staying at the hotel Colleen over hears certain details dealing with what is going on in the world and decides to check it out by following the doctor.  What happens after this is the ending of the story and I can’t talk about it without giving anything away.  The Climax of the story is also at this part, when everything starts to get intense.  This book is composed of frames and is set up like a comic but is fluid throughout the whole story.

3. The artwork featured in my book is done very well to work with the atmosphere of the story.  The artwork was decently realistic, much like representational artwork.  The coloring used looks to be that of pastels and colored pencil.  The texture of the drawings looks to be very bold and 3-dish to give a feel of what everything in that you see would feel like. 

4. The purpose of this book could be a number of different things.  I personally believe that the purpose was to give a story that is somewhat spiritual/magical.  Throughout the story hints of this are given that make me feel this was and especially after the ending, certain feelings are provoked making you feel as if you are in a movie.  A story like this resembles many thriller/horror movies in today’s day in age.

5. This particular graphic novel was very interesting to read.  Although not very long,(only around 120 pages) I was very interested while reading through it and was able to read it all the way through without stopping, and would have continued if it had gone on.  The overall flow was very good in keeping you aware what was going on and making it easy to pictures in your mind exactly how things were going. 

6. I don’t feel that this book had too many weaknesses, but if I had to mention one, it would be that of certain parts in the middle of the story.  I wish that when meeting the two party workers, the story would flash over to the man who left to see what he encountered on his journey after going to check out what he wanted to.  Other than this, I have no complaints over anything.

7. I would recommend this book to older teens and young adults, probably ages 16-22.  I feel that this age group is appropriate because although this story is an earier read, there is brutal violence and some profanity.  I feel that people who like thrilling/horror stories will like this book, and those who are a bit on the sensitive side might feel that this story is pointless, because of the certain descriptions and pictures given.

8. Another book by Sala that looks interesting is “Mad Night.” A story about an old-fashioned murder mystery.  Another story by him that would probably closely resemble the target audience to that of “The Hidden.”

9. All in all this entire book was not bad at all, and I enjoyed reading/looking through it and I give it a 4/5.

1. Anna Grace

2. Skin Deep by Charles Burns is a comic novel based off of many characters within three separate stories. The first story is called “Dog Days”. This story features a man called Dog-Boy, and he is an average man who one day turns into part man part dog. It is narrated by Dog-Boy himself. Many people got the wrong impression about him because of his dog-like urges when he interacted with other humans. Dog-Boy reflects on his life and tells the audience that everything was fine up until he had his surgery. Before Dog-Boy became Dog-Boy he was a normal human being, but doctors told him he had a bad heart. So he then decided to go get a procedure done to his heart, but he had little money so he was forced to go to an underground doctor, Doc Benway. Doc Benway ended up putting animal parts inside of Dog-Boy, this then creating him to be half man half dog. Through the rest of the story he gets teased by co-workers and such for being half dog. Until he meets Rondy, who was a waitress at the restaurant he worked at. She was just the woman he needed who was understanding and didn’t mind who he was. I’ll stop by saying they went on a first date that went either great, or terrible, but I won’t spoil the ending for you.

The next story was “Burn Again”, which was based off a character named “Bliss Blister” and the whole story is narrated by himself. Bliss Blister starts off in the story as an old man reflecting off of his life, and how he got to where he was, which was someone who had his life ruin by God himself. When Bliss was younger he was in a house fire, and after he survived he had a burn on his chest that was the face of God. His Dad took full advantage and made him sell himself as a miracle around the country, and pretend to “heel” people from his burn. His Dad was really hiring people to pretend to be hurt, then touch the burn and be magically healed. It was all an act. Bliss was tired of this act, and when he grew up he ran away and started his own life, this is where he met Lana. After a discovery Lana realized who Bliss was, and how he was the famous Bliss Blister. They then started to make him “sell himself” once again, just like when he was younger, but this time it was over the top. TV shows, magazines, and even an amusement park was all built in Bliss Blister’s honor. Bliss’s Dad came back into his life once he discovered of Bliss became extremely rich and famous. Eventually, through an affair between Bliss’s Dad and his wife Lana, Bliss ends up killing both of them in the fire of hell in his amusement park. This leads to God telling Bliss that he will burn in Hell if he doesn’t build this Temple, and tell everyone that they will die if they don’t join him in living in it. The end of the world is near and everyone ends up lining up trying to come inside the Temple, but only a limited amount of people could make it inside. The temple is run almost like a concentration camp, they humans are ordered around by Bliss and God’s demands. The end of the all of the sudden comes, and God appears in front of everyone at the Temple. The Temple is blown up to pieces with one person/thing left remaining, but I’ll let you read it to find out what the outcome is. 

The last story in this comic novel is “A Marriage made in Hell” narrated by the character of Lydia. She is writer who is newly married to her husband John, who has told her he just came back from a terrible war where he was severely burned. Throughout the story Lydia realizes that John is not the man she thought she knew. He insisted on separate beds, had conversations like strangers would, and would be gone for business trips too many times. She instantly suspects him of having an affair, and after finding a torn magazine she goes to the library to try and find the missing page. This is where she sees John being kissed by another woman, but he denies it was an affair and tells her it was just for the picture. Lydia does not believe this to be true. She continues to find clues that he is having an affair and vents to her new friend Miss Holburn for advice. One afternoon she follows John after seeing him out on the town when he should be gone on a “business trip”. To her discovery she finds out a deep and dark secret about John that is worse then any affair she could think of. Once again you will have to read this comic to find out the ending, and what this horrible thing John did.

3. The whole artwork of the comic novel of “Skin Deep” is all very dark and creepy looking. Each comic strip is charcoal black and white. It seems like the illustration is done by ink pen and then run through a computer. The detail of the characters is extremely detailed, whether it’s their face with all of their wrinkles, their hair with shiny tints, or the veins on their skin. The detail with each story shows description without even using words, but with the artwork. It is very expressionistic. I would say that this comic novel being abstract artwork would be an understatement. It is all very dark, crude, and tight. It seems like all those characteristics is what really gives it that empowerment with all of the characters in the story. I couldn’t think of these characters and how creepy and disturbing they look even in my wildest nightmares. The artwork is unrealistic and nonrepresentational with the characters looking like unhuman-like zombies, almost like how villains would look in regular comic books. There is almost the same looking pattern throughout each three of the stories with being the dark and erie looking texture within the characters. This is also showing not a whole lot of variety between the stories, but instead showing different creepy looking artwork. The space is two dimensional, but the way Burns made it, it almost seems like at times the characters and artwork is popping out like it was a three dimensional art piece. 

4. There are many odd and out of this world kind of stories in this comic novel that Charles Burns wrote. I can’t really know what his full intentions were when writing this, but I have a few ideas of what he might have tried to portray. In the first story “Dog Days” where the regular man with a bad heart needs to get surgery, and then through bad help with a doctor becomes a disliked half man half dog. Through the whole story the half man half dog, also known as Dog-Boy, was teased and picked on because he was different. Then he met Rondy who then gave him a chance, and actually talked to him like a normal human. Burns could have written this to show and motivate people that even though Dog Boy was not the most hansom and liked man, she still gave him a shot and treated him like people should treat others even if they are different. In “Burn Again” there was a long story of Bliss Blister and his Dad being a controlling father who took over Bliss’s whole life basically. Bliss then killed his father, and after that it seemed like his whole life was going down hill. I think that Burns was showing the lifestyle of how even though people are mean to you that you shouldn’t do the same back to them. Also Burns had many God references and how God was portrayed in his eyes, which was a powerful one-eyed spirit who controlled others. This possibly could show that Burns did not either believe in God how Catholics do, or that he doesn’t believe that he exists at all. Then in the last story “A Marriage made in Hell” Burns writes this story about how a husband actually turns out to be a woman in disguise, and try to fool his wife just in the honor of her once dead husband. Then we come to see that the whole story, that was narrated by the wife, was in the end still with this woman/man so we don’t really know if the whole story was true or made up. I think that Burns was trying to explore gender differences with transgender people because of the woman dressed up as the husband. He shows all of the work of the double life, and how hard it is to do both. All together each story has a different importance. I personally think that Charles Burns just wanted to explore on what things he could touch on within his comic novel: transgender, God, and people who are not normal.

5. I personally think that the biggest strengths of this graphic novel is that it is extremely unrealistic and abstract. I have never read a book that has ever crossed the lines of God like that, or of transgender people. Even though it may not be appropriate to all ages, or not everyone may like it, but it has the strength of being just so different. The graphic novel had the narrator question themselves many times throughout each story. It almost seemed like us readers were the main character, and we were concerned of what was going on within the story. What drew me in to keep reading was the story line, and where I thought it was going to go and finish. And boy did each story have a twist, or dramatic ending that I was not expecting! My first reaction to the book was a creepy dark comic book, which it was, but the stories were a lot more extract then I thought they would be. The word-building of the book was very heavy and fast pace. It seemed like when a character did or said something it was like the most important thing in that setting. The text in this book was all very pivotal, and helped impact each scene. The artist did a very good job with expressionism, and showing all of the different ways the characters and author expressed themselves. 

6. I did not see many things I could try and tell the author to change with this graphic novel, besides a few little things. I think that maybe make the novel a little less provocative. In the sense of having sexual innuendos, and subliminal messages. This kind of artwork and text in the book can make certain audiences stay away from the book. At that same time, many readers enjoy that kind of sexual drama and humor in their books, but for the most part it seems like at times Burns went a little far. Also it seemed like the timeline of the stories were a little confusing. At certain times when I was reading I couldn’t tell exactly where I was in the story, or what the characters were doing. Maybe instead the author could be more descriptive in how he related the setting and time within each scene of the comic strip. This graphic novel has changed my thought on a few topics like God, and treating others who are different. Burns took a different side to how our human race usually looks at those topics, so it made me think how I look at who God really is. Also it made me think about the end of the world, like they had in “Burn Again” with the Temple. The author seems to have a bias on his thoughts on God, and how God really is just an all mighty powerful being who will and can control anyone anytime he wants to.

7. This graphic novel, like I have said before, is pretty vulgar and touches on some pretty sensitive topics. I would probably not recommend this book to anyone who is under the age of rated R movies. I don’t think they would be able to understand what the author is saying, and what a lot of the text means. I would recommend this novel to an audience of a more maturity, and who could understand the innuendos and jokes the author was making. I can imagine someone who likes darker sci-fi type of things to love this book because it revolves around the world of the unknown, and science and human life interactions. I can see conservative and one minded people not enjoying this book because of the topics Burns touches on, and how he narrates things that most people would not agree with.

8. Charles Burns is a very modern horror kind of artist. Many of his books are similar to that topic of erie and creepy artwork and narration. A book that others may like could be “Big Baby” or “El Borbah”, which both have the same style as “Skin Deep”.

9. I would give this novel a 3/5 because it was entertaining, but I did not feel comfortable the entire time reading it.

1. Cody Williams

2. A Contract With God, by Will Eisner is a graphic novel set in the times of the Great Depression (1930’s). The novel is not one single story, but rather it is four stories. All four stories, however, take place and revolve around one building in New York City. This building is 55 Dropsie Avenue. The first story of events in 55 Dropsie is the tale of a Jewish man named Frimme Hersch. Frimme’s story starts off in Russia in 1881 when many Jews were persecuted and killed. The Jewish community loved Frimme and believed God had a special plan for him so the set him to America were he would be safe. It took him two days of traveling to reach the port where he would sail to America. On the first night he camped out Frimme thought about God’s plan and if he did right by God he would live a good life. Frimme thought that a contract would be a suitable way to reassure that God would favor him as long as he lived along the contract guidelines. So there on a tiny rock in the woods Frimme wrote a contract with God that he promised to fulfill. Once Frimme arrived in the Bronx he continued to do good deeds and live a life God wanted him too, but in one night Frimme’s life changed. While Frimme sat alone one night in his apartment at 55 Dropsie Avenue he heard crying from outside his door. Frimme opened his door to find a baby girl crying.  Frimme took her in as his own naming her Rachele. He loved and cared for her as she grew up. The one day in the peak of her childhood, Rachele fell ill and passed away. Frimme sat in his apartment at 55 Dropsie while thunder plagued the air and rain flooded the streets. He began cursing God for taking his beloved Rachele from him yelling how they had a contract and this was a clear violation. Frimme then and there decided to throw out his contract and live a life of greediness. He spent the synagogue’s money on real estate and made an empire. Frimme lived like this for many years, but soon it began to catch up with him and he decided that it was maybe time for a new contract with God. He consulted three elder of the synagogue and made a deal that if they wrote him a new contract he would give them 55 Dropsie avenue. The deal was made and Frimme loved the new contract studying it over and over, but just as he memorized it and plans for his future Frimme’s life meets a tragedy that you will have to find out on your own and read to book! The three stories following Fimme’s all have some sort of tragedy in them, jobs lost, lives ruined. The building of 55 Dropsie Avenue seems to be a cursed one to all those who live there. 

3. The artwork of this graphic novel seems to be in the medium of pen and ink. The graphics are in black and white and heavy shadows are cast on pretty much everything getting the stories a very gloom feel. The images are pretty realistic, but simplified giving it a sketchy feel. The proportion of the drawings is well done and realistic in that sense. The artist also uses the space very well. The pages are full of text and pictures and are used in a creative way, meaning not many gutters and rather overlapping each other in sequence. 

4. I believe that the Eisner’s goal in this novel was to portray emotion in his readers. The four stories he writes all are sad, filled with death, adultery, rape, and an overall poor quality of life. Eisner seems to want his readers to see how bad things are for his characters so maybe the readers will be more thankful for their lives and the things they have. People should give this novel the time of day because the stories, however short, are interesting. It shows how bad decisions make things worse and how not to judge a person right away. Overall I believe this novel sends great moral or ethical messages to anyone who reads it. 

5. The biggest strengths of this novel are pretty much what I said in the last question. The moral messages that you can find in the stories make this novel worth reading.The images also are a huge strength. The dark and gloomy illustrations play right in line with the stories. Since the images are pretty realistic you can see the emotion on each characters face and know exactly how they are feeling in that moment. That right there I think is probably the biggest strength of the novel because without detailed images that the reader can relate too, or recognize the graphic novel just wouldn’t work at all. 

6. The weakness of this novel to me is the the storytelling. The stories were god and interesting, but I feel the were a little short. They didn’t give time for the characters to really develop and that I feel kind of took away from the novel. The novel could have added some reds to show gruesomeness and violence taking place, but all in all the the monochromatic medium worked just fine. The novel also changed my opinion about gloomy, tragic books. I don’t usually get into them, but this novel kept my attention the whole way.

7. I would recommend this novel to college aged people and older. Some situations are pretty adult and maybe a younger more immature reader wouldn’t get the relevance of them to the overall theme of the novel. Both genders could enjoy this read. It’s interesting and maybe even they could relate to somethings that happen in the novel. I would hesitate handing this book to family members because it’s a little raunchy and I don’t know how they would react to such things, but my friends I would for sure recommend this too. If someone were to object to this book I would understand. Some scenes are intense and maybe that is the kind of thing they just are not comfortable reading. The book did shock me when I came across all the sex, alcohol, and other things of that nature. This was because I figured a novel with a title like this one would be more religious oriented and not have so much tragedy, but I was not offended or uncomfortable. The book you could say made me thankful for my life. I felt bad for the characters who were poor, lonely, depressed, and some even beaten. 

8. Will Eisner is a renowned author of graphic novels. He has won the industry’s top awards for the comic strip, The Spirit. Eisner has won so many award that the industry named the awards “The Eisners”. A contract with God was a great read and it is a three part series. I will be reading the next two and I suggest that others read the series as well. 

9. I give this book a 4/5. I really liked it, but just believe it could be stronger by lengthening it a bit. 

1. Chelsea Peele

2. In Chicken With Plums, Marjane Satrapi tells the true, though slightly embellished, story of her great-uncle Nasser Ali Khan. He is a talented musician, and after his wife break his beloved instrument, he takes to his bed and decides to die.  Throughout the rest of the story, readers are shown flashbacks from Nasser Ali’s life that tell why he believes he has nothing left to live for, and flashforwards to the lives of his children and even the author that show the aftermath of his death. From his broken relationship with his brother, to losing the love of his life because of his love of music, to a humorous encounter with the angel of death, Satrapi eloquently shows the high and low points of the man’s life in the eight days it takes him to die.

3. The artwork in Chicken with Plums is very simple. There is no color, only black and white to draw the most contrast. The story itself is very complicated, so the artwork itself functions as merely the conveyor-the drawings are stylized to take only the most important elements of what they are depicting so that they can enforce the plotline without overshadowing it. They show people as being almost completely black against a white background whenever the liner plot is happening, but during anything that isn’t chronological or physical-flashbacks, dreams, or fantasies-the people are white on a black backdrop. This creates a sense that one’s eyes are closed and you are seeing the images on the backdrop of closed eyelids. The simplicity also allows for noticeable changes. The faces of the people are flat white with a mouth, nose, and eyes. When someone is frowning or has bags under their eyes, it is very noticeable because of the relative simplicity of a face without expression in this style. Every mark made has a purpose.

4. I think that Marjane Satrapi’s purpose in writing this story is, like in her more famous novel Persepolis, to give us insight into her life and perhaps even to explore her own family identity. The story is based in truth, and it is in a way deeply connected with her own life. The main character was her great uncle. I imagine that his sudden death was something that the family talked about around her that she chose to explore. In doing so, this book addresses a vital piece of the author’s identity through her own family’s past. I believe that writing this novel and injecting humor and elements of past and future into it are the author’s way of owning this piece of her past.

5. Mainly I read novels, but having read a lot of novels I can say that this book very effectively did what many novels have fallen short of doing with only words-it seamlessly blended memories from the past with events in the present and flashes of the future. This anachronism made the story very lyrical but less like written words and more like watching a film. The simplicity of the lines that create the images make the emotional feelings of the scenes very easy to see and less easy to overlook. This book is not something I would normally have read, but I enjoyed reading it regardless of its somewhat dark content.

6. A weakness that I noticed with Chicken With Plums was that it was somewhat choppy. Where a novel has words to transition from one scene into the next, a graphic novel uses frames. This graphic novel’s transition panels were not very fluid. The days the man spent in his bed were separated by an image of how he looked each day and a title designating the day, which is a wonderful tool to show his change in appearance but not so much for making the reader not feel like the record is skipping and the story is pushing them from one important scene to the next without sufficient connective tissue.

7. This is definitely a book for older high school kids, college students, and adults. The themes it contains are too mature for younger people—they are either inappropriate or wouldn’t make sense to them. However, to an older person, this eloquent walk through a dying man’s life is a fulfilling and bittersweet read. Anyone who is an avid reader or a world traveler will love this book for its clear images of foreign life and complex characters and storyline.

8. Marjane Satrapi is most famously the author of Persepolis, a graphic memoir in two parts about her childhood and coming-of-age in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution.  She has also written another graphic novel called Embroideries, about Islamic women.

9. 3/5 stars

1) Marco Ramon 

2) This is a story focusing around a young girl named Midori that ranges to various locations in Japan. After her father left and her mother died Midori is tricked into being a virtual slave for a traveling freak show that is run by Mr. Arashi. Everyday she is demoralized, humiliated, or otherwise abused by the freaks in the show. You got the Giant: who isn’t all that tall, Snake Woman: who lets snakes go ANYWHERE on her body, the Human Worm: a normal quadriplegic, Hohichi the Human Pretzel: distorted to the point of being immobile, Kanabun the Boy-Girl: a sadistic thing, and the Mummy Man: who rapes Midori from time to time. They seems to be pretty indifferent to all the obscene imagery they are exposed to. In fact what would make Midori fall to her knees and vomit doesn’t even make the freaks bat an eye, and let me tell you, some of it is messed up. Tongue slowly moving across the surface of an eye, blood and vomit in all detail, and wet, distorted, tangled flesh is an everyday occurrence. Everything illustrated is meant to make the audience not only sympathize with poor Midori, but to also make us uncomfortable to the very core. Midori tries to stay positive when she can. Once she even found some stray puppies and tried to raise them. This doesn’t last long as Kanabun the Boy-Girl finds them and kills each one with her bare hands in graphic detail. Not to be mean, I assure you, but to make a wonderful puppy stew which everyone enjoys. After all, Mr. Arashi doesn’t pay them much and meat is expensive. Now Mr. Arashi isn’t greedy either, no one really goes to the shows anymore and it becomes apparent that he is losing money fast. Then a new freak is added to the Show and soon becomes the star. What’s so special about him, you might ask? He seems to defy logic and manages to squeeze his pint-sized body into a bottle with an opening no bigger then his fist. His name is Masamitsu the Bottled Wonder, and people in every city pay top dollar to see him in action. This new addition causes conflict between the freaks and adds new and suppressing elements to the story.

3) The black and white pen drawn figures Maruo depicts are done not to far from the way other japanese manga writers form their comic books. Abstracted scenery and characters are present, that is until he wants to make something stand out. For him that means blood, gore, vomit, and other forms of unpleasant things are depicted more realistically and in greater detail. This gives them mass and texture, making them seem more real and hard to ignore. Smooth, thin lines are used in the drawing of every more abstract image, with semi-high contrast between the different shades of white and black.

4) This book was made to bring all this unpleasantness to light. Not that we aren’t aware that suffering takes place, but now we are forced to confront it. Each time something horrible happens to a character he wants you right in the action. He wants you to see puppies being ripped apart, smell fresh vomit hit the floor, and feel the udder loss of control of being sexually assaulted. Perhaps the reader may interoperate this as a cry for helping young people like Midori from becoming slaves. Others may see this as to make you bare witness to unpleasantness so one may just accept it as part of life. I personally feel that it is just for the sake of evoking unpleasant feelings, and nothing more. This is not to be taken as a criticism, there are a lot of gore lovers who find this appealing. I myself tended to just stop looking at this as being unpleasant and learned to savor the grotesque, and for that this book is worth picking up.

5) The books biggest strengths must be the contemporary muzan-e subject matter of the comic. The blood and gore of it does not only separates it from other comics, but puts itself in a very rare and select category that is under appreciated. What starts out as a truly unpleasant experience quickly turns the most mild of men into crazed gore lovers. The book is well written with lots of twists and turns towards the end that you don’t know how to classify the book. 

6) The only criticism I would give is that the ending was not only confusing, but was also unresolved. I can’t go into it too much due to not giving away the ending, but it does end up being a downer, in my opinion. Maybe he made a sequel to this book that would help me to understand what the ending meant, but I hate movies that make you watch the sequel to find pieces of information in the first, and that goes the same for comics. I don’t know, maybe I just got the wrong interperation from the ending, but it just didn’t answer all of my question, it just created more.

7) To all who cringe at blood, cower at carnage, curl up at hostility, or are just unprepared for the massive amount of the disturbing and grotesque, never read this book! With anyone who is willing to put their comfort aside for a little while, you just might find this to be a horribly delightful reading experience.

8) Mr. Maruo has quite a lot of comics under his name, however only a few are published in the United States. The only one I can really tell you to check out if you liked this one is Ultra-Gash Inferno.

9) This book is for a select few, but due to its exclusivity on subject matter I would have to give this comic a perfect 5/5 rating.

1. Zachary Paul Ernat

2. Pinocchio is a superb book with a great story-line and fantastic artwork. The book and title match up, with a little made-up boy trying to find a place in the world where he fits in, just as the older version. If you had to place it a certain time period, it would be modern day. As far as genre goes, it is perhaps a fantasy noir or a dark adaptation of a old story. This album is broken up in, chronological, stories. The stories don’t end within a few pages, but continue for a page or two, stop, then restart at a later point in the album. Eventually, they all conclude within the last 30 pages in the book. You notice all these little things happening throughout the book, that seem totally unrelated, then suddenly connect. The story is told in a third-person point of view, with large amounts of flexibility as to who is being followed and where. Having this flexibility, the narrator bounces around from character to character (be it the Dogzilla or Pinocchio). The main story-line is for Pinocchio, but there are numerous characters that are followed that are essential to the story. The plot begins with a barrel of toxic waste falling overboard and mutating a fish that is later dubbed “Dogzilla” (like a dogfish and godzilla combined). The next couple pages set up a manic detective that is trying to find a grip on his life. It then goes into the story of Pinocchio, starting in Geppetto, the “certified inventors” house. His wife Svetlana is sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette. We then see Geppetto building Pinocchio, who is no longer made of wood, but of metal. And not only is he made of metal, but he is a war machine. The chubby-little-greedy Geppetto with a huge nose is creating a war machine to sell to the army. This war machine is Pinocchio. He has a round bald head with a long nose. Bolts circle his head where the skull cap would be. The body is plain and metal, with hands that look like they have white gloves on. It looks more like a robot than a child. When he goes off to sell his plans, his wife takes advantage of Pinocchio; first in the slavery sense and then in the sexual sense. In parallel frames, we see Geppetto attempting to sell his little metal man, as Pinocchio accidentally kills the ignorant and gross-looking Svetlana. We then meet Jiminy the Cockroach. He has a bulbous head and two scraggly antenna. After being fired from his job behind Geppetto’s stove and being dumped by his girlfriend, he finds Pinocchio and moves into his head (like a loft-type apartment). Geppetto returns home to see his wife burnt to a crisp… so to get rid of the evidence he cuts her up and buries her in the woods. We see a shadowy figure taking a heart out of someone as Pinocchio walks down the street. We then meet the dynamic duo of Wonder and the Baron. Wonder is a short, blind man with a huge grin on his face and a tiny yellow baseball hat that doesn’t fit. Baron is a tall man with a big old nose and a top hat. Both of their clothes look old and tattered, so both must be homeless. They sell Pinocchio to Vulcan INC. for some money and buy drugs to get high. Pinocchio works in this sweatshop for a while, and accidentally burns it down after making toys that are killing kids (due to the nature of his war-machine body). The antics of Jiminy continue in the head of Pinocchio. An “eye” escapes the blown-up factory. It is an eye attached to a coil of metal… So it then picks up with Geppetto finding a barrel and paddling across the sea to find his prized-possession. Pinocchio wanders on sadly and winds up with Seven Dwarves in red sweaters. They steal the money Pinocchio had with him and then dump him onto a train, using the money to buy the heart the shady guy cut out earlier to place in Snow White’s chest. Snow White wakes up and escapes from the nutty dwarves and falls into a river off a cliff. The train takes Pinocchio to a blimp that will later take him to the Enchanted Isle. Jiminy’s struggles with being a novel writer continue. In parallel time, Geppetto winds up in some really cold area with some penguins, and all of the sudden the mutated giant Dogzilla shows up and swallow Geppetto the penguins! Pinocchio winds up at the Enchanted Isle, and its not all its cracked up to be; a crazy clown is collecting kids to turn into an army using his powerful singing techniques (or perhaps some form of spell?). Pinocchio can’t be turned into a rabid wolf-child, so they string him up to a candy-cane, and he can’t get down! Eventually, Svetlana Geppetto’s body is discovered and the police are called up, introducing Inspector Bob Javer. He looks like he was cut out of stone with an intense face and large brow. You can tell he takes his job seriously. It cuts to a page with frames of a family of farmers, with a dog, man, and wife. They had children, but an accident took place and they lost it. This is no doubt foreshadowing for the end of the album… We pick up with our friend Wonder, who is blind and in the sewers. The snake-eye squirms up to him and inserts itself into Wonder; and so, he as a single green eye! The dwarves’ are then arrested after kidnapping someone and trying to rape him while wearing leather and chains. Seasons pass, Pinocchio is still laced up to a candy-cane, and the Dogzilla takes more and more victims. Eventually, the Enchanted Isle withers away, and Pinocchio is finally dropped from the candy-cane. He hitches a ride on a boat with the crazy clown, eventually falling to the bottom of the ocean and being eaten by the monstrous Dogzilla. And there is Geppetto, all scraggly and older in the belly of the beast. He utilizes Pinocchio’s abilities and gets them out of the beast and onto land, ditching the nice penguin with a red bow-tie that managed to survive with him the whole time in Dogzilla (I really feel bad for that penguin more than anyone in this story). Geppetto takes Pinocchio to an army base where he malfunctions and almost kills everyone. He is saved by Jiminy who pees on the fire in his brain, even though Jiminy started it himself while trying to fix the cable connection in his loft. The story from there really starts to climax and it gets so very interesting with a few twists. We find out the fate of Wonder, the snake-eye, the penguin, the seven dwarves, Geppetto, Snow White, the Inspector, Jiminy the Cockroach, and the mysterious family within the last 30 pages. BUT… Maybe you should read it yourself, I don’t want to give too much away.

3. This book is a hardcover book with 188 pages as well as illustrations within the cover and on the pages before and after the book. The artwork within the story is done with bold and thicker pen + ink along with watercolors. In addition, paint is used for splash panels on larger, one-frame pages. It kind of looks retro and older, like an attempt at looking like an older comic. All of the story is created like this with the exception of the pages that include the Adventures of Jiminy the Cockroach. With these, they are monochromatic, black and white. These frames look like they have been done with either charcoal or bold pencil strokes because it looks like it was drawn then a finger was ran across it to blend/smear it (if you’ve ever seen Titanic, I’m talking about how Jack draws Rose naked, he goes over the lines to blend them). The Jiminy the Cockroach part looks like a newspaper strip. The book’s genre or style falls under abstract. Nearly all of the characters noses are distorted in a huge way, being either extremely bulbous or elongated. The entire comic seems almost… perfect and deliberate. Every panel is perfect and nothing goes to waste. The entire story works with time; moving from aspect-to-aspect. However, within each small story, they all work with action-to-action and subject-to-subject. As far as words go, in the Jiminy the Cockroach parts, the words are mostly in bubbles (working around the words), or are free within the frame. In the Inspector parts, the background is usually black and the words are just floating at the top of the frame. As far as the other parts go, the frames are predominantly picture-specific, although some do work within the picture, such as a newspaper or sign or sound effect. The entire album borders on abstract and cartoony, yet not to the point where it looks like Stan Lee is the artist.

4. This adaptation of Pinocchio is a very interesting one. Why Winshluss decided to create this in a manner that it twists up old children’s stories is a mystery. I see Winshluss and Cizo as both experiencers and activists. They try to invoke some kind of emotion with this album, be it in themselves or in the readers. Perhaps the view of Pinocchio to them wasn’t as it was for the normal audience as children, and they are trying to invoke the emotions they felt into us using this adaptation. As far as being an activist, they are looking for a response in us. It is unclear in the intent of this piece and is very absurd, which makes this piece very intriguing. The artists are trying to invoke emotions in us and to push the envelope with distorting a old children’s story that everyone knows. In my opinion, Winshluss is distorting what we all are comfortable with to really make us question; What is right or regular? Just because we are so used to something, do we need to be afraid if it changes?

5. The artwork in Pinocchio is absolutely stunning and is easily the greatest strength of this album. The scenarist, Cizo, does a FANTASTIC job with the colors and scenery within the frames. I really like the artwork, I cannot stress it enough. For Winshluss and Cizo to be able to work together to make such a stunning story is unbelievable. I’m this close to sounding so repetitive. Because most frames are picture-specific, besides some of the stories within the album and the Jiminy the Cockroach ones, the reader has to perform much closure. The artists’ ability to create the frames and to dial into our minds as we read it is crazy; it is as though he knows we will perform closure and the art has been made to do it a certain way. The fact that I had to perform closure within the album made me want to keep reading continually until I had gone over the book numerous times. As my brain is being toyed with, I have to continually go over frames and pages again and again. To get more in depth, the detail of the outdoor scenery is superb. The characters are in the middle between being abstract and portrait; there is enough detail to easily know who is who and what is happening. I would like to point out that the blood is plenty and interestingly done, with glob-like splats wherever it is in the frame. The contrast and intensity of the colors in frames are great, with both warms and cools coming together to make really great both full-page frames and 12-frame pages. It is interesting as the structure of the story flows along as well. It starts off setting up the Dogzilla and introducing Inspector Bob Javer for the end of the book. The story runs with smaller stories to help tie everything together and make every character accounted for, which I really like that they do.

6. The first, not problem but more like pet peeve, that is in this book is the way that the stories of Jiminy the Cockroach flow with the stories outside of his adventures. Most of the frames in the Jiminy the Cockroach frames/short stories are Duo-Specific or Word-Specific, while nearly every other frame in the album contains only pictures (with some having sound effects or being merely Picture-specific). This creates a rift in how the story flows, The picture-only and picture-specific frames make you perform a ton of closure; yet when you get to the Jiminy the Cockroach stories… the flow slows down dramatically with a lot of words and reading. For me, it made the flow of the story really odd and it was hard to concentrate at some points. The other problem I see in this book is the fact that it is X-Rated to the point where no one under 18 can indulge. The problem here is that the only audience that really knows about Pinocchio is about the age of 18 (the younger generations have a new source of Disney movies and forms of entertainment). This becomes a problem because since this adaptation of Pinocchio is skewed and different from the original, then it won’t have the same joyous impact on the people who read it (i.e. the people who already know of the original). To improve it in this fashion, I would not have skewed Snow White and her posse of dwarves to the point where rape and domination are involved. AND, I would have somehow kept the ideal that Pinocchio’s nose grows. That IS Pinocchio.

7. Pinocchio contained a fair amount of X-Rated material; there was enough in the book to make me believe that this book this be recommended to no one under the age of 18. There are numerous sexual frames in the story, references to marijuana, many murders with gruesome amounts of blood, constant cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, rape, minor abuse, and many swear words; hence it is not appropriate for anyone under 18. Growing up in the 90s, I have seen Pinocchio numerous times. Overall, I would recommend this book to both men and women who grew up in a time period with knowledge to the original Pinocchio book or movie. Therefore, anyone between the ages of 18 and 30, I would recommend this adaptation to. As far as a certain subtype of humans to recommend it to, I would tell anyone who is interested in graphic art regarding new and interesting adaptations of Disney movies and cartoons to check out. We all know that Disney movies sneak in a fair amount of “adult” content into the films, so anyone who recognizes them would like this book (such as a movie buff). I could imagine all my male friends liking this book a lot. On the other side of the coin, I don’t think my mother would really appreciate what Winshluss did with the adaptation. The most shocking part was the beginning to me, with the first “sex” scene with Svetlana Geppetto and Pinocchio. From that moment on, I knew the book was a much different interpretation than I was used to. Another surprising part was the introduction of Snow White and seven dwarves. The fact that Snow White was captive to the dominatrix dwarves was ver interesting and took me off guard. As far as being uncomfortable goes, I will never be able to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarves again without seeing Dopey in an all-black leather get-up trying to have sex with Snow White… I am scarred for life! This has led me to the realization that if I ever try to read a book that attempts to twist my childhood memories of any Disney story, because they were so fond, I will instantly put it down at the first sign of a sex, drugs, or rock n’ roll adaptation. This goes for any book or movie, be it a graphic novel, short story, short film, or award-winning movie.

8. Winshluss is best known for an animated film called Persepolis, in 2007. It won an Academy Award for being the Best Animated Feature, as well as a Cannes Film Festival award. If it won an academy award, it must be a good one. He has also done numerous comics with his scenarist Cizo for numerous French comic publishers. 

9. I will give Pinocchio, by Winshluss and Cizo, a 4/5 stars. It was a very fun read and I enjoyed it a lot. The only problem with it was how it really twisted my perception of the original as well as Snow White. The artwork was fantastic and the storyline was superb. It was however, tough to follow along at times; I really had to rely on the art to help me through it (which is no doubt the point, yet with my style of reading and learning, I need to have words to understand and analyze). Yet, I digress. Pinocchio shall get 4 stars from me, and I would recommend this book highly.

 1. Patsie Meyers

2. The Magic Whistle Blows is a comic book that tells stories about everyday life. It takes things that have happened to these people throughout the day and makes them seem funny. There are a lot of different characters in this book. The main characters are Simmons, Lester McCray, Dirty Danny, Hawkeye, and Quincy. Simmons is just a guy that everyone seems to hate. Wherever he goes people are constantly trying to avoid him or making up excuses to get away from him. Lester McCray is very annoying guys who once he gets something in his head he likes to let everyone and I mean EVERYONE know, even if no one cares. For example, he likes to be naked so he tells everyone, also, he tells everyone he does not masturbate even though he probably does. He is a weird guy. Dirty Danny is exactly what his name says, Dirty Danny. He is a perverted guy that likes to make everything into something sexual or inappropriate, even at work. He gets fired from a few jobs for writing and saying inappropriate things. For example, he wrote fuck you grandma, get a boner nephew, and bite my ass on cakes. Even though he gets fired for doing that he continues to do it at his next job. The last two character, Huckeye and Quincy, well I don’t really know what they do. They are just in random comics that don’t really have a point.

3. The artist of this book uses pen to illustrate the comics. The whole comic book is done in all black and white. I would consider this book to be abstract because the people in this book do not resemble real life people instead they resemble more of a cartoon type of person. The artist does a very good job at showing details and the drawings are very good. I usually do not like looking at black and white stuff but I didn’t mind looking at these.

4. I think the author’s reason for writing this book is to entertain his readers. He probably also does it for his own entertainment. He does a good job at writing about things that could actually happen daily and the way people actually think and act. Although, I think he does sometimes exaggerate how people would respond to certain things, but I think that is just his way to make this stuff funny. I also think the point of him writing these books is to show people that you can just write things that you experience day to day and turn it into something interesting. Obviously not all these stories are from his experiences but I feel like some of them are.

5. The author’s strengths in this book I think are the drawings. He is a very good artist and I really enjoyed looking at the artwork. In comics a lot of the time you have to look at the artwork to be able to completely understand the writing and he does good when it comes to that. Another strength is that it makes sense. Sometimes when reading comics it is hard to understand what exactly the author is saying because they never really describe things in detail like books do. This author does a good job at not leaving you wondering what that meant.

6. There were a few that were pretty funny but there were a lot more that were not funny. Also, the title does not really go with the book. There is a series of these books though so maybe I would just have to read the other ones to actually understand the title. I thought this book was going to be completely different than it was because the title was misleading. No, I didn’t think it was actually going to be about a magic whistle but I didn’t think it was going to be like it was. I think the author could have done a way better job at making this book interesting and fun to read.

7. I would recommend this book to older adults, like maybe mid 20’s. I would definitely say that children should not read this because it has a few naked pictures in it, it has many curse words, and also is very inappropriate at times. I also wouldn’t recommend it to people around my age because if I wasn’t into it chances are other people my age wouldn’t be into it. Maybe since it has a lot to do with work problems and things like that it may be more appealing to people in their mid 20’s and up because they have actually been in awkward work situations like the book talks about.

8. Sam Henderson has written many other comic books. I think there are 11 other Magic Whistle book series, there may be more but that’s all I could find. He also wrote Humor Can Be Funny! He has won a lot of awards for his comic books and is known as an excellent comic writer.

9. I would rate this book a 2/5. 

1. Georgia Edwards

2. This book is composed of three different stories throughout. The main character of the book is an American born Chinese teenage boy called Jin Wang, who struggles to become comfortable with his culture. Jin is the only Chinese American at his school, and the only boy he becomes friends with is a new Asian boy from Taiwan named Wei-Chen. Within Jin’s story, there is a girl mentioned quite a bit named Amelia Harris. She is an appealing American girl, and Jin develops a crush for her. In another story, the Monkey King is introduced. The Monkey King was born of stone and mastered his skills perfectly. He has ruled for thousands of years, but has gotten in trouble for leaving the monkeys behind. He must then rely on a stranger to get him out of trouble. The third story is about a popular, white teenage boy named Danny. Danny has the perfect life until his cousin, Chin-Kee, from China comes to stay with his family. Danny is furious, but that does not stop his cousin from attending the same school and ruining his reputation. The author does a good job at keeping the three stories separate, while transitioning throughout the story. Closer to the end, the three stories intertwine with each other becoming one.

3. The artwork featured in the book was very realistic; even though there were some fictional characters. The artwork complimented the book in such a way that made it easier to comprehend, almost as if I could picture exactly what is happening. The pictures are created and then printed onto the book. The pictures are expressionistic, grabbing the reader’s attention even more. The pictures are deliberately made the way they are, each one has its own focus about whatever point in the book the reader is. The lines are made bold around the characters making it all look separate. The artwork is on a blank white page most of the time, which makes the pictures and the colors stand out even more.

4. The author’s purpose of writing this book overall was based on Jin’s personal story. The author, Yang, wanted reader’s to get an emotional response outside of the book. That response was intended to be that no matter what culture or background a person is, it’s okay. Embrace the history of your family, and hold close life. The author is focusing on teenage boys and girls who struggle with self confidence about these issues. It’s okay to be who you are.  I think it has a very important life motto, outside of the book itself.

5. The biggest strengths of this graphic novel was the way that the author kept the three stories separate so well throughout the book and never focused too much on just one story,  and then combined them as if they had been one the whole time. I have not read any other comic books, so I cannot personally compare it to another. This book has put a really good story and made a comic out of it. A lot of comic stories are silly and pointless; however, this one was like reading a narrative. Initially, I did not want to read the comic book, but after I got a few pages in, I found that I enjoyed it.

6. A weakness that this book has is cover. The cover is very plain and yellow, with half on Jin’s face on it. Sorry to say, but a lot of people judge a book by its cover, myself included. If I would have created it, I would have made the cover look just as good as the pictures on the inside. Reading this book has changed my opinion on comic books because now I know that not all are the same.

7. I would recommend this book to all teenagers, no matter what race. I think it’s good to know early that looking different is okay, and there’s more to a person then just what they look like or where they come from. I would also recommend it to another art student. I can imagine a little Chinese boy loving this book the most though. 

8. Other books that the author has written are ‘Prime Baby,’ ‘The Eternal Smile,’ ‘Animal Crackers,’ and ‘Level Up.’

9. Out of 5, I give this book a 4. 

Quinn Hamilton

2. Howl is one the greatest graphic poems of all time. This novel is based on the “beat” era in the 1950’s. It is a very explicit book pertaining to the outcasts of America and a new wave of artist, musicians, hippies, and bums living the rugged, disconnected life on the street. There is three parts to this Novel, first part is called “who”, second part is “Moloch”, and the third is called “Rockland”. This book is all about the authors experiences going through these times. Part one who is when the author is living on the streets, feigning for the next fix and doing anything for this fix. Example from the novel “Who let themselves get fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy,….” (Yeah, this Novel is intense). Part 2 “Moloch” which is referring to the society people live in. The novel explains how capitalism sets up failure. Also how it is almighty and can bring people to ecstasy or drop them down to depression and suicide. Part 3 “Rockland” which is actually a psychotic institution where Ginsberg met the person who the poem is directed towards. In Rockland, “Moloch” goes away and all the sanity is accepted. This part is the point of no return, where you will never be normal again. It is uplifting because in the third part, it talks about them being happy and overcoming “Moloch” in his head.

3. The drawing of the Novel is very detailed and uses many different colors. There are drawings on every page and the artist made it look like every picture is fading out. The drawings are look very realistic almost as if it is 3 dimensional but the idea of what he is drawing is very abstract and different. It is hard to tell what media the artist used, it looks like the drawings are paintings but digitally enhanced. Also the style is very dreamlike and heavy. I feel like the artist made it this way to make the illustrations parallel with the gloomy story. Why I said it looks like a painting because it seems as if it was media was layered on. But overall great job helping me understand the novel and has great detail.

4. This novel is very deep and makes you think outside of the box. Ginsberg has a powerful message behind the novel which is that we think that having a white house and a picket fence is the ideal life. Who came up with that? Society and Capitalism did, and if you don’t have that you’re not worthy or you didn’t live up to your true potential, or you’re not “normal”. Going off that note, it is talking about how capitalism takes away from nature and becoming materialistic. Also how we are being controlled even though you can vote for what you want, what you want does not always go into effect so you have no choice but to play by the rules. This novel was made to evoke and open people’s eyes to the world they are living in and take a second and think is this really how I want to live or Am I just in a system of people ruling me? This novel was first published in the 1950’s and it was something people have never seen before. People didn’t think like this back then because economy was boosting, everything was perfect to most and that is how the government wanted us to think. 

5. The biggest strength of the novel was the edgy, different approach. The original version of this made back in the 1950’s did not have all the drawings that the new version has. This novel is a very difficult, educated novel. When reading this book I had to have Google up at all times because there is so many words I didn’t know. Having that said, the illustrations really helped me understand and visualize the true meaning.

6. This entire book was very symbolic and that is not a bad thing but the author did not guide you or help you understand the symbols throughout the story. So I would have put a couple more direct sentences in the novel to help the reader understand. The other critique I have of this novel was that there is no introduction, really it just goes right into the body of the story. A true introduction with guidance for the rest of the novel would have been very useful.

7. I would recommend this novel to some one that does not have a simple mind. But anyone who can think outside out the box and expand their thinking. The age group would be high school and up if that. I don’t think i would be able grasp this book in most of high school. I would love to see an older person who was about 20 or 30 years old in the 1950’s read this book and get their feedback. This book has really opened my mind to the life we live in and how we just go with the flow. This novel is extremely explicit and some of the material is very shocking and took me by surprise. I highly recommend reading this novel especially if you have read the novel 1984 and enjoyed it.

8. Some other works to check out by Allen Ginsberg are The fall of America and  Reality sandwich.

9. 5/5 Best book I have ever read!!!!

1) Ashley Ek

2) Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu is from a manga series which is a Japanese word for “comics/cartoons”. The book is one long story of the journey of a little fluffball named Pelu but in each chapter, a new character gets introduced into his life, and the previous one is history. Pelu is from the planet of Princess Kotobuki. He is the only male on his planet, besides a big talking Space Hippo which they are surrounded by beautiful naked ladies. He learns about babies after his sister Palu has one, and wants to get married and have one himself, except he is not like any of the women on his planet so must travel to Earth find a woman. On Earth, he is often mistaken as a pet and is “friend-zoned” where no girl will take him seriously about his dream. The chapters go through his adventures trying to find his wife and meeting interesting, but very beautiful attractive women such as Asako who is an aspiring singer, Michiru who is always lying to get the attention of her crush and workaholic mother, Aqua who was a famous twin diver with a brother in law who had robot arms to make perfect sushi, and Danko who is an ugly girl that he is trying to have a baby with also. Each girl has their own complicated messed up story behind them with something always happening to keep you on your feet and guessing what’s going to come next! Nothing goes as Pelu ever plans, but he keeps trying!

3) The book was set up in a very interesting way, reading from the back to front, and from the right side of the page to the left. (I started reading about 10 pages in and was beyond confused before I looked at the disclaimer at the beginning). The drawings were ink and digital/computer tools in an abstract way. She was very detailed when she wanted to be with textures and small minute things, but could be simple at other times. The shapes ranged from basic geometric shapes which would turn into organic turns. Some objects had more mass at the times when they were important and trying to make a statement in that part of the story. Junko is a very expressive artist and it shines through. She isn’t afraid to push borders, as this book is filled with an abundance of breasts, flaming pubes, big dramatic hair, and sexual tendencies. She is in no way refined, but rather on the crude side of art and storytelling. The story line and drawings both match up to a dreamlike mood, where after you read something and look at the picture, sometimes you have to look or read again to make sure it actually is what you thought you just saw. Her Japanese culture definitely shines through with her depictions of style and almost anime-type genre. Only the first 5 pages are in color, which then switches to black and white which I liked because it left my mind open to imagination of picking any colors I wanted to for different things.

4) I feel as though the author is trying in a way to communicate to Americans to give us an insight into the Japanese culture. Every once in a while, there would be little footnotes at the bottom explaining different concepts of their culture to help the reader better understand. Another aspect is that she may be challenging one to think outside their “normal” comic book experience or to push boundaries. When I hear the word ‘comic book’ I think of superhero’s saving the world, not a little fluffball traveling from his planet of naked women to Earth to try and find someone to have a baby with. 

5) The biggest strength of this novel is the ability to get one’s full and undivided attention. I have never been so shocked yet so intrigued when reading a book. As I said before, if the crude and expressive drawings and artwork didn’t get your attention enough, the dialogue and stories would snag you in. I found myself always wanting to know what girl Pelu was going to meet next, or if the current one he was trying to talk to would be the mother of his dream child. I was excited to see what kind of adventure he was going to go on next and what lied ahead. At first I was completely weirded out by the drawings and entire concept and would show my friends the pictures and storyline in disbelief that someone would think of this, let alone write it and get it approved for publishing. I feel as though it’s common, but I just never experienced anything like it. It didn’t take me long though to start to get into it, to where I would find myself getting more and more fascinated with it each page. I didn’t understand and didn’t like at first how it would all of the sudden jump in the next chapter to a new girl and how the past one would be completely forgotten, but toward the end I realized the point of that structure was just to strengthen the fact that he kept trying and failing, trying and failing without finding the one. Also, the back to front and right to left reading was hard to get used to and I would find myself still having to readjust to it every so often. I was also very impressed with how Junko depicted emotions so well, with facial expressions and action words, as well as tiny artwork details. Her attention to small things made me want to look at every single inch of the paper in order to not miss anything.

6) I had said before I liked that fact that it was in black and white so my imagination could fill in the colors, but at the same point I feel as though it would have also been pleasing to have the colors already filled in to get a feel for what Junko was thinking inside her head as she was making up each character, scene, and story as a whole. Even though I knew from the cover and first few pages that Pelu was mint green in color, throughout the story I always would picture him as white against colorful backgrounds. At times I would be confused of the order of the dialogue as it would skip around, so I would try and clear some of that up if I were to write it. This book has definitely changed my opinion about what I used to think was ‘weird Chinese and Japanese’ books. It has opened me up to exploring more of a variety of books instead of always just playing it on the safe side.

7) I would recommend this book to someone who wants a very interesting, intriguing, and mind-changing experience. It definitely is an adult only book as for its graphics and some of the sexual topics it discusses and/or hints at. Older mature teens, college kids, and young adults would enjoy this book as it does push some boundaries, which everyone likes at times whether wanting to admit to it or not. I don’t think I would necessarily tell any of my family members to read this book (maybe some cousins), but I would for sure recommend it to my friends and roommate’s. I wouldn’t tell anyone who was uptight or judgmental to look into this like I said before, as it borders the line throughout the book in specific details, but the general story overall also. I am a very open person, so I wasn’t really offended by anything, more just shocked that it was on paper, text, and drawing.

8) Some of Junko Mizuno’s other books I found were: ‘Strange Tales’, ‘Cinderalla’, ‘Princess Mermaid’ and ‘Hansel and Gretel.’

9) This book in my opinion was a 5/5!! I absolutely loved it and was upset when I turned over the last page to the end. There is supposed to be 2 more volumes of this book that I would love to read to find out what happens next but had trouble finding them anywhere online to purchase. 

1) Provide YOUR name.

KIA GROYA

2) Provide a synopsis—a brief summary of what happens in the story.

My book follows the life of Seth, who also is the author, so it is him writing about a part of his life. It is a very interesting read because it doesn’t only tell a story about his life, it gives you an insight into his thoughts and feelings, he shares with you what he thinks not just what others hear him say or see him do. Seth is a broke cartoonist, a huge pessimist, often times depressed, and still lonely and heartbroken over his ex, he questions a lot about the world and the people who occupy it. Seth has a great best friend, Chet, some friendly cats that always seem to have something going wrong, and he finally meets a girl, Ruthie, who is quite fond of him and vice versa. Chet is the laid back best friend who nods and lightly listens to when Seth rants on and on about something, but generally cares about the well being of Seth, he is a good friend and lends Seth money since he knows he needs it, and trust Seth to pay him back, he is most definitely a really great listener. Seth is really into comics, has been all his life, so naturally he knows a lot about the artists. One day he comes across an amazing cartoon, in all his knowledge of cartoons he has never seen one done by this cartoonist. He goes on a somewhat wild goose hunt looking for more information and comics by this author. What he finds exactly? Well I guess you’ll have to read it for yourself!

3) Describe the artwork featured in the book. Use your best art vocabulary!!

This book has all the drawings are in black, white, and a light blue/grey color. The artist mixes up the sizes of each panel as well as very creative with the hand drawn gutter lines, they are not perfectly straight which gives the book a less up-tight feel, it’s a relaxing, fun read since it isn’t too precise and perfect about each line. Its amazing the images, emotions, and motions he can create with merely three colors, often times I found myself forgetting that he limited himself to such a small variety since he was able to create such amazing images with only 3 colors. He made the book mostly abstract, like the main characters’ faces for example had emphasis on typical features like nose mouth eyes, but even Seth the main character didn’t have anything more than glasses for eyes, you cannot even see his eyeballs in most cases. I think the images were creating with ink or paint, I think he definitely chose these three colors to do the book as a form of expressionism to create the sort of cool, relaxing tone of the book, to set the mood and relax you with cool colors, to express his mood. He creates good textures in things like brick walls or Chet’s sweaters, or the branches of a close up tree you can see the grooves in, but he is also selective about this because trees at a distance are very abstract with not much detail.

4) Tell what you think the author’s purpose or intention was in writing this book.

I think the purpose of the author writing this book was to explain himself, but it is almost like a self realization, the farther the book gets along the more interesting his thoughts get, he starts to realize why he thinks the way he does, why things happen. He could have also written this to express his passion for comics, the effort he went through to follow his passion, to chase his dream, he most definitely wrote this also to get the word out about Kalo, the artist whose cartoon captivated him, he even included some of his art work as well as a real life photo of him in the back of the book.

5) Tell what you think are the biggest strengths of this graphic novel.

Well for starters this book definitely stands out in my experiences with books since I have never read a graphic novel before, but it stands out for many other reasons too. The author of this comic has written about himself and his love for comics, it is a very mind bending thing when you think about it. I think his style definitely matches with the story, which is easy to express and use a style that matches a story that is about your own life. Over-all I just really thought it was an interesting storyline, I have read other books that give you the thoughts and feelings of the main characters but I liked the images that matched up with the times he was pondering. For example when he was discussion why he always things of TinTin when he thinks of trains, he was staring out the window of a train, to me it was interesting to actually SEE what people do when they ponder life, if they even do at all. The greatest strength about the book in general is how everything just matched and flowed so well, between the story, the style of writing, the style, color, and form of the images, and the mood set by the book.

6) Identify one or two weaknesses or ‘problems’ the book has AND give a solution for what you would do differently if you were creating it yourself.

One very minor flaw in the book is that since it only did use three colors I found my mood not very changed, I feel like he could’ve incorporated better fitting mood colors into better mood scenes, like when he was leaving Ruth at the train station it was a sort of sad moment so the colors were well suited, but happy moments should have had brighter colors so that the reader could feel more connected. Again this isn’t a huge flaw but maybe just something to be considered. To be honest I don’t think there is really any other weakness that really stood out to me, I really enjoyed the book and it really changed my perspective on what a graphic novel was, but if I had to chose a second weakness I would say just that it isn’t given enough credit almost. When I think of graphic novel I think a super hero comic, as most people who are unaware of what they really are think. I feel like if the back page gave a little sneak preview or described a little what the book was about it would catch a reader’s interest better and be more likely to get picked up off the shelf and read.

7) To whom would you recommend this book?

I would recommend this to another college student, probably another freshmen, and to be honest most likely a girl. In college I feel like is when people really start to question what they believe about the world and really start to find and follow their passions, and in this book I feel like that is what Seth is doing. I would suggest a freshman because they are just in their beginning year of college and just getting a fresh start. I would also probably suggest it to a girl because I honestly don’t know that many males who like reading for pleasure, me being a girl I enjoy reading, I’m not saying all boys dislike or don’t read, but I feel like more girls than guys do on their own. I also think I would suggest it to this age group because college is about experiencing new things and if many other freshman are like how I am, then most of them were never really exposed to a graphic novel and I feel like this would give them a great opportunity to break the stereotype of graphic novels only being about super hero comic books and only nerds reading them.

8) What other books has the author written that people may want to check out? (Search around a bit and find out some info).

Well Seth is actually the name of Gregory Gallant turns out, but Gregory Gallant is well known for his series Palookaville. But has also published Vernacular Drawings, Wimbledon Green, and Who Could That Be At This Hour?.

9) Provide a ‘number out of 5 stars’ rating for your chosen book.

I would rate this book a 3½ stars! Graphic novels really aren’t my thing but the story line was interesting and it opened my eyes to the amazing things someone can do with just three colors and some paper!

1) Miranda Castillo

2) The story within my graphic novel takes place at night. The plot itself is a bit confusing and mysterious, but this is the summary i got from it. In the beginning, you see a woman sitting in her a car parked on the railroad tracks and she is crying. It goes on to talk about someone or something name Atoma. The woman is upset because she believes Atoma never loved her. She claims Atoma would fly by her window every night, but never waved. That she would see Atoma on the street, but Atoma never saw her. The woman says she loves Atoma, but she now knows Atoma never loved her and she is deeply upset. Finally, when the train comes to the railroad track she is parked on, something unepected happens that makes her believe Atoma does love her after all. This is the main story behind my graphic novel. However at the end there is a little twist.

3) Each image within this story show the amount of talent the artist really obtains. I would describe the images in this story as very representational because in each image it is clear as to what is is supposed to represent in the real world. When examining the artist’s drawings I believe he must have used pen or a similiar tool to draw each image. I would describe the images in the story as very sketchy. Light plays a very strong role in each image because it helps determine between day and night time in many images. I can tell the artist was very deliberate when drawing each image to the story because they are all very detailed and percise. The texture of the images is created through a lot of different types of shading and lines. The images in the story could also be described as very naturalistic.

 4) I believe the author of “Love and Rockets” had many different purposes when writing this graphic novel. First, “Love and Rockets” really makes you think. It seems to be very simple, but the main character describes an “Atoma” character that I can’t exactly picture. In the beginning you believe they are a person, but as the story goes on it seems that they could in fact be more of an inanimate object. Another intention I believe the author had was to be able to express emotion through his art. The images shown in “Love and Rockets” shows a woman with a new, deep emotion on her face in each image. The author’s talent in portraying emotion through an image and through a story is very strong. I believe the author wanted to tell this story to make the reader see true emotion and to make the reader think. While it is a smaller story, it does show importance because he is able to capture very much emotion within this short story.

5) There are a few strengths of “Love and Rockets” than I can easily think of. First off, the artistic talent the author portrays within this story. Through each image, he shows very stong emotion. In addition to the artistic talent, I believe it was a story that makes someone think. In my opinion, a story isn’t good unless it leaves the reader thinking about it a little bit after. The ending brought many possibilities for the story to me and I really liked that I was almost confused at the end. The clarity of what each image was supposed to be within this story was also very clear and the images were very easy to understand. The transitions between each image were very strong because they made it very easily to see the story and they didn’t leave much imagery up to the imagination. As stated before, I believe the artist does a great job of drawing emotion within the character. But in addition to that, he also does a fantastic job setting the scene for each part of the story. 

6) In my opinion, one weakness I could find within “Love and Rockets” is the fact that the entire story is in black and white. Like many of the author’s other stories, every image is black and white which makes it harder for me to become more interested in the story. To some, this may be a strength they believe the asrtist has. But personally I think the story would have been more interesting if the images were more lively with color.

Another weakness of “Love and Rockets” that I was able to find was the confusion it brought to me. While I did enjoy that it left me thinking at the end, the idea that I’m not exactly clear as to who Atoma is, makes the story almost a little too out there for me. The idea that Atoma could be anyone or anything makes me dislike the plot to the story a little more.

 7) I would recommend this book to people around my age group. I believe that people between the ages of 17-30 may be able to read this story and be interested and challenged. I do believe that this story brings more of a woman’s interest to the table because the main focus of this story is a love for someone or something. I probably wouldn’t recommend this book to someone who doesn’t like stories to leave them confused or wondering. I also don’t believe that I would recommend this story to many males because I don’t see them having a stong interest in this story.

The only a couple parts of this story that surprised me in a way. When the main character desribes Atoma as someone or something that flew by her window it really confused me as to who or what Atoma may be. I was also surprised when the main character’s car was pulled away from the railroad tracks at then end and was confused as to why that would be a symbol of Atoma’s possible love for the main character.

8) This author has quiet the collection of other graphic novels that they have written. Some of them include, “Sopa de Gran Pena”, “Music for Monsters III”, “Twitch City”, and “Out o’ Space”.

9) I would rate this story at as a 3/5.