Calin and hobbies, which debuted in 1980s, is sometimes described as one of the best comic strips ever created. One noted comics scholar has described it as “hands-down the most innovative comic strip of the last several decades.” As he went on to say, “The influence of the strip has been remarkable, is it’s affected the work of dozens of young talented artists.” Without quite knowing exactly why, thousands of people were drawn to this strip on a daily basis. The artist who created Calvin and Hobb, Bill Waterson, shunned publicity, retired early, and today lives a very private life far from pressures of drawing a daily comic
Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, documents the author's discovery of her own and her father's homosexuality. The book touches upon many themes, including, but not limited to, the following: sexual orientation, family relationships, and suicide. Unlike most autobiographical works, Bechdel uses the comics graphic medium to tell her story. By close-reading or carefully analyzing pages fourteen through seventeen in Fun Home one can get a better understanding of how a Bechdel employs words and graphic devices to render specific events. One can also see how the specific content of the pages thematically connects to the book as a whole. As we will see, this portion of the book echoes the strained relationship between Bruce Bechdel and his family and his attempts to disguise his homosexuality by creating the image of an ideal family, themes which are prevalent throughout the rest of the nook.
One can see that Romare Bearden's artwork was highly influenced by music. It can be seen in the bright and lively New York club scenes with the dancing couples and band performances. It can also be seen in the collages that depict the gritty music culture outside of the performances in the Storyville. Aside from the imagery, Bearden even used the improvisational method of collage that he associated greatly with jazz. Bearden was certainly a genius at bringing us vibrant, upbeat scenes of life in the jazz and blues culture.
Bechdel, Alison. "from Fun Home" The Little Norton Reader: 50 Essays from the First 50 Years, edited by Melissa A. Goldthwaite, W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 377-399.
Often times in our life, we may come across a lifestyle of a character from a fictional book, movie or tv show, that is different than our owns. It could be a life that we would dream to have or a life that we could not possibly imagine having. Focusing on the childhood aspects of a lifestyle, my young self would often compare my childhood to the protagonist in one my favorite cartoons (“Fairly Odd Parents”) Timmy Turner. Timmy’s childhood was a lifestyle that enthralled me from how similar yet different it was from my own.
Ted was reluctant to have anyone animate his books, so he wanted it done carefully and well. Chuck Jones and Ted Geisel first met doing the Private Snafu cartoons about a goof-up soldier made by Warner Bros. for the army between 1943 and 1945.
In Fun Home: A Family Tragic Comic, Alison Bechdel uses the graphic novel technique of bringing visuals and concise text to her audience to reveal the relationship with her father in a perspective that can not be modified through the readers perspective and interpretation. Bechdel employs this type of writing style to help visualize a better interpretation of how she describes the differences in both her and her fathers’ gender roles throughout the novel. This tactic helps discuss and show how these gender roles were depicted as opposite from one another. But, in this case being opposite from one another made them gain a stronger relationship of understanding and reviling that these differences were actually similarities they also shared.
Who is Tyree Guyton? What's so special about him? What did he do? How did he become so special? These are all questions that someone may ask if they don't know who Tyree Guyton is.
One person in history I would like to have a conversation with is Jamie Lloyd Whitten. This summer I had my mind set on finding more information on my family history. While asking family members and researching on Ancestry, I came across Mr. Whitten. With a simple name search all kinds of articles came up about him. He served in the House for fifty-three years for the state of Mississippi. This is the fifth longest term served in the House in United States history. Whitten has also experienced many different time periods during his life. Between the ages of four and eight he lived through World War One. I would love to ask him questions of what it was like to live through everything. Did his father serve in the army? Did his family have to ration? When he was nineteen
Hannah Creedon was born in Dripsey, Ireland in 1863. She grew up in poverty and decided to follow relatives to Newburyport in 1881, hoping to find work that uneducated 18 year old girl was capable of doing. She moved in with an aunt on Dove street and got her first job as a domestic servant in the High Street home of Judge Thomas C Simpson. After a short time, dissatisfied with the degrading work and poor wages, she left for the shoe shops and for the Brown Square Hotel (Now known as The Garrison Inn.) Where she worked as a cook. Frequently working 2 jobs, saving and saving, and in six years -in 1887- Hannah managed to earn enough money to purchase a double house, at 10 Dove street, where she set up her home and took in tenants as well; in 1889 she purchased a property on Middle Street from George W Austin. A fire at the Dove
Charles Spurgeon was a British Particular Baptist preacher. He is known as the “Prince of Preachers”. He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the Church in agreement with the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith understanding, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day. Charles remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations.
One of the first things that Bergson’s article attributes to a comic is that we only find things related to humans as
But before he gained recognition as a brilliant cartoonist with Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson worked on art and comics of a more political nature. These pieces, which included work for his college newspaper and Target magazine, were markedly different than Calvin and Hobbes. Nevertheless, Watterson's use of discerning wit and sharp satire is just as apparent, and just as funny:
A Prion is a controversial infectious agent made up of misfolded proteins, which, unlike all other known infectious agents, doesn’t contain any nucleic acids (KJ Ryan 624). Prion molecules are the cause of numerous fatal diseases which attack sensitive neural tissue and are, as to date, virtually untreatable mostly due to inadequate awareness and funding for research (Prusiner). A well-funded focus on Prion research could bring us closer to finding cures for the associated diseases as well as unlock doors to more information on neural infections in general.
“The Golden Age of Comics” PBS. PBS, 2011 Web. Retrieved on February 11 2014 from http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-golden-age-of-comics/
Saenger, G. "Male and female relation in the American comic strips" in The funnies: An American idiom M. White & R.H. Abel editors, The Free Press, Glencoe IL, 1963, p. 219-223