The Comic Book

    The Comic Book, in my opinion, a much more familiar and appealing format to experience sequential narratives as opposed to last week's comic strip.  I've been reading comic books in one way or another since a very young age, typically the usual comic book super heroes and promotional books for things like dental care and other pursuits such as environmental awareness through Captain Planet.  But, the comic book is a much more broad genre of sequential narrative and I've come to find that the most popular ones in the beginning weren't your typical super heroes.  The work of comic creators like Carl Barks was more typical at the time as comics were perceived as a medium for children.
    I read quite a few Carl Barks stories with Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck not forgetting about Huey, Dewey, and Louie of course.  These books are certainly being written for a younger audience with their light humor, charming characters, and fun situations, but Barks is able to bring a certain sophistication that many comic book illustrators, at the time, weren't able to achieve while still keeping the youthful audience.  I enjoyed Barks' comics to a degree and respect them for what they are, but they weren't really to my taste.  After Barks,  I stumbled on Herge's The Adventures of Tintin, and I'm exceptionally glad that I did.
    In specific I read, The Adventures of Tintin: "Explorers on the Moon", a relatively long “comic book”, closer to what I would commonly associate with a Graphic Novel in length.  Herge has a similar practical and simple drawing style to Barks, but obviously for a slightly more serious and mature audience.  This is shown in "Explorers on the Moon", as you progress through the story, there is an obvious fear of death, both through the loss of oxygen and through murder, as well as a blatant use of alcohol, though it's used in a humorous way.  Herge gives each character very specific strengths and flaws that blend effortlessly into their role in the adventure.  It's interesting how accurate some of the ideas are in "Explorers on the Moon", written before man actually went to the moon, such as the oxygen supply problem and the lack of gravity.  Obviously there are inconsistencies, like the Martian caves, but these are added to supply a sense of danger for our heroes in a time where science fiction and aliens were first getting popular.  I was extremely surprised to find that Tintin was originally a French comic book that had been translated into English, because it read so naturally and actually reminded me of other English comic books of that era.
    I also watched Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy.  I had never watched this movie, but I've always been some what of a fan of Smith's other movies that I didn't hesitate to watch it.  It was a well done movie, but I expected it to and wished it had more to do with the actual creation of comic books rather than the “romantic” story that it turned out to be.  It certainly wasn't my favorite movie (I hate Ben Affleck too, by the way) but, it was a good twist on the typical love story.
    After having the good experiences with comic books this week, I'm looking forward to the graphic novel next week!