A contract with god.

Reading “A Contract with God” I found that it’s a lot grittier and more of a real-life comic. I Find myself relating to the comic more than I do with others. This feels like a gritty type of comic which can referred to as underground comics. Compared to Will Eisner’s work, Craig Thompson’s work is more on the realism side of the comics. Will Eisner is more of the colorful gritty fantasy comic writer while “A Contract with God” is taken after more from real life events.

Assessment

1) What is your reaction to the text you just read?

Upon first reading "Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?" it set up a tone that was extremely different to the other Superman comics I've read.  It set up a sense of dread and turned out to be a lot more grittier than I anticipated. Recounting the days leading up to Superman's time of "Death" was jarring and sort of hard to wrap my head around at first. But it's because of this massive tone shift that it actually interested me more than I would the other comics. It was a fresh new look at the man of steel. One of which you wouldn't really think about because of the abilities this man offers. You wouldn't really thing about his death much less the days leading up to it. 

2) What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the story with which you were able to correct.

Despite the superhero antics and the fantastic abilities, this is the story of a dying man. We get to see inside Superman's brain for the first time. We get to see what breaks him down and strips him of his emotional, and mental strength. He is breaking down to the stages of grief and he knows that his death is imminent. It's unavoidable and he knows it, so he does everything in his power to contain it and deal with it for as long as possible, up to the very end. In a way this is such a real story and there is actual heart and truth to it. 

3) What changes would you make to adapt this story to another medium?

What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

Changing the medium from the Comic Novel to Film would be, if anything the most popular change of medium I can think about. But pushing it even further, it would be an animated film to help with the appeal of this story I believe. This story I feel needed to push further into the gritty dark place it was trying to draw for us. I would rewrite Superman to be more depressed and would make him fall deeper into his grief. His whole world is about to change and he wont be apart of it so I would think he would be suffering a lot more than he shows in the comics. I want to see the strain on his relationships and I want to see him lose face a bit.

Jack Cole and Plastic Man

Reading Jack Cole and Plastic Man the 1988 issue #4 “Bagatelle, I can’t help but feel like this comic series is more making fun of superhero comics rather than telling a true-blue superhero story. The comic style is actually portrayed very well. Unlike Winsor McCay’s Little nemo where he plays with the size of the panels and incorporates background designs with his main story, Plastic Man has even panels and doesn’t really stray off the abstract panels form of the comic stip. Granted that the Comic book is a little different than a comic strip where it is actually following a story line, stretching out to get more of a story out of it. This also gives room for the Author/Illustrator to create an environment and give personality to his characters. Given that Plastic Man is a low tier superhero, even the style of storytelling is different from other superhero comic books. It’s more comedic and it focuses on more slapstick comedy rather than the grittier comics or even the standard super hero comics. It completely makes fun of itself over and over again to the point where you really can’t take anything seriously in the comic, which does help the comic because that’s the theme its going for. It strives to be so absurd and outlandish that it’s enjoyable to the point where you really don’t have to think about it to read the comic book. The color temperature of the comics vary from panel to panel that helps with the stylistic wacky ness that is Jack Cole and Plastic Man.

Winsor McCay- Little Nemo in Slumber Land

Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo by itself is already an interesting comic series within itself. The concept of Nemo going on adventures in his dreams is a pattern throughout the comic strips. Not to mention that it’s enhanced furthermore by playing with the panels to make the reading more fluid and more exciting. Varying the sized of each panel but somehow keeping the story connected through its illustrated background. And the comics always start and end similarly with each instillation. He starts in bed asleep, then is transported to a world with his narration of what is going on, when the adventure is resolved or some sort of resolution is reached Nemo wakes up in his bed safe. Personally, I feel like Little Nemo is tormented by his dreams as part of a chronic illness that is developed at his young age.  Or in a way he was gifted with an extraordinary hyperactive imagination that bleeds over into his dreams and take him into these weird and random scenarios. The reason I say he is tormented is due to the fact that every night he wakes up with a start that in some point he falls off his bed and lands on the floor in a bundled mess. His mind is taking control of his dreams and takes him to the Alice in Wonderland like places and it is totally out of his control until he falls back to reality, always ending in some sly remark that wraps up the comic pretty well. I can absolutely see why this comic was so popular and pretty enjoyable.