A Comic that Looks Normal But Isn't

                   The Frank Book by Jim Woodring is one the most unique graphic novels in the market. It has absolutely no dialogue and sparse narrative text. What I find even more interesting, however, is that some scenes are impossible to describe verbally. If you do try to describe what is happening in the panels using words, whatever you say will come out as utter gibberish. As a result, The Frank Book highlights the one characteristic of  comics that separates them from all other forms of expression--a visual form of communication that uses universally understandable symbols and that does not need any previous schooling or knowledge to be understood. The only thing one needs to understand The Frank Book or any other comic, for that matter, is the ability to follow a narrative created by a series of images.

                  The protagonist of the Frank Book is Frank, a beaver-like hamster-like creature that has purple fur and that walks on two legs. Woodring's readers have determined that Frank is about 11 years old and that he is innocent but not noble. His best friend is Pupshaw. She has a canine-like loyalty towards Frank that causes her to follow him and to protect him from trouble. She is shaped like a triangular polygon, has eyes, lips, paws and a raccoon-like tail. Other characters are Pushpaw, the male counterpart to Pupshaw, Whim and Manhog. Pushpaw is also shaped like a polygon of some sort and has eyes, lips, paws and a stubby tail. Although most of the characters in the Frank Book are morally ambiguous, Whim is a truly evil character. He is a stick figure with horns, a moon for a face and often tries to get Frank into trouble. Woodring describes Manhog as a "lamentable father-figure". Although Manhog is often cruel and cowardly, the reader is at times tempted to feel sympathetic towards him because he endures cruelty from the other characters.

Frank

Pushpaw and Pupshaw looking at a bizarre creature holding flags.

Whim tortures Manhog.

            One of my favorite examples from the Frank Book is "Frank and the Truth About Plenitude". In this short novella, Frank interacts with these jellyfish-like creatures that float in the air (see picture below so you can see what I'm talking about). What I find really fascinating is that there is no way one can fully describe these creatures using words because they do not resemble any creature in nature or in our mythology. Yet, we are able to understand how Frank interacts with these creatures just by following the sequence of images.   Frank grabs them, opens a hole in one of them, places his feet into the hole and rides on the creature until it flies him to a building on top of a hill. We are able to learn a little bit about the nature of these creatures even though we have no idea what they are.

Frank watching "jellyfish-like" creatures

The Drops of God

Is it possible to make an entire comic just about wine?

I just finished reading the first volume of The Drops of God series, written by Tadashi Agi and drawn by Shu Okimoto. The story centers on Shizuku Kanzaki, the son of renowned wine critic Yutaka Kanzaki. Shizuku has had a strained relationship with his father and has not seen him for a number of years. He even started working in a beer company to spite his father. However, he is forced to visit his old home after he receives a call from his father's lawyer, telling him that his father has passed away. There, Shizuku finds out that he will not be able to inherit his father's fortune or his legendary wine collection if he does not beat Issei Tomine (a young wine critic--aka The Prince of Wine) in a wine tasting contest where each must identify twelve heavenly wines known as the Twelve Apostles and one wine that stands above them all, The Drops of God.


This poses quite a challenge to Shizuku because although he is the son of a famous wine critic, he has never tasted a drop of wine in his life. However, with the help of Miyabi Shinohara, he discovers that he has unusually strong senses of taste and smell.This is most likely due to the fact that his father forced him to chew on different kinds of wood, soil and fruits as a child and made him compare their tastes and aromas.

 Agi and Okimoto use some very interesting techniques to keep the reader interested. Although the manga is about wine, the story is constructed like a shonen martial arts comic.

First, the hero, Shizuku, is faced with a challenge that he has slim chances of winning. The challenge  provides him with the opportunity to reach closure with his troubled relationship with his father. It also sets him on the path to finding his true destiny--becoming a legendary wine critic.

Not only is the element of a challenge present, but Shizuku encounters a mentor in the form of an elderly man who resides in a homeless shelter and who keeps a box of legendary wines buried in the ground. This man also knew his father. Shizuku also encounters various characters that present him with challenges that will prepare him for his battle with Issei, his number one enemy.

Doesn't this narrative sound familiar? Replace wine with the "sword" and wine critic with "warrior" and you've got a classic battle narrative.

 Shizuku's mentor makes him compare two glasses of wine.

In some cases even the manner in which the panels are divided resemble a shonen martial arts manga. For example, when Shizuku first encounters Issei in his father's home and is asked to identify a wine in order to keep his father's home for the duration of the contest (he loses this battle--he doesn't drink the wine), the panels close-up on his face. This emphasizes the intensity of his glare at Issei. It reminded me of an underdog fighter staring at his formidable opponent before they begin to battle.

Although the employment of this style of narrative creates a lot of drama, it leaves me wondering how the series would have turned out if the authors had taken a more subdued approach to telling the story.The summary on the back described the manga as "a page-turner that's not about superheroes but people with jobs to keep". Although not incorrect, I feel like this description is a bit misleading. The narrative style employed by the author is very reminiscent of styles used to tell stories about superheroes, martial artists and fighters, etc. As a result, it takes away from the "real" feeling this story could have had.
 

Fashion Magazine Cover

This is a cover I did for my school's fashion magazine. To view this and more of my artwork, check out my account at sunnymothman200.deviantart.com. It was based off of a photo shoot that Kirsten Dunst did with Miu Miu.

Some of my work!

This is a work I did this summer. I'm still learning my way around digital art. 

Happy Mania

I recently read the first volume of Moyoco Anno's series Happy Mania. The series revolves around 24 year old Shigeta and her quest to find the perfect man.

I found the first volume very entertaining and I can't wait to start reading the second one. It's basically a chick flick in manga form. The characters are two dimensional and at times stereotypical , but are likable and relatable. I was really intrigued by the manner in which Anno develops her characters and presents them to the reader. The reader does not understand the characters through their actions but the manner in which they are described by Shigeta. For example, Takahashi, Shigeta's coworker has a very big crush on her. However, Shigeta thinks he is a total dork. Because the reader shares the same perspective as Shigeta, he or she has no choice but to interpret Takahashi as a "dork". Meanwhile, Takahashi's character does not do any actions that would cause the reader to label him as a "dork" and he does not do any actions that would cause the reader not to label him as a "dork".
                                                      Shigeta's character functions in a very similar manner. The reader receives only a very superficial impression of her. He or she sees Shigeta's physical actions, things she tells to other characters and thoughts she tells herself. But, the reader never catches a glimpse of her inner life or even of her true character.
                                                     Shigeta seems hollow, devoid of any inner workings, of any individuality and shaped only by the actions that are visible to others. She develops an infatuation with every single eligible bachelor she meets and her entire being becomes consumed with trying to impress that particular man. Even though the reader has been following her for the entire first volume, he or she knows nearly nothing about her. The reader knows that Shigeta is single, twenty four years old, and works in a book shop. However, no defining aspects of her character are ever revealed. The reader doesn't know what kind of music she likes, what kind of food she likes, what she looks for in a friend or what she is even looking for in a romance (the only criteria she ever mentions is that she wants someone who will not cheat on her). The reader gets the impression that she is very fashionable and stylish but has no idea what her personal style is.

Although having a hollow and a two dimensional protagonist may be viewed as a disadvantage in many comics or serial narratives, in this case it works to Anno's advantage. Because Shigeta is so hollow and so unspecific, Anno's followers (mostly single women in Japan) are able to project their personalities onto her and their experiences onto Shigeta's relationships.

Kabuki-Circle of Blood

Kabuki-Circle of Blood by David Mack is one of the most innovative and experimental graphic novels I have read to date. It takes place in Japan in the future. Mack uses his extensive knowledge of Japanese culture and history to create  an intricate world of organized crime, politics and business. The story follows Kabuki, an operative of the Noh, a government agency that maintains the balance between the aforementioned elements of society. Kabuki came into the service of the Noh after the murder of her mother. She seeks to avenge the death of her mother and to come to terms with her past, family and history even though it may contradict her duties to the Noh.



What causes Kabuki to stand out in particular are Mack's stylistic decisions. While many authors stick to one style even when working with different genres, Mack changes his style to represent changes in mood and different characters. Kabuki's interactions with the Noh are depicted using many, small rectangular panels. All text and images are confined to the frame of the panel.The panels feature close ups of objects, of eyes and of hands, creating a controlled, tense atmosphere. Isolating the objects gives them a symbolism and highlights their role as motifs throughout the story. Scenes of Kabuki's childhood, on the other hand, activate the entire page. The page may be consumed by one background image layered with one or two panels with moments of text interspersed throughout the page, linking the visual moments together.

The leader of the Noh reveals the truth about Kabuki's mother to her.

Kabuki reflects on the training that she received as a child.  The background features many scattered memories from her childhood such as the crows from the farm where she grew up and the weapons she used in her training. The background is divided into squares, like a student's notebook. 

What I really like about Mack's work is that it utilizes the very features of comics that set them apart from other media. In comics, the roles of text and image often blend together. The image can become just as literal and symbolic as text. Images act like text. They are universal representations of the concept of an object rather than a visual representation of a particular object. The text on the other hand, takes on the qualities of an image. It can be altered to represent the mood and volume of a particular sound.

These qualities are utilized very effectively in Kabuki. The visual elements are not there to support the text, rather both the visual elements and the text work parallel to one another, each adding their own dimension to the narrative. Mack doesn't separate the text from the image. The text becomes a part of the image and a part of the space. It works as a part of the composition and changes with the style of the visual elements.

Hello World!

I'm a college sophomore and am majoring in Media Arts and Sciences. I love to draw and read comics and I hope to work in the comics industry once I've graduated.

Some of my favorite comics authors are Enki Bilal, Hugo Pratt, Milo Manara, Junko Mizuno, Moyoco Anno, Aleksa Gajic, Aleksandar Zograf, Moebius, Juanjo Guarnido and Jim Woodring.