Comic Book Fun Home
"Fun Home" by Alison Bechdel

American writer Alison Bechdel has been known as one of the most famous writers. She is the author of world famous comic Fun Home, written in 2006. Fun Home is often referred to as Family Tragicomic. The presence of phase transitions and queerness in the comic has made it very famous among the comic with readers.

The comic has highlighted childhood and youth of the author in Pennsylvania, USA. The comic highlights the ups and downs in the life of the author surrounding around complexities in the relationship of the author with her father. Some of the main themes that have been mentioned in the book include sexual orientation, the roles of different genders, suicide, dysfunctional family and most importantly the roles that are played by the literature in understanding one's own self, life and family. More than seven years were taken by the…...

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Works Cited

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Mariner books, Edition 001 Series. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007.

Comic books have graduated from pulp entertainment to literature and even historiography. Their role in literacy development as both medium and message has become uncontested, with both traditional superhero comic books unique graphic novels being included in school libraries (Griffith 181). Whereas comic books were once derided when compared with non-illustrated texts, now educators, librarians, and sociologists recognize the value and importance of comic books as a pedagogical tool. Schwarz notes that graphic novels can "introduce students to literature they might never otherwise encounter," stimulate interest in reading in general while also providing substantive content for literary analysis (" Graphic Novels for Multiple Literacies," 282). In " 'He's Gotta Be Strong, and He's Gotta Be Fast, and He's Gotta Be Larger than Life,': Investigating the Engendered Superhero Body," Taylor uses a gender studies perspective to demonstrate the value and importance of superhero comics in understanding processes related to the social…...

From his high school beginnings to his entry into college life, Spider Man remained the superhero most relevant to the world of young people (Wright 234). His comic books, in fact, included some of the first mentions of the demonstrations -- the 1968 demonstrations at Columbia University. Peter Parker is in the middle of a demonstration at Empire State University, where the administration had decided to convert an empty building into a hotel for visiting alumni instead of a low-rent dormitory for minority students. He had to somehow find a middle ground between his concern for the students and the combat lawlessness as Spider Man. "As a law-upholding liberal, he finds himself caught between militant leftists and angry conservatives (234-235). He refused to join the demonstrations and wanted to listen to the university's side of the issue before taking a personal stand one way or another. The comic ended…...

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References Cited:

Costello, Matthew. Secret Identity Crisis: Comic Books and the Unmasking of Cold War America. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2009

Horn, Maurice. The World Encyclopedia of Comics. New York: Chelsea House, 1976.

Reynolds, Richard. Super Heroes. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1992.

Rovin, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Superheroes. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985.

Evolution and Impact of Comic Book Art
From the early days of yellow dog comics featuring "The Yellow Kid" at the fin de siecle, to Will Eisner's innovative use of angles and white space in "The Spirit," to the genius Carl Barks and his Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck and Gyro Gearloose characters, to Frank Frazetta's masterpiece covers of "Creepy" and "Eerie," to more modern colorful depictions of big-breasted women replete in futuristic armor, comic book art has been the source of interest for sociologists and the art community alike. To determine the evolution of comic book art and its impact on society, this paper provides a review of the relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature, followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning these issues in the conclusion.

eview and Discussion

According to Mellegaard (2012), in recent years, "Comics have been used as propaganda to promote messages from political ideology, religion,…...

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References

Baskind, S. (2011,Winter). Masters of the comic book universe revealed!/From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and comic books. Shofar, 29(2), 165-169.

Behlman, L. (2004, Spring). The escapist: Fantasy, folklore, and the pleasures of the comic book in recent Jewish-American Holocaust fiction. Shofar, 22(3), 56.

Miller, A. (2011, January 1). Comic art and commitment: An interview with Morvandiau.

European Comic Art, 4(1), 105-107.

Hajdu, the Ten-Cent Plague
"Since I have written about comic books, I have heard from quite a number of young adults who told me that their childhood emotional masturbation problem was started or aggravated by comic books."[footnoteRef:0] This is an actual quotation from Dr. Fredric Wertham's notorious mid-1950s attack on the comic book industry, Seduction of the Innocent, and it demonstrates the extent to which Wertham ignited a "moral panic" about comic books, and ultimately caused an entire industry to cave to public pressure and change the content and artwork of comics for more than a generation. Does anyone nowadays -- sixty years after Wertham got Congress to take an interest in the censorship of comic books -- still believe that masturbation is a serious moral plague? Does anyone believe that comic books seduce and corrupt the innocent? In an era where any child who can spell can have access to…...

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Bibliography

David Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague. New York: Farrar Straus, 2008.

Louis Menand, "The Horror: Congress Investigates The Comics." The New Yorker, March 31, 2008.

Fredric Wertham, MD. Seduction of the Innocent. Introduction by James E. Rebman.

Laurel, NY: Main Road Books Reprints, 2004.

Brainstorming Ideas
Track B: Comic Book - Mini Comic Book Final Assignment

List out 1 to 3 central "theme" ideas here, again remember this is a draft version so rough ideas are fine.

Considering the overwhelming popularity of AMC's The Walking Dead television series, which uses writer Robert Kirkman's and artist Tony Moore's eponymous comic book as its primary source material, I would like to create a parody version to highlight the racial discrepancies in character development found within both the show and the comics. The basic theme of my comic book would be the racial sanitization of mass media marketed primarily to White audiences, and how artists, writers and other creative contributors can subtly alter their work to cast minority characters as insignificant, underdeveloped, or supplementary to the overall narrative.

While The Walking Dead TV series and comic books have enjoyed immense success, both with the subgenre of comic book readers and…...

As Kent he can never save lives. Superman maintains a total separation between his two selves and this allows Superman to avoid any incongruity between his two identities. Kent remains the newspaper nerd, never hinting at what he is physically capable of. His ability to keep his double hidden from the world becomes evident when he is still in school and manages to resist capitalizing on his strength to become the school's starring quarterback or on his hyper-masculinity to get girlfriends. Kent keeps his double hidden from the world just as Superman keeps his mundane identity secret. Superman never sullies his image by wearing a monkey suit and does not appear weak even in the face of doom or disaster.
The only time Superman compromises the integrity of his double identity is by getting close to Lois Lane. In fact, she begins to suspect that Clark Kent might indeed be…...

Literacy Narrative: Learning to Read with Donald Duck Comic BooksOne of my earliest memories is also one of my most important. One weekend when I was about 4 years old, I recall jerking open the closet door in my bedroom (I was in a hurry to get something inside) and the bottom of the door caught the big toenail on my right foot, pealing it back and ripping it off. As the pain washed over me and I saw the blood flow, I quickly realized this was not going to end well and I started yelling and crying at the top of my lungs. My parents rushed into my room and I managed to blurt out what happened through my sobs, but a trip to the emergency room, a spiffy new bandage and lavish attention from my parents helped reassure me that everything would soon be okay and I…...

This accounts for the durable popularity of the superhero -- Superman can fight Nazis during orld ar II and terrorists today. A comic hero can remain the same, yet always seem relevant to the reader's daily life, just like the daily work of a newspaper political cartoonist. The reason that this type of popularity is spurned is because of the fears of mass production of written material. McCloud agrees with Kunzle that mass production is critical to the genre. McCloud calls comics "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequences, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer" (McCloud 9). This response it elicits from all readers on a visceral level, however, should not be undervalued. Part of the reason for McCloud's trumpeting of the medium, however, may be his broader-reaching focus, while Kunzle tends to focus on more narrow historical or political works designed…...

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Works Cited

Kunzle, David. History of the Comic Strip. Volume 1: The Early Comic Strip. Berkeley:

University of California Press, 1973.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. Princeton, WI: Kitchen Sink Press, 1993.

graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore. It is basically about what inspired Watchmen's themes, story, and characters. As well as what Watchmen has influenced and how it has been influenced by other comics and heroes like Batman and uperman among others. Watchman and its influences
Watchman, authored by Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins was created in 1986 / 1987 in response to contemporary anxieties and as means of critiquing the superhero concept.

Watchman recreates history where superheroes emerged in the 1940s and 1950s who helped the U..A. win the war against Vietnam and later is involved in preventing nuclear war with the U...R. Most former superheroes have retired or are working for the government, so contumely freelance vigilantes are arbitrarily and voluntarily doing the job of protecting the country. The protagonists actively fight and strategically plot to help retired superheroes survive and they work to stave off…...

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Sources

Amaya, Erik. (September 30, 2008) Len Wein: Watching the Watchmen. Comic Book Resources..

Cooke, J.B. (August 2000) Alan Moore discusses the Charlton-Watchmen Connection. Comic Book Artist.

Contino, Jennifer M. (December 28, 2008. ) Who Watches Rich Johnston's Watchmensch. Comicon.com.

Kavanagh, B. (October 17, 2000.) The Alan Moore Interview: Watchmen characters. Blather.net.

The SAS Institute provides "subsidized Montessori child care, free snacks, and unlimited sick time for staff." The result of that impressed Elsen; "An industry-high employee retention rate."
And Elsen couldn't help but be moved by the innovative way in which Southwest Airlines treats employees. The employees at Southwest Airlines are "taught" how the profit-sharing aspect of business works because management stuffs "comic-book style financial statements into Cracker Jack boxes." By seeing the financial realities of day-to-day business dynamics, Southwest Airlines workers know how to "...unleash their creativity to shrink costs and beef up the bottom line," Elsen explains.

She even promotes the book for libraries by suggesting "innovative management is always a winning theme" when it comes to "public and academic library business collections."

Still another review of the book - by Leigh Rivenbark in HR Magazine - explains that what the Freibergs have offered readers is a strategy that puts employees…...

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Works Cited

Elsen, Carol J. (2003). Guts! Companies That Blow the Doors Off Business-as-Usual. Library Journal, 128(20), p. 134.

Freiberg, Kevin, & Freiberg, Jackie. (2004). Guts! Companies That Blow the Doors Off Business-as-Usual. New York: Doubleday.

Hendricks, Mark. (2004). Don't be a hero? Not if this book has anything to say about it.

Entrepreneur, 32(3), p. 29.

Ariel Schrag is a cartoonist, television writer, and novelist. Schrag is perhaps best known through her television work, on the groundbreaking lesbian-themed Showtime series "The L Word" (for which she wrote over two seasons in 2006-7) and the HBO series "How to Make It In America" in 2011. Schrag first came to prominence, however, in the cartooning scene, with her series of autobiographical graphic novels in the late 1990s about being a lesbian in high school in Berkeley, California -- where she indeed grew up, attended high school, and started publishing these cartoon chronicles of her teenage lesbian adventures. Shrag graduated from high school in Berkeley in 1998 and attended Columbia University: she has lived in New York City since that time, although she has now moved from Morningside Heights to a more Bohemian spot in Brooklyn. And it was in Brooklyn that Schrag read from her newly-published novel, Adam…...

Indeed, by immediately demonstrating the intent to create a comic strip-based explanation of the field of comic through corresponding exposition and illustration, the author both contends and shows that comics can have purpose, intelligence and even depth.
This chapter is driven by the topic of providing definition for the term comic. The author succeeds well at breaching this subject, using the simplicity of language and the emotional appeal of his cartoon characters to introduce the uninitiated to the selected subject matter. McCloud describes comics according to the words of "Master comics artist ill Eisner," who "uses the term sequential art when describing comics. Taken individually, the pictures below [as shown in the comic] are merely that -- pictures." (McCloud, 5) the author goes on to contend that when sequenced, even with only two images instead of one, the 'art of comics emerges.' The core impetus for this definitional discussion is…...

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Works Cited

McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding Comics. Tundra Publishing.

Hitchhiker's Guide
ouglas Adam's comic work of science fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, satirizes both society and science. As the story opens, protagonist Arthur ent is railing against the local government for its decision to raze his home, which is in the way of highway construction. ent argues that he was never made aware of the decision, though officials assure him the plans had been on display for a sufficient amount of time, albeit "on the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'"(Adams 2010, p. 9). Similarly, planet Earth is in the way of hyperspace bypass construction project, for which plans were also available for review. Bureaucratic red tape ensured the plans were never seen and ent flees the planet with his alien friend Ford Prefect before it explodes. They hitchhike their way through…...

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Dent and Prefect travel through space by hitchhiking, picked up by spacecraft within the improbable nanosecond during which contact could possibly occur. They travel from planet to planet in a "nothingth of a second," making their travel faster than the speed of light, given the distances over which they traverse. Although this mode of travel has been theoretical supported by the theory of special relativity, it has obviously never been done except within the pages of books such as Adams's. In reality, it seems as improbable as Adams' physics of improbability.

Some of the science in Hitchhiker is accurate, or nearly so. Dent's alien friend is from a small planet "six hundred light-years away in the near vicinity of Betelgeuse" (Adams, p. 22); Betelgeuse is, in fact, 640 light-years from Earth. On page 26, the Vogons admonish Earthlings for failure to involve themselves in the "local" affairs of Alpha Centuri, "only" four light years away; Alpha Centuri is 4.4 light years away (Dickinson 1999, Tyson, Liu and Irion 2000). On page 60, Adams refers to "a nice hot cup of tea" as an example of a strong Brownian Motion producer. Brownian motion refers to the random movement of particles suspended in a fluid. Tea could, in fact, serve as an example.

Some of the science is deliberately ridiculous, such as the computer called the "Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain" (Adams, p. 60). Adams also blends science and satire. On page 33, he lets the alien Vogons debunk the theory of evolution by having them ignore nature and have elective surgery to "rectify the gross anatomical inconveniences" that made

Vast lands were open, and adventure seemed rampant. In fact, so compelling was the idea of the American West that Theodore Roosevelt noted, "More and more as the years go by this Republic will find its guidance in the thought and action of the West, because the conditions of development in the West have steadily tended to accentuate the peculiarly American characteristics of its people" (Roosevelt). The frontier was still available through the Dime Novel; adventures with the American Indian, gold mining, vast herds of buffalo, and even the railroad were popular; must like space adventures today. This was the great unknown, and, through a series of essays, historian Frederick Jackson Turner noted that while most of the West was at least mapped, the future of the United States would be decided in the West -- thus, once the frontier became an historical relic, it was fair game to…...

Greek mythology has been reinterpreted and incorporated into modern storytelling mediums in a variety of ways, including:

1. Literature: Many authors have drawn inspiration from Greek mythology in their works of fiction, reimagining the stories of gods, heroes, and monsters in new and unique ways. For example, Madeline Miller’s novel "Circe" retells the story of the witch from The Odyssey, while Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series features modern-day demigods who must navigate the world of Greek mythology.

2. Film and television: Greek mythology has been a popular source of inspiration for filmmakers and television producers, with numerous movies and TV shows incorporating....