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The New Underground

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If comic is the art of sequence then Trash mountain’s usage of gifs is one with a Harry Potter twist. Every panel in the comic does more than just alluding to movement, in fact it constantly moves one action in a loop. This reminds me of the newspaper photographs from Harry Potter. Hence, instead of interpreting the event that unfolds in each panel, readers are watching it happen. It is as if all the clips from a video are taken apart and rearranged side by side so that everyone can see every clip all at once. It is a comic art form that treats each moving clip as a single panel.  Personally, what makes the comic successful in making fun of “capitalistic crimes”, like support big oil pipelines, is its crudeness and absurdity. The style and color of it look like it was made in ms paint. Everything is filled in with bright neon colors and the characters are made if triangle heads. I do not know the true skill level of the artist but based on what is shown, the style mimics an amateu
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Assessment

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What is the reaction to the text you just read? Reading the Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller makes me think about how Frank Miller captured the essence of “Batman”. In this take on Batman, the hero was not defined by his most glorious feats. In fact, due to his old age. the comic is filled with his pathetic attempts to keep his physicality together. However, to me this makes the essence of Batman stand out even more because there is heavier emphasis on how his psychology. There were many text boxes dedicated to just Batman’s thought process when he is in action, showing how he outsmarts his opponents detail by detail. In other words, Batman’s fights might not be as visually impressive like superman when he stoped a nuclear missile, but his ability to analyze his way around a crisis is much more immersive and human. In mere words, Frank Miller understood that the charm of Batman lies in the details of how he outsmarts criminals, portraying him as an extraordinary-ordinary human.
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Ambition and ability

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eople are so attracted to the story of Batman. In the DC movies, Batman can come off as slightly “cringeworthy” due to the intense gritty portrayal of the film. It could be just Ben Alffleck’s performance but I believe that there is something more. It is like how Captain America’s Bucky can come off as awkwardly serious due to his inability to emote naturally. Usually his seriousness is made fun off and turned into parodies in pop culture, like how the LEGO movie approached his character. But why is the same grittiness better translated in the Dark Knight returns comic? Was it because he has aged? Or is there something more?  As much as it has to do with the writing, I think ability to insert ourselves into Batman’s narration is key to taking him seriously. I think Batman fulfilled our desire to leap from the victim’s place to someone who is strong enough to stand for a city’s justice.Batman’s tragic backstory is quite ordinary, which grounds him on the same level with us. His par
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Alabaster

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At the end of Alabaster’s last chapter, I glimpsed upon Tezuka’s notes about the story itself. In truth he didn’t actually like the story and several characters. He was uncomfortable with how dark the story turned out and how discrimination in the story was handled. If he did not agree to let his entire anthology be printed, Alabaster would only appear once and disappear. Personally, despite Tezuka’s disdain for the tragic ending and characters, I find the tragic ending most beautiful. Tesuka was known to draw manga for younger audience, hence the round, lighthearted characters puts greater emphasis on cruelness of certain characters.  To recap, Alabaster is a story about a young Black athlete call James Block, who went to prison because he got heart broken and went mad. He is overtaken by rage and the desire to take revenge. He met a mad scientist who invented a ray that turns people invisible. With the desire to turn invisible and take revenge on his ex, Block shot himself w
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The contemporary and chaotic outsider

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Another nickname for the contemporary comic era’s is “Dark Age of comic Books”, due to an influx of serious content in the 1980s-1990s - and “Transmetropolian: Back on the street” is a perfect example of that. “Transmetopolian” sets in a futuristic city that is filled with people and chaos. In this ep, it is a story that deals with cult manipulation, racism, body modification, police brutality and journalism; a handful of heavy subjects.  But-Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson did this in one of the most satirically entertaining ways possible, through the perspective of an eccentric reporter: Spider Jerusalem.  Spider plays the role of an anarchic, active outsider. His nonchalant, give no Fs attitude towards the city is satisfying to read because frankly-the city in Transmetropolian is not nice place for action. It’s crowded with people and filled with issues. Despite the diversity, most characters in the comic think mostly for themselves. Although he is still a jerk, dragging
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So, what are you?

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Personally, representing the people out of context from their culture is at times even more troubling. Of course, people do not always have to be heavily involved in their culture all the time, but it does trouble me when people act slightly defensive when something new is introduced. This is inspired by my Halloween experience when I dressed up as a Thai ghost, Mae nak: a ghost who can stretch out her arms very far. I do not mind explain what I am to people, but I do feel a bit of a tinge when they give me a strange look as they say “wait, so what you?” It is a very subtle feeling and people can take it as Me being slightly sensitive, so I just decided to draw it out. This is about a Thai winged women, Kinaree, who have to explain herself to the harpies. By the way, this is what a Kinaree looks like:
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Giant women

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This is a comic about my experience and journey of embracing feminism back in middle school, told through a giant lady and her children. The comic also explores how beauty is destroyed and reconstructed on the women’s body, and how we associate a women’s worth to out perception of beauty.
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