1. On page 10 and 11 there is an establishing series of frames. What did you think about this style of story telling. Did you hear the music, smell the air? For a story so heavy in dark undertones throughout do scenes like this feel more vibrant?
2. What are your thoughts on the usage of real pictures subtly within King? For example on page 27, how do they break up the story for you? How do they give pause for thought?
3. Find an image that you found much more impaction due to color, explain why.
4. What are your thoughts on the reoccurring characters narrating the story? How does the frame being drawn the same way effect the way the character is interpreted?
5. What are your thoughts on the different styles of speech bubbles used in this comic? One of interest being the ones broken up or cut off by the page itself.
I really liked the frames on pages 10 - 11. The way Anderson displayed the lyrics of the song playing was very clever and creative, and it also made it seem more realistic, as if I could almost hear the music playing. I think this is a great example of comics using synaesthetics (art that unites the senses / appeals to different senses). I think this is an accurate portrayal of what it feels like to have music playing, because it sort of fills the room and becomes part of the scene.
ReplyDeleteI did not like the use of photographs in this context. I think that by putting these photos side by side with the story Anderson is writing makes it seem like both are equally factual. I don’t think this is necessarily true, but I would really like to hear other opinions on whether or not people liked the use of photographs. For me, it was actually a little jarring and disruptive as I read to suddenly see a completely different picture. While I appreciate many of the risks that Anderson took in making this comic, this particular choice didn’t really appeal to me.
I thought the picture on pages 74 - 75 was extremely powerful, and this was accomplished in a very minimal way. There is only a little bit of text: “Daddy…is this real? I can’t feel anything. I can’t feel a thing” The simple, clipped sentences against this stylized drawing of what looks like yellow flames manage to convey a lot of emotion. For me, it was definitely a scary scene and very surreal as well.
I think the variety of speech bubbles used adds interest to King. The use of round bubbles for speech and a square shape for other words is pretty typical (I believe) but I did notice that Anderson often switches up some of the details (e.g. omitting the black line around the words or having the words broken up or running off the page). I think in most instances these changes had to do with fitting the picture they were part of, and conveying a particular mood for different parts of the comic.
The sense that I got from reading King so far is that the style choices Anderson makes are uniquely his own. He doesn’t seem to be afraid to step outside the box and do something that hasn’t been done before, which I really admire. I think he was going out on a limb with King, not only in making a comic about such an iconic and loved person in history, but also in the style choices he used. There were times when I was confused or I thought the drawings were a little heavy handed, but overall I like that Anderson took risks.
1.I like how you talked about the music at page 10-11 "filling" the room, i hadn't really thought of it that way and it really is accurate.
Delete2.Certainly an artistic choice, i think the goal was to re-associate the audience with the fact that these are real people, and as a reminder that this is a biography, but the detailed characters are a bit too similar to the photos themselves. I can agree that it doesn't in my opinion mesh as well as something with more symbology.
3.74-75 certainly grabbed my attention too!
Great stuff!
2. Much like in Maus, Anderson makes great usage of photographs in King as a way to ground his audience in the historicity of the narrative, reminding us that these events and stories happened to real people, people who may even still be alive. Anderson displays a certain restraint in using these photographs, where rather than dominating the panels as the main source of action or insight into the story, they tend to inhabit the background of scenes. With vibrant, ostentatious colors splashed onto them, they are easy enough to spot, yet it is the break from Anderson’s visual style that makes them so memorable. With the dizzying, dream-like progression of scenes we encounter in most of King, the inclusion of photographs acts as a valuable tether to reality.
ReplyDelete3. With the almost painfully sharp chiaroscuro lighting used in King, Anderson’s primarily black and white color scheme takes center stage. However, going further with his experimentation, Anderson erratically throws in brief moments of vibrant color into his panels, further adding to his wide range of visual styles. More than anything, Anderson’s use of color seems to bring the emotion of its scene further to the surface, emphasizing the mood and tone of that exact moment within the narrative. One particular instance that comes to mind is during MLK’s stabbing, a jarring bit of action within the work. As mentioned earlier, Anderson also pairs his usage of still photographs of color as well, better connecting us with the feelings of turmoil and anger that were present at that time.
4. One could write a whole paper on how much King and Maus have in common, being biographical comics with postmodernist leanings. However, one characteristic that sets King apart from Spiegelman’s opus is his lack of personal involvement with the story. In Maus, we see Art directly interacting with his father, directly showing an eye-witness account of the story, including us in his research experience. King presents itself in a more cinematic manner, where brief comments from unnamed characters give us insights into not only Martin Luther King, but into themselves. With no names and no easy way to determine their identities (although I can’t help but wonder, for a number of reasons, if the man with glasses is meant to be Malcolm X), it can be easy to feel confused and alienated by this means of providing exposition. But as the story continues, the personalities, views, and biases of each allow for a greater understanding of the story, as well as its setting. With the consistency of these witness accounts, they act as a source of structure in the story, where the often-times byzantine story structure of King is built around them.
2. On opening this book the first thing I thought of was Maus. Personally I think the contrast or lack there of between some of the earlier photographs doesn't play to the strengths of the story. That being said I think you're right on the money about the goal of pulling the audience, sometimes unexpectedly, back to the story. His art is certainly excellent at that.
Delete4. I would love to see an excerpt on what you touched base on here. The characters and their broken down intended representation. I think its interesting to point out that they do not move, despite the detailed art style, Anderson maintains symbology by keeping the characters inert. We are not supposed to have a personal connection to the character, they are an ideal of the era. They are vocal, candid, and full of information filling out what would otherwise be difficult to narrate into the story.
I find the sheer variety of his style very engaging, and a nice change of pace from the more muted artistic renderings of some of the previous works we’ve covered. I think that looking at King is not only a good way of improving our background of comic books, but also acclimating us as readers to more experimental and challenging works. I certainly appreciate your own view on the photographs as well.
DeleteI also agree with you on how Anderson employs the static representation of the witnesses. While we may steadily gain a greater appreciation of their views and beliefs, the views and beliefs themselves remain as fixed as their graphic representation.
His work certainly has been experimental and refreshing in that sense there's no doubt in my mind about that. It certainly adds another dimension to the work.
DeleteVery well put. It really is a well thought out technique by Anderson. Good call out that they are developing in a sense, sharing more each time.
King
ReplyDeleteI really loved the way this story was presented. It’s very much like a scrapbook the way it’s strewn together. I love the major use of close-ups to represent emotion. It really adds to who MLK was. I can really feel what it was like in this time period. There are a lot of scene setters that pull the reader into the issues; MLK preparing for mass, his dream state, the detail of faces and clothing. I feel like scenes like the one on pages 10 and 11 explore a state of mind for MLK. Each scene like this shows his overall growth through this long period of time.
I loved the use of real pictures. I hardly noticed it sometimes because it blends so well with the drawings. They really add depth to the piece allowing the reader to fully have a glimpse into the real world at times. Whenever I see these phases into real photos, I always focus on the people’s faces. They tell something that art sometimes cannot.
I thought that it’s always hard to write a story like this from the voice of an actual person. Using people who have experienced him in real life allow for a deeper understanding. I feel like it doesn’t undermine who he was. The way the frame is drawn impacts the reader by forces us to stay inside the box. We cant pull ourselves away from this story as much as we could in other graphic novels. It gives a much for straightforward focus.
The speech bubbles are my favorite part. I loved the scenes on the bus when Rosa Parks wouldn’t get up from her seat. We see bubbles being cut off. This just opens up the setting. These panels are like photos. There is a much larger story then the one person pictured.
I was worried that I was the only one who wasn't sure of when he noticed it was a photograph and not the art work. Anderson really blended them together in the beginning of King, i had to go back and make sure I didn't miss more of the subtle photos throughout.
DeleteI noticed the same thing with the speech bubbles, and the cut off ones I read as though they were interrupted by the others, a very cool technique by Anderson!
I think I mentioned this in the last post as well, but this text is a bit of a visual labyrinth. Just like the panel you posted, we get this phone conversation where we can only hear one end, and we have these waves lengths of text that are kind of hard to read, making us wonder what was behind the choice to include the words.
ReplyDeleteSo we have not only the realistic character design which alienates us from identification with the characters-- they may as well be shots in a newspaper photo-- but also the actually text and visual narrative working against us. It's dark and hard to see and read and identify who is who-- we are almost spying on all the events, save for the thematic montages for feeling and empathy.
Again, I feel like this seeks to convey themes of ambiguity, conflict, tension, and also high stakes with the visual language of the comic. It's a strange choice if we think about reader distance, but perhaps a question worth asking is what King is really trying to get at narratively.
I like that you call out the way the words almost animate that scene, I chose it for that reason. I hadn't thought of the perspective of us almost spying on the scene but it certainly adds a dimension of romantic and personal experience to the piece.
DeleteI didn’t pay too much attention to the music or the smell in the air, I thought it made it hard to read the panels and texts. It made the scene less coherent because the eye followed the music rather than the text.
ReplyDeleteI think the real pictures make the story more real. We’ve all seen some of those photographs either in other classes, or from doing our own research in previous courses. The images brought a real life feeling to the story that was being shown, rather than a depiction of what is known to have happened. There’s been many stories and illustrations of King’s speeches.
The image of Emmett Till’s body after he was murdered in the south. I can see why the photograph was chosen instead a drawn representation of it, its more graphic nature shows how awful the events that lead to the Civil Rights Movement became.
All of these people experienced the Civil Rights Movement in different ways. They are the people that were affected by the actions of King and the other leaders of the movement. Showing their perspectives gives more information about it.
The photo of Emmett Till is a great example of how Anderson pays respect to the very real events of this comic. I liked that you chose that as a strong example of Anderson's use of photos. The contrast can bring the reader back to the weight of the story and it certainly grounds you to the history of these events.
DeleteMy first thoughts as I was reading the first 3rd of the book is how confused I was one what I was actually reading. I couldn't tell who was talking or what the plot was. Because of the style of the characters, it's hard to distinguish characters. Even king himself isn't drawn exactly the same each time. With all this mentioned, I was quite lost in the beginning. But then it started to make sense. Once I was witnessing first hand accounts from famous moments in history I started to apprishiate all the different points of view. The variation of frame sizes and technical hand on the drawings made it an interesting read. It was the perfect time to use accent colors in this kind of comic. Color, by nature, draws attention. So the few times it was used grabs your attention on the page. It acted like a warning that something important is happening. But overall the characters and use of positive and negative space in each frame gives us stark contrast with the plot and the visuals. There is a mix of cross hatching, blocking and even real photos that mix together to give us a mixed medium of visuals. Those elements of real photos reminds us of how real this movement was for America. And those real pictures are the small testaments that help reinforce the comments all these characters have to say.
ReplyDeleteYes I completely agree that discerning who people were at the start was difficult. I was hardly sure if I was looking at MLK until someone made it very clear. I found it exceptionally difficult with the narrating characters that make a visit throughout, trying to associate them with someone I had perhaps seen in another telling of MLK.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there were at times stronger situations to use color in a more positive way. Perhaps the wedding, draw some positive light to the story along with the dark. His use of color has to this point in the book been to highlight abominations. I don't want to change the message of the story in any sense but I felt there could be at the least a moment strong uplifting emotion for MLK by Anderson.
1. Comics have a hard time trying to express non visual senses through vision and usually end up causing an odd break between visual information and sensory information that can't be as smoothly processed simultaneously as time based media like film. In this case I could only go back and forth between atmospheric additions like music and scenic notes and the auditory dialogue between characters as if they were separate things entirely.
ReplyDelete2. I do really like the break into reality as it makes the story become more powerful as you realize how real it all is, but it does need to be regulated so it doesn't overwhelm the book and become a series of historical stills talking to each other.
3. The first bit of color that seemed completely necessary and effective to me was the back to back splash pages of MLK suffering after being stabbed. The use of the color hightened the importance of the page, aside from the fact that this was the first time that word and image were actually integrated nicely in a way that they informed the other, and not in a sense that they simply existed for the other.
4. It feels like a documentary to me by the way the comic is laid out when the interviews come and go, so the reoccurring panel arrangements makes sense to me.
5. Mostly this is a common style of comics used to simulate background noise in crowd scenes which King utilizes quite a bit to be realistic. I'm actually a letterist myself so I didn't find it surprising at all but I can see why that would be notable to those unfamiliar with comics. If anyone's interested in some really cool letterists look up David Mack's work. Truly amazing!
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ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI liked the style of story telling, seeing the lyrics, “smelling the air,” it really puts you in the mindset that you’re in the story itself. I don’t feel the scenes are as vibrant as the ones we’ve seen in the books we’ve already read, but scenes like this one give it a livelier setting in the sense more realistic and easy to picture in your mind.
I thought the usage of real pictures gave the story a special effect. It fit in wonderfully and gives you a second to pause and reprocess what you just saw, I had to go back and really look at it, where in a regular comic, you just skim through the graphics quickly.
I like that the characters reoccur and narrate the story, it makes it easy to follow along with and enables us to have more information and more time to get to know the narrator(s), and be able to see how they really feel and think. I think with the frame set, it fits very well and makes it easier for the reader to follow along with whose speaking.
I really don’t like to be mislead or taken off guard, but having the speech bubbles broken up or cut off the edge of the page just made me want to turn the page even quicker to see what was going to happen next. It was a very nice effect.