From Far Away

Summary
I young japanese girl in high school living an innocent and charming life stumbles upon a bomb planted by a terrorist just as it explodes. This girl with a wild imagination wakes up and finds herself in a far away land. Dazed and confused she is found by a mysterious warrior that reluctantly allows her to come along with him. He speaks a language she doesn't understand causing her to feel farther away from home and their travels to be more awkward. She finds the warrior heroic and amazing, and he finds her to be slightly off kilter and annoying at times. It isn't made clear as to where she ended up, but their is a rather large search for something called the awakening. Many men are searching for it and want to destroy, and Izark, the warrior, believes Noriko, the girl, to be it. On their journey, their destination unkonwn, Noriko matures and begins to pick up on Izark's language, bringing them closer.

History
The story begins and current day Japan, but when Noriko is transported to this unearthly world, it seems as if she travels back in time. The characters travel by foot or horse and buggy. They engage in face to face combat with swords and the environment looks primitive like a jungle. Their clothing consists of long tunics or wrap around dresses. Their shoes are made of leather and wrap up to the knee. Most of the characters including the men have long hair and all the men wear a belt with a scabbard.

Objective
This GN is written in an entertainment style. The pictures are black and white, but there are exciting fight scenes with flashy words to emphasize noises. The gutters are sporadic and range from large to non-existant. Some of the pages consist of only one picture bringing drama to that scene. The artistic style has a mystical feeling. The Clothing and background are well detailed but the faces are often partially covered by hair and in the shadows with only an outline. In places when the artist wanted to show a response the emotions are vivdly displayed so as not to misinterpret the character's reaction or opinion.

Subjective
This book certainly makes for an enjoyable read and was quite the page turner. No doubt I will be reading the next volume. The flashy art really grabbed my attention and the pictures are enticing. The writing to me does lack a little. I think it could be improved to help develop the characters, but the illustrations do make up for that.

Connections
Niroko is an average modern day high school student who is thrown into a face paced exotic foreign world and I think her reaction is similar to that of any strong girl these days. Among all three graphic novels I have each one has a strong portrayal of the culture with which it was written and illustrated. The 9/11 Report was bold and flashy with some rash accusations. Each character was dramatic and stood out, and I think often times that is the life style of Americans. Monsieur Lambert is simplistic and refined, and very male driven in it's dialogue. From Far Away is mystical and portrays the girl as being clueless, innocent and submissive.

Mid-term

1) Describe the different art and writing styles of graphic novels you have examined so far. How are the styles similar and/ or different? You must use McCloud and your packet on literary terminology for this answer.

The two graphic novels I have read through so far, The 9/11 Report and Monsieur Lambert sit at completely opposite ends on the style spectrum. The 9/11 Report is bold ans structured with brightly colored illustrations. It evokes a sense of urgency and serious behavior in the reader. The main setting takes place in America, depicting the tragedy of September 11th, and then spands to many country following the history of terrorists up to the date of the twin towers. The book is a very opinionated sort of America against the world, and we must take action to protect out country.

On the other hand we have Monsieur Lambert, which takes place in a quainte cafe located in a small town outside of Paris. We don't ever see anything outside of the cafe and the story focuses on four gentlemen that come together for lunch everyday and discuss the past and present greates of football. The illustrations are loose and care-free, almost a lazy style is a simplistic black and white. The are no gutters so the story maintains a continuous flow with one main illustration using up the whole page as opposed to a bunch of rigid boxes with bubbles and gutters, such as in 9/11, which takes you to many more places allowing the reader much more closure.

Despite their differences. These two graphic novels do share a similarity. They each strongly depict the culture of the setting with which they take place. Like America, the pages of The 9/11 Report are busy with bright colors and bold text. In Monsieur Lambert the loose illustrations and simplistic nature of conversations in the book reflect the quite yet fullfilling lives of the French.

4) Choose one graphic novel and address the explicit/ implicit role that gender plays in the narrative (character, plot, narrative point of view) and in the genre (genre examples: superhero? Science fiction? Memoir?). Be sure to provide specific examples.

The graphic novel that I chose for this question is Monsieur Lambert. There narrative is strongly male driven throughout the story and also the characters express their views of women from a male point of view, which I find quite amusing. The role of gender in this grapic novel clearly presents the strong bond between male companions. When Lambert begins missing lunch or arriving late his friends embrace his good fortune and congratulate him, as opposed to shunning him for choosing a woman over them. A less noticable role of gender that is displayed in the narrative is the theme that we deny ourselves our true desires when they appear shallow or pointless to others. After Lambert stops seeing the mistory woman his friends simply say the women are useless and there's no point and football is what men can really count on. But at the end of the story Lambert begins seeing another woman and the men go right back into reminescing about the past romances and women are the only thing on their minds.

An idealistic part of gender role that shows up in this story is that your budies can pick you up out of any slump help you back on your feet in no time. Lambert only spends a few days after his first love miserable and sulking until his friends are able to bring him back around and they're all back to their discussion about football players as if nothing ever happened.

5) How do graphic novels not only address, but aid/ problematize our understanding of history? Are they even historical texts? Discuss how this representation of history from one of your graphic novel choices fit into the work of other graphic novelists. Are the representations similar/ different?

The 9/11 Report is an excellent example in showing how graphic novels aid a reader's understanding of history. The whole setting and structure of a graphic novel make it enjoyable for a reader. There are stylistic illustrations, colorful text and narrative that sends a reader on a adventure rich with imagery to help the imagination paint a more elaborate picture. In the 9/11 Report, the author combines this style with facts direct from the actual 9/11 Report to paint a vivid history of terrorism leading up to the twin towers attack, leaving the reader entertained and informed. While reading this graphic novel a reader is pulled in by the bold colors and gutters that require their own imagination to complete the picture, and may not even realize that what they are reading is true and factual. But just because they do not realize it is factual does not mean they will not pull useful information from this book, and after reading is they will have a stronger understanding of the events leading up the the 9/11 Report. The graphic novel The 9/11 Report is definitely a historical text.

Monsieur Lambert

Summary

Monsieur Lambert takes place in a small cafe located in a quiet town in France. Each day four gentlemen meet for lunch and discuss the upcoming and past greats of football. One day their youngest friend, Lambert, does not show up for lunch. Soon he tells them that he has met a woman. They begin talking about all their past loves and interludes revealing unexpected facets of their own lives and personalities.



History

When this woman enters Lambert's life she has and affect on him as well as their friends. As Lambert tells them of his dates with this lady, all the gentlemen begin reminescing of the loves throughout their lives. Each one has a story to tell of when they were younger, and they really begin to find out each others' personalities and lives. They rediscover their own history with the help of Lambert's lady friend.



Objective
The style of this graphic novel presents a laid back or casual feeling. The illustrations are very loose with minimal detailing in the face and some lines that aren't even finished. They create a sense of a care-free life, which is sort of how the characters in this book live. They don't appear driven by tight schedule and they come and go as they please. When Lambert begins skipping out on lunch or arriving late, his friends don't become irritated and upset as would be a normal response towards a guy ditching his friends for a girl; at least in America. I think the illustrations are a representation of french culture. The text in this graphic novel is a different from graphic novels today and possibly old fashioned. There is a narrative throughout the story along with bubbles. The narrative helps to move the story along and the bubbles bring the reader closer to the characters in the story help them to identify each character's personality.

Subjective
The loose illustrations and text make this for a very enjoyable read. It reminds me much of a stroy book that I might of read when I was younger, but deals with mature issues. Most of the text is written from a man's point of view and is very male driven. As a female I found it quite amusing to read how they dealt with there problems, and it reminded me of a male version of "Sex and the City". The style of the text, bringing the narrative and bubbles together is intriguing and I like how they work together. If the narrative didn't exist I would still be able to follow the plot of the story through the bubbles, but the narrative does create an objective backbone to the story, which brings out details in the story that the bubbles don't cover.

Connections
This book contains a lot of french culture and i would say this small cafe is France is reminescent of the show Cheers in America. Everyone in the cafe socializes with each other and it's always the same people that come to lunch everyday. The waitress is personable with the gentlemen that come in and one in particular that always seems to be in a hurry. Throughout the book she is on his back about taking it slower and enjoying life more. Lambert reminds of Norm. One day he comes in dressed up with a tie and all the men start making comments like "Looks like he's got the woman's touch", and "Hey! How you doing Casanova".

The 9/11 Report

History
In The 9/11 Report the author, Sid Jacobson goes back about two decades to show all the terrorist related events that took place leading up to the September 11th attack in 2001. This graphic novel is based on the final report of the national Commision on
Terrorist attacks upon the united states and it is written in a semi report style. He focuses on many terrorist threats associated with Osama Bin Ladan and provides a background of Bin Laden to fill the reader in on his history and beliefs. Jacobson also follows the reactions and measures taken by the United States government in relation to numerous bomb threats and the creation of Bin Laden's regime.

Themes
An ongoing theme in this book is a "call of duty" or responsibility. In many parts of the story it the characters are presented with a situation, such as a new report of a terrorist threat and more often then not the characters seem to just shrug it off and move onto the next piece of business. There is a definite lack of responsiblilty, and the final outcome shows the penalty for not stepping up to their "call of duty".

Subjective
I enjoyed the authors undertone of of opinion throughout this book. The 9/11 Report is written in a very objective manner much like a report, but in many places Jacobson slips in a line that gives life and style to the report, which makes it a much more interesting read. He does it in a way so that it is still basically factual. Whether you are for or against the actions that were taken or not taken, you can't disagree with what he says and it makes you think more.

Objective
The style with which Jacobson wrote this book is very efficient and to the point. It provides strong facts and really helps the reader to gain an understanding of everything that was surrounding the 9/11 attack. There is a lot of information that helps fill in the holes anyone might have about why the 9/11 attack. It provides a good history and leaves the reader feeling informed, much like they had just been debriefed of the terrorist activity surrounding the 9/11 attack over the past two decades.

Edit Post Discussion
After my discussion on Wednesday I took a look at the supplemental material in the book. I discovered thanks to Craig that the author and artist new each other formally prior to creating this graphic novel. I think this aided the realism and effectiveness in this book in part that they were both familiar with one another styles and used that to their advantage. They created a book that gives off a strong sense of realism in the writing as well as the illustrations, which does a great job of preserving the mood of the real 9/11 Report.

Understanding Comics

At first when I flipped through the pages of this book I laughed to myself and thought "How am I going to learn anything from a book full of pictures". Turns out this is one of the best text books I've ever read. The pictures helped me connect with what McCloud was saying and it was easy for me to comprhend. I never realized that comic books had such an extensive history. I really enjoyed his comparisons of comics to different styles of ancient writings and how he proved that the earliest languages were written in a comic format. His explanations and reasonings really make it practically impossible to disagree with McCloud. The other part of the book that opened my eyes was all the work and imagination that goes into writing comics. He did a great job at showing that comics is not something someone throws together in one night. Like any other type of artist or author there is much deliberations and copies they go through to get to a finished product. I learned that there are a lot of different steps that artists take before they even put pen to paper; I never would have imagined that. In this book McCloud respect back into comics and showed that it's not just a silly book filled with colorful drawings. I think everyone could learn something from comics.