Is this one a little mean spirited? Yes, it is. I admit it. I’m a terrible person who can also be a blatant hypocrite sometimes. Nevertheless, I fine this to be pretty funny. This mostly stems from how straightforward the little ghost sperm is. I suppose the little ghost sperm is sort of my internal voice. I make fun of people, but I admit to it… and then I continue making fun of people. Oh well.
In case you haven’t noticed, we haven’t been posting that much. I can attest for Lillian and I – I believe Monique is in the same boat – that we are in that delicate season of this time of year called Finals. So, thank college for not seeing that many posts out of us for the next couple of weeks. Nevertheless, I intend on keeping Ghost Sperm on schedule, and a 1000 Things We Hate might slip in here or there.
Thanks,
- Elliott.
So, I love superheroes. I think that’s readily apparent on this website. So, I had to figure out, “hey, how can I incorporate my love into a comic?” Then it donned on me, SUPERHEROES ARE FROM COMICS. So, transferring them into a web comic would not be so hard. So, I went with Batman because, well, he’s like my third favorite comic book character (ask me some time about my other faves!). I also wanted to show what happens before the ghost sperm become, well, ghosts. And, I really needed a joke about spermicide. So, there you go.
Welcome again to Comic Book Cache. In this section, we have another three readers tackle some comics and let us know about their interpretations! To see Round 1 for Comic Book Cache, check it out here. Check out Monique’s review of Maus, too! And, to see the master list which gives you the opportunity to join in on the fun, check it out here.
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Name: Sophie Blamey Age: 19 Occupation: Student
Book: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Prior to reading Watchmen, I had read a few graphic novels (Fun Home and Persepolis: loved both), but my experience was clearly very minimal. To be perfectly honest, I picked this book because my roommate owns it and, being a student, I’m broke. But beyond that, I knew it was a movie as well and I really enjoy watching movie adaptations of books to compare them.
This super-hero style of graphic novel was totally new to me and truthfully I was pretty skeptical. I’ve never thought myself the type to enjoy action and fighting and leggings, but I was wrong. Turns out, I love leggings. And fighting. When they’re combined. What took the novel from just a little book of gore and bright pictures was the psychological depth with which the characters were depicted. Reading Watchmen felt like diving into the minds of the “super-heroes” and finding out why they do what they do, which I must say, I was much more interested in than the gory scenes. I cried, laughed, cringed, and wondered my way through Watchmen in less than three days.
I did not think I could ever like graphic novels as much as I love written novels because I thought I would miss the imagery of the words. I didn’t think I would appreciate literal images in lieu of the words I had come to love. I predicted that the part of reading that requires your imagination would be eliminated. I was wrong on all counts. Firstly, the words are just as beautiful as any novel I had read and secondly, contrary to the pictures detracting from the use of imagination, they only enhanced it. I was very impressed with the way the book twisted between a few different plots and my favorite parts were the effortless juxtaposition of Shea’s graphic novel-within-a-graphic novel with the current events troubling the newspaper salesman.
In fact, as difficult as I thought it would be to get through such a long and detailed graphic novel, it wasn’t difficult at all. Though at first I was on the lookout for every tiny detail, and trying to commit everything to memory, I quickly realized that it wasn’t necessary to do so. Once I realized that reading it wasn’t going to be an exhausting tax, I settled into it and really enjoyed the experience. I can’t say that I responded more to the words or the artwork because the two worked together so well. I was surprised at how much the artwork actually contributed to the plot, far from being just a backdrop for the words each frame was a crucial piece of the story. The experience of reading Watchmen was a very enjoyable one and I can’t wait to pick up my next graphic novel… I’m thinking I’ll go for Lagoon next! (:
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Selena Aston, Age 20, Student/Gallery Attendant
Book: The Lagoon by Lilli Carré
I found The Lagoon by Lilli Carré to be very pleasant. This was my first comic book reading experience and I enjoyed it. The artwork has a very simple and charming style, and I like the way she uses her lines to give things character. She has a unique way of drawing people that emphasizes their quirks, like the mother’s chaotic hair and the grandfather’s oddly shaped head. One thing that distracted me though was the black shadow that appears next to all the characters’ noses. It looks a bit out of place to me, especially in drawings where there is low contrast except for that nose shadow. I suppose its part of her style which is fine, it just kind of made me feel weird. I like the flowing look of the trees, smoke, fabric, and various background textures. There are also some really cute details, like the main character has a cat clock in her bedroom (it may have been a bear or a mouse clock, I couldn’t quite tell but it was cute). Overall, the art was good, and it was what made this book for me.
I was confused by the plot the first time I read this book and was equally confused the second time. This is what I gathered from it: an elderly man tells his daughter Zoey about a monster that sang a beautiful song in the lagoon. He sings the song to her, much to her annoyance. At night, she finds him in the lagoon looking for the monster. During the next day he picks all of the flowers from the family’s lawn. A few nights later, Zoey’s mother meets with the lagoon monster to smoke a cigarette and talk about her life while her husband is asleep. This interaction suggests that the family had some connection with the monster in the past. The rest of the plot consists of people drowning in the lagoon while listening to the monster’s song, cats singing, logs burning, and Zoey’s grandfather cutting her hair. After pondering how these events are related and what they might symbolize, I came to the conclusion that this story is beyond me. I decided to make my peace with this fact and just enjoy the nostalgic yet marshy nature of this book.
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My name is Nikki Jermaczonak, I’m 21 and currently a Junior at the Art Institute of Portland majoring in Media Arts and Animation. I’ve been very interested in comic books and graphic novels since I was in middle school, though I didn’t really delve into the Western side of it until my last year of high school. Some of my favorites are Tank Girl, Empowered, Detroit Metal City, and Scott Pilgrim.
I’m a Scottaholic, so much that I have a part of my room devoted to my merch and it overwhelms people with how much I want to talk about it sometimes. But enough about me, I’m here to tell you about Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley. This is the first of a six volume series and does an amazing job pulling the reader in for the start of a wild ride. O’Malley’s art style is bold and refreshing, showing heavy influences from Japanese manga. Emotions and movement are easily conveyed through simplistic faces and bodies and sound effects, and their clothing is well researched and interesting to look at. The art is unique, memorable and only gets better in later volumes.
The writing is superb. O’Malley knows how to write a good story, never skipping a beat with some laugh out loud humor or a videogame reference (but not so much that it’s annoying). The story is straight forward and takes something as simple as dealing with someone’s Ex-Boyfriends to a whole new level. There are themes of romance, music, action, and drama and this is just the beginning! The flow is fantastic, never leaving a boring moment or getting overwhelming.
Out of everything though, the thing I enjoy most about the book is the characters. Everyone can find someone to relate to in here, whether it is the loveable loser Scott, cold and sarcastic Kim, awkward Young Neil, or the rest of the cast. It’s fantastic to watch how they develop throughout this book and the rest of the series and to find a bit of yourself tucked inside one of them.
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life is an entertaining and easy read and leaves you wanting more. I would recommend this book to both hard core and casual comic readers; it’s the first thing I give to all of my friends when they ask me for comic recommendations. This is also a fantastic series for anyone wanting to transition from reading manga to Western graphic novels. Delivering entertainment in a complete package, Scott Pilgrim belongs in everyone’s comic collection.
Maus has not only become a classic as time goes on, but a standard as far as Holocaust narratives are concerned. This is not the typical story of good vs. evil or hero vs. villain, it moves beyond abstract titles in order to convey the nature of ambiguity in all life; even in such a series of events that seem so very black and white, it reveals a million shades of grey.
In looking at this novel in terms of Holocaust trauma it is important to understand that such a disgusting and shocking event was completely unbelievable. Who would believe that something so horrendous and vicious could happen? Everyday people, living their everyday lives, being suddenly and completely uprooted for seemingly no reason at all. All clarity is lost in a single motion; the world has been virtually turned upside down. This leaves the narrative room for unclarity, ambiguity, and disproportion in a search for meaning that leaves the characters and even its readers with nothing in hand.
Even the title of the first book itself, “My Father Bleeds History” is an attempt to connect the emotional with the rational, two sensibilities that clash that leave even the grounds of communication a muddy brown. The narrative follows in the line of the title as it uses this clash of raw emotion with rational fact to play with language and roughen meaning to make them difficult to understand, as the events themselves are difficult to understand.
The use of silence and space is harsh yet fluid as it allows for shadow and an odd juxtaposition of simplicity and complexity to overcome, revealing a foreboding atmosphere with no past or future in sight. With his use of shadow and stark black and white shades Speigelman is able to exude an overwhelming sense of fear and terror. The construction of the novel being entirely devoid of color drains the reader of all sense of hope leaving him with no tangible element left to grab and hold for comfort.
Even the mere fact that the story is in graphic novel form shatters the paradigms that the Holocaust, by nature, shattered. Illusions of safety and clarity are demolished, the very past was destroyed. This is perhaps what makes this novel so unique. There was no other possible way to convey such a tale than in this form, as everything has been destroyed, we have no choice to resort to new forms in order to cope with tragedy.
Over thirty years after it was written and published, Maus is just as relevant and shocking as it was then. It reveals the very illusion we live in; and knowing this we are left wondering: “can we continue?”
This is one of those instances of me not knowing what the hell I was thinking when I drew this. I think it was meant to be sexual, but I’m not so sure anymore.
I would post this on the normal day of Thursday, but I was afraid I might not post it since I’m heading out of town to a national conference. I’m presenting my paper comparing Batgirl (volume 3) with Gotham City Sirens over their depictions of women. It should be interesting especially considering that I haven’t practiced… once. I did make a powerpoint! Which is my first one since the one I did on the history of Spam (the meat-thing) in 7th grade. N-E-whey, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Over at IGN they’re crafting the top 100 Pokémon. You go HERE and enter into a sort of duel where you choose your favorite of two Pokémon. It’s kind of neat because it also shows you the percentage of people who agreed with you.
I’ve played this for about two hours now, and, so far, the hilarious example was when Mew went up against Amoonguss and 76% of people agreed that Mew was better. I feel sorry for that 24 other percent.
So, go and vote for your favorite Pokémon, but always keep my favorites in mind:
1. Absol
2. Lugia
3. Wartortle
4. Typholision
5. Garchomp
6. Electivire
Basically, those can go in any order after Absol and Lugia take the top two spots. There are also some Pokémon from Unova that have grown on me like Haxorus and others, but this is the list that I can come up with off the top of my head.
This week entailed another depressing round of statistics. Nevertheless, it would be wise to utilize these stats in order to make change to the system.
“The Wage Gap and Its Costs” brings up the widening pay gap between men and women. It’s interesting to see that during the 1994 economy boom the wage gap actually widened between men and women. One would think that, if the economy is doing so well, then women should be doing well, too. It was also intriguing to see the statistics on race within the gender wage gap. How African American women earn 68 cents per man-dollar and Hispanic women earn only 57 cents per man-dollar. It’s also scary to see the college-educated wage gap spread from 9 percent in ’91 to 31 percent in ’00. That is a huge change! The article’s spread of why there is a wage gap is very intersting with the reasons being “Hiring, Promotion, Pay,” “Sexual Harassment,” “Occupational Segregation,” “Taxing Motherhood,” and “Undervaluing Women Workers.” These all factor in to create a wage gap that mistreats women to the extreme. As a white man, I feel ashamed that so many women are put through this when I always get the benefit of the doubt.
“The Education of Jessica Rivera” by Kim Phillips-Fein is a very interesting article by going into the details of welfare. It seems as if welfare actually prevents people from climbing the social latter by making them work and do school rather than having school count as some work hours since it will obviously better their education. It seems as if welfare is actually a rhetorical tool used by the upper elite to keep the poor and disadvantaged in their economic state. It’s nice to see a positive turn at the end of the story by having an organization get a bill passed to have work-study for school count as Welfare hours, but it does not seem that this is nationwide. I wonder if these sorts of things still affect other parts of America.
The article from Bob Feldman on the disparate levels of funding for white schools versus poor/students of color does provide hope by stating that New Jersey and Oregon have evened the playing field for funding of all schools rather than just the white ones. Nevertheless, it ends on the somber note that this is not the case nationwide. Rich, White children will always have more opportunities for them in school because they will be well-funded. It seems as if the best way to avoid this is through private school, but who can afford private school? Rich, white people. Evening the funding between the schools will allow for more upwards mobility and higher graduation rates for all students rather than just the white ones.
I found it interesting in the next article by Alejandro Reuss entitled “Cause of Death: Inequality” to be very fascinating because it constantly restated again and again that people who are poor have worse health. Of course, those people who are poor cannot afford health insurance. So, they are more likely to get sick but less likely to seek treatment because they cannot afford going to the doctor. This seems like a deadly cycle that keeps the poor “poor” by catching them with medical expenses. This of course leads to more stress which leads to more health issues.
It was interesting to see in the “Immigration’s Aftermath” article by Alejandro Portes that Immigrant parents have higher aspirations for their children than their children do. Unfortunately, the parents are gone at work all day working minimum wage (if even that) jobs to keep their family surviving and they cannot provide a good role-model for their children because they do not have the time. It seems as if the Immigrants can rarely break out of their cycle either.
So, we hit 200,000 all time views a couple days ago. My internet has been MIA so I could not celebrate it over the interwebs. Nevertheless, thank you all for checking out the site. It really wasn’t that long ago that we got 100,000 views either. So, pretty badass if you ask me.
And, by the way, our heavy hitting J. Scott Campbell post is now on the second page of links on Google when you search his name! Crazy!
Okay, Okay… I do not usually rely upon toilet humor. This even happens in my daily life – I like situational humor. Nevertheless, I could not pass up an opportunity to show the Ghost Sperm before they die. I love the grizzled commander with the cigar in the mouth (for some reason, I love the cigar in the mouth imagery for the Ghost Sperm (hmmm… I wonder why… phallus?) and will probably use it again in a noir comic) who is so vulgar. It really reminds me of Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. I also like the pep talk before they get expelled out of the penis. Sure, the humor’s crude. But, for some reason, I enjoy it.
MechanisticMoth
Crocodilicus
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