P1 Describe the work of a graphic novel or comic publisher.
Describe the work of a graphic novel or comic publisher.
Marvel Comics:
Marvel Comics was founded in 1939 as Timely Publications by Martin Goodman before it was later renamed to Atlas Comics in the early 1950s. and finally came under the name Marvel in 1961 where it has remained to this day.
Marvel is run by, amongst others, five key people. They are as follows:
Two of their more famous characters are Spiderman and Captain America. Although there a many different characters they are all contained within one reality known as the Marvel Universe, and despite the fact that the primary locations featured in the reality are made up, they are based on the city of New York.
Marvel Comics' popularity has caused an expansive range of films to be developed from the first Captain America in 1990, with an extremely poor rotten tomatoes score of 8 percent, all the way to Black Panther with an astonishing 97%.
Marvel Comics:
Marvel Comics was founded in 1939 as Timely Publications by Martin Goodman before it was later renamed to Atlas Comics in the early 1950s. and finally came under the name Marvel in 1961 where it has remained to this day.
Marvel is run by, amongst others, five key people. They are as follows:
- C. B. Cebulski (Editor In Chief)
- Dan Buckley (President)
- Joe Quesada (Chief Operating Officer)
- John Nee (Publisher)
- Stan Lee (former EIC, Current Publisher)
Two of their more famous characters are Spiderman and Captain America. Although there a many different characters they are all contained within one reality known as the Marvel Universe, and despite the fact that the primary locations featured in the reality are made up, they are based on the city of New York.
Marvel Comics' popularity has caused an expansive range of films to be developed from the first Captain America in 1990, with an extremely poor rotten tomatoes score of 8 percent, all the way to Black Panther with an astonishing 97%.
|
Captain America
CAPTAIN AMERICA
Captain America was first produced as a comic in 1941, with the first editon of "Captain America Comics" coming out in March 1941. This character was originally the most succesful wartime comic, as Captain America fought the Axis Powers (one of the two major factions during WWII, which included Germany and Italy) with his famous super strength and his bulletproof shield that he often throws as a lethal projectile. His backstory is that, during WWII he was injected with an experimental super serum that America wanted to use on multiple soldiers to create an elite army. Ultimately he was frozen in ice from where he was eventually revived in the 'present day'.
He was created by the cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Joe originally thought up the character and made an initial sketch which was forwarded to Martin Goodman. Goodman was so pleased with the concept that he immediately commisioned a story out of Joe. Joe worked with Kirby and it was finally inked by Al Liederman.
Captain America was first produced as a comic in 1941, with the first editon of "Captain America Comics" coming out in March 1941. This character was originally the most succesful wartime comic, as Captain America fought the Axis Powers (one of the two major factions during WWII, which included Germany and Italy) with his famous super strength and his bulletproof shield that he often throws as a lethal projectile. His backstory is that, during WWII he was injected with an experimental super serum that America wanted to use on multiple soldiers to create an elite army. Ultimately he was frozen in ice from where he was eventually revived in the 'present day'.
He was created by the cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Joe originally thought up the character and made an initial sketch which was forwarded to Martin Goodman. Goodman was so pleased with the concept that he immediately commisioned a story out of Joe. Joe worked with Kirby and it was finally inked by Al Liederman.
SpiderMan
.SPIDERMAN:
SpiderMan was originally created as a character in the 15th edition of "Amazing Fantasy" in 1962. He, Peter Parker, is one of the younger superheroes as he is a teenager, who after being orphaned as a baby has to live with his aunt and uncle. According to the comics, after being bitten by a radioactive spider he gains the abilities of a spider, including being able to walk on walls and produce spiders' webs. He fights a variety of criminals including common street thugs all the way to his arch-nemesis Norman Osborn better known as the evil Green Goblin, who is famous for killing SpiderMan's long standing love interest Gwen Stacy. However after this murder SpiderMan kills Norman Osborn resulting in the Green Goblin persona being adopted by Harry Osborn, Norman's son.
SpiderMan was conceptulised by Stan Lee when he was working as a writer and cartoonist in 1962. He claims his inspiration was primarily from the pulp magazine "The Spider". He also claims watching a spider climb up a wall helped him to come up with the character. He was given a trial run in the comic compilation Amazing Fantasy. However the cancellation of the compilation made way for SpiderMan's stand alone comic.
SpiderMan remains popular to this day spawning multiple SpiderMan films, games and an expansive merchandise collection.
SpiderMan was originally created as a character in the 15th edition of "Amazing Fantasy" in 1962. He, Peter Parker, is one of the younger superheroes as he is a teenager, who after being orphaned as a baby has to live with his aunt and uncle. According to the comics, after being bitten by a radioactive spider he gains the abilities of a spider, including being able to walk on walls and produce spiders' webs. He fights a variety of criminals including common street thugs all the way to his arch-nemesis Norman Osborn better known as the evil Green Goblin, who is famous for killing SpiderMan's long standing love interest Gwen Stacy. However after this murder SpiderMan kills Norman Osborn resulting in the Green Goblin persona being adopted by Harry Osborn, Norman's son.
SpiderMan was conceptulised by Stan Lee when he was working as a writer and cartoonist in 1962. He claims his inspiration was primarily from the pulp magazine "The Spider". He also claims watching a spider climb up a wall helped him to come up with the character. He was given a trial run in the comic compilation Amazing Fantasy. However the cancellation of the compilation made way for SpiderMan's stand alone comic.
SpiderMan remains popular to this day spawning multiple SpiderMan films, games and an expansive merchandise collection.
The Beano
The Beano is an independant comic producer based in Dundee Scotland. The comic is composed of numerous short stories with typically anarchical humour. The first edition was created on the 30th of July 1938. Its editors across time are as follows:
George Moonie 1938–59.
Harold Cramond 1959-84.Euan Kerr 1984-2006
Alan Digby in early 2006-2011
Michael Stirling.
It is famous for its character Dennis the Menace with his "Abyssinian Tripehound" dog Gnasher. The notorious duo have spawned tv shows, films and plenty of advertising campaigns.
George Moonie 1938–59.
Harold Cramond 1959-84.Euan Kerr 1984-2006
Alan Digby in early 2006-2011
Michael Stirling.
It is famous for its character Dennis the Menace with his "Abyssinian Tripehound" dog Gnasher. The notorious duo have spawned tv shows, films and plenty of advertising campaigns.
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
DENNIS THE MENACE AND GNASHER
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher are the two most popular characters to come from the Beano, they are a rebellious young boy and his dog. Characterised by his infamous red and black jumper Dennis has been a British favourite since his creation in 1951. From this two seperate TV shows spawned and an annual series of books containing multiple Dennis the Menace and Gnasher stories. Dennis the Menace is also famous for his comically weak arch nemesis, Walter the Softy. Dressed in a blue jumper and wire framed glasses, he is a common target for Dennis' ruthless antics.
Walter is also incorporated into the Beano Studio's political agendas, for example when The Beano sent a cease and desist letter to Jacob Reese-Mogg for copyright infringement, with particular reference to Snootiness and the character's behaivour when it comes to stopping others having fun.
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher are the two most popular characters to come from the Beano, they are a rebellious young boy and his dog. Characterised by his infamous red and black jumper Dennis has been a British favourite since his creation in 1951. From this two seperate TV shows spawned and an annual series of books containing multiple Dennis the Menace and Gnasher stories. Dennis the Menace is also famous for his comically weak arch nemesis, Walter the Softy. Dressed in a blue jumper and wire framed glasses, he is a common target for Dennis' ruthless antics.
Walter is also incorporated into the Beano Studio's political agendas, for example when The Beano sent a cease and desist letter to Jacob Reese-Mogg for copyright infringement, with particular reference to Snootiness and the character's behaivour when it comes to stopping others having fun.
A letter to Jacob Reese-Mogg from The Beano accusing him of copyright infringement in relation to his similarity to Walter.
The Numskulls aka Eds Head
THE NUMSKULLS
The Numskulls aka Eds Head are, whilst less popular than Dennis and his dog, still firm favourites across the youth, and adults of Britain. The cartoon shows an alternate theory as to the workings of a human head, via 5 very small humanoid creatures that each run their own department in the head. These are the Brain the Mouth the Ears the Eyes and the Nose. Created in 1963 for the beezer comic they ran with adequate success until being used in the Beano Comic in 1993.
The Numskulls aka Eds Head are, whilst less popular than Dennis and his dog, still firm favourites across the youth, and adults of Britain. The cartoon shows an alternate theory as to the workings of a human head, via 5 very small humanoid creatures that each run their own department in the head. These are the Brain the Mouth the Ears the Eyes and the Nose. Created in 1963 for the beezer comic they ran with adequate success until being used in the Beano Comic in 1993.
P2 - Analyse a chosen graphic novel or comic product.
After choosing a selection of comics for P1 I decided to go for a graphic novel.
The graphic novel that I have chosen to write about is called Mezolith and is an artistic story that follows the lives of a tribe of mesolithic era "hunter gathers" and includes many spiritual and mystical events. It is written by Ben Haggarty and follows a very realistic style, with each frame being very impressively well drawn and coloured
The title page for this comic, shows two figures Poika and his father, sitting on a tree branch looking over their tribe's land including a large lake. This is a very impressive title page as it has been drawn with great detail, as well as it shows the characters clothing and hairstyles that make people immediately think of prehistoric humans.
The book appeals from all ages from the young teens to adults, as a demographic this would be roughly 15 - 60, this is because although it lacks extremely mature themes, it is also has a note of seriousness as well as an intellectual appeal that covers the whole demographic.
The graphic novel that I have chosen to write about is called Mezolith and is an artistic story that follows the lives of a tribe of mesolithic era "hunter gathers" and includes many spiritual and mystical events. It is written by Ben Haggarty and follows a very realistic style, with each frame being very impressively well drawn and coloured
The title page for this comic, shows two figures Poika and his father, sitting on a tree branch looking over their tribe's land including a large lake. This is a very impressive title page as it has been drawn with great detail, as well as it shows the characters clothing and hairstyles that make people immediately think of prehistoric humans.
The book appeals from all ages from the young teens to adults, as a demographic this would be roughly 15 - 60, this is because although it lacks extremely mature themes, it is also has a note of seriousness as well as an intellectual appeal that covers the whole demographic.
The comic's paneling is very simple with square panels that differ in size but very rarely shape. However Adam Brockbank often utilises blending amongst the frames, where characters or weapons cross the panel lines. This creates a more 3D feeling to the comic and makes it much more of an immersive read.
The comic is in full colour with exceptional detailing in some places. The way that the story flows and the way that the narrative progresses is very interesting as the story revolves around a main trunk, wherein different characters often tell tales and stories that detract from the main arc but create a full rounded story for the reader. This creates an unusual storyline that encompasses many different stories. |
The text in Mezolith is constantly in capitals, this makes it very easy to read especially with the hand drawn font, the text can be written in bold or slightly larger for when real emphasis must be put onto a characters line or specific words. Furthermore the author is not afraid to leave out multiple frames of the comic without any text whatsoever, this is a very successful desicion in my mind because it lets the reader take in the spectacular artwork without being distracted by great loads of text and enables the reader to use their imagination to fill in parts of the story, this helps to create an immersive reading experience.
The actual wording is interesting as often characters will speak in an unusual fasion, for example when the boy above says "look what I did find!" this makes sense however because the story is set 10000 years in the past where language would have been very different and therefore what we see as incorrect could have made sense back then. |