Comics

Rhetological Bingo, or, More Attempts at Teaching Fallacies to Bored Freshmen

                   Image source: Dinosaur Comics

The bulk of my last posting was spent singing the praises of Mr. David McCandless; as anyone who has checked out any of his work before or since then can attest to, such accolades are/were more than justified.

Specifically, I loved his “rhetological” fallacies project, where he vizualized a colorful list of about 50 different rhetorical or logical fallacies, and created an unadorned yet arresting image to accompany each of them.  Pretty cool stuff.

Anti-abortion Rhetoric Then and Now

(Public Domain Image found at Wikimedia Commons)

I came across this Russian anti-abortion poster from 1925, and thought it was pretty striking.  The text translates to:  "Abortions performed by either trained or self-taught midwives not only maim the woman, they also often lead to death."  It shows a woman talking with a midwife, then a woman in a hospital, and then a coffin being lowered into a grave with mourners looking on.  What struck me about the image is that the argument is essentially that abortions are bad because they endanger the lives of the women who get them.  The pathetic appeal depends on the viewer's sense of identification with the woman. 

The Ethos of Hipster Dinosaurs

Image Credit: Imgur

H/T to Matt

For me, humor is one of the most powerful tools available for both pedagogy as well as social resistance.  It seems appropriate therefore to introduce myself to the viz. blog with something a little offbeat and (potentially) funny.

Will R. Crumb Fail to Offend?

God and characters

 

Image Credit:  R. Crumb

H/T USA Today

I got my copy of The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb in the mail and have loved reading it so far.  It's richly detailed.  It's emotive.  It's revelatory.  But I’m wondering:  Will Crumb’s newest work will be controversial as expected? 

R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman come to UT

 Crumb

Image Credit: R. Crumb

H/T  Texas Performing Arts

Today, I reserved tickets for the Robert (R.) Crumb and Art Spiegelman event November 13 here at the University of Texas. Texas Performing Arts, the host for the event, has beckoned with advertisements of R. Crumb's latest work, The Book of Genesis Illustrated.   I have Crumb's graphic novel on order from Amazon.com and plan to review the text here on Viz., as well as post some thoughts on the November talk between the two artists. 

Cover Art for The New Yorker's 'Money Issue'


Image Credit:  The New Yorker

H/T:  Texas Performing Arts

 

This video is an interview with Francoise Mouly, art director of The New Yorker, speaking about the multi-part cover of the Money Issue from this month, October 12, 2009.  The 3-part cover begins with Dan Clowes, who created the image of a wealthy woman ordering a hamburger, which inspired Zohar Lazar's illustration of the woman carrying the fast food to her chaffeur-driven car, and then, finally, Mark Ulriksen's idea of depicting a poodle being fed the burger.  Ulriksen notes that by his ending image, "You realize that some things never change for certain people." 

Interview with Jan Eliot, Creator of Stone Soup, New in "Views" Section

A new interview has been posted the the views section. Viz. contributor Sarah Wagner interviews Jan Eliot, the creator of Stone Soup. Read it here .

Interview with Jan Eliot, Creator of Stone Soup

This past December I interviewed Jan Eliot, creator of the Stone Soup comic strip. As one of my favorite cartoonists, I’d always wanted to ask her more about her work and now I had the chance! I asked Ms. Eliot about two topics I was interested in: one, cartooning and her place within the comic strip world. As a feminist cartoonist, she has a special niche in cartooning that separates her work in some ways (from my perspective) from other strips. Two, I asked her about about the relationship between blogging and cartooning.

Irish comics wiki

panel from The Ulster Cycle web comicThose of you interested in comics and/or graphic novels and Irish literature should find the The Irish Comics Wiki to be a useful resource. From the wiki:

There are lots of Irish comics creators out there, from people starting out to wizened veterans. I’m hoping that people can share information, for the betterment of Irish comics. Also, I‘m sure there are people with some knowledge about the history of Irish comics and underground press. It would be great to bring that to light.

I’m not very familiar with the Irish comics scene, but the site links to some great-looking comics. The panel to the right comes from The Ulster Cycle, a web comic based on Irish mythology by Patrick Brown (who also appears to be the creator of the wiki).

via Caricatures Ireland

Recontextualizing images

The blog garfield minus garfield contains some wonderful examples of the ways in which images can be recontextualized to create new meanings. According to the site

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?

Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.

Garfield minus Garfield: I'm an empty grocery sack

Garfield minus Garfield: It was horrible I barely escaped with my life

Garfield the strip is mostly lame; but, by removing the dull main character, the strip is completely transformed. I particularly enjoy the empty panels, and the effect their silence has on the meaning of each strip.

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