Jtothep's blog

 I've somewhat dabbled into the world of webcomics. In my case that was mainly through certain artists through social media I follow. I follow several accounts that specialize it it, like @Abbycomics and @suprdee2 on Instagram. So when approaching this witch comic, i wasn't sure what to expect going in. What I ended up reading were several segmented stories that are very... strange to say the least. These comics involve around a witch and her band of creature friends who go on several misadventures. These stories are often very crass, vulgar and even graphic at times. Certain aspects like these did remind me of the underground comics. Many of the friends swear, smoke, steal, and get into all kinds of trouble. The Owl gets mistreated by his friends several others, and I'm personally not a fan of seeing these types of toxic relationships in stories. He gets treated like a pushover just for wanting to stay safe and not wanting to partake in his friends rambunctious activities.

 As soon as I started reading these I was reminded of something. I was reminded of the underground zap comix I read a while back. Those stories were more edgy, vulgar, and even brutal in some cases, and had certain characters with little redeeming qualities. There were also scenes and scenarios that made very little sense to me, even WITHIN the context of the stories.  I started recognizing these things when I reading the ACME series.  I started by reading about Jimmy Corrigon, the smartest kid on Earth. He's a foul-mouthed brat who uses his genius brain in weird ways. He clearly a psycho, as he wipes an innocent man's memory just so he could give his mom a new boyfriend and a new father. Yet I also found it intriguing on how differently he acts when he's older. He's certainly become a better person, but he feels lonely, trapped, and has incredibly low self esteem. And weirdly enough, for no reason, he somehow meets his kid self (in the context of him shrinking himself

 Despite never being into superheroes growing up, certain characters were iconic enough to least be recognizable by name alone. I've always at least heard about classic DC heroes like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. And this seemed like a good chance to see her early stories. Wonder Woman was created in the 1940s in an all-male dominated comic world. People loved Superman and Batman but Wonder Woman soon joined the ranks. As someone who reads very little superhero comics, it was interesting to learn that she was created by a man who was a psychologist, Dr. Marston. He felt young girls needed a strong role model too. These are typical superhero stories with good vs. evil plots. The illustrations reflect that time period, with muted colors and a style very different from what I've seen from superheroes in media today. The drawings are semi-realistic with some exaggerations. For example, Wonder Woman's legs are illustrated in a way to make her look like she's running fa

 For a few years, I've heard bits and pieces about the Killing Joke. I've heard that its a dark, yet impactful Joker-related story that is one of the most popular in the Batman series. I also heard it got a movie adaptation that stuck way too close to the original story with its shots and dialogue. Despite being a casual fan of Batman through The Animated Series, I've been hesitant to check this story out, mainly because I was worried that this story would be too gruesome, grim and creepy for my taste. While certain elements like that still remained, I was still able to read through it just fine and ended up appreciating and enjoying it it in the end. I was really interested to learn one of the many possible backstories the Joker has. 1. Strangely enough, I was and wasn't shocked at the same time. I knew going in that this would be brutal and chilling, considering this is about the Joker, but I wasn't sure how I was definitely disturbed in some areas for sure, thank

 When I noticed that Lumberjanes was an option, I jumped right into that story immediately. In the last few years I've always noticed it in bookstores and even on the shelves of the Ringling bookstore. I've always been somewhat interested in checking it out, though I never went out of my way to check it out. I predicted it would involve a diverse cast of teenage girls having adventures at their campsite, which is pretty accurate to what I read, but with a mysterious supernatural edge to it.  Even before I started reading it, I've admired its art style, and how loose everything is. The line work of and panel outlines are very sketch-like, and the designs of the characters are cartoonish and stylized with dot-like eyes and a wide range of expressions. I like seeing Ripley's exaggerated energy while assuming silly things like seeing whales in a river. The main girls all have a sense of charm when it comes to how quirky they can be, but still balanced in their attitudes and

 Going into this week's theme of manga, I was a little bit excited going into it. I'm no stranger when it comes to reading manga, though in my case, I've only consistently read manga volumes relating to a series called One Piece. Nevertheless, I was interested to see the many kinds of manga in their earlier years. I was fairly overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available on the course page. I just started off with the first link open, being Lone Wolf. Going into it, I was worried that I would find certain aspects of its story confusing, but that wasn't really the case. I loved how the more energetic scenes played out, really gave me a sense of engagement and excitement throughout it all. It felt very cinematic with its many different shots and angles, showcasing its sense of depth. It isn't too surprising, since this comic was inspired and based on samurai movies and postwar Japan as well. Some examples included The father/assassin's escape from the guar