The Transitions of Maus

 Spiegelman's Maus utilized many comic transitions. Not only does this serve as a unique example of a graphic novelist, but it also was an incredibly effective teaching tool for me in order to learn and see these transitions in action. The first transition that I want to talk about is the action-to-action image at the top of page 48. We see Vladek in the grass, and then see him crouch to avoid being hit.

 The next image transition that I want to focus on is the moment-to-moment style. We see Vladek sorting screws with almost the same image. We can see his progression slightly through the sound descriptions. He is simply dropping them for the "plunk" sound, but adding more intensity by throwing them to make a "plink" sound.

The third transition that I found was the scene-to-scene on the bottom of page 109. We see Zora hear about their upcoming deportation to Auschwitz, and find out that she keeps poison around her neck. She asks the children to come to her, and the next scene shows Vladek talking to his son describing the tragedy. While the scene is fully explained, the images do not show Zora administering the toxin to the children, but we are able to deduce what has taken place regardless.

While there are a lot of action-to-action and subject-to-subject transitions in Maus, Spiegelman certainly includes variety.

Reading Selections

For my three reading selections for this semester, I have chosen Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, Lives of Sacco & Vanzetti by Rick Geary and Watchmen by Alan Moore. I haven't had a chance to look through the Geary and Moore books, but I'm somewhat familiar with Moore's style and am really looking forward to that one coming in. I chose Lives of Sacco & Vanzetti because I am both very fascinated with the subject itself as well as the successful usage of a graphic novel in order to convey a historical event or difficult to read piece of literature in a new way. I've been able to flip through Ghost World a bit and I'm really attracted to the simplistic art/color scheme.I had a chance to read Mister Wonderful by Clowes and really appreciated his focus on the embarrassing internal nature of a human's thoughts, so I hope that Ghost World allows for that introspective style as well.  These three selections appear to be quite different from each other, and I look forward to getting a better base for my own final project. I think that  fantasy/action work contrasted with a historical and humanistic work would make for an excellent variety in broadening my graphic novel knowledge sphere.

The Gravity of Simplicity

In Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, the basic theory around the comic/graphic novel is addressed. We are able to see, read, and understand the comic in a larger context while also examining the process that goes into its creation. One idea presented in Understanding Comics that was especially prevalent in Art Spiegelman’s Maus was the disparity between realism and cartoon style illustration. The choice of cartoon animation in Maus served as an effective tool to evoke emotion from the reader on many levels. The choice to use animals as a character symbol brings countless other thoughts and opinions that the reader now has to consider. We also are able to get these character’s through the context of their dress. For example,  old Vladek looks much the same as young Vladek, save a pair of glasses and a flannel shirt. These details, while seemingly small, convey the message that years have passed and that old Vladek is no longer a Rudolph Valentino type.

Another very effective outcome of the choice to use cartoon style animals in the place of realistic humans is the surprising connection created between the reader and the subject matter. Choosing to create a story around this period of time was a bold one. Often times, an audience can become so inundated with the facts and figures surrounding Hitler’s rise to power, the cultural and religious genocide, and the spark of World War II that all humanity is torn from the subject. When we are taught about this time period, or when visiting monuments and archives dedicated to those lost and those who survived, one is to be reverent. The problem is that reverence doesn’t necessarily evoke the type of thoughtfulness needed to truly relate to a piece.  Spiegelman states that “When we abstract an image through cartooning, we’re not so much eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details. By stripping down an image to its essential ‘meaning’, an artist can amplify that meaning in a way that realistic art can’t” (30). This concept is easily applied to Maus by the animal representation of each group within the story. We see both the authority figures and non-Jewish Polish citizens represented by a pig. This is compared to the Jewish mouse, and the Anti-Semitic cat. While these details seemingly take away from the humanity of the piece, they actually allow the reader to shed pre-conceived notions in regards to this time. Through this shedding, the story becomes new, emotionally relatable, and artistic. The simplicity of the illustration allows the reader to take in the concept in its entirety from a humanistic approach, rather than a historical study.