Final Blog Post

Given our readings this semester I have come to learn that a comic or a graphic novel can do so much more than an ordinary, traditional novel. My first argument is that a cartoonist is able to say many things at once in just one panel. For example, in one panel a character can be having maybe an inner monologue in the caption box or there could be a narrative taking place, and the character could also have one speech bubble of what they’re saying and another speech bubble of what they’re thinking and then obviously so many things could be happening in the background. Obviously humans can’t read multiple things at once, but a comic has the power to give you all the information at once, therefore giving it to you quicker. Also the power of illustration, eve just on its own goes so far. There are some things you can illustrate that you aren’t able to say in words, and the comic/graphic novel format gives you the power to have the option to pick which way you want to express your idea; there is more freedom. As far as limitations go, one of them has to be the stigma around comics; I think people are missing out on great books/stories/comics because they think they’re childish or think they’re unintelligent and not scholarly. I never thought negatively about comics, otherwise I wouldn’t have taken this class, but I think that my opinion on them has grown even more favorably after this course. We’ve learned that there are so many different types of literature that would be considered under the comic genre, and I think that’s awesome because it makes comics more accessible to anyone; theirs is certainly a story out there for everyone if you just look.