Week 05 01/04/16 Friday

I had began reading "Men of Tomorrow: The True Story of the Birth of the Superheroes" by Gerard Jones. He approached the American comics' history a differently than David Hajdu, by deatiling the personal lives of significant figures involved in it. I finished the first chapter and it was an interesting read, but it did not relate a lot to my project. I have to be patient when it comes to researching material, I know I will strike gold soon with this book. I did find another book written by Jones that may be of use to me, called "Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Superheroes and Make-Believe Violence". The title alone drew me in, so far I have yet to find a copy through the university or public library; however, there were a lot of reviews regarding this book. I could look at those for a rough idea of what the book is like.

I also spoke to my supervisor on Thursday, discussing my concern with the weak connection of the feeling of creepiness and children's comics. She said that it may not be an issue to be addressed just yet, as my focus could be more on comics as a medium and evaluations on what makes it unique, and how interactive elements could help further that reader participation. This was incredibly helpful and it cleared my mind lot, it also made my research easier as now I just need to focus on what I care about most: comics; and how gaming aspects could create immersion.

So with those in mind, I wrote a new essay plan:

Intro - Present the argument that comics are effective in ways of communication and education
         - Purpose that comics still have potential to evolve

Para. 1 - A brief discussion on the history of comics
            - Mention key events and the people involved
            - Evaluate how comics are now so widespread today
(Books to reference: "Ten-Cent Plague", "Men of Tomorrow"; I may also need to look at comics' history in Japan, though only briefly to get a rough idea)

Para. 2 - Discussion on the elements that make comics unique and effective
            - Use of text and imagery
            - The function of speech bubbles
            - "Cartoonization" (not a key element to comics but can be mentioned, examples include "Bone" and "Tin-Tin")
            - The Gutter and Closure, the heart of comics; these are what makes comics transcend beyond just a hybrid of word and images
(Useful books for this section: "Understanding Comics"; "Comics and Sequential Art"; "The Aesthetics of Comics")

Para. 3 - Comics can be an educational tool
            - Builds on cognitive skills and reader participation
            - Fuels imagination, practices reading in both text and images
(Supporting references: "Killing Monsters"; "Including Graphic Novels in the School Curriculum"; "The Seeing 'I'")

Para. 4 - Comics in the digital age
            - Present that comics are lending their narratives to the gaming industry
            - A brief description of how some comics are attempting to evolve. Some are more welcomed than others; mention the general view on motion comics- why does/ does not it work?
            - How games and interactivity is immersive, and hypothesize that those elements could potentially further the engagement with comic readers
(References/examples: "Wolf Among Us"; "Walking Dead"; "Art of Pho")

More environmental concepts for the project