Taco's Blog

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Craig Thompson has created such an incredible piece of work in Blankets. The Slice of Life story tell the tale of his super religious upbringing and his acts of falling in love. His relationship with his little brother and dramatic religious life at the start spoke to me. I am the youngest of my brothers but i have also felt like the world's shittiest brother at times. Hell, when i was super little i would kick my brother in the balls or face whenever he would tickle me too much. Even recently i had a serious talk with my brother and i realized how much of a dick i have been after letting the stress of Ringling get to me. Yet i have overcome those hard and stressful moments because they where there and listened to me whenever i was feeling depressed and always encouraged me to try my hardest and to never lose faith in my self or God. My family isn't SUPER religious but we are Christians and my mother does have a lot of faith. To be 100% honest i don't tend to think much abo...

Ive never been one to see Comic Books as a medium specifically for a certain audience. For me, they have always been universal simply because of the sheer amount of diverse heroes and stories that one could tell. As a kid, i used to love stopping by the Scholastic Book Fair and picking the coolest new comics. They didn't come in often but when they did, i was there ASAP with my money in hand. I used to love Spiderman, to me he was always a badass and a super relatable character that put me in my path of drawing. As i grew, i broadened my horizons and began reading DC Comics more often. As a young teenager, reading the adventures of Batman and Robin was something that i loved and i couldn't wait for my Dad to take me to the Bookstore every day. Nowadays i tend to lean towards Superman as my favorite Hero. Something about his positivity and whole concept of Hope fills me with happiness and a peace of mind whenever i hear about all the bad things happening in the world these days....

As a kid, i would beg my Dad every so often to let me see the new comic strips in the local newspaper. He would often buy them and tear out the pages with the comics in them and give them to me so i could just take in the silly jokes. Being from Puerto Rico, our comics usually where from local cartoonists or followed character that where popular in latin america. The most popular one that comes to mind is Pepito. Im pretty sure every Puerto Rican knows who Pepito is. Following the an art style similar to that of Calvin and Hobbes, Pepito was a little boy who would constantly get in trouble with his teachers or other grown ups because of his silly pranks or perverted behavior. The character is typically divided into 2 types of humor. Theres the silly kid friendly version seen in newspapers where he just says funny/dumb things and then theres the more adult oriented version often seen in the web as comics or animated videos. The character design itself changes in each one of these interp...

Understanding Comics is an obligatory read for all graphic novelists and comic book creators out there. The idea of using a comic in order to explain how comics work is pure genius. Scott McCloud tackles the fundamentals of comics and the more lesser known facts in order to teach you everything you need to know before you start developing or even reading comics. He drives home the meaning of audience perspective, artistic styles, and the understanding of movement and the passage of time within the pages and the art form. My personal favorite moment was his explanation of style and the way it can help amplify the story being conveyed. He explains that by stripping down the identity of a person to the core fundamentals (such as eyes, ears, mouth, and nose) and ignoring the smaller details, it broadens the spectrum of who that person might be, allowing for the reader to invest themselves even more than what a "realistic" image might offer. I recommend this read to anyone who has...

The Arrival tells the story of a father who travels to a foreign land searching for work that will help him better support his family. At first, he arrives at this new world and everything is completely different in every way to what he is used to. He has trouble getting around because of the intricate design of the streets and buildings and doesn't speak the language. Yet as time passes, he begins to become accustomed and learns how to be in this "new world". It is then that his family finally arrives and he is once again reunited with his loved ones. This tale was incredible. It really peels off certain vital elements of storytelling yet does not suffer in the slightest. The entire story is told by the images and the body language of the character(s). The art itself helps further drive the point of a distant new land as certain things, such as the people, remain recognizable yet the structure of the world and the look of the creatures that live in it are not as define...