Oh Look, I Read A Book...

The graphic novel I read is entitled “Skim”, with words by Mariko Tamaki and drawings by Jillian Tamaki. Geared towards the insecurities of teenaged girls and those struggling “just trying to fit into” an average high school, this novel tells the story of Kimberly Keiko Cameron, aka Skim. Living in Canada in the early 1990s, Skim encounters a variety of typical and not-so-typical day to day situations.
Although the details of Skim’s story are not aspects of life we all encounter everyday, the way she deals with these situations are universal and therefore make her character relatable. Skim practices Wicca along with her best friend Lisa and is just generally rather cynical when it comes to dealing with normal life situations. Skim’s life is thrown upside down, however, with the suicide of classmate Katie Matthews’ boyfriend and the introduction of Ms. Archer. At first, the death of Katie Matthews’ boyfriend doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of significance to Skim. As the story progresses though, the suicide and how the people around Skim deal with it, coupled with Skim’s growing homosexual relationship with Ms. Archer, cause Skim to question her own existence. As the story begins, Skim is just a slightly eccentric teenager casually trying to make her way through the high school fish bowl. Because of the two aforementioned factors though, Skim is quite changed by the end of the novel. The plot progresses through Skim’s typical interactions with her best friend Lisa, the death of Katie Matthews’ boyfriend, the formation of the Girls Celebrate Life! club by the “popular clique” (Skim’s arch enemies, of course), a relationship with Ms. Archer, the sudden disappearance of Ms. Archer, Skim succumbing to depression, Skim bonding with Katie Matthews’ over how ridiculous everyone is being over the boyfriend’s death, and the separation of Skim and Lisa, as they each find their own life paths. Yup.
The novel’s main theme is about accepting ones self and learning to do what makes you happy and unique. Skim discovers this mainly through conflict with Ms. Archer and conflict with Lisa. Although Skim finds her relationship with Ms. Archer to be new and exciting, it does nothing to make her happy. Ms. Archer leads Skim into something far too mature for an undeveloped Skim to handle and then abruptly leaves town. This is a main contributing factor to Skim’s spiral towards depression. Also contributing to Skim’s depressing slump is her relationship with Lisa. Lisa is Skim’s best friend, but she is overbearing and often exploits Skim’s weaknesses to make herself feel powerful. Lisa often gets upset with Skim for little reasons, adding more stress to Skim’s life as Lisa fails to acknowledge the extent of what Skim is going through. As a result, Skim and Lisa’s friendship fades out as Skim finds companionship with Katie Matthews’ and realizes who and what she actually needs in her life.
This book is clearly geared towards teenaged girls and therefore should be read by such. I can’t really see a 60 year old economics professor getting much enjoyment out of this story. The details of Skim’s story are what make it tolerable, although the plot progression, conflict, theme, and resolution are all extremely typical and predictable. Although this book doesn’t fall anywhere near my top ten list of all time favorite things EVER, the part I enjoyed the most was probably Skim’s break away from Lisa. It showed strength and dimension in Skim’s character, factors that the story had been slightly lacking in previously.

Setting and Such

The graphic novel I am currently reading is entitled "Flight". It's more a collection of short stories rather than a novel. All of the short stories, in some way or another, deal with the topic of flight. 

In the first "short story", entitled "Air and Water" by Enrico Casarosa, the time period seems to be  World War Two era. This is indicated because of the type of air plane the character is flying and the type of head gear (goggles, leather hat, ect.) he is wearing. It is difficult to say, however, if this character represents the ideals of the time period in which he is placed. He is clearly not human (maybe a dog type animal?). I guess you could say he represent male dominance of the early part of the century, since this character is a male flying a World War Two type plane and the author did not choose to show a woman in the pilot seat. This particularly short little story probably wouldn't have been much different if it had been set in a differnt time period, considering how vauge it is. The aparatus he is flying would be more modern if it was set later, but that wouldn't change the overall theme of the story. However, the story could not have occured 50 years earlier than it does because planes were not yet invented and such a story wouldn't even be fathomable. The setting as it is is entirely fictional because some sort of fury creature is flying an airplane. What the character is doing is realistic for a human to do though, and the messege of the story also remains very real. 

Characters... In Skim by Mariko Tamaki

I have just finished reading Skim by Mariko Tamaki and the main character of the story, the protagonist, is Kimberly Keiko Cameron, aka Skim. The antagonist and the cause of most of Skim's teenage angst is her teacher, Ms. Archer. At points, it could also be argued that Skim's best friend Lisa is also an antagonist character. Skim's strengths include her ability to overcome the social norms around her. She develops an intimate relationship with Ms. Archer, despite the social faux-pas that surround such relationships. Ms. Archer, in return, shows strength by the way her present begins to entirely rule Skim's life. Skim's strength, however, is what ultimately triumphs in the end as she moves on from her harmful relationship. She also moves away from her harmful relationship with her best friend Lisa, who constantly has a grip on Skim's life. 

The reader is drawn to these characters by their many realistic characters. This is a book targeted towards teenage girls that uses teenage girls to convey circumstances, albeit slightly quirky, that are relevant to the lives of teenaged girls. Skim is a social outcast and totally relatable to all girls around her age who generally, at some point or another, feel as though they don't belong. This plays on emotional familiarity, despite some of Skim's quirky characteristics such as her belief in Wicca and homosexual relationship with her teacher. However, Skim's story, despite the quirks, offers hope for teenage girls that their lives are going to turn out alright... 

Graphic Novel of Choice - The Plain Janes

I have just finished reading "The Plain Janes" by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg. Entirely black and white, this novel follows the basic layout of most comic books. The graphics boxes, arranged to follow the rule of thirds, are slightly larger than those generally seen in comic books however. Three to six boxes fill a page on average and text bubbles are used for dialogue. Throughout the book, the boxes are usually arranged horizontally on one page and then vertically on the complimenting page. This allows for organization of the story, while still keeping it visually interesting and varied. It also helps to emphasize the importance of particular events and draw the eye away from events that may be slightly less important to the overall comprehension of the story. 

For this novel, the graphic aspect was a huge selling point of the story. Honestly, had the story been presented as a traditional novel, I probably wouldn't have stuck it out. It's a pretty basic plot line of a young girl triumphing over social norms and discovering herself in the process. AKA the plotline of virtually every other book written specifically for teenaged girls. The drawing style is fairly basic, using block-y shapes and not a TON of really specific details. A lot of detail isn't really necessary though because the point is still made effectively. The novel is printed in black and white, I would assume for cost purposes, considering the book is marketed towards teenaged girls who generally aren't huge graphic novel readers. Its also produced by an indepentent publishing company without unlimited resources. I didn't find this to be a deterant to the story though. It was a fairly basic story complimented by fairly basic drawings and design. Text placement was very straigh forward and clearly mapped out, which made the story easy to read.   

Ages of Comic Books

Platinum Age of Comics - The earliest comic era, generally regarded as having occured between the very end of the 19th century until the start of the Golden Age, comics began to take the form we see them in today, the Yellow Kid is the most common example of a comic from this era

Golden Age of Comics - lasted from the late 1930s to the late 1940s, during this time the idea of the superhero was created and define

d, famous superheroes such as Batman, Captain America, and Wonder Woman made their debuts, the end of the Golden Age is marked by gritty crime and horror comics.

Silver Age of Comics - predominantly featured the "superhero archetype", arose after the creation of the Comics Code Authority (created to curb violence in comics), lasted from 1956 to the late 1960s and early 1970s, considered a major commercial peak of comic book history, notable artists include Gene Colon, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby. Notable events include the first appearance of Spiderman, the Hulk, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four.

 

Bronze Age of Comics - early 1970s to mid 1980s, darker plot elements and more mature story lines follow real world issues, often said to have started with Jack Kirby's departure from Marvel comics, period is also marked by the ending of war, romance, and western genres. Key comic book topics included Spiderman's drug use, the first appearance of Elektra in the Daredevil comics, and the first appearance of Dracula in any comics.

Modern Age of Comics - generally considered to last from the mid-1980s up to present day, comics are darker and more psychologically complex, also known as th

e "Dark Age of Comics", the increase of independent publishers is seen, restoration of many Silver Age elements has been seen, the modern era has seen the rise of the "anti-hero" many times

 portrayed as a dark psychopath, the outstanding sucess of the X-Men franchaise led to an increase in comics about superhero teams, notable comic book characters that have debuted during this era include the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hellboy, and The Goon.