Week 9: International Comics

The comic I decided to read was Ran Xerox by Tombourini. It has a much different feel from most comics I've read, as far as content and also the art style. It has a very gritty and dark tone, and the pacing is very fast. There's always something going on, and the story is always moving forward so I feel as though there isn't much time to relate the characters and how they are feeling. But they don't shy away from unappealing drawings or characters, which I think is really fascinating.

My one complaint, although this may just be personal preference, is that a lot of the panels feel crowded and hard to focus on. I believe this is because of the color and value choices.

There's also an embrace of more graphic sexual content than a lot of American comics dare to show, which I also find interesting. There are a lot of moments like this with the main character of this comic, and lot of it is arbitrary and doesn't feel connected to the story and more of a choice that the author decided to make for the sake of his own satisfaction. Which isn't a problem, but I think I would appreciate it more if it didn't feel quite so disconnected from the story.

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