Indie Comics

I decided to read Asterios Poylp this week, and was so impressed with the art and writing of it. Current indie comics are all doing this slice of life writing style. Were the writer takes a certain story they want to tell and they will just end it as soon as it becomes not as interesting. In Asterios he does this whole story about how he lost his wife and he has nothing else to live for so he gets on a train and just goes as far as he can go with the money he has in his pocket. Where he learns how much he misses her and goes to find her, I think this is the slice of life story that he is looking for. He brings us in to tell us the backstory of it and then explains what he is going to do then as soon as he gets to her the story ends. This is one of those stories that could last forever, because it’s presented as a life story. He could continue this story with what happens to Asterios and his wife. I think this is a big characteristic of indie comics these days. Another story that meets this is This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki. This story is all about two girls who do a yearly vacation with their families during the summer. The story lasts through one summer and it basically is all about these two girl going through childhood and coming of age. They realize what is right and what is wrong, they observe older people and try to understand what is going on. I think these two stories are similar in the sense that they tell a story in a short period and end it without fully resolving the conflict that they had during the story.

On another note, I think the art in Asterios is amazing it tells the story without even having to read the speech bubbles. The color he uses to set the mood is incredible, for example he uses reds and pinks whenever there is anger, sexual tension, or when he is in love. Being an illustrator I really appreciate when other illustrators use color theory to push the story.