In this day and age, it is extremely easy for just about anyone to partake in social activism. Especially with the rise of technology and its users, bringing awareness to an issue you are passionate about can be done with a single click and tap on the keyboard. In the graphic novel As the World Burns by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan, the current state of the environment and its inevitable downfall is addressed through the use of quirky characters and a satirical voice. The work’s ability to emphasize such a serious issue in a more lighthearted manner makes it able to appeal to wider audiences. Especially with such a time-sensitive issue, this method is a great way to reach various types of people efficiently. It can appeal to children, who absorb the artwork and still retain the overall message. It can also appeal to young adults who are aware of issues such as climate change, capitalism, and the rapidly deteriorating ecosystem of our planet while providing them with more knowledge that they may not have known previously. I think that is why the graphic novel is so effective as a medium to portray this type of message. Because graphic novels are written in a storyboard format, they are easy to follow and make for a quick read. Quickness is an extremely important aspect of the graphic novel medium because they can depict their message in a much shorter time than a typical novel can. Throughout the span of this course, I have been able to learn about life in the Cote D’ivoire, iconic Indian epics, and life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in great depth. Imagine if all these topics were portrayed in textbook format. I would not have been able to gather the same amount of information in the same amount of time. It would have been nearly impossible. However, thanks to the power of graphic novels, it is entirely possible. In addition, As the World Burns was able to build on the snippets of information I had gotten from social media and news sites, allowing me to be more educated on the topics discussed. I was able to learn about the extent of harm being done to our environment, as well as the lack of action people in power take due to greed and power. Because of this graphic novel, I was able to recognize that what is shown in popular media is not always the truth, and that things can be skewed a certain way. I also learned that adding a little humor transforms a hard-to-swallow story into one that inspires me to take a stance in saving the environment we are blessed to live in.
As discussed in Chapter 2 of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics , the Japanese style of comic book art holds several notable quirks. While early manga artists tended to favor simplistic, yet distinct styles that paved the way for a number of internationally renowned characters, contemporary manga artists have since favored a hybrid style that juxtaposes the cutesy, rounded characters of yesteryear with the realistic and richly shaded settings that have since become popular. Building on this, McCloud describes a phenomenon in which Japanese comic artists have used realism to objectify--that is, to emphasize the "otherness" of certain characters, objects, or places--elements of their work and further separate these elements from the reader. I have chosen the work of one of my favorite comic artists, Japanese horror icon Junji Ito, to further illustrate McCloud's point. Though McCloud describes this phenomenon in the context of Japanese comic book art, he is usi...
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