random comic review – “The Last Christmas”
I could not stop laughing at the enthusiasm and accuracy in the delivery of this review. I’m so happy I have this comic / have outstanding Godparents who know me so well. Don’t know whether it’s the best comic to teach, but… as far as graphic novel combos go, santa and the undead go together like strawberries and cream.

Clips definitely help shape who Alison Bechdel is and what she’s like. Bechdel seems very playful but also grounded and directed as far as clearly stating what her messages are in her work and why she thinks they’re important. She often relates back to her own childhood and her coming-out experience when she addresses the subject of homosexuality.

After Nathelie’s presentation, we spent the remainder of the class discussing some of the literary elements taking place in “Percepolis.” As a class we analyzed the importance of role reversals and the significance of the veil in the novel.
In a country where even history changes depending on who comes into power, the manipulation of history and role reversals is prevalent. Sometimes it is difficult to keep up with the “truth.” When the teacher contradicts what was previously taught, Marji questions her and is reprimanded. Marji herself encounters personal role reversals in her character. In the middle of a shopping trip in which Marji exudes a great sense of confidence, a bomb explodes toward the end of her street. Frightened for her loved ones, she rapidly sheds the persona of a confident adult and seeks comfort from her mother.
The veil is often used as a metaphor to convey that she must often hide her true identity to stay safe from figures of authority. When she is stopped by one of the scary “preservers of religion” ladies after purchasing the tapes, one of the first things the lady remarks is that Marji is wearing her veil incorrectly. She goes on to impugn Marji’s Nikes, denim jacket, and Michael Jackson pin. Marji, who is usually quick on her feet when she finds herself in trouble, spins a tall tale about a dead mother and an abusive stepmother, successfully wheedling her way out of a dangerous situation – the veil representing the lie behind which Marji must hide. Another example of the veil representing a lie is when her mother confronts her about skipping school (pg 113) and Marji, the veil covering her face, lies to her mother about having gone to class.

It’s interesting to break down how these feelings of social inferiority work through three different angles. Mortification is the vehicle for prejudice: the monkey king gets ridiculed at the dinner party, Jin is embarrassed by his introduction the ignorant teacher presents to the class, and Danny is ashamed to an almost excruciating extent of his cousin Chin-kee, who embodies all the Asian stereotypes out there. All three of these characters abandon their values in order achieve respectable status in their various social outlets: Jin and Danny want to be seen as an equal among classmates, and the monkey king wants to be recognized in heaven. In an attempt to mimic the rules of heaven the monkey king forces his subjects to wear shoes, then leaves them behind unprotected to seek heavenly approval. Jin chastises Wei-Chen when he speaks to Jin in Mandarine, and Danny does his best to push away his cousin Chinkee. In trying to adjust their station in life, these changes manifest literally: Jin gets a perm, the monkey king’s humanoid body, and Danny…(find out later!) of course, his metamorphosis is much more abstract. It’s important to note how all of these characters progressively degrade throughout American Born Chinese. It seems as if they trade in their decency, their humanity – their soul – for a “new identity,” when they are who they are the whole time.

Chapters one through three of Watchmen are packed with suspenseful foreshadowing, and contain enough action and subplot to make the history of the characters’ relationships interesting.These chapters use politics, metafiction, and the Watchmen’s familial controversy to build up the comic’s mystery.
The political aspect is used both realistically – in that America was once very wary of the Soviet Union’s political movement – and as a tool to reveal how heavily the United States relies on Doctor Manhattan. When the Soviet Union relizes that Doctor Manhattan has abandoned the U.S., they take advantage of the situation. To demonstrate their worldly power, the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. It is apparent that Doctor Manhattan is a vital tool in America’s national defense system, but I’m sure there is more to the political reference that the comic has yet to reveal.
There is a subplot in Watchmen: the pirate comic, which acts as both a subplot and a metafictional reminder that Watchmen is a comic. This is driven home by the mention of superhero comics throughout the novel, specifically in the diary of Hollis Mason, and also on page twenty-five of chapter three. The news vendor says, “Y’know, super-heroes are finished. These days, it’s all pirates. Back in ’39, before the real masked men showed up, super-hero comics were enormous. Guess their appeal wore off…” This is a loaded statement. He is describing the popularity of hostile pirate adventures since the super-hero storylines have vanished from the comic scene, but he’s also referring to the rise of crime in society since the “real” superheroes ceased their vigilantism. This is foreshadowing events to come following the abandonment of Doctor Manhattan, but that is the extent of information the reader is given directly.