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Post by BubblesZine on Jan 2, 2023 13:17:25 GMT
Every time I do an interview, when I type it out after I see parts I wish I asked more about in the moment. With Acting Class I wish I talked to him more about the religious aspect. How he's exploring the feeling of people that find religion later in life, and they find that it's everything they've wanted.
From the interview, referring to Angel: "Somehow she meets this teacher who's able to do that even if it's in a manipulative or unhealthy way. But it works for her. I was thinking, okay that must be the appeal of a group or a religion.
Maybe it's just my personal interest in religion (raised catholic for 18 years, not really religious anymore). But I really like how Drnaso shows the some of the characters finding something to believe in. I mean how great would it feel to believe in religion? To have someone tell you there's a god that loves you, there's this huge community of friends in the church that love you, and after you die heaven awaits you. I think of an old friend of mine who converted to Mormonism, or the Jehovah Witnesses I know. I find their lives somewhat sad, but that doesn't mean I'm happier than them. I'm probably not. So with Acting Class you see the final scene and you think, Angel wasn't happy before the book, and now she's feeling great. So what's the harm? And again part of me sees harm, but again I go back in a circles sympathizing with that reasoning to want to believe in John Smith.
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Post by BubblesZine on Mar 30, 2023 13:58:10 GMT
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Post by bluebed on Mar 30, 2023 14:53:29 GMT
I definitely imagined it as a long, hypnotic animated thing as I was reading it, the style would work so well with deliberately wonky layered animation, different framerates, overlayed cuts, etc. Can work as a live action thing too, though so much of the pacing/atmosphere comes from the way he draws faces (Jason produces this effect with blank eyes too, when you the rhythm of the book taking over everything). I loved Acting Class way more than Sabrina, especially all the unexpected humor. The dog sequence is still haunting me...
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Post by mikesheawright on Jun 2, 2023 23:58:17 GMT
i didn't love Sabrina and wasn't super interested in this but i found a copy for free on a stoop so i grabbed it. i liked this one more, the vibe suits the themes and it's consistent to the max. but, not trying to be combative here, but this stuff doesn't really feel like comics to me? it's so dry and so flat that it just flashes by like a... storyboard? his sort of instruction manual style is definitely not for me, and i don't pick up on any of the inventiveness that seems to be directed at his work. someone like Schrauwen is using this stiff character look in infinitely more interesting ways IMHO. i think calling this "literary" works pejoratively here, in that the story and themes would've come across just as effectively without images, maybe moreso? in a visual medium i don't really understand why anyone would want to draw this, it felt almost like an adaptation of a story from a different medium?
might be worth crossing over into the repetition thread in terms of how many shot-reverse-shot heads-talking panels there are in this book. it's also entirely possible that i had a knee-jerk reaction to this one solely because i would have quit drawing this at page 3 if anyone hired me to do it.
this probably sounds kind of harsh but i just finished it and had a pretty adverse reaction to it. i have a hard time imagining many of the ny times crowd picking this up as a gateway graphic novel to more inventive stuff. not that everything has to be inventive or avante-garde but i've seen a lot of people talking about how this is pushing the medium in new directions and i kind of feel like it's dragging it backwards? my hope is always that when something crosses over it has something special in it that only comics can do, and new comics readers might pick up on it as like a "oh THIS is why this is special" and seek out more of it.
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Post by arecomicsevengood on Jun 3, 2023 15:32:21 GMT
I see I mentioned I had something written about this but didn't say where it was going to run, it's in issue 309 of The Comics Journal, with the Jesse Jacobs/Koyama Press cover. It's not out yet but I got a contributor copy in the mail. My take is pretty similar to what Mike just said, but it runs for a few pages.
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Post by BubblesZine on Jun 3, 2023 16:28:47 GMT
I don't understand why Nick Drnaso should consider the NY Times Crowd when he's making his own book, or the fact that maybe it won't lead them to other comics? I mean, that's not his problem? That's their problem, that's culture's problem. To put that weight on his shoulders in kind of silly, he's just a cartoonist making his art and it just so happened that one of the books struck a cord with the "mainstream".
I personally feel like when you read Acting Class or Sabrina you get the "full meal" feeling after you read it, a lot happens, a lot to be discussed. And I think that feeling would drive new readers to want to check out comics, although many won't give that "full meal" feeling. I think what Drnaso's art does is really slow down the medium. His play with pacing is something that had me so excited about Sabrina when that came out. The flat art and edward hopper stillness allows time to pass in a really interesting way panel to panel. I think Drnaso controls time and readers expectations in an amazing way. In Acting Class no page reads as a single "page" really, it's all designed to flow into one story. I thought Acting Class was also a big step forward in his art and also his ability to play with many characters, who all felt like real people to me. I mean if it's not for you, I'm not gonna argue, but I think he's fantastic.
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Post by mikesheawright on Jun 3, 2023 17:25:18 GMT
I don't understand why Nick Drnaso should consider the NY Times Crowd when he's making his own book, or the fact that maybe it won't lead them to other comics? I mean, that's not his problem? That's their problem, that's culture's problem. To put that weight on his shoulders in kind of silly, he's just a cartoonist making his art and it just so happened that one of the books struck a cord with the "mainstream". I personally feel like when you read Acting Class or Sabrina you get the "full meal" feeling after you read it, a lot happens, a lot to be discussed. And I think that feeling would drive new readers to want to check out comics, although many won't give that "full meal" feeling. I think what Drnaso's art does is really slow down the medium. His play with pacing is something that had me so excited about Sabrina when that came out. The flat art and edward hopper stillness allows time to pass in a really interesting way panel to panel. I think Drnaso controls time and readers expectations in an amazing way. In Acting Class no page reads as a single "page" really, it's all designed to flow into one story. I thought Acting Class was also a big step forward in his art and also his ability to play with many characters, who all felt like real people to me. I mean if it's not for you, I'm not gonna argue, but I think he's fantastic. neat, i like that take. i hadn't thought of it as pacing inventiveness, i was looking more at the visual style for sure, and how that supports the narrative. would be interesting to revisit his stuff with that in mind next time.
i don't think it's his responsibility to consider the ny times crowd at all, i don't think any artist should consider any crowd when making something. it's just always my personal hope that books that "crossover" for whatever reason are things that are maybe... further from something those readers are already familiar with? Acting Class felt very TV-ish and not unique to the comics medium to me. like it will translate to a movie really easily i think. but the pacing aspect is interesting. maybe kind of how like Twin Peaks s3 has all these scenes that go on like 4x longer than that scene normally would in a different show. like the scene "ends" in terms of story beats but then just keeps going and becomes something else.
i dunno, this is all definitely unfair weight coming from me as a reader, i don't believe artists have any actual responsibilities at all haha. his stuff might just not be my thing, but it's interesting to discuss.
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Post by BubblesZine on Jun 3, 2023 17:36:17 GMT
Maybe Acting Class felt a little more cinematic, but I loved scenes in Sabrina like towards the end when Teddy is looking for the cat and the guy is insistent about giving him a ride in his car, and the book has built up this dread, paranoia and expectation, even the fact you're holding only 35 pages left has you on the edge of your seat, and yet it's just an honest nice guy trying to help. The innocent questions "your friend lives around here?" "how can I get in touch with you if I see the cat", with today's evil-world thinking, you're never thinking "nice guy" like maybe we would have 50 years ago, instead it's "he's trying to kill Teddy". I thought it was just one of the brilliant parts. Just flipping to those pages now doesn't give me the same reaction I got when I first read the book in a single setting. I thought it played on expectations in a way only comics could, and yet I hadn't seen any comics do. In film it's always obvious with camera movement, even the unexpected is expected. But here it's something more. There's no music or camera movement or actors moving to hint at anything, it's all happening inside your own head.
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Post by mikesheawright on Jun 3, 2023 20:34:54 GMT
Maybe Acting Class felt a little more cinematic, but I loved scenes in Sabrina like towards the end when Teddy is looking for the cat and the guy is insistent about giving him a ride in his car, and the book has built up this dread, paranoia and expectation, even the fact you're holding only 35 pages left has you on the edge of your seat, and yet it's just an honest nice guy trying to help. The innocent questions "your friend lives around here?" "how can I get in touch with you if I see the cat", with today's evil-world thinking, you're never thinking "nice guy" like maybe we would have 50 years ago, instead it's "he's trying to kill Teddy". I thought it was just one of the brilliant parts. Just flipping to those pages now doesn't give me the same reaction I got when I first read the book in a single setting. I thought it played on expectations in a way only comics could, and yet I hadn't seen any comics do. In film it's always obvious with camera movement, even the unexpected is expected. But here it's something more. There's no music or camera movement or actors moving to hint at anything, it's all happening inside your own head. yeah he does a nice job with not spelling everything out or over-hammering his points and themes even despite how incredibly literal all the images are. i hear what you're saying about subverting expectations, i think i just wish there was a little more meat on that bone. i just re-read your interview with him now that i've read the book, he seems like an interesting dude grappling with some big topics in effective ways, it just falls a little flat for me. maybe it will grow on me over time as i think about it more and revisit.
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