Week 12 - Women in Comics

I started to read This One Summer in class, but I never got to finish it. I finally had the chance to do so this week, and it was a pretty entertaining read overall. The drawings are absolutely gorgeous and reminded me of certain ink wash and gouache Photoshop brushes that I really love painting/drawing with. To describe the style of this graphic novel the best I can, it would be if Studio Ghibli movies were crossed over with a CalArts film and then turned into a black and white comic book. It's very appealing regardless.

This story reminds me a lot of those modern, awkward teen, coming of age movies like Eighth Grade, Booksmart, and Lady Bird. Not that it's a bad thing, it's just that I feel like I've seen and heard this story about a million times. But its interesting seeing how the main characters in this story start to take a grasp of what adulthood looks like by taking interest in the conversations/experiences of their parents and the teenagers of the village.

The format of the story is like a regular old graphic novel with cinematic-like panels covering the page. Occasionally, there will be one full page covered with one particular image or sequence. It ranges from flowers blowing in the wind, Rose laying on her bed reading a magazine, or our two protagonists listening to music while one of them ecstatically dances around the room. Usually these pages contain narration from Rose, almost like a diary entry, of the messy things occurring between her/her family while on this vacation (they really fit with the tone of each drawing).

The book doesn't really do a whole lot of new or exciting things outside of telling a pretty down to earth story, but it does have a really beautiful art style which made it worth a read. Not entirely sure if I want to read more stories from the creators, but I am more than down to look at any art pieces they've done in recent years.

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