When I sat down this morning to read Maus I was expecting it not to go well. I know, It’s a awfully negative way to start something but, I have previously read religion based comic’s and found them to be a difficult read, since I am not too interested in history. Either way I was in a good mood, I actually had spared the few hours to sit down and read this without the stress of other deadlines and, I was happily surprised that I enjoyed this and even finished reading the whole thing rather quickly.
In previous essay’s this semester i really focus on the art work, and I will again in this essay for a bit. What can I say, honestly I really am a picture reader by nature and 9 times out of 10 find myself almost skimming the words. Let me just say, the art in this really pleases me. I might even go as far as to say it’s adorable, and perfect alongside the story. Since the subject matter is serious and all, Spiegelman really made a good choice in simplification of style. The whole ‘each-race-is-a-animal’ works nicely as well for the subject matter. It leaves no room for error, in a good way. No matter who is reading it, the iconic image of each race being a animal is an instant read. Even for me and my habit of skimming periodically, whether you read the words of the pictures, the iconic nature of it helps you instantly know where the story is going.
Specifically one thing I really enjoy about the story is the personalities he gives to the characters. Since everyone of the same race is identified with a extremely similar iconic image it became important to me to look at the personalities of the characters to identify them. The father, who is the one telling this whole story is great. Spiegelman creates very small scenarios that break from story telling time to the real world very cleverly. Towards the beginning he is knocking over pills and blaming his son for his clumsiness. Little things like this make me laugh. It gives his characters a human side even while being identified as an animal. It also helps connect with the characters, like now i know this guy, I know his personality and can connect that personality back to his character later on.
When it comes to art, value, balance, penmanship, etc. Spiegelman know’s what he is talking about. The pages are beautiful and clear and easy to read. Even the placement of word balloons and text/writing is easy to follow. the very basic set-up of panels still seems exciting just because of his shapes and lights/darks that he creates in each panel. Overall amazing visuals. I definitely want to look at more of his work in the future.
