Comics: Blondie

I found this assignment rather daunting as I do not consider myself a comic fiend, however when looking at the list of comics to write about I was pleasantly surprised to see a few comics I am familiar with, particularly "Blondie" and "Popeye." I was most drawn to investigate "Blondie" by Chic Young, as I was certain my childhood perception of the comic would change once revisiting it in my 20s. What drew me to this comic when I was young was how attractively drawn the female characters, Blondie and her daughter always looked pretty and well put together and that's how I wanted to be. I was also intrigued, and mostly puzzled about how the everso clumsy and geeky Dagwood managed to snag a beauty like Blondie, and covince her to marry him and later on have his children. After looking into the history of the comic I discovered that Dagwood was from an extremely wealthy family and to my surprise - a well known player among the women of the area. Perhaps he had a charm to him, before he got stripped off his family's wealth due to the family's disapproval of Blondie, who they were convince was a gold digger. The comic follows Blondie and Dagwood in their day-to-day dealings which are humorous as they relate to most marriage and family scenarios and bring forward everyday issues like work stress filtering into the home, a demanding wife, a forgetful husband and so on in a light hearted manner. The comic's blog reports that Blondie and Dagwood appear together "in blissful love and happiness in over 2,300 newspapers all around the world…translated into 35 different languages in 55 countries and read by an estimated 280 million people every day." This is remarkable for a comic that began in the 1930s. 

Reading through the comic in search of discovering how different the feeling of reading with visual aids is in comparison to reading literature with only words, I realized there is indeed a difference. When reading the comic, I found myself looking at the images first before reading the dialogue to try and decipher for myself what was going on without being told, to see if the caricaturist was successful in conveying the message to the reader. In parts I found myself trying to block out the image and only reading the dialogue in order to interpret the situation presented in my own unique way. I was however unsuccessful in my attempt to read without looking at the pictures, as your eye is so drawn to the images, especially once so well illustrated. Reading comics is a whole new reading experience, unlike reading a non-graphic novel, here you are vividly directed, you are not left wanting or imagining as all is right in front of you. There is no room for making your own assumptions as the answers are right there for you, Dagwood's facial expression as he plops onto the couch after a long day at work and is confronted by Blondie's requests on the house's needs. It is similar to watching a series, only without the long drawn stares and television antics. 

I love how comics have the ability of getting to the point without the long drawn descriptions and planted uncertainties in non-graphic novels, they are a great escape into the storytelling world, without getting lost...