Wars Case

　　How many wars have we had until now? There probably is not have an exactly answer. Wars exist in every generation. Because of peoples' desires, wars would not be stopped. There are many comic books about wars. Such as Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Palestine by Joe Sacco, Maus by Art Spiegelman， Safe Area Goražde by Joe Sacco and, etc. Charles McGrath once said "One thing the graphic novel can do particularly well, for example, is depict the passage of time, slow or fast or both at once-something the traditional novel can approximate only with empty space." (Not Funnies). According to this sentence, the graphic novel can do particularly well in empty space. I agree with him, especially in the topic about wars. We know wars give us pain, but how authors show the pains. Instead of only word descriptions, comic books' colors, characters' facial expressions, actions and picture designs give us more information and real feelings about how wars happened and how the war influence our life.

　　Color is a special element in comic books. Different color gives us different feelings. Dark colors always let us imagine solemn things. Maus is one of the representations of it. Art Spiegelman uses black and white color to show this serious topic that people do not want to recall. He wants to emphasize how serious the Holocaust is. For example, in the fourth panel on page 83, Spiegelman drew four Jewish people that were hung up. If we use many colors, they world would have not the heavy heart. It gives us more real feelings about the situation they faced. Vietnamerica: A Family's Journey is a story about a family that moved to United State when Vietnam War happened. Tran adds some colors in his works. On page 87, a man lies down because he is hurt. There is a big red space above is head. It is blood. Instead of putting everything in colors, Tran only put blood with red color. He highlights the color of blood to show the reality of the war. When I saw this picture, I felt that this man got real hurt and the war was so cruel. The first thing that jumps into my sight is blood. Colors give us the real feeling about how wars bring us pain.

The facial expressions in characters are showing lot of information. We all have facial expressions. Different expressions represent different feelings. Such as, when you are happy, you will smile. If you are sad, you will cry. In Palestine, Joe Sacco is very focused on the characters' emotions. For example, the first panel on page 161, the man with opening eyes and mouth, his forehead was oozing sweat and sweat was dripping off his brow. Sacco draw three dark lines to highlight he was opening a huge mouth. According to this description of the facial expression that we know that he was so scared and this picture shows how real his ache is. I felt he must saw something that he did not want to see. Another example is the first panel on page 167, there are two boys, the

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