Week 11

This week’s reading for me was Eightball. Unlike most of my other readings, that have all been selecting based on pre-existing notions or impressions, this one was completely random and new to me. I had never even heard of the comic or read a comic or anything in a style like it myself. As for first impressions of Eightball, the very first thing that popped out to me was the art style. It’s a very cartoony depiction but it’s not the typical cute or simple style as usually seen in mainstream media. Instead, this comic has a very disturbing feel to it, very similar to Joan Cornella’s work. Surprisingly, even within that comparison, although Joan’s work is known to be disturbing and ugly at times, its mostly for the content or subject of the comic, not the actual artwork itself. With this comic, I feel like though the message of Joan’s work might be more controversial or disturbing, the artwork of Eightball makes me feel even uneasier. I noticed there is a lot of emphasis and focus on the character’s eyes and how they were shaded, giving a dark circle effect on top of their strange head proportions. I’m sure there are many people out there that appreciate this comic and are fans, but I can’t get passed the art style enough to say I can enjoy the comic. There’s just something very unsettling flipping through these pages and seeing these faces on every one of them.