FLOG! Entries tagged 'Umpteen Millionaire Club'

The Umpteen Millionaire Club: Discussion Questions for Julio's Day

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[The Umpteen Millionaire Club is our series which puts forth book club discussion questions for Fantagraphics titles. The Comics Journal interns Brooke Chin, Tom Graham and Toby Liebowitz put together this set of questions. As this is intended for those who have read the book and contains spoilers, questions can be found behind the jump. - Ed.]

Julio’s Day is a graphic novel by Gilbert Hernandez that spans the hundred-year life of one man. It opens with his birth; it follows Julio and his family and friends in a small farming village as successive generations are born and die. Packed within the pages is a range of human experience: a soldier goes to war and is changed; evil in the family goes unaddressed; and there’s the blue worm. We follow Julio to the end, which is much as the beginning, or, to quote Samuel Beckett, "the same day, the same second."

1. How does the blue worm function symbolically or metaphorically? What is the relationship of the blue worm with the rain and the mud?

2. What do you make of the dismembered soldier and the overall treatment of war?

3. The introduction to the book, by Brian Evenson, opens with the aforementioned Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett quotation. Do you detect literary allusions and/or influences in the graphic novel itself, and, if so, which ones?

4. How are the cycles of birth/death treated in the story? How does the Beckett line that starts off the introduction resonate throughout the book?

5. How are gender roles and sexuality portrayed in Julio's Day? What comparisons can be drawn between the static characters and those that evolve?

6. Julio and Julio Juan are homosexual. How are their sexual identities shaped by the times they live in, respectively?

7. How do the splash panels of weather and landscapes serve as a contrast to the human interaction in the story? What other purposes does it serve? How do they function as transitions?

8. What narrative or artistic techniques does the cartoonist use to convey the passage of time, and how does that impact your reading of the story?

9. What is the significance of Julio's name being passed on through the generations?

10. Why is this graphic novel titled Julio's Day? What is, in fact, Julio's day?

The Umpteen Millionaire Club: Discussion Questions for The Heart of Thomas

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[The Umpteen Millionaire Club, our series which puts forth book club discussion questions for Fantagraphics titles, turns its attention to The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio. The Comics Journal interns Tom Graham, Nomi Kane and Jack McKean put together this set of questions. – Ed.]

Summary:

The Heart of Thomas is a manga by Moto Hagio about students in a German boarding school for boys. The boys deal with tragic death, romantic love amongst each other and have more lighthearted concerns about popularity, rumors and cliques.

Questions:

How does the story address gender conventions or stereotypes?

How do the characters deal with complex emotions that they seem too young to handle, such as unrequited love, intense guilt and/or feeling culpable?

How does the story portray dealing with loss?

Discuss the use of Christian imagery and how it impacts your reading of the story.

Is there abuse going on in this story? If so, how do you respond to the way it's portrayed?

What visual devices does the cartoonist use to indicate narrative techniques such as foreshadowing, symbolism, flashback, etc.?

Discuss Hagio's choice to set the story in Germany. How might it be important (or not?).

The Heart of Thomas was originally published in 1974 and based on a 1964 French movie, which in turn was based on the 1943 semi-autobiographical French novel Les amitiés particulières. How might you read it differently given its historical context? Does this impact your reading of the story?

How do the characters' relationships with their parents figure into the broader story and their personalities and desires?

Does this book have a message? If so, what might its message be?

The Umpteen Millionaire Club: Discussion Questions for Barack Hussein Obama

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[For this installment of The Umpteen Millionaire Club (which perhaps should be renamed The Umpteen 1% Club for the occasion), The Comics Journal interns Kristen Bisson, Aiden Fitzgerald, Tom Graham, Janice Lee & Anna Pederson put together this series of discussion questions about Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman for use in book clubs. – Ed.]

Summary:

Barack Hussein Obama is a collection of absurdist four-panel gag strips featuring the Head of State, his family and numerous political friends and foes.

Barack Hussein Obama Book Club Questions:

What does this book have to say about Obama’s role as a statesman and/or figurehead?

Is this book making a political statement? If so, what is that statement?

Discuss the significance of characters’ transformations: i.e. head sizes, into birds, into trees.

What effect does showing the characters’ personal lives — even fictionally — have on our view of their political lives?

What picture does the book paint about the future of politics?

How is religion portrayed?

What does the book say about media culture in politics?

The Umpteen Millionaire Club: Discussion Questions for Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse

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[The Comics Journal interns Ben Horak, Kara Krewer, Janice Lee and Jennifer Williams put together this series of discussion questions about Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 2: Trapped on Treasure Island by Floyd Gottfredson for use in book clubs. As this is intended for those who have read the book and contains spoilers, questions about specific storylines can be found behind the jump. – Ed.]

BACKGROUND

Find examples of Gottfredson's use of black to navigate the eye through the actions in the comic.

These adventure strips contain some dark subject matter, including lynching, cannibalism, murder and death. How does this reflect the public's state of mind during the Depression era?

How does Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse inform contemporary Mickey? In what ways has Mickey changed or evolved as a character?

THE GREAT ORPHANAGE ROBBERY

What is the significance of the characters choosing to put on Uncle Tom's Cabin as a play in the context of the storyline?

When things go wrong, Mickey and his friends are often met with distrust, despite their previous good deeds. On the same note, authority figures and law enforcement are portrayed, at different times, as bumbling, ambivalent, or vindictive. What can contemporary readers deduce about the 1930s-era audience's views regarding crime and corruption?

MICKEY MOUSE SAILS FOR TREASURE ISLAND

Do you consider the natives that Mickey encounters human or an animal? What about Mickey? How are they drawn and portrayed compared to Spooks the gorilla?

On pg. 92, the white god is drawn holding a frying pan and a spear. What does this combination of weapons say about this character?

On pg. 93, Minnie assaults one of the pirates by spanking him (with a club). How does this action compare to the male characters' actions (punches, spears and cannons)?

BLAGGARD CASTLE

The evil professors use a visivox, a surveillance tool, to keep an eye on Mickey. What do you gather were Gottfredson's views on privacy in the 1930s?

What's the significance of the evil professors being portrayed as apes? What animals have other enemies been portrayed as?

On pg. 113, Mickey and Horace come across a knight's armor that proclaims it is "the Spirit of Scientific Progress." Upon inspection of the armor, Mickey states that its empty. What does this joke say about how people might have viewed scientific progress during the 1930s?

How does Mickey's personality change in "Blaggard Castle"?

How does the tone of "Blaggard Castle" differ from that of earlier stories?

THE MAIL PILOT

"Whenever you have a job, no matter how hard it is, or how much you hate t' do it, just buckle down an' remember, th' mail must go through! See what I mean? Before ya know it, th'job's done...an' ya feel just swell!" (170)

"Lissen! He's all th' better because he came from a glue factory, 'cause with that bad start it took just that much more nerve to win! It's not where a guy comes from...it's where he goes that counts! I wouldn't sell Tanglefoot for a million dollars!" (206)

How do these two quotes, from the "Mail Pilot" and "Mickey Mouse and His Horse Tanglefoot" respectively, reflect American ideals?

MICKEY MOUSE AND HIS HORSE TANGLEFOOT

Does the story of Mickey Mouse and His Horse Tanglefoot endorse a life of crime, a life of hard, honest work, or something else entirely?

THE CRAZY CRIME WAVE

Many of the other early stories are about Mickey and his friends acquiring goods or money. In "Crime Wave," though, the goal seems to be more about making Drippy's detective business a success. Is there anything significant about this shift for Mickey?

The Umpteen Millionaire Club: Discussion Questions for The Last Rose of Summer

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[The Comics Journal intern Brittany Matter put together this series of discussion questions about Monte Schulz's novel The Last Rose of Summer for use in book clubs. As this is intended for those who have read the book and contains spoilers, the questions can be found behind the jump. Monte Schulz appears tomorrow, June 2, 2011, at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco to discuss his work and that of his late father, Charles M. Schulz. – Ed.]

Synopsis:

The second book in Monte Schulz’ Jazz Age trilogy (the first, This Side of Jordan, was released in 2009; the last, The Big Town, will be released in 2012), The Last Rose of Summer examines the relationships among three women under the same roof in late 1920s Bellemont, East Texas: Maude, Marie and Rachel. Marie and her two small children, Cissie and Henry, are sent by her husband Harry to live with his mother Maude while he is on business elsewhere. Marie observes her sister-in-law Rachel’s tempestuous love life while trying to abide by Maude’s house rules, keep track of her children and provide for her family. When a boy is found dead in the river, Marie worries that his killer may still be lurking in the shadows. As a Northerner, she is also disturbed by the town’s overt racism, especially that of her in-laws. Meanwhile, she resists the advances of her boss, Jimmy Delahaye.

Relationships

Is Marie justified in kissing another man as her husband has, in a sense, abandoned her and her children to the care of his mother?

Marie and Harry aren’t in communication throughout the book; Harry’s character is developed through old letters and the characters’ memories. What effect does this have? Describe the character of Harry and what he represents.

How are Maude, Marie and Rachel defined by their relationships with men? How do these women change in the absence of men?

Are Rachel’s, Maude’s and Marie’s actions at the end of the book “in character” with their behavior at the beginning of the book? Why or why not?

Themes

Compare and contrast how Schulz portrays Southern and Northern whites’ attitudes toward race in the 1920s.

What is the significance of automobile and airplane accidents (i.e.: the auto accident at the restaurant where Marie works; Marie’s son, Henry, getting nearly run over by the green Franklin and CW in his aeroplane)?

What do you think Cissie’s miniature circus signifies?

The Last Rose of Summer and This Side of Jordan

The first book and the last book in this trilogy are stories about boys and men; what effect does it have for the middle book to be about female protagonists in three different stages of their lives?

All three books occur just before the Great Depression hits. How did that affect your reading? How does Schulz use the past to comment on the present?

Schulz calls back to This Side of Jordan with Mr. Laswell’s circus and Cissie’s adventure under the house. What effect does restaging these events with different characters and from a different point of view have?

Why do you think the author has his characters leave their hometown of Farrington, Illinois to discover themselves and experience life, just to return at the end of his stories?

The Umpteen Millionaire Club: Discussion Questions for Freeway

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[The Comics Journal intern Laura Pieroni put together this series of discussion questions about Mark Kalesniko's Freeway for use in book clubs. As this is intended for those who have read the book and contains spoilers, the conclusion of the synopsis and the questions can be found behind the jump. – Ed.]

Synopsis:

Alex, Mark Kalesniko's recurring dog-headed character, has been stuck in Los Angeles traffic for longer than he can remember. In fact, Alex has been stuck in traffic through multiple time periods and alternate lives.

Freeway is a non-linear compilation of various alternate realities centered on Alex and his dream of being an animator at Babbitt Jones Studios. Alex takes readers through his memories as a child dreaming of a career in animation and into his experiences working that same dream job turned nightmare. Through the story Alex also has multiple visions of violently dying, and a fantasy of what it might have been like to work at Babbitt Jones during its Golden Age when the animators were treated like royalty instead of assembly-line workers.

While Alex struggles with the disillusionment of working at Babbitt Jones Studios and its disheartening office politics, he tries to maintain a relationship with a co-worker whose family won't leave them alone. Unfortunately for Alex, nothing he dreamed about works out the way he had thought they would and he winds up angry, alone, and possibly dead.

Discussion Questions:

1. How do fiction and autobiography interplay in Freeway? For example, what can readers infer from Alex's experiences at Babbitt Jones Studios about the author's experiences at Disney?

2. Why does Alex have visions of his own violent death? What do these visions say about how Alex feels about his job, relationships, and life?

3. Who is the mysterious girl in the car that Alex keeps seeing? What does she represent to him and why does he continue to try and speak with her?

4. Why does the Alex in the Golden Age of animation have a human head instead of the dog-head Alex has in all of the other scenarios?

5. What is Mark Kalesniko saying with this graphic novel about the American Dream?

6. Who are the shadowy gangsters and why are they following Alex? Are they real, or just another fantasy?

7. What does Alex's last words, "Hooray for Hollywood," say about the book as a whole?

8. The last panel shows an empty chair that young Alex used to spend a lot of time in watching TV. What does this last image say about the end, and beginning, of this story?

9. What do Alex's interactions with the religious man in the restaurant and the flower girl in the airport say about his views on religion and spirituality?

10. Which ending do you think is the "real" ending? Is there a "real" ending?

The Umpteen Millionaire Club: Discussion Questions for Castle Waiting Vol. 2

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[The Comics Journal interns Laura Pieroni and Chi-Wen Lee put together a series of discussion questions about Linda Medley's Castle Waiting Vol. 2 for use in book clubs. As these questions are intended for those who have read the book, please be warned that they may contain mild spoilers. – Ed.]

Synopsis:

Linda Medley's fairy-tale misfits are back in the second volume of Castle Waiting. While some of Castle Waiting's residents reminisce, a Hammerling pair ventures to the castle for assistance in putting together a woman's wardrobe. In return for Lady Jain's help with the clothes, the Hammerlings assist in the unearthing of a secret passageway. Castle inhabitants' pasts are revealed through flashbacks: Dr. Fell's dark history with the plague, Lady Jain's childhood experiences with her betrothed and evil half-sisters, and the story of Simon's father are brought to light.

Discussion Questions:

Genre and History

What are some of the ways that Linda Medley stays faithful to the "fantasy" genre, and in what ways does she break from it?

The second volume reveals Dr. Fell's past as a doctor during the Black Plague; what effect does incorporating historical events/facts into the story have?

What part does Christianity play in the series?

How does Sister Peace interpret the role of the nun? How is she the same or different from a traditional nun?

Relationships

What is the relationship between Leeds and Sister Peace?

How has Pindar affected those living in the castle?

What can the reader infer from Jain's relationships with Tylo and Pindar's father?

What is the relationship between the Hammerlings and humans?

What is the relationship between Jain and her (half?) sisters?

Themes

At one point in the story, Flora is trapped in the armory pen to keep her from chewing out of the wooden one; how does this reflect Jain's situation in the castle?

Sister Peace, Simon and Mr. Rackham exhibit traits that are atypical of traditional gender roles. What are these characteristics, and how does this affect their interactions with the other members in the castle?

What does this say about the author's view on traditional roles?

The Umpteen Millionaire Club: Discussion Questions for Lucky in Love

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[The Comics Journal interns Andrew Davis and Chi-Wen Lee put together a series of discussion questions about Stephen DeStefano & George Chieffet's Lucky in Love Book 1: A Poor Man's History for use in book clubs. As these questions are intended for those who have read the book, please be warned that they may contain mild spoilers. – Ed.]

Synopsis:

At age 15, the only things on Lucky's mind are women, sex, movies, and, to some degree, the war. He fantasizes about being a hero, much like in the Tex Stengler films his friends and he watch. When he does enlist, however, it appears his "heroic" adventures consist of nothing more than removing guns from warplanes and failed attempts to get a girl. But the war has still changed Lucky in some way; whether he is conscious of it or not, he becomes more aware of social and racial perceptions.

Discussion Questions:

What function does the book's disclaimer about characters' usage of racial slurs serve? Did the characters' usage of these terms affect your perception of the story?

How racially accepting is Lucky? Does he grow more fair-minded throughout the book?

In the story, has Lucky actually been "lucky" in any sense of the word?

Is Lucky ever "in love"?

Can you detect influences in Stephen DeStefano's artwork?

How is Lucky's encounter with the prostitute significant beyond being his first sexual experience?

Is Lucky a hero for serving in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II?

Why is the third chapter entitled "Lucky Triumphant"?

Since the war had ended, Lucky's life in "Lucky Triumphant" takes a different tone compared to the first two chapters. Does the third chapter continue any threads begun earlier?

Did Lucky accomplish anything during his early years (the course of this book)? Does it matter?

The Umpteen Millionaire Club: discussion questions for Wally Gropius

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Summer 2010 interns Ian Burns, Melissa Gray, Jamie Hibdon, Kailyn Kent, Michael Litven and Christina Texeira put together a series of discussion questions about Tim Hensley's Wally Gropius for use in book clubs. As these questions are intended for those who have read the book, please be warned that contain spoilers [We've placed any spoilers behind the jump – Ed.].

How the Story is Told

Wally Gropius is broken up into a collection of small episodes that end with punch lines. How did this affect your reading experience, i.e. your engagement with the story and feelings for the characters?

What affect does solid color instead of detailed backgrounds have on the story? Did they affect the sense of "reality" in the comic?

Do all the visual and textual puns create their own narrative, or do they just exist for humor's sake? Do they add complexity to narrative?

Compare and contrast the punning in the sound effects of Wally Gropius with how other creators use onomatopoeia. How did you respond to that?

References

Wally often mentions Huey Lewis with great appreciation, and Huey even makes an appearance at the end of the book. Do you feel there is a larger significance to the reference of him and his work? If so, what is the significance?

Characters

Walter Gropius is an architect and founder of the Bauhaus school and movement. What, if any, intentional connection is there between the title character and this historical figure? Why is Wally, in the story, always being mistaken for Walter?

What is the relationship between Jillian and Rich Green?

The rape involving "Jillian" and her father is by far the most controversial scene in the book. How is it paralleled in Jillian's abuse of Wally?

Does Jillian have motives and a will of her own or is she only an actor and an extension of Rich Green's scheme to obtain money from Gropius?