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Geographers at work: comics

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Peggy  Smith

I am not an experienced reader of comics.I am first drawn to the bubbles of the words, then the character's expressions, and finally the background context. Although, some of the scenes have a lot going on which causes me to study the scene more closely.

Samantha Sanchez

I've never actually read a comic. I've simply skimmed through a couple of comics in the past. I've found that I thoroughly enjoy reading comics after reading The Nameless City though. My attention tends to be drawn more toward the images that the words for some reason. I have been examining the images and then reading the words repeatedly in order to ensure that I am reading both the words and the images.

Mack Little

For me, I was really distracted by all of the pictures because it was my first time ever reading a comic book. It was hard to concentrate on the actual text and not make up my own text by just looking at the pictures. I will definitely be reading more comic books in the future.

Ming Ng

I havnt read comics from a book, I have read from the newspaper. The Nameless City is pretty easy to follow and it helps keep things interesting that it is a colored comic. I tend to look at the pictures first then infer what the words are going to say in the panel. Sometimes I go over the pictures and words again so that I understood it.

Jeanette Betancourt

I haven't read comics in a long time, but I really enjoyed "The Nameless City" and I was engage throughout the whole book which I was surprised I read the words and I enjoyed the images the colors used were also nice. Even though I don't read comics often I feel like I still remembered how to easily read the comic. Although there is times where I would not understand something I would re read it again and look closely at the images.

alyssa

I have never read a comic before before this class. I didn't realize it was so easy to follow. Things I notice are the colors that are used for the different types of groups and the ways Kai has become more familiar with the city because of Rat. My attention is more drawn to the images over the words because of the colors and their facial expressions say a lot about what's happening. To make sure I'm reading both pictures and words I always go back before I skip to the next page to make sure I din't skip dialogue.

Yahaira

It has been a few years since the last time I read a comic book. When reading I become more engaged and a bit lost in the pictures and end up just scanning through what is written. However in "The Nameless City" I have been trying to take more time in finding the connection with the written description and illustration.

Matt Herbert

I started reading graphic novels last year when I worked in a fourth-grade classroom as an instructional assistant. The elementary students seemed to be very interested and excited by these, so it was important to read them and keep up to speed to relate with the students. Before then, however, I had not read many comics. My attention is drawn to the pictures as well as the “sound effects.” These help me understand what is happening in the story and almost help me see it in action within my imagination.

Yifan Lu

I am not an experienced reader of comics, I just have read one in my childhood. When I read The Nameless City, I found that it is really interesting. But it is different from the one I have read before, the biggest difference is the language in the book. My attention is drawn to words over images. To make sure that I am reading both words and images, I will read again before turning to the next page.

Ana Bautista

This is my probably my second time reading a comic book since I was in Elementary. Today I find myself reading almost the same taking more value in the pictures then the words. What I do is I look at the pictures first and then I go back and read the words. I over it one last time paying attention to both it sounds like a lot of work, but it is really helpful for me.

Rachel Rosenbaum

I personally can't remember the last time I have read a graphic novel like this. Nowadays we are so used to reading large college like textbooks. I am personally drawn to the images in this graphic novel because the images are extremely detailed and beautiful to look at. I find the images to be much more interesting than the words. You can read more from characters in their pictures than in their speech in my opinion!

Jiayue Wang

I think I am an experienced reader of comics, When I read the Nameless City, I noticed that the building and people's clothing are similar to ancient China. My attention was always drawn to words over images, I like to image the character's mood when I saw the drawn. I will read words and images at the same time.

Kamalei P.

I am not an experienced reader of comics, instead I'm an experienced reader of novels. I love to draw on my own and love art, but there's nothing like getting lost in a good book or novel. As I read the nameless city, I noticed that a lot of the sense of humor actually reminded me of 'Avatar the Last Air Bender' and I instantly liked the comic book. My attention is mainly drawn to the words and the dialogue over the drawings and the images. I'll read the dialogue first in the comic, then go back and look at the images more in detail. It's because I'm used to words telling a story more than images. I know that they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but to me its the other way around. In my opinion, words is what creates a picture in someone's head as they use their own imagination to unravel the story.

John Stone

I love comics, I think they're a great way to tell stories. I haven't read too many recently, but I've read newspaper comics, manga, and webcomics. I like to pay attention to the detail in the artwork, such as characters facial expressions and things going on in the background. Connecting speech with artwork gives a greater sense of emotion and tone. It's important to pay attention to everything going on, or else you might miss some details.

Yazmin Hernandez

I am not an experienced comic book reader. The only comics I have ever read our the ones that come in the Sunday news paper. Reading an actual book that has a story line is very new and interesting to me. I have learned to like these types of books. When I first started reading the book I only focused on reading the words since it is what I am used to doing when I read books. Now the second time going through the book I have noticed that I am paying more attention to the picture. Now I am not as worried about understanding the words rather understating the pictures and how they relate to the words. The pictures convey a lot of meaning I feel that I missed out on a lot the first time reading the comic book. Reading the book a couple of times has definitely helped me comprehend more of the story line.

Maria Regalado

i do not likereading but after i read this book i was surprised that i actually liked it. i read the bubbles first, and then i looked at the pictures and tried to imagine it on my head like if it was a movie. it was a great comic book.

Moe Tobiyama

I love comics because it's fun and easy to read the story with a lot of pictures. In the pictures, there are lot of things which we can understand even wordless. It's interesting for me to try to understand deeply by character's expression, action, and so on. When I read the Nameless City, I often try to care about the color of picture, scene, character's expression so that I can understand what's implied on the field of cultural geography.

Sam Combs

I often read comics and normal books as well. I think that the great part about reading books is the personal images in your head. I think that the great part about reading comic books is filling in all the little in between parts in your head. Our stories are all still slightly different from what the author may have intended and different from what each other might understand. The colors specifically in this book are a remarkable part of the story. If it were a black and white color, it might even be a different story. Another thing, the language that the author decided for the characters to use really reflects on the author. It also reflects on the readers' knowledge. Do I know that accent? No? It has a completely different meaning to me than to you.

Jonathon Watt

When reading this comic book I notice that I am not just reading the words or just reading the pictures, but I will read the words for the pages then I will read the pictures. I think that I am doing this because my eyes are naturally drawn to see what is happening in the story and what the words have to say rather than what the pictures have to say because I fully believe that the pictures have something to say with or without words.

Peggy  Smith

I had never heard of a "Graphic Novel" before. The artwork is what captured me at first. The story, or better, the message in the book is more complex than I had anticipated. Sharing our thoughts in groups adds alternative perceptions and thought provoking perspectives to the classroom discussions.

Crystal

Reading this book has been a totally different experience, as college students, we are used to reading boring long textbooks. Reading the Nameless City and learning about a new culture, having pictures all over was a great way to engage me to keep reading and understanding better what was going on. I read this book in one day it was really interesting and easy to follow.

Grecia Diaz

I have never read comics before so this is a first. I had to read to help me understand better when I read. It was helpful having a source that tells you how to read one or else I may have been a little lost. I always make sure that I read the words and look at the pictures to make sure I don't just read the words without looking at the picture or else i could misinterpret what is going on.

Emily Miller

I am definitely not an experienced reader of comics, as this was my first time reading one. I like to focus on reading the text first, and then looming at the pictures to get a better sense of what is going on. I found it fairly easy to read the comic in appropriate panel order, but a couple times I read the text bubbles in the wrong order. I liked how sometimes the illustrations gave you extra information about the story that wasn't included in the text. After this experience, I would definitely read more graphic novels.

Kaylee Mok

I am not an experienced reader of comics so this was a new experience for me. I noticed a lot about The Nameless City throughout the book. Through graphics, I was able to see how the commoners lived and how the Dao lived. Through text, I was able to gain a lot of insight about The Nameless City and the sense of place. At first, I was drawn more towards the images but the words carried the plot so I was also drawn into the text equally with the graphics.

Casey Nakamura

I have actually read a hand full of comics throughout my years of schooling, and personally I really enjoyed reading this one. One thing that I thought the artist did really well was being able to visually show that the scene was a cut scene from the past by, adding a tint of grey over the whole drawing. Another thing that was different and made the comic more interesting to me, was how they decided to separate the book by days through Kai's perspective. When I was reading this comic, I was more drawn to the drawing because the drawings in it's self really help convey the story; and if you are able to read the text fast enough and look at the drawing at the same time it is very easy to grasp whole context.

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