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Vol I. of Maus incorporated a book-within-a-book: Spiegelman’s own account of his

mother’s suicide, which he titles

Prisoner on the Hell Planet.

On your Padlet, explain why

you think Spiegelman chose to include this section. Explore how it is both similar to and different from the rest of the book (both visually and narratively), and focus on relating it to the reading you completed for today (ch 1 and 2 of vol II). Think about how and

why the reading / viewing experience of

Maus changes, after we experience

Prisoner on the Hell Planet. What do you think Spiegelman was trying to communicate, by including this book?

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https://blogs.setonhill.edu/CarissaAltizer/2009/10/artistic_differences_between_m.html

https://www.tikkun.org/on-hell-planet/

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I have to be honest with everyone - this is one of the first comic books I have ever read. I've never been into Spiderman or Batman and anime has never been my cup of tea. When I was much younger I read an Archie comic book once. I always thought that comic books were supposed to be funny or political. I guess that's a stereotype now since manga and anime (are they the same thing?) are so popular. I didn't know what to think of Maus. It was like a foreign book sitting on the shelf, but I'm really glad that it was an assigned reading. I feel like a more open-minded person towards the entire genre now. At first glance, I was even insulted that a cartoon artist would use the Holocaust as material because it's such a serious, painful topic.

I had a hard time understanding why Spiegelman used so many exclamation points during Prisoner on the Hell Planet. I don't think they were necessary or appropriate. I'm glad that the rest of the book has a different illustration style and tone, because I had a difficult time feeling sympathy for the main character in this comic. The illustrations made me feel like the artist wasn't taking the tragedy of the situation seriously enough. Of course everyone was sad - but they seemed like zombies, not like a husband and son mourning over the loss of a family member. The title even seemed inappropriate. I feel like "[I'm a] Prisoner on the Hell Planet" is something a preteen would scream at his parents when they won't let him borrow the car. Maybe someone who has read more comic books than me can explain to me why I feel this way? I don't know why the two comics are so different...I can't put my finger on why I like the other better. Any suggestions?

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Artistic Differences Between Maus and Prisoner on the Hell Planet

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I have to be honest with everyone - this is one of the first comic books I have ever read. I've never been into Spiderman or Batman and anime has never been my cup of tea. When I was much younger I read an Archie comic book once.

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The panel includes a detailed coffin stretching across two panels, with bright white blocky letters spelling out "ANNA". The overlapping coffin represents the intrusiveness of her death. It's unavoidable for Artie to face, and his face being large and looming shows readers his sadness with his wide eyes and dark under eyes. His face is not fully visible because of how large the coffin is drawn. The blocky letters stretch across the two panels depicting the never-ending cries of grief during the funeral that haunt Artie. The panels are overstimulating in a disturbing manner.

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Similar to that of a linoleum print-- the restriction of value and gradient, and instead relying on lines and hatching to create dimension. It flattens the images while still having strong contrast and detail.

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The story becomes more realistic and disturbing. It's harder to read with the harsh illustrations, sometimes even horrific.

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The dialogue and characters does not change drastically, just the illustration.

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The transition to humans is necessary to translate the deep emotions that Vladek felt at the time. It also helps to realistically depict human trauma and grief. The story is very dark and needed a more dimensional and darker illustration style for the story.

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Page 100 is an important shift in illustration and narrative, introducing the comic with the title page.

Middle panel on page 102 with the casket

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same setting, but more detailed - abstract, geometric, lot more lines, darker

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first person narration now

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instead of mice as characters, they are now human