The time period of my novel is set in about somewhat of the near future like in a year or so.  This can be determined because of the clothes that the people are wearing and the technology is very similar to modern day knowledge and it's even a little advanced for our time.  Also the novel shows worldly affairs such as the starving people in Africa and other Latin American countries and there are a lot of modern day weapons and skyscrapers.  The pictures in the novel show the transitions between day and night by the colors in the pictures.  If it is nighttime then the pictures have a lot of dark blues and blacks in the pictures and the characters becomes darker.  There is a lot of street lights, so many of the characters show on them the yellow reflections of the street lights or a dark red for other types of light.  Also the more sinister and evil events usually take place during the night.  If it is daytime then the pictures are more bright and colorful with yellows, blues, and oranges.  Also there is more shadowing from the sun and many of the more happy scenes take place in the daytime.  This novel take place in the summer because its always sunny and hot (characters are sweaty) and the sunglasses are worn a lot.  The passing of time throughout the novels seems to be taking about a month not even.  Well, the protagonists in the story are really different from everyone else because they are superheroes.  So, in the novel they do represent ideals set for a superhero, but the do not follow the "normal" ideals for this time because they are not considered normal and their actions would not be for the normal people at that time period.  Also these superheroes are somewhat expected by the normal people to help save everyone when it takes power that no normal human being would be able to do.  So yes in a way they are representing the ideals of "their kind".  The time period works within the novel because it give the reader a feeling of futuristic idea without having to explain what will happen in the future.  In kind of sets the time just far ahead that it could be considered the future.  This time period drives the plot because it places the story in an action based time where anything could happen and certain elements can be brought to the story without having to be explained by the author because it futuristic.  If this novel was set too far in the future the the author would have to come up with all of this new technology and knowledge about the future and it would seem less realistic.  If the novel were set to far back then the readers would have a hard time relating to the novel because this things might not have happened the way things happened in the novel.  The reader would already be knowledgeable about the time period and expect something different and the author would have to stick to facts and would be able to use superheroes because no one has seen them and apparently this should have already happened.  The setting in this novel is fictional.  The author chose this setting because the novel is about superheroes and superheroes are fictional so any other setting would be unrealistic.  If the setting was changed then the story-line would have to be rewritten because in any other setting the novel would not make mush sense.  

Character Anaylsis

In my graphic novel "The Justice League" the protagonists are all of the members of the Justice League, such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Martian Manhunter.  The antagonists are Gorilla Grodd, Black Manta, Luthor, Riddler, Brainiac, Bizarro, Solomon Grundy, Metallo, Parasite, Priscilla, Joker, Two -Face, and Poison Ivy.  The strengths of the "superheroes" are their superpowers and their willing to fight for justice and for the safety of others.  They want to do want is right even if it is hurting themselves.  The "villains" strengths are their powers or weapons that give them so sort of control over others and their way of life(there is no real compassion for anyone but themselves and their power status).  The "superheroes" weaknesses are the ones the love and care for, for they are vulnerable to the power of the "villains" attacks the seek revenge on the "superheroes".  Also their strive to help others and to make the world a better place.  The "villains" weaknesses are the longing for more power and control and their greed sometimes.  They are only concerned with their own well-being.  These characters draw the reader in because its a classic hero vs. villains graphic novel and many people enjoy the fight for justice where good always seems to prevail.  Many believe that the action and suspense and the good vs. evil is thrilling and adventurous.  I think this story is more aimed at teenagers and young adults because of some of the content and the reader must have some deeper thinking processes and they must be able to understand the plot of the story.  Many of the "villains" are more graphic and some of the scenes take a higher level of thinking to process what is going on in the story.  You have to be able to understand the characters thoughts and feelings about events in the story.  The situation that these characters are in is familiar because it is showing that good vs. evil in the world and it gives people hope that someday all the good in the world will help to diminish the evil that has sort of taken over.  It also gives people a sense of adventure and it shows people that there are many different ways to go about"saving the world". Sometimes all it takes is one person to stand up and show the world what good can do.     

Graphic Novel Layouts and Colors

The basic layout of my graphic novel Justice is kind of all over the place.  It doesn't really follow any of the rules in the comic book layouts.  It sometimes follows the rule of thirds but it is mostly divided by slashes through the boxes( kind of diagonal lines that sometimes divide the page or several boxes).  There is no real pattern formed within this graphic novel, it's all kind of just placed on the page, but it does have a certain flow to it so u know which box to read next.  If a different type of formant was used in this graphic novel, then i think it wouldn't be as interesting and captivating as it is.  If it were a more traditional layout, then it would be less confusing and more structured, but to me it would be more stiff and not flexible like it is in the mishap it is now.  The drawing style of this graphic novel is very detailed and bold.  It as strong lines with the heroes characteristics.  Its purpose is to amaze the reader with bold characters and bright colors.  it is also used to catch the reader's eye because of its fun, flashy, and lively style.  The colors are bright and eye-catching and the do tend to get darker when the villains are shown, they use more harsh and undertone colors.  For the superheroes, though they use bright and flashy colors for their costumes and capes.  They also used light as something to highlight a character, to give them more definition and to make the characters more realistic.  The color and drawing techniques used in this graphic novel make it seem more realistic and it essentially  makes the graphic novel more entertaining and pleasurable to read.  It gives the characters more of a good or bad vibe to them and it gives them more definition.  It gives the text in the novel more meaning and it tends to help the flow of the novel altogether.      

The Ages of Comics

The Golden Age of Comics was from the 1930' to the 1940's, this is where comics started to become popular.  The superhero comics started to form, for example Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, and Superman all defined in the Golden Age.  This is where comics were seen as an art form and started to define the medium's artistic vocabulary and creative conventions by its first generation of writers, artists, and editors.  One of the first superhero comics was Superman in Action Comics #1 published by DC Comics.  The All-American Comics published some of the other famous superheroes like, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, Hawkman, and Aquaman.  World War II also had an effect on the Golden Age comic books.  They were seen as an easy and portable book filled with good triumphs over evil.  Many comics featured heros fighting Nazis or Hitler and the fight against the Axis Powers.  

The Silver Age of Comics was from 1956 to the late 1960's or the early 1970's.  Previous to the Silver Age the superhero comics were in a decline, but during the Silver Age they went back up in popularity.   The Silver Age of Comic Books was one of the major commercial peaks of the comics industry.  During this time DC Comics came out with The Flash and Marvel Comics had The Fantastic Four comics.  Underground comics started in the Silver Age and Silver Age comic characters were "flawed and self-doubting".  The character make-up of superheroes also evolved during the Silver Age.  Aliens and science fiction replaced magic and gods. The children and girls were targeted by some publishers,

The Bronze Age of Comics was from the early 1970's to the mid-1980's.  The Bronze Age had retained many of the bright superhero titles that the Silver Age had had.  However darker plot elements and more mature story lines featuring real-world issues, such as drug use, began to appear.  Also 'modern horror' started to show up in the comic books in the mid 1960's.  There was DC Comics House of Mystery in 1968.  There was also a trend of feminism with the creation of female superheroes like Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, Red Sonja, and Ms. Marvel.

The Modern Age of Comics was from the mid-1980's to present day.  Characters during this age generally became darker and more psychologically complex. Also during this age independent comics flourished, and larger publishing houses became more commercialized.  Many new villains came out during this time, like Venom a new villain from Spider-Man and War Machine a new villain from Ironman.  There was also the creation of anti-heros and a new twist in X-Men.  Some of the new comics that came out during the modern Age were Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

The Platinum Age of Comics was from 1897-1938.  One of the first comics to come out in the platinum age was The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats it was published in early 1897 by G. W. Dillingham Company.  Many of the comics in this age were priced at 50 cents and before 1901 the comics were in black and white.  After 1901 the most of the comics were in full color.   The Adventures of Mickey Mouse was the first "true" mickey mouse comic book and it came out in 1931.  These comics were by David McKay Co. with a print run of 50,000 copies.  

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