Maus Response: Style compared to other Graphic Novels

So one thing that I want to discuss about Maus is based around the style of which it was made and how it compares to other graphic novels. Every graphic novel has it's own unique properties that are created based on each artist's own style and they can either make or break a story (in my opinion). We can usually tell after a couple of different works by the same artist what they like to stick with in regards to art style, overall presentation, etc. Here's where my analysis starts up. Having started reading Maus for class, I found myself in an interesting conversation with my friend Tyler from class about this particular novel's style. We both found ourselves having to really take our time reading this story for a couple of reasons. Not only was the actual content a bit to take in all at once, but we both found the art style a bit strenuous on our eyes. There was a big difference for both of us in reading this and Blankets. Even though blankets was at least 3 times longer in pages then Maus, it probably took us both longer to get it done. With Blankets, the panels could have a lot of text, but it was spread out (for the most part) and was pretty easy to read. With Maus, there was a lot of text bunched together in each panel and, at least for me, the dark style of this graphic novel made it hard for me to read for long periods of time. When I read Blankets, I found myself not being able to put it down, but that was for a couple of reasons. I won't deny the fact that I enjoyed the story in Blankets more, which could be a reason as to why I couldn't stop reading, but I can definitely say it also had to do with the art style of the book too. I didn't hate reading Maus, in fact I found it to be a great read overall, but the underlying fact is that the ordeal was a bit more then with other novels. To some people, this may be a reason why this book may or may not be read, but in all honestly it was a great book and I was recommended it even before this class and I'm just glad we had the opportunity to read it.