Revision of a Blog Post

After reading the theories of Will Eisner and his concept of comic illustrations and their sense of movement, emotion, and storytelling through what looks like frozen action frames in an animation, I also see the similarities in Craig Thompson's works as well. Both of them have a firm and complex understanding of what a character can imply through a single frame of movement, and what kind of feelings you can get, expect, and even watch them do. You mind seems to fill in the gaps with movement to each of the still frames, and in your mind you can take what you're seeing and affix a feeling towards even little things like how pushed up someone's shoulders are to show uncomfortability or anger for instance. To reference their theories in action, I looked over Eisner's Contract With God and Thompson's Blankets.

To start off, let's look at the similarities. Visually and literally, both of the works are in black and white with no color. Both of the art styles remain concise and constant throughout the stories, and the use of dynamic poses is very prevalent. Both of the artists display a strong atmospheric feeling of an overarching heavy problem in both the characters, world, and story, and they also accomplish an end result of how the characters deal with this, regardless of positive or negative outcome. To look at the opposites, one can see that Thompson's style is more of a stylized form of characterization, sometimes jumping to abstract representational images, or semi-realistic single frames, whereas Eisner's style is very realistic, with consistent rendering styles and use of purely representational promotion of character attitude, feelings, and the like (example would be the multiple head shots in sequential order in The Super). Another trait that puts Eisner's work from Thompson's is the rooted city-life society and down-to-earth problems these characters have, whereas Thompson's work focuses more on the singular person and the abstract forms of their internal and external conflicts with another person, rather than a society. Overall, I feel like that visually, they agreed on the idea of knowing and understanding things these characters do, feel, and act with dynamic looks, but both accomplish their own feats separately as a deviation of their main theory.

Web Comics - Digital Paper Meets Portability

Oglaf was a web comic series that I found rather hilarious (looking past all the innuendos and such). Its writer had a solid choice in stylization for the personality and direction of the tone in the visuals, as well as the writing aesthetically in the narration. The way that of which they speak to each other with the messed up spellings adds an interesting approach to understanding a character's sense of speech, and further adds to the look of a total goofball thus making the character that much more lovable. Web comics as a whole are interesting. There's no direct deadline (unless you're popular, of course, in which you must keep up for the fans), and the series is solely controlled by the creator. The development of the characters, world, and conflicts/jokes are at the mercy of the writer's mercy, without need of revision from a second series of hands. Essentially, it's far more laid-back, but easy to get into thanks to them mostly being free to view, lack of physical paper to care for and carry, as well as the portable devices we have today. I really do love webcomics as they're easy to follow (and follow-up on), and pick in the archives in comparison. Often the editor or author can leave little updates or notes, which is incredibly fun to see such transparency. Overall, they're a nice outlet for graphic narratives if you find yourself wanting to read one but lack the bookstore nearby.

Superhero or Super-Neutral?

I've read and looked over the Watchmen series more than dozens of times. From this series, I learned that taking the concept of light and dark and making it all grey can be strangely interesting. Placing grey lines in morality, and making all would-be superheroes potentially in the wrong with their decisions or questionable choices makes the readers think of what we accept as an everyday superhero. I truly loved the depiction of characters such as Rorschach, and his need to bring violent, horrifying justice on those who do wrong in the city, having being based on the notion of an older super hero casting from the Cold War, and how he went from what you'd expect to be a dashing fellow with super strength and wits to a trench coat-wearing armed vigilante is just stellar. The strive and push of placing dark elements on the light side has always been a love of mine, and challenging the norms of not just society but fiction as well. The world is as real as the one you live in with the Watchmen universe, however the fiction plays in with the characters, and their development truly does them justice of why they took their motives and strengths to use on who they view as deserving of a beat down, regardless of reason or choice.

Women In the Industry

Today narratives have been written by a wide array of genders, races, and ages, but believe it or not, it used to be just men. Due to the past World Wars requiring more troops and drafting in many of the males who were citizens, women began taking the main role in many jobs that were normally classified for men only, such as writing of narratives, comics, and newspaper articles. From here, changes slowly began to be made, and women began to become opened to the graphic narrative industry. The Imposter's Daughter, by Laurie Dandell is one of many narratives to have come from those years of freedom to write and draw. Essentially the story is based on a girl who investigates a rather shady past of her father, and from it she discovers many lies and truths that of which she was subjected to of his life and her involvement. Essentially this paved the way to prove that women could also be capable of writing and developing graphic narratives, and since there was no opposition, they were free to make as much as they wanted, since there were so many open positions. From here upon the end of the wars, the returned soldiers began to accept this and allow for their involvement.

Graphic Novels and Contemporary Literature - Differences or Likenesses?

I've read the book and seen the video that is Persepolis, and it's nothing short of phenomenal. Understanding Marjane Satrapi's struggles growing up, and her cluelessness of what was going on for so long in her younger life really struck home to even my childhood and the events that partook then. How she struggled, managed her life, and dealt with the social problems and racial issues in the societies she moved into were not only intriguing, but also heartfelt in a sense. Why bring this all up, you ask? Well, Persepolis is a contemporary entry in the graphic novel area of narratives, and its use of real events, down-to-earth non-fiction is noteworthy. Most people turn to graphic novels for fictional subjects to escape the modern world and it's problems. This piece however contributes to past events, and the realism experienced in it. Marjane took heavy note of her memories and how her parents acted, how her friends and relatives took action when struggles rose, and how the world's problems became more real that the book you held. Yes, it's a rather darker piece as a whole when you look at it from a distance, but as you go through the pages, you'll learn it's not as overtly dark as the background events, and rather how she coped with them, and dealt with turning those times. Something about it is an enriching experience, despite the contemporary setting, and I deeply appreciate narratives that run much like this.

Understanding Manga - The Japanese Comic Style

Manga has been an ongoing style or art in graphic novels. It's widely accepted as a Japanese art style (or as some people refer to incorrectly as "anime") across the world, and is widespread and ongoing. Genre like slice of life, comedy, action, and the shonen areas are commonly found and still being made, and unlike the comic book's physical makeup of being magazine-like, manga is often smaller, easier to carry on the go, and paperback book-style, sometimes seeing hard covers occasionally based on specialty. Another difference is also that manga is divided into chapters, rather than issues. One series I've read heavily into was D.Gray Man, a series where an order of exorcists fends off the dark intent of the Millennium Earl, a demonic man who creates demons as a business to slowly take the world by storm. This series combines elements from action and comedy, but also provides a compelling story that continues across several series, and is ongoing still, seeing anime adaptations as well due to its spike in popularity in the past. Essentially, manga is a different approach to how we see graphic novels and comics, and personally I feel that its a welcome addition to the graphic novel family.

Bibliography Style Storytelling

I'll make it apparent in this subject - I'm a sucker for bibliography narratives. Something about the main character's recollection or looking back at past travels adds a sense of humanity to them, and more interestingly allows for personalization of their perspective, allowing for interesting details you wouldn't find in a third person omniscient narration. I've been a huge fan of that style of writing for ages, and personally I've seen it succeed so many times in conveying a story and learning more of the main character, allowing levels of depth it would take chapters to explain to a reader or viewer. Historical pieces much like Persepolis are incredibly intriguing. It's one thing to read or hear a person's struggle, but to hear them talk about it, how they felt, what they thought, or how they came up with a solution or dealt with it is far more interesting, story motivating, and free to generate character development for readers and viewers alike. Something about someone reading from their journal or telling how they escaped [insert name here] is more intriguing because they spin the tale with their experience, rather than weaving from someone else's shoes. To me, that's powerful, both in realistic and fictional settings.

Stereotypes and Representation in Comics - the Good, the Bad, and the Misunderstood

We live in a society today where freedom of speech is often a marketable concept, view-able by the public as something that could be dancing on the fine lines of offensive, but being compelling for challenging the social norms. To better pull it into perspective, I mostly mean that games, movies, and comics are associated with allowing their writers and narratives to dance around (but not directly) touching a sensitive subject. The things people publish if deemed as offensive, can be argued that we live in a nation that allows freedom of speech, even in publishing. Racial remarks, government jabs, classist allusions and the like aren't out of the ordinary in the things people make - whether it's in jokes, comics, movies, games or publications. Some people like the fine line writers trod on subjects - seeing it as daring or sticking out of the crowd, or challenging the way people perceive things and their daily thoughts in the social structure they live in. Personally, I think that in moderation, it can be a compelling subject or add-no to narratives, mainly because it adds a conflict or current event issue that can be influential towards the reader and make them think.

Responses to Transmetropolitan Questions

1. Are there any prominent symbols in the story? If so, what are they and how are they used?

Ongoing symbols I'm seeing are pushes for the living issues of both social and job classes in current day city life being applied to futuristic settings of a metropolitan sci-fi city. Things such as racial discrepancies (with the transients), the troubled life of being a journalist (our main character's loathing), the city norms (street whores and racial melting pot), and futuristic alternatives (advanced showers, holographic clothing scanners/dispensers, drug store meds being intelligence-enhancing) are commonly found in this setting, which seems to make the transition from what you originally thought at the beginning was a piece set in the current timeframe into a more futuristic one less jarring and relatable. Things such as drinking and tobacco are still a thing, as well as cars, toll booths, and presidential elections. These things are anchored with everyday life nowadays, and can allow for a more easier to understand story setting.

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you are able to connect.

Personally, I found the troubling cases the main character Spider goes through to be very realistic. The writer's block, the need to get away, and the lack of human interactions and time away from the civil population being jarring and incredibly obnoxious. I can connect with the need of a job with resources to better your production and meeting a deadline much like he can. Living with deadlines is hard to do, and some people don't handle that kind of stress well (like he is unable to). I find is approaches to be a little too type-A for me, but I can very much relate with having weights being held over your head (student loans, for instance), and how you have to meet them otherwise see legal obligations in consequence. Interestingly enough, the city life described by him and the issues it has are incredibly easy to find in today's modern city life. I can easily relate to seeing similar imagery, troubles, and people types found in this futuristic setting in today, as well as getting by in the thick of it when I used to live in Pittsburgh.

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

I could see this series being put in a gritty movie (series, perhaps even). Movies like Watchmen and Mad Max were able to take harsh stories and convert them to film (limitations included, of course), and I could see this being applied similarly. I'm seeing a lot of the futuristic punk visuals in this narrative, and the reuse of that in film wouldn't be a stretch as it's been done before. Heck, I could see the audience enjoying the sudden change of starting off what you think is current-day and realizing the city he's driving to is actually reading as, "hey, this is actually in the future." As a curveball early on plot twist. In terms of changes there would have to be different actor selection to be fit the characters' personalities over appearance, and the paneling/editing similar to the Sin City/Scott Pilgrim movies could benefit from the use of environmental interactions and editing of onomatopoeia. Granted, if the producers are looking to aim for a wider market (as this can easily be a rated R movie), they'd have to look into censorship. Many things such as nudity, drug and alcohol use would have to be toned down heavily, and the story would have to cut corners in areas like the characters interactions (for instance - the scene where Spider gets the kid to run to the drugstore for him). The cinematography could help create the closed in feelings this story/city provides, and wouldn't be hard to mimic and reproduce with proper editing, prop design, costuming, and special effects.

The Beginning of the Graphic Novel: Maus

Maus is a story built around the writings of a son asking his father as a writer about his time in World War II, as well as his knowledge about his son's mother he never got to meet to put it flatly. In a more educated way of looking at it, I'd say it was one of the more impressively enriching, educating, and non-age-restricted way I've ever seen someone depict the World War II Jews' perspective. The pacing, character development, and realism is all there - yet the disconnect os using bipedal animals to portray different nationalities and religions was amazingly easy to understand, because if you think about it, such things were in the mind of the Nazis - that the other races were nothing but disgusting animals. The drawing style is so simple yet rendered in a very complex way to show the positioning of things in each scene. The emotions, personalities, and actions of the characters are easy to follow and understand both visually and in terms of text. Even the broken English sells it on a whole other level.

Now pure impressed POV aside, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. The story itself has great pacing, but takes a moment or two to understand how it rolls. The beginning recounts the writer's young life, yet skips ahead years later to actually get to the story. There's some strange disconnect there, other than a good lesson learned, and from there the reader begins to see that even as the writer in the story is recounting everything his father tells him, the actual graphic novel writer is putting himself in that position and speaking in third person. It's both commendable and impressive, selling a non-fourth wall breaking method of linking between multiple chapters and keeping a down-to-earth realism despite the anthropomorphic animal characters. This leads me to another interesting bit about the choices made in this story's development: the use of animals. Normally, animals are used in modern writing and illustration as a representational medium, and here it's no exception. A noticeable quality was the Polish were pigs, the Jews were mice, and the Nazis were cats. There's clear social-casting relations here, but I won't delve deep into them for the sake of time.

Pushing on, let's look at the infrastructure of the graphic novel - it tells of a single story How I met Your Mother style at first, but then opens up into the historical problems that occurred. Things such as Nazi propaganda, the selling of Jewish businesses and expulsions with not a penny to their names, warrantless beatings, and the scared governments and social classes were eloquently pushed in this. The level of detail for a very down-to-earth experience is also incredibly impressive. An example was the father counting his pills, knocking them over, then counting them again, breaking midway to talk about a glass eye and cataracts. Those details purely aren't necessary at all, but it really breathes life into the already realistic world this all takes place in. These are real people with real problems, but for the sake of easiness on the eyes, the style of art is simpler and the use of animals instead of humans brings a lighter aspect to such a grim, dark moment in history.

Art Spiegelman, the artist of this book, really pushed to fill a hole of history in his life, and placing it in an illustrated graphic novel no doubt took a lot of him both psychologically, and emotionally. It's both a great historic piece, and a historical reminder document of atrocities that people endured in the past, both appealing to adults and even to younger audiences. Truly his work is both baffling and insightful for his time, paving the way for serious and book-level appreciated graphic novels.

Strong Message Then, Peculiar Now: Underground Comics of the 1960s

The underground comics found in alternate newspapers of the 1960s were interesting for the most part. Society was driven in a different direction at that time, and as a product of that these were made to push the norms of it onto its reading audience. Looking back at it now, one would see these comics and look at it as a mosh pit of profanity and innuendos off the wall in obscene ways. To be more precise in terms of things most commonly found in these illustrations, there are traces of drug use, alcoholic use, perversive manners, lack of censorship both physically and verbally, and racism both in terms of visuals and slurs. This would be a parallel to the rebellious phases of our youth, yet for that time it was more loosely handled and due to the constant use of drugs to make these, were very surreal. For this look-over, I read some of the Air Pirates short sub-stories in the series.

There was nothing held back for these graphic novels. For most, they'd be offended that such child-friendly looking characters did such horrible things, but also bear in mind comics weren't just for children, and at the time, things people looked for in a very "driven" society were very different than today. Interestingly enough, despite all the subplots, no censorship, drug and alcoholic references, there were still references to current events or problems at the time. Essentially this was almost used as a vent for those who had to push their views and opinions out, high at the time, but still noticeable points and opinions. Playing off of how people got uncomfortable was normal, but then again, the writers also expected the readers to be doped up listening to music while reading these. Even animations were made to be like being on a trip (often for the purpose of being viewed while on a trip) purely because drugs were a large thing at the time in communities.

Interestingly, there were subliminal messages in each of these, and it's intriguing that in order to find them today, you have to endure the hardcore heavy-duty no-limits non-censorship of these comics. Intriguingly, I almost feel like such raw opinions could only be found in such raw formatting.

Eisner and Thompson's Illustrated Theories

After reading the theories of Will Eisner and his concept of comic illustrations and their sense of movement, emotion, and storytelling through what looks like frozen action frames in an animation, I also see the similarities in Craig Thompson's works as well. Both of them have a firm and complex understanding of what a character can imply through a single frame of movement, and what kind of feelings you can get, expect, and even watch them do. You mind seems to fill in the gaps with movement to each of the still frames, and in your mind you can take what you're seeing and affix a feeling towards even little things like how pushed up someone's shoulders are to show uncomfortability or anger for instance. To reference their theories in action, I looked over Eisner's Contract With God and Thompson's Blankets.

To start off, let's look at the similarities. Visually and literally, both of the works are in black and white with no color. Both of the art styles remain concise and constant throughout the stories, and the use of dynamic poses is very prevalent. Both of the artists display a strong atmospheric feeling of an overarching heavy problem in both the characters, world, and story, and they also accomplish an end result of how the characters deal with this, regardless of positive or negative outcome. To look at the opposites, one can see that Thompson's style is more of a stylized form of characterization, sometimes jumping to abstract representational images, or semi-realistic single frames, whereas Eisner's style is very realistic, with consistent rendering styles and use of purely representational promotion of character attitude, feelings, and the like (example would be the multiple head shots in sequential order in The Super). Another trait that puts Eisner's work from Thompson's is the rooted city-life society and down-to-earth problems these characters have, whereas Thompson's work focuses more on the singular person and the abstract forms of their internal and external conflicts with another person, rather than a society.

In terms of personal levels and how they're affected, I can say I enjoyed Thompson's method of stylization, yet key moments were semi-realistic and fully rendered, often in abstract ways to convey unexplainable thoughts or feelings in a very surreal way. Eisner also accomplishes the heavier, "smell the concrete roses" understanding of living a responsible, yet inexplicably unstable life in a cold society or location figuratively. Overall, I feel like that visually, they agreed on the idea of knowing and understanding things these characters do, feel, and act with dynamic looks, but both accomplish their own feats separately as a deviation of their main theory.

Comics: Now In Book Format!

Comic books embraced the infrastructure of what made some of the more intricate and ongoing compelling comics most people found in the newspaper, but pushed for a on-the-go, comic-only-no-news viewing system. A lot of these comics were ongoing series of superheroes, cartoon characters, and punchline-oriented multi-storied books. Normally the comics recount a main character, whether as a protagonist or a comedian, and sticks with them throughout most of the book's entirety. Another large factor found in earlier comic books was that often the books weren't just distributed in a series, but the books themselves had several chapters or sub-series of their own, sometimes telling multiple stories in the same book. Often these books were taken by soldiers in wartimes to pass the hours away when they were stationed somewhere for a while. For this look-over, I read through some of the Uncle Scrooge McDuck series, as well as Tales of the Crypt.

Reading over the Scrooge McDuck series, I chose House of Haunts, a narrative in which Scrooge was preparing to combat the day the Beagle Boys got out of jail and attempted to steal his fortune like they do every year on the same day. In this scenario, Scrooge put his fortune in the catacombs of an old castle site, and the Beagle Boys use the knowledge they spent their jail time learning against him, making him forget where it was, even to the point of convincing Scrooge he was a ghost. The ever non-level-headed Donald Duck and Huey, Dewy, and Louie however teamed up with Scrooge to stop the Beagle Boys, and recover the lost fortune.

Analyzing the structure of the comic book, it's a single story that takes up the whole book focusing on the main character, portrayed often in the title of the series, Scrooge McDuck. The pages are multiple linked panels, and are colored, rather than being black and white. Much like what you'd expect from a cartoon from that era, there's punchlines and conflict within the story itself, and it's enough to anchor attention from younger and older audiences. The characters portrayed in this series, regardless of the comic book in the series selected, are normally the same in terms of personality and actions, and even if a reader is new to the series, things such as certain-spelled words to portray accents or personality traits are very clear and easy to pick up.

Moving over to the Tales of the Crypt series, we have our ever-prevalent character, the Crypt Keeper, breaking the fourth wall and speaking to the reader, telling them what horrifying stories they might encounter in the pages of the comic book. Now unlike the Scrooge McDuck series, the Tales of the Crypt series tells multiple sub-stories not directly related to each other in the same comic book, often spanning 5 different stories in one comic book. There's still noticeable humor in each of them to a certain degree, often a play on words or feelings towards things, and often the conflicts are supernatural or psychological. The first of the Tales of the Crypt series was and interesting premise to build the series on, being compromised of multiple short stories with easy to dive-into characters and settings that were general but specific enough to get attached to them.

Stories like a man telling his wife she's going crazy and worrying that she's hearing or seeing things when the final twist at the end is that he's the crazy one not hearing or seeing things she's seeing are a prevalent case across with the story structure: there's an introduction of characters, and an uneasy atmosphere often described. From this, the author and/or illustrator pushes out a strange unexplained conflict, and places a buildup that leads to a twist of fate at the end, often going unresolved to leave a sense of "what if that could be me next," in the reader.

Overall, the two different comic books displayed two different sides of the spectrum, and one can only wonder what many more corners lie on that spectrum that have yet to be seen from this era in which comic books began to arise. With each page-turn, it's easier an easier to get sucked into the stories, characters, and entertainment they provide readers, regardless of age or time.

The Comic Strip : From Funnies to Fantasies

A lot of comics nowadays hold many elements that were explored and developed back in their earlier years. Of course, we're talking more than just panels in sequential order, or word bubbles that can hold character thoughts or rhetoric - we're talking about things such as character archetypes, personality traits (both relatable and characterized), world-building, and the spread of culture. To start off, comics back in the earlier open crowds were several panels, not always complete books. Due to this, jokes or points had to be taken across in a mere 3-4 panels, delivering a punchline and/or a clear personality trait about the characters involved.

Looking into comics such as Peanuts was at the time a rather somber take on the lives of children in a suburban community. Every character owns their own archetypes and personality traits (Lucy, the tough-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside girl who has a lot of attitude and isn't afraid to tell people to buzz off, for instance) that are made somewhat clear each time you read a strip. For the sake of continuity, these characters had to be clearly the same in thought, speech, and actions all throughout the series, so those who are acquainted already know what to expect, but those new are immediately in full understanding of the characters' actions. The way the short stories and interactions were told were almost in a skit-like format.

Further in, we're going to look at Calvin and Hobbes, an ongoing series based on a young kid with a clearly rampart imagination capable of bringing his stuffed tiger to life. Following the system that Peanuts had, there were be only a few panels to work from, so the archetypes of young, troublemaking but adventurous Calvin, and Hobbes the goofy, partner-in-crime biped tiger had to be clear. Sometimes it'll look like the two are embarking on a journey or traveling in some strips, only to end with Calvin snapping out of whatever daydream he was having with his stuffed animal tiger, blaming it for any troublemaking and the like.

Enter the illustrated adventures of Flash Gordon. Rather than rely on only 3-4 panels of drawings and witty humor or snappy dialogue, this comic series took up more frames, and carried a unique, more realistic style of art with a sci-fi fantasy setting. Normally the comic strip wouldn't go beyond half a page or a full one, and as a result of this, rather than deliver a punchline at the end of the series of panels, Flash Gordon relied on the cliffhangers instead, often ending in things like, "To be continued," or "Catch next week's..." and the like to keep readers hooked and interested. Instead of running multiple skits like Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes did, Flash Gordon chose a narrative-driven world and series of characters who got developed over time, with linear linking events and cause and effect situations.

Finally we enter our final inspection of popular but heavily referenced comics : Little Nemo in Slumberland, an ongoing series illustrated in a similar style to Flash Gordon with the linear story arcs, but with multiple adventures in an elongated skit-like version of what Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes had. There were characters with clear personalities despite how much or little time they had in each panel, and the motif of a dream-like world both visually fantastical and in terms of threats, world-building, and characters really bring together the concept that this is all in a dream world, yet you get sucked in rolling with it almost like an actual dream. There's the clear troublemaker haphazard archetype character, Flip, who tends to seem like he means well but happens to mess things up for Nemo, despite other characters' intentions to prevent him from interfering with any and everything he touches. There's also the idea of visual queues with characters. Nemo is clearly the dreamer in this world, donning his pajamas amidst all the bulbous, floppy, and incredibly colorful outfits the dream characters have. Then there's the idea of Flip being a rather "older-than-he-looks" clown with the cigar which at the time meant trouble, followed by his silhouette character shape and strange clothing. Essentially, Little Nemo had more panels to make books from, however there were clear ties to previous types of comic story writing such as clear character personality, visual queues to the eye and mind, and an ongoing series.

From Silent Beginnings - The Arrival, by Shaun Tan

      For those who are intrigued by the concept of visual novels or better known as graphic narratives, a story orchestrated by Shaun Tan was made in the perspective of leaving a life behind to adopt a new one, and the outlandishness of it all, followed by the acceptance and integration into a community who has gone through the same trials one way or another. The Arrival was essentially a silent story with no use of words whatsoever, and relied on the visual cues in the panels to portray and convey the story, character interactions and settings. Interestingly enough, we as readers learn that the world our main character goes to is incredibly strange, yet we aren't alone. The main character has to also come to terms with living in such a strange new world, and get to know it better and those that live within it. At the beginning, you see and understand the dire cause of the move to the new setting, and as the story goes on, you begin to learn that it is a safe haven from other, more destructive nations out in the world based upon the stories the main character hears from those around them when asking how they got here.

      The attention to detail in the visuals is something to take notice of - primarily because of the facial and body language constantly being conveyed by both human and non-human characters. The hand motions, and the face emotions truly show when a character is unable to understand another, or perhaps show a sense of bewilderment or kindness. Essentially, the visuals alone can create the narrative and the actions the characters provide to move on with the story. Shaun Tan provided very lovely abstract world visuals to contrast the realistic human characters, yet their customs and interactions with the world around them is also prevalent. For instance, the same repetitive frames of someone picking up items off a conveyor belt and placing them in a tube shows that this person is working in a factory setting. You can already imagine the sounds of heavy machinery clunking away in the background, and loud noises being abundant. This is further confirmed when our character speaks to an older gentleman who puts his hand to his ear, and cringes his face to show he cannot hear our main character. When he speaks up, we see a sign of recognition on the older man's face, and we see how he turned up in the haven from his war-torn land.

      There's a level of creativity and complexity in Shaun Tan's work. The specific facial emotions, character movement and actions can tell the story alone, in a form of charades. The mind merely fills in the blanks with assumed voices and sounds we try to affiliate with what we see, and from that our imaginations can provide a full story, with or without words and only clear actions. There is such a rich level of story telling in The Arrival, of loss, hardships, fear, and sad emotions from those who escaped their past nations to live in the haven, and how happy they are with their new lives, along with how they're coping and showing that the new changes are for the better. The story even had a plot twist at the end with the arrival of the wife and child. You can't help but feel what the characters feel and understand that despite such a wild and strange world, there's a level of understanding that is accomplished just by imagery. Even the main character relied on drawings from his sketchbook to communicate with those around him from time to time, such as him telling the story of what happened to the city he used to live in to the shop keeper and his son, or first arriving and trying to show that he was looking for a place to live by drawing a bed. There's the phrase, "Actions speak louder than words," and I feel that a statement like that holds more than a candle to this form of graphic novel.