The basic story line, the journey of our main character to a new land, is understood fairly quickly because of the image treatment and visual elements. Using what is familiar, classic image quality and recognizable images that hearken to the time of Ellis Island, we understand that this is a story about immigration.
This story works without words for several reasons. The first, which I alluded to before is that the basic visual structure is something that we might have seen before. However as our character continues on his journey, elements are included that are much more fantastical, like the creatures and strange language. I think this is rather brilliant because it allows the reader to connect with the main characters story in that we have arrived at a place we do not understand.
Also because there are no words a lot must be read from the images. Each and every image is not wasted. Each one tells a story through composition and often body language, something that we recognize as humans. Even though there is a main character, above that this is a story about stories. Each and every "immigrant" to this strange new land has their own story, which is shown a few times when our main character encounters new people. We recognize that it is someone else's story simply by changing the background on the page. Our main character's story has a white background while others have a textured or darker background. What also keeps the story visually interesting for me is the macro/ micro cropping of images. I enjoy the cadence created between the panels that are broken up with smaller micro images and then we pull back to a larger image. It adds to the idea of strange, new and adventure by giving a sense of scope to the graphics.
This was a great read that appealed to my visual nature and my sense of adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment