Introduction

It's a pleasure to meet you; my name is Johanna and I like dogs and cheeseburgers.  I was born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1984; I know this because I have documents to prove it, but I don't remember anything about the country.  I was adopted in 1986; I am a citizen of the United States. My first memory is if the stark whiteness and bright light of the bathroom in the airport where I was picked up on my adoption day.  I moved around a bit because my mother works for the government. People ask where I'm from, and I know they are nine times out of ten trying to ask politely what my ethnicity is; I tell them, Virginia and they say, "No, where are you FROM?" I find this amusing for some reason. 

Below is a photo of my mother and me the day I became a citizen of the U.S.A. 

Understanding Comics & Fun Home: Non-Visual Self Awareness

Chapter Two of Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud, discusses the Vocabulary of Comics.  In this chapter, McCloud references the phenomenon of Non-Visual Self Awareness in relation to our whole bodies, he states that we are aware of ourselves, our facial expressions, etc even when we cannot see what we look like.  This can be something that is picked up by the body language and expressions of those around us, but is also something that we are constantly aware of.  McCloud also mentions another form of non-visual awareness, wherein people utilize inanimate objects and those objects become an extension of the person (McCloud, p. 37-39).

In Alison Bechdel's, Fun Home, this use of non-visual awareness is present in the father with his obsession with rebuilding antiques into shiny beautiful things to be admired like objects in a museum; and the family's ability to be "ideal" like the house and objects in the house.  The family has become an extension of the father's "ideal home" and all are simply a cover up for the family's dark secret.  If outwardly, people see a perfect family, and a perfect home, they are less likely to believe anything could be amiss.

Bechdel, A. (2006). Fun home: A family tragicomic (pp. 16-17). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics: The invisible art (pp. 37-39). New York: HarperPerennial.

Four Women: Frames/ Panels

 Sam Kieth's "Four Women" showcases an exemplary panel layout.  I was given Volume #4 (of 5) and  this was my first time reading the comic; as such, I was not very familiar with the story and relied heavily on the layout and images for narrative and filled in the blanks with a story of my own.  

I was particularly drawn to panels that were on full pages.  The first was a panel with a hand holding a pipe. I found this particularly eye catching because of the angle used, and the use of black space around the arm; and was additionally drawn in by the shape of the lines around the arm.  The lines are crooked, and come to a point at the end which to me indicates aggression or conflict.  

The second panel to catch my eye was another full page panel; this one simply had the word "WUNK" written in distorted and bloody letters.  This was both eye catching and told a narrative in relation to the previous hand and pipe panel.  The pages to follow were rather gory, as one may imagine.

My favorite panel in the book takes up two pages; unlike the previously aforementioned panels, this one uses straight lines and remains confined to the rectangular shape of the book itself.  The first panel is both beautifully illustrated, and also does an excellent job telling a narrative.  The detail of the drawing is phenomenal, from the nail polish on the women's fingernails, to the shards of glass on the door.  This to me conveys movement and when I look at this panel, I feel like I can hear all of the characters as they make their escape from the crushed car.  The angle of the car is also extremely useful to the narrative; it allows the viewer to look at it as if the viewer is outside of the car looking on as the women escape.  The second panel on the two page spread is also very evocative, the expressive faces on the characters are very well done and the manner in which it is laid out, much like the car panel, allows the reader to look on almost as if the reader were there.

Images from Four Women #4 by Sam Kieth  (p.12, 15, 21-22).  Story and Art: Sam Kieth.  Colors: Alex Sinclair.  Lettering: Sergio Garcia.  Edits: Scott Dunbier