LIT: of comic and Narrative

All characters in Slumberland may not have a clear origin, but they are hyper aware of their world. Since everyone in Slumberland acknowledges that they are part of a dream, no one questions the logicality of of a situation.  This means that McCay does not have to answer the reader's question of why things work, but simply show that strange things are happening. The premise of this comic tucks away the readers' urge to understand the limitations of a world and instead look forward to its absurdity; making its reader's interaction quite surreal. This is also the reason why everyone in slumberland knows Nemo, yet he is not considered the person of highest status. Although there is hierarchy in Slumberland, for instance Nemo has to be courteous of King Morpheus and the princess, everyone in Slumberland still pay a lot of attention to Nemo. They tried to get him to see the princess, get rid of Flip or simply entertain him throughout his journey. Even the purpose Flip is only me...

      In "Understanding Comics-The Invisible Art", Scott Mccloud's understanding of comics is manifested through his choice of format. It is a wholesome way to package one's insight on how comics interact with our human world, and physicalizes his comprehension of comics . He is basically showing how comics, at its core, is a medium of idea communication. Hence the depth in comics is not limited to its perceived genre and stereotypes, but the artist's message and skillset.        Towards the end of his "visual essay", Mccloud compares the process in which the artist "discovers" the "Core of the fruit". He states that most artists develop from the "surface of the fruit core" towards finding a message that they want to make art of. At the least, an amateur artist would recognize the category of art and its asthetics before diving deeper and then use it to find their own voice.       So if form works with our brain...

How does it tell without using words        "The Arrival", by Shuan Tan, is a collection of imageries that surrealistically captures the industrial-era immigration experience. What makes the story endearing and visceral is that it does not focus on the particularity of words, but rather the specificity and tactility of moments. For instance, readers can emphasize the language barrier between the immigrant and locals through Tan's use of cryptic symbols as the main language. The readers are put in a situation where they cannot get narrative clues from reading text, so they had to retort to the "conventional reading of body language". The tone of this "narration" is elementary but clear, illustrating the immigrant’s goal of getting his message across in the simplest and most universal way. This is similar to how silent actors act through "convention of expressions" due to the limitation of sound and heavy, wordy dialog. The inability to c...