How Laurie Proud and Scott Dessert Used Mixed Media to Tell Their Story

There is something about graphic novels that seems so personal to me. Maybe it is because there is an extra level of "telling" in the piece- the visual level literally allows the readers to see what the author has experienced- or maybe it is because the author has gone an extra step to tell their story, mixing medias. In the graphic stories that we read for this week, the four authors used different story telling aspects to their pieces, as well as different visual styles.

In Laurie Proud's "Aubrey", the readers are introduced to various aspects of Proud's life in just a few pages. The grayness of the images throughout the graphic story reflect the aftermath of the war as well as Proud's father's depression, which can be assumed to be brought on by struggling to adjust to life after the war, as well as possibly developing PTSD and recovering from the horrors of war. Aubrey himself could also represent an aspect of life after the war; he is treated differently from the other children and Proud mentions that Aubrey "-couldn't speak properly and that made him scary to us kids" (Proud 7), and while Aubrey's speech patterns could just be different due to a speech impediment, it is also possible that Aubrey is one of the many who immigrated to new places after the war.

Another aspect of "Aubrey" I found interesting was that Proud's gender is never mentioned. I gathered details from specific pictures, such as the scene where the missing boy in Proud's class is shown. There are only boys in the image, and they are all wearing uniforms, so I assumed that Proud was male because of uniformed, private school feel to the image. In his bio, Proud is identified by he/him pronouns, but we actually never see him in the piece. Aubrey and the missing boy are the only ones who have appearances from the front, but the father has an appearance from the back. The father's appearance from the back represents his withdrawal away from the world outside his mind, and the burning of the shed represents destroying the mental prison that Proud's father found himself trapped in. Interestingly, the brightest splash of color in the whole piece comes from the flames surrounding the shed. The fire forces Proud's family to move locations, so the flames in a way represent a new beginning as well as freedom from the grayness of one's mind. England also has a reputation for being cold and gray, so the flames can also serve as a direct contrast to Proud's surroundings. Just like Aubrey's different style of speech and appearance made him stand out to Proud, the intense color of the flames stood out in Proud's mind, enough to be the most colorful thing in the piece.

In "Cat-sitter", the situation at hand, just like in Proud's "Aubrey" is an everyday interaction. But instead of with a strange boy, Scott Dessert's piece focuses on a man looking after a cat. This is not his cat, so it can said that "Cat-sitter" is actually not based on an everyday interaction for the author. The art style, which consists of what appear to be magazine images, can be representative of Dessert's sudden shift in his daily routine in taking care of this cat. The cut and paste images are from a life that is not his own, and the sharp images pasted together represent an uneasiness that the authors feels, and one that the readers can feel.

Taking care of a cat seems like a mundane, regular thing to do but for someone who does not usually take care of an animal, especially a cat, it can be nerve wracking. The idea of handling someone's else beloved pet and the chance of something going wrong is enough to make the person responsible worried. The cat in question is shown to be an especially finicky animal, and the author is not used to the behaviors of cats. The splatters of blood on the list of what to do and not to do with the cat is a grim reminder to the author that taking care of an animal is not just something he can wing. Once he reads the list and follows it, the cat responds positively to him, but Dessert does not respond well to the cat's wants and needs. In the final image, the cat is portrayed as a monarch and Dessert as its subject, which highlights how ridiculous Dessert feels the list of what to do and what not to do to be.

Best,
Dani