Our Ill Matching Teeth: Symbolism in Graphics

All of these graphics seemed to dig for a truth in daily life. The graphic that most moved me was by Laurie Proud. The drawings were fantastic, and I enjoyed the little details from WW2 life. The frame with the enlarged Aubrey dangling from balloons made me think of the anti-aircraft balloons Britain used to protect itself during bombings. Aubrey’s face is so grotesque; Proud really made me feel the terror the narrator had as a child. I was very interested about the father in the shed. I wondered what he was doing in there. Had he fought in the war? Was he suffering from some PTSD and that is why he never left the shed? I think Aubrey grew to represent the narrator’s anxieties about the father, especially when the narrator doesn't pick up pornography because they think Aubrey is watching them. It’s as if, in some scenes, Aubrey becomes a parental figure to the narrator. It was great how the graphic placed itself in a time period by the clothes the characters are wearing and the different objects in the panels. I would have known this took place around WW2 even if I hadn't been told such information because of the old schoolboy attire. Also, the colors made the whole graphic seem very somber, a feeling that I imagine encompassed Great Britain after WW2. Yes, they had won the war, but their major cities were destroyed and many of their citizens were lost as well.

“In Room 208” by Stephen Collins was very eerie. The story began almost like a horror story, especially with all the shadows and black and white in each panel. I felt the love between the husband and wife, and I enjoyed the imagery of their bodies being unknown landscapes. I really like this line on pg. 78: “Our ill matching teeth.” That line really made me think about awkward kisses and the idea that teeth need to fit together. I love it when images make me rethink my experience of love/my body. I don’t know what to make of the latter half of the story. I was pleased that there wasn't much fat shaming when the couple began to grow enormous. To me, Collins seemed to marvel at their extraordinary forms. With their fat, the couple seemed to become the Earth itself. I like the idea that heaviness makes us rooted to the Earth.

I'm not sure what "Cat Sitter" by Scott Dessert meant, but the graphics were trippy. The chaos of each panel really gave the story a surreal feel for me. I loved when the cat has dressed like a human; the cat was the business man and the king. The cat was definitely in charge, no matter what the narrator had in mind. The narrator seems to be lost in the first couple of panels. His face is all shadowy and sad. His room is empty and there's a spilled bottle of wine. Maybe he is an alcoholic? The world around him is chaotic, the people around him screaming while he is silent. He seems to smile when he meets the cat. The cat makes him laugh even when it makes him bleed. This could be a story about a man battling with his depression, The cat could symbolize his depression. Maybe it's actually about a man who finds a cat and the cat helps him become a happier person. Maybe the cat represents his battle with alcoholism? And the cat is there to help him get his life back on track. The cat taps him on the shoulder, reminds him of his duties.