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Week One: Wordless Comics

I was really blown away by how moving "The Arrival" was by Shaun Tan.  Not only was the piece visually stunning, but Tan really did a really amazing job of orchestrating the visual flow of the narrative by varying panel size, and the amount of detail/information in each one. I also loved his use of juxtaposed art styles. Both the historical and imaginative imagery creates an aesthetic that is simultaneously fantastically alien, and charmingly nostalgic. Another artist we explored this week, whose juxtaposed art styles create a world which is both alien and familiar is Jim Woodring. I've been a huge fan of his style and storytelling techniques for a while, and it was really refreshing to dive back into them both this week after reading Shaun Tan. I'm basically a sucker for line work and psychedelic imagery, so when I first saw "Frank" on the shelves i was immediately drawn in. Woodrings Line work seems to vibrate on the page, while his allegorical silent story lines absorb the reader or "looker" completely. There's something about the simplicity of Frank himself, that makes him feel more comfortable and familiar, and the world in which he inhabits more haunting and otherworldly. Like Tan, Woodring also does an amazing job at orchestrating the visual flow of the story, achieving both beats and pauses that make reading it, or looking at it, extremely enjoyable.

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