Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants: Possibilist Ecologies in ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Bingham 122 taking us within the complex belonging to the old man who readers have just witnessed fall victim to homicide. The page is constructed to mimic the physical construction of the building: a long panel slants upward from the bottom of the page and other panels extend horizontally under the frame of Woodrue's gaze running as floors within a building might. Though Woodrue mocks the flaw of excessive hubris he attributes to the old man, he demonstrates the same prideful tendency. When describing the haughty tour given by his doomed employer he states, “He was so proud of it. Like a child with the biggest dollhouse in the world” (Saga 14, panel 2). In this moment, Moore explicitly draws attention to the play involved in narrative construction. Having Woodrue describe Sunderland's office as a dollhouse conveys a tone of condescension and unsettles the certainty that security provided by technology is absolute or cannot be outsmarted. Though readers can recognize the inevitability of the old man's doom from dialogue alone, color again acts as a strong indicator for characterization on the second page of the issue. Besides Woodrue's red eyes, which are drawn looming over the rest of the panels, the only other time red is used it fills the background of the fourth panel. Here readers can assume the color emphasizes his malicious intentions since the prior page had utilized the device to foreshadow Sunderland's death. Paired with this knowledge, the conclusion that red is representative of the doctor's evil schemes is supported by the dialogue he expresses: “It's very empty... I'd expected a higher security profile” (Saga 14 panel 4). In the panel where this speech is recorded, Woodrue is entirely surrounded by a dark red background instead of the setting of the building he is touring. Visual clues like the use of the color red signify particular sentiments to readers and enable them to quickly absorb information as stylistic patterns cause a repetition of
Bingham 123 affect. Apart from this deliberate switch in color composition, Woodrue's dual portrayal as seemingly human and also as a dissimilar blue skinned, red eyed figure disrupts the reader's identification of him and promotes skepticism about his or anyone's appearance as a good indicator for identity. Since these prefatory pages have yet to name or introduce the series' protagonist in any direct way, the creators have done a good job in demonstrating the vast and complex nature of the possible world which is imagined through the story. So far, the dialogue expressed by each of the two characters shows they each have a degree of knowledge concerning the narrative’s setting and purpose beyond the scope of the readers' present understanding. The focus upon their thoughts and actions emphasizes power dynamics which in time reveal that the protagonist, Swamp Thing, has been subject to victimization and captivity as well. At the tour's and page's end, the two arrive at the chamber where the protagonist is being held. Woodrue remarks with surprise, “He's in Here? How long has he...?” (Saga 14 panel 6) His guide replies, “About two weeks. He's been here since we shot him” (ibid). Almost automatically, technology and violence are positioned alongside one another. They are revealed in this setting to be mechanisms which are used, disparagingly, to support clear violations of body ethic and impose power over others. It isn't until the issue's third page where readers are actually given a glimpse of the body of the narrative's protagonist. Moreover, visual clues become even more important to generating a sense of power dynamics and illustrating the hierarchies which are questioned throughout the text on the space of this page. Composed of only two panels, the uppermost depicts Woodrue and his boss as they peer down into the chamber of the
Page 1 and 2:
Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants:
Page 3 and 4:
Bingham 3 I owe an extreme debt of
Page 5 and 6:
Bingham 5 Introduction My project e
Page 7 and 8:
Bingham 7 personal growth through t
Page 9 and 10:
Bingham 9 beliefs. Seeing a possibl
Page 11 and 12:
Bingham 11 zombie exceeds death as
Page 13 and 14:
Bingham 13 the validity of singular
Page 15 and 16:
Bingham 15 Chapter I: The History o
Page 17 and 18:
Bingham 17 Swamp Thing. According t
Page 19 and 20:
Bingham 19 instructional profession
Page 21 and 22:
Bingham 21 Another artist who worke
Page 23 and 24:
Bingham 23 action into panels (Cohn
Page 25 and 26:
Bingham 25 sponsorship. He designed
Page 27 and 28:
Bingham 27 Charles Moulton. Marston
Page 29 and 30:
Bingham 29 Frederick Wertham prompt
Page 31 and 32:
Bingham 31 “graphic novel” was
Page 33 and 34:
Bingham 33 what is or isn't a graph
Page 35 and 36:
Bingham 35 Works Cited Benton, Mike
Page 37 and 38:
Bingham 37 Chapter II: Transfusion
Page 39 and 40:
Bingham 39 conflict or war. This ex
Page 41 and 42:
Bingham 41 and dismember other bodi
Page 43 and 44:
Bingham 43 bodies to pieces. (Cavar
Page 45 and 46:
Bingham 45 thus creating an affecti
Page 47 and 48:
Bingham 47 margins. Unlike the four
Page 49 and 50:
Bingham 49 implicates the role of o
Page 51 and 52:
Bingham 51 demonstrates that he is
Page 53 and 54:
Bingham 53 Amy (Figure 10 & 11). Th
Page 55 and 56:
Bingham 55 being who has done nothi
Page 57 and 58:
Bingham 57 transgressions, this ima
Page 59 and 60:
Bingham 59 Returning to the full pa
Page 61 and 62:
Bingham 61 order” (200). The prem
Page 63 and 64:
Bingham 63 possession, selling, ste
Page 65 and 66:
Bingham 65 with yourself? Not me. I
Page 67 and 68:
Bingham 67 immediate proximity of t
Page 69 and 70:
Bingham 69 experience, or the human
Page 71 and 72: Bingham 71 sentences Thomas to hang
Page 73 and 74: Bingham 73
Page 75 and 76: Bingham 74 Works Cited Berger, Arth
Page 77 and 78: Bingham 76 APPENDIX A Fig. 1. Openi
Page 79 and 80: Bingham 78 Fig. 7. Fig. 8.
Page 95 and 96: Fig. 38. Bingham 94
Page 97 and 98: Fig. 41. Bingham 96
Page 101 and 102: Bingham 101 Chapter III: Speaking o
Page 103 and 104: Bingham 103 preserved, yet not enti
Page 105 and 106: Bingham 105 increasingly more discu
Page 107 and 108: Bingham 107 Wrightson only drew the
Page 109 and 110: Bingham 109 by the inexorable progr
Page 111 and 112: Bingham 111 appeared. Though the tw
Page 113 and 114: Bingham 113 General Avery Carlton S
Page 115 and 116: Bingham 115 dismembered body which
Page 117 and 118: Bingham 117 sheltered from or not e
Page 119 and 120: Bingham 119 authority. This subtle,
Page 121: Bingham 121 the center of the page
Page 125 and 126: Bingham 125 acts of fictional chara
Page 127 and 128: Bingham 127 resemblance, their comp
Page 129 and 130: Bingham 129 experience. The creator
Page 131 and 132: Bingham 131 justified. What follows
Page 133 and 134: Bingham 133 present to witness it t
Page 135 and 136: Bingham 135 If we read each charact
Page 137 and 138: Bingham 137 able to issue an urgent
Page 139 and 140: 1 According to comics historian Rob
Page 141 and 142: Bingham 140 - Interview by David Ro
show all

Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants: Possibilist Ecologies in ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?