sometimes i hate the internet

Blankets. Again, I'll probably spend the duration of my blog rattling on about the graphic novel instead of saying anything at all about Understanding Comics. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike McCloud's work... I just don't like it nearly as much as I do Thompson's and I don't have nearly as much to say about it. I should probably preface this post with the fact that I waited to do it until after I got off work and I worked all day on no sleep. With that said, some of this might make no sense, though maybe it will make more sense than anything else I've written thus far. You've been warned.

When leafing through the chapters that were assigned for Monday, there was one panel that stood out to me more than any of the others. On page 360, the panel where Craig and Raina are in the diner. We've spent a lot of time in class discussing size in the graphic novel and I thought that it was really interesting how Thompson decided to portray the distance between the two by making them tiny in comparison to the table they are sitting at and all the items on the table. And the body language of the two characters in the panel I think says a lot about what they are feeling. Craig is looking at Raina in such a longing way but the expression on his face is almost hopeless. And she's reaching for him, as if she really does want to be with him, but at the same time she has her head turned away because they are in public where other people can see her. Another thing that emphasizes the space between them is the length of the panel. Instead of breaking it up like the other panels on the page he's let the panel reach from side to side. It reminded me of McCloud's discussion on panel length and how it represents space and time.

I feel like I could or should say more but as I'm looking through the chapters I don't have anything else to say at the moment. Not that I don't have a feeling one way or another as to the rest of the going ons in the two chapters we read but nothing just jumped right out at me other than that panel. Maybe next time. Maybe next time I will also put some spiffy pictures in here to help break up the text a little. I'm too tired to do it tonight.

And random aside... this was one of the best weekends ever.