This page, which in the book is across from the page I posted yesterday, shows Hal standing on top of a rather ornate building, one that I am not sure I see anywhere else in the Land of Odd, except for the number 100, in the knobs or whatever-they-are that were in yesterday's page as well. (I don't know what those refer to. Does anyone else get that? I keep feeling as though I have missed something obvious.) So his bubble--his shield--seems to have burst, and he is alone now, unprotected from the unknown and chaotic recesses of his unconscious. We see him from a point of view above the exposed brain of the squid monster he is facing. He looks small and vulnerable. All the lines in the picture are pointing more or less toward him. But there is also that circle at the bottom where he is even more exposed, with his hands outstretched so that he doesn't even have his own arms covering his body.
Interestingly, the colorist has changed the emphasis in subtle but definite ways in this page. In Seth's original, all the people in the top frame are drawn with the same line weight; in color only Hal has black lines around him, the others are in light brown, and colored in hazy colors, so that Hal seems real and the others seem imaginary. In the original Hal in the circle at the bottom has a surprised look on his face; in color he looks horrified. I wouldn't say the color makes it wrong; it raises the level of tension. Argument could be made that it makes the storyline clearer. For myself though, I prefer the black and white almost always.
No comments:
Post a Comment