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Post by eheitner on Jan 2, 2024 15:50:25 GMT
Let's talk about that wordless comic.
Reread it last night. When the little boy gives the button to the seagull at the beginning-- is that supposed to be a token of friendship or a mean trick (bc the gull would think it is food and try to eat it and choke)?
What is going on with the spread where the boy and the woman are walking up and down the beach? Is there supposed to be some significance in the whale/fish silhouette in the last panel?
Why does the woman hit the boy after cleaning up the pillows and sheets?
The book realllllly felt to me like a series of disconnected vignettes that were beautifully drawn but sort of strung together like beads; it still feels rather weightless to me.
I loved so many of those sequences, tho; the soccer game, the gull and the boy in a boat on the river, the kids playing and farting and eating and sleeping in the orphanage(?)....
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Post by eheitner on Jan 2, 2024 16:00:07 GMT
Did anyone else think that the first sequence of the boy and the gull in the boat on the river was meant to be death/the river Styx? especially when it went all watercolory?
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Post by manoopuesta on Jan 2, 2024 19:24:28 GMT
Did anyone else think that the first sequence of the boy and the gull in the boat on the river was meant to be death/the river Styx? especially when it went all watercolory? yeah, i totally thought the same. the book though i don't remember exactly what else was going on. i loved the fairy tale vibe. sometimes with books i just have left of them a memory of the feeling i get from reading them. this happened with Gull Yettin for example. loved it |
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Post by owaddled on Jan 2, 2024 19:37:34 GMT
Let's talk about that wordless comic.
Reread it last night. When the little boy gives the button to the seagull at the beginning-- is that supposed to be a token of friendship or a mean trick (bc the gull would think it is food and try to eat it and choke)?
What is going on with the spread where the boy and the woman are walking up and down the beach? Is there supposed to be some significance in the whale/fish silhouette in the last panel?
Why does the woman hit the boy after cleaning up the pillows and sheets?
The book realllllly felt to me like a series of disconnected vignettes that were beautifully drawn but sort of strung together like beads; it still feels rather weightless to me.
I loved so many of those sequences, tho; the soccer game, the gull and the boy in a boat on the river, the kids playing and farting and eating and sleeping in the orphanage(?)....
Must be something in the air because I was flipping through it again last night too. I had never thought about the button being a trick but I think it was seen favorably by the Yettin because it then wants the boy to be its own child. Though I guess it could have been intended to be a trick on the boy's part but something that turned out to be favorable to the bird? The bird probably took it to its nest. Some birds like shiny things to show off in their nests to attract mates. I always thought the woman hit the kid as a "I'm so glad you're safe...whack...don't do that again" Oddly, I never felt like it was disconnected vignettes. It feels pretty cohesive to me, the Yettin takes the kid, the woman finds the kid, Yettin gets jealous and wounds the woman, the kid abandons the woman to be with other young people, the Yettin repents and helps the woman and brings the kid home. I'm still unsure if the Yettin starts the fire at the kid's home or not. |
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Post by eheitner on Jan 2, 2024 20:14:28 GMT
I guess....when I say vignettes, what I'm thinking about is that there seem to be so many pieces of "business" that don't serve the "plot" that you describe above; the kid peeing on the seat, the farting in the classroom, the boy and the woman walking along a beach, that are given full spreads and story beats that give them some sense of importance but just float by, unless there are deeper meanings I am missing....
but they are all each of them lovely little drawings, and in my mind they maybe just exist because Decie felt like drawing them?
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Post by owaddled on Jan 3, 2024 4:24:04 GMT
I guess....when I say vignettes, what I'm thinking about is that there seem to be so many pieces of "business" that don't serve the "plot" that you describe above; the kid peeing on the seat, the farting in the classroom, the boy and the woman walking along a beach, that are given full spreads and story beats that give them some sense of importance but just float by, unless there are deeper meanings I am missing....
but they are all each of them lovely little drawings, and in my mind they maybe just exist because Decie felt like drawing them?
I see what you mean, and the comic definitely leans towards 'experiential' scenes that have their own life. Though a few still feel meaningful plotwise to me. Them walking up and down the beach is a nice succinct way to show how the kid is feeling more comfortable with the woman. It's the first time we see the kid and the woman having fun. The previous pages were the woman nursing him back to health and comforting him after he cries. In the first panel at the beach their footsteps are side by side then the 2nd panel we see that the kid has been running around, feeling more free. Also the page construction kind of makes it seem like the Yettin is spying/scrying on them through the pond since the top panel is the house empty and we'd seen earlier that the Yettin was watching. Him peeing on the seat is the 2nd hint of a little domestic discord after he rejects the greens she picked. Something to show that it's not a purely idyllic situation, mostly because he's a young kid. Similarly, the kid farting in class is the first time we see the kid in the reality of school. It feels like he's acting out now that he knows being at the school doesn't mean it's going to be playtime all the time. I really love the two page spread of the kids playing that ends with a picture of the kid watching out of the window. It's the first time we see someone getting scolded and a kid crying at school. The last panel is just a perfect depiction of "dang I wanna be outside playing" But..where did the Yettin in human form get the car? It got to the school by boat  |
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Post by mikesheawright on Jan 3, 2024 22:21:38 GMT
i don't think i could dissect anything that really happens in that book, it's just such a delight to experience. it's expressionist comics, i just love to bask in his work. i wish it was 20 feet tall and i could go sit in front of it at a museum.
i also have no fucking idea how he makes these things, just on a technical level. i am totally mesmerized by his use of color layering and placement for effect. it all reads like magic to me.
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Post by BubblesZine on Jan 3, 2024 23:06:19 GMT
I agree with Mike here. Pure magic.
The Gull Yettin is a comic where on the initial flip through it feels abstract, but when you read it somehow it reads so clearly. Characters move, scenery becomes real, colors explode. I think the abstractness of the drawing yet the clearness of character and movement create not a clear linear plot meant to be read in one way, but an experience that's unique to the reader. Different between people, and different between each time you read it. Not that it's not worthwhile to discuss what we think happened in the comic, but I think this discussion is really about what we each experienced. There's a brilliant simpleness to it, yet I doubt it could not be easily replicated by others. Truly an amazing book.
I wish Donkey was more widely available, I loved how big it was. Another amazing comic. I am in love with the strength of Kessler's silent storytelling, it feels like real pictorial storytelling to me. I feel so "*IN* it when I read.
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Post by owaddled on Jan 4, 2024 0:56:01 GMT
Oh I'm definitely not saying my reading is THE reading and I hope it didn't come off that way.
I do think the book is amazing, it was instantly one of my all-time favorites as soon as I got through my first reading. As Mike said, the technical feats in the book are breathtaking.
Just to me it does feel fairly legible as a story more so than something like Frank Santoro's Chimera or John Hankiewicz's Education.
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Post by BubblesZine on Jan 4, 2024 1:19:35 GMT
Yeah I agree, the story is there. It's even more obvious that's a goal in Donkey.
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Post by argethebarge on Jan 4, 2024 4:31:54 GMT
I agree with Mike here. Pure magic. The Gull Yettin is a comic where on the initial flip through it feels abstract, but when you read it somehow it reads so clearly. Characters move, scenery becomes real, colors explode. I think the abstractness of the drawing yet the clearness of character and movement create not a clear linear plot meant to be read in one way, but an experience that's unique to the reader. Different between people, and different between each time you read it. Not that it's not worthwhile to discuss what we think happened in the comic, but I think this discussion is really about what we each experienced. There's a brilliant simpleness to it, yet I doubt it could not be easily replicated by others. Truly an amazing book. I wish Donkey was more widely available, I loved how big it was. Another amazing comic. I am in love with the strength of Kessler's silent storytelling, it feels like real pictorial storytelling to me. I feel so "*IN* it when I read. totally agree. also, i believe donkey is being extended into a full book length and be made widely available, although i don’t think it will keep the large format |
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Post by BubblesZine on Jan 4, 2024 13:40:00 GMT
After I read it I told Joe I would fund reprinting Donkey even BIGGER haha. It was 10x14 but imagine if it was Artist Edition size like 15" × 22", boy I'd be crazy hyped. Because I'm crazy I sought out the Swedish edition of the book because I'm friends with Fredrik Jonsson who runs Lystring, but also I wanted to see the object. Unlike the other two books it came with wrap on the soft cover book and if you take it off there's a bonus comic on the backside. If you have the Breakdown version of Windowpane than you know what I mean. Here it is for your enjoyment: |
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Post by owaddled on Jan 4, 2024 21:56:56 GMT
That's beautiful, thanks for sharing! That panel of the bird offering the egg is perfect.
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Post by jporcellino on Jan 4, 2024 23:00:56 GMT
Just picked my copy up from the library...
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Post by leonnoel on Jan 5, 2024 2:19:04 GMT
Let's talk about that wordless comic.
Reread it last night. When the little boy gives the button to the seagull at the beginning-- is that supposed to be a token of friendship or a mean trick (bc the gull would think it is food and try to eat it and choke)?
What is going on with the spread where the boy and the woman are walking up and down the beach? Is there supposed to be some significance in the whale/fish silhouette in the last panel?
Why does the woman hit the boy after cleaning up the pillows and sheets?
The book realllllly felt to me like a series of disconnected vignettes that were beautifully drawn but sort of strung together like beads; it still feels rather weightless to me.
I loved so many of those sequences, tho; the soccer game, the gull and the boy in a boat on the river, the kids playing and farting and eating and sleeping in the orphanage(?)....
I reread this on the 2nd as well. i think the fish comes back when the thing leaves it on their doorstep as an offering |
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