As Scott McCloud pointed out in Understanding Comics, it is important for the book's creator to find a balance between too much and too little. In City of Glass, I have noticed that this balance seems to be between the art and the story. Paul Auster's prose is much more cohesive and novel-like than the other works we have read thus far this semester. The illustrations, though quite impressive, seem very comic-like in comparison to American Born Chinese and Heartbreak Soup. They remind me of older, Dick Tracy-era comic strips. However, I think this fits nicely with the mystery/detective genre that Auster is focusing on in this story.
With that being said, I would like to take a closer look at pages 52 and 53, when Quinn goes to Grand Central to watch the arrival of Stillman. The three tiers of panels on 52 seem to zoom out in a way, with the first tier showing close-ups of the crowd, and the second and third tiers pulling out so the reader gets a better look at Stillman. This allows us to see the scene through Quinn's eyes: initially it is just a mass of strangers, but when he focuses in on his target he is able to see things more clearly. The last panel on page 52 and the first three panels on 53 are extremely interesting, not to mention incredibly comic book like. This is where Stillman inexplicably splits into two versions of himself, one being the older, feebler looking man who Quinn first spotted, and the other being a cigarette smoking, dapperly dressed Ian McKellen look-alike. I thought this scene was just fantastic, and cannot imagine it being told through words alone. This is one of many instances in the first half of City of Glass that I found the graphic novel format to be the best suited for Auster's story.
I do have a question about an image on page 52, an image which appears in various forms several other times throughout the book. I am referring to the fourth panel, which is a crayon sketch of an angry face. There are never any words with these panels, and I am not entirely sure what they are meant to represent. My first reaction was that they illustrate Quinn's frame of mind at the time, but I don't know how accurate this is. I looked online to see if I could find any insight into this, but to no avail. I am curious to know what other people thought.
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2 comments:
I agree with you that these panels do represent Quinn's frame of mind at the time, but I think they also represent something deeper. For instance on page 33, the image appears again after a distrubing look into Quinn's mind. Interspered with panels of Quinn walking down the dark city streets, are sketches of "children growing up in isolation" (32.5).
To me, these face sketches on white background, could be children anywhere of any age who have suffered a similar fate to Peter's. The last image on page 33, the face seems to represent the loss of innocence that is apparent throughout the graphic novel. From the fall of Adam and Eve, to the story of the Tower of Babel, and utlitmately Quinn losing his son, there is a loss of innocence. This world is full of it. Notice how dark and dreary it is!
I think the child like drawing of anguish is very distrubing. I also think it fits in well with this theme. Usually, when we think of children's drawings, we think of depictions of happiness and innocence. A family in front of their house. A smiling sun, flowers, trees, etc. As we see on page 33, this is the type of picture that these children who never got to be children would draw.
I agree with Katlyn, and also got the impression that it was a reference to Quinn's son--it looks like it could be a crayon drawing by a three-year-old. And/Or (and this fits the sense of interconnectedness) I saw it as a drawing of Stillman's son, while he was in isolation.
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