WP2: Cursory Analysis

The comic strip I chose is titled, “We Will Make Everything Wrong in the Right Way,” and is from the “A Softer World” archive. This comic strip is quite unlike any I’ve ever seen before. In these comics, there are usually three panels, but occasionally there are six. The one I have chosen is a three-panel. The panels in these comics don’t have pictures of their own, but instead they all share the same picture that is cut up into the three panels. In each of the panels, there is usually words that appear to be cut and pasted into the picture. These words build on each other as the panels progress. The emotion behind the words usually intensifies as the panels go on.

The first panel of the strip I’ve chosen reads, “I want to rob lumber mills and hospitals with you.” The photograph with these 3 panels is a black and white print. Behind this first set of words is the picture of a man who appears to possibly be smiling and covering his mouth with his hand. The second panel has the words, “and just bewilder the hell out of people.” This panel contains a blurred image continuing from the initial image of the man. The last panel has the words, “the way love should,” on it. The background of this panel is also the same blurred black and white continuance from the first two panels.

This comic definitely evoked an emotion in me when I read it the first time. The text is quite powerful and presents an interesting thought. The author appears to want to “bewilder the hell out of people” with their significant other. Judging by the words in the last panel, the author wants to find a way to express the power of the love he or she is in. It made me think of my own relationship and other relationships I know of where the love or bond was so strong it was hard to describe to others. The author of this comic strip obviously believes love is a mystifying and complex thing and wants to try to find a way to convey that to others. The words seemed very powerful to me.

The way this strip was presented was very effective. It is quite different from any other comic strips out there. The pictures that are included in each of the photographs are very interesting and, usually, quite appealing to the eye, which, in turn, would draw readers in. The odd way that the authors decide to enter text is also another technique that draws reader in, because it isn’t the typical fashion of people or animals with thought or speaking captions. The writing in the comics also isn’t really actual spoken words, but appear to be thoughts, almost. It’s as if we are getting a private look into what the author is thinking, instead of reading what they actually are saying. This particular strip is just “wishing,” it seems, to find a way to convey the mystical, complex experience that is love.