Text - Rhodes University

In the last frame [fig 15] the main character stands alone against a blank background.
The frame is classically composed. Visually it reads like a punchline, but the text is
ambiguous, as if part of the script has been left out. The script as a whole is bitty and
unclear, lacking motivation. This is not neccessarily a problem in itself, but the comic is
drawn as if possessing a clear, functional narrative, and there is no apparent reason for
this failure at the end.
The lettering is amateurish, sloppy, and uncomfortable, which ruins the finish of the
comic. Solid areas of black, used frequently, mitigate the tentative sensitive lines,
producing through contrast a visual liveliness that quickens the pace of the action.
Last Week is, at this point, my longest story. It is a prose passage rather than a narrative;
the form of the text is that of a letter, addressing a specific person directly.
The title page is one panel. Each subsequent page is divided into roughly equivalent
sections, which are then subdivided, either into separate frames or by means of text
superimposed onto larger frames. Many of the devices used in Ourselves Apart are used
agam.
For its effect the comic relies on an accumulation of details, and all the parts are
completely interdependant. Various disparate elements are thrown together. Quotes are
added in to supplement the text, creating an expression of an emotional state, rather than
a message. It is a flat comic, in the sense that the tone remains even throughout and the
pace does not change. Each frame is an elaboration of the mood of the text, and text and
pictures are equivalent, having the same weight. Some frames are purely text [fig 16]. The
meaning lies more in the design or layout than in a narrative. Instead of clearly stating
my intentions, or even alluding to them, I embroider around them. It is a dissection of
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