Text - Rhodes University

Speech bubbles and text boxes are not as awkwardly placed and lettered as they usually
are in amateur comics. Motion lines, however, are overly decorative, inhibiting their
function [fig 12]. In all, this strip is remarkable only in its accurate duplication of a
commercial comic.
Out of my Mind's Eye, by Donn Ingle, features the lead singer of a band as a guardian
angel come to help a boy defend himself against bullies. It is a fantasy of revenge, and
this time the extremes of violence serve a purpose, creating an escapist world of
superheroes with superpowers who are able to exact this revenge. The depiction of
violence has a kind of black humour to it, because it is an indication of the extent of the
small child's victory over his persecutors.
Inserting a superhero dynamic into a realistic situation, and transforming a reallife hero,
the singer, into a superhero, explains and tempers the borrowings from commercial
comics. Such copying often takes itself very seriously, becoming the most significant
aspect of the comic and leaving little space for any personal expression, or even a sense
of humour.
Figure 13 Ingle Out of my Mind's Eye p2
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