During class today, we discussed how frames work in comics/graphic novels and how their layout can subtlety convey messages that our subconscious recognizes.
The image above, found in issue 46 of the comic 'Transmetropolitan', demonstrates this concept precisely and cleanly. In it, the main character (named Spider Jerusalem), reflects on his current predicament after the events that occurred in the issue preceded this one. He eventually concludes that he is in a coma after realizing that he is still alive (which he references when he alludes to God "giving up his throne to" Spider).
The layout of the two panels brings this image together of Spider's comatose isolation. The thin, white line between the two panels subconsciously brings up the feeling that the balance between Spider's life and a vegetative state is fragile, almost as if ready to crumble at a moment's notice. The excessive use of black ink surrounding Spider also helps convey his imaginative self suspended in a mental space devoid of everything but his own mental likeness. It projects to the reader that in this state, Spider is surrounded by a darkness that has resulted from his coma. This darkness, along with the shading of Spider's face accenting his grim but self-philosophical reflection, adds itself to this image of being trapped within one's own mind.
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