The closest
thing to a comic that I’m familiar with is Captain Underpants. I remember like
if it was yesterday the day my teacher gave us the tragic news. We could no
longer read Captain Underpants (that also meant no more flipping the pages back
and forth to see how he moved). From that moment on, I left comics behind me
because I thought there was no such thing as a comic for adults. This was the
start of reading books that didn’t have any illustrations in them. As I read New York Times best seller, New
Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld I understand that comics can go
way deeper than just super heroes, villains, or a captain in underpants.
I didn’t know what to expect from a comic book that told the story of seven different people. Its pretty disturbing just knowing what happened to New Orleans after the deadliest and most destructive hurricane ever, Katrina, but I find even more disturbing the illustrations from the book. Below, are some pictures of the illustrations found in pages 67, 68, 70. The woman in them is Denise, a sixth-generation New Orleanian with a master’s degree in guidance and counseling (7) (like someone would even care about that during a hurricane).
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I 
In the previous
illustrations, the author, Josh Neufeld uses juxtaposition to contrast what’s happening
outside of Denise’s apartment and then to her individually. I have liked
Neufeld’s technique because showing a wider view of the scenario and later
zooming in to different people each in their own situation, helps the audience
understand what’s really going on.
I am enjoying reading
comics again after all this time. However, I continue to have a doubt that I hope
the book will clear not long after I finish this blog post: When someone dies,
how does the author illustrate this? Especially in this case where deaths were
not quite tranquil.
