Family Narrative

Click here to read my Family Narrative comic
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Cue obligatory wall of text!

So, this one gave me a ton of trouble.

The emphasis of the assignment was supposed to be on risk-taking, and using comics as a confessional medium. Well, I've thought long and hard about my family history (longer and harder than I'd ever want to again) but I really just couldn't come up with any substantial situation that would make for a decent comic.

Don't get me wrong, I've had a life of emotional turmoil. For example, my parents had an extremely messy divorce; it was awful and caused me years of grief. The problem is, I have successfully repressed anything specific about this event. I don't remember and arguments, any words that were spoken; only fleeting images and emotions. So anything "confessional" I would have to say about them would actually be "lying," which is functionally pretty much the opposite of confession.

That's the way my mind works. I remember things in terms of atmosphere and expression, not dialogue. And I get rid of those memories which are only harmful to my future, pushing me further down the path of madness instead of progress. As a rule, I'd rather draw pictures than reminisce.

Besides that, all the most interesting things (and the most repeated tales) that happen in my family tend to happen in ten words or less, so that didn't help. Or else they're happy, plotless, childish and innocent, with bright skies and smiling faces. But from what I understand, we've been encouraged to not write about these.

So the family story I have to tell for you comes thus not from my memory, but from that of my mom and dad. Last year, when I had to write a family narrative paper for my English class, this was the one story that kept surfacing, --and now I repeat it here for you, in comic form. It takes place a little more than 20 years ago, in a country called Gabon, in Africa. My parents were both in the Peace Corps, working as math teachers in a native village, where the common language was French. They are in a new, wild place-- and one night, they hear a spine-chilling sound coming from their roof...

...as for the actual writing of this one, my main problems were: 1) I don't speak French, 2) Making a chase scene seem drawn out and interesting, and 3) conclusion, because I couldn't think of any way to wrap it up. Bleh.

...enjoy.