SotA Anthology 2015-16
The covers work in a
cumulative
manner,
to
ensure each issue is
recognisably part of the
same series. The page
(see above) is divided up
into 10 segments, around a
decagon that contains the
title (in a typewriteresque
font, in attempt to visually
depict the recurring motif of
literature and its production).
The first issue illustrates
one of the segments with an
image of a steam train, from
the If On A Winter’s Night
chapter, leaving the other
nine blank. The second
issue builds on the first,
featuring the same segment
plus another, and so on
until the final issue, in which
all ten segments are fully
illustrated. As the number of
illustrations increases, the
opacity of each segment will
be slightly reduced on all
illustrations except the one
from the current issue.
As shown above (right), the
inside cover of each issue
contains a partial quote
from or about Ludmilla’s
reading habits, which the
back cover completes (‘You’
meet Ludmilla in the book
store). By bookending each
issue with these quotes,
the influence of Ludmilla’s
reading habits over the
direction of the narrative
is made present, but
unexplained, much as in
the novel. Each quote also
works as a teaser for the
next issue. In certain comics,
isolated quotes increase
the reader’s confidence in
the delivery of a complete,
resonant story with a
tightly controlled narrative
in place from the very first
issue. An example of this
is Jonathan Hickman and
Nick Pitarra’s Manhattan
Projects, where each issue
includes feature pages
containing select, often
obscure quotes from the
diary of a major character as
a foreshadowing technique.
As the series begins to
wrap up, these quotes
start to appear as dialogue
amongst characters.
Rather than a more realistic
art style, which McCloud
(1993) believes makes the
reader “far too aware of the
messenger to fully receive
the message,” the art for the
second-person section of
the comic (next page, left) is
fairly simplistic and iconic, so
that the reader more easily
“sees themselves.” It is for
this reason also that ‘You’
is presented in this initial
issue as androgynous in
appearance. The characters
of ‘the others’ are bundled
into one, eponymous t-shirt,
for humour and a quick
visual indication to readers
that they are fairly flat,
expendable characters.