Final Blog Post:

Revision of Blog about Shaun Tan's 

The Arrival

The longer I have been in this course, the more I have come to appreciate this book. It delivers on every level without the use of text. I know that I hit on continuity before, but let me go a little deeper.
     Put simply Continuity is just a series of actions or events that take place in a narrative. Early in the evolution of the Comic Book / Graphic Novel there was not much need for continuity, either by the creators / publishers or the readership. Plots and story lines seemed to wonder here or there in most cases. As changes in the comic and graphic novel took place continuity became more of a result rather than the problem. This book uses continuity to define its message, and does so with elegance in my opinion. Shaun Tan takes it to a new level, even though the graphic novel is compared more closely to film than it is to comics. His use of frame by frame and time / space continuity sows masterful understanding of the craft.
     The Narrative is put together surrounding a man who has left his family in what looks like a normal environment and after he arrives at his destination there are all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures and architecture. The inhabitants are more than helpful assisting the man in everything he needs (lots of pointing and use of symbols at this point in the book). After a few brief mishaps and some money being sent back home the mans family arrives as well. The very last image in the book is the mans son pointing the way to a new immigrant fellow who has just arrived as well. Altogether the narrative is built around a feeling of community and helpfulness coupled with adventure and all of the emotions that come with being apart from ones family. This wonderful narrative would not be possible without text if continuity was not involved. It is literally the glue that binds this book together.
     I also very much enjoyed his use of color scheme. The desaturated browns, and blacks / whites gave a real ... "through the looking glass" feel to this book. After reading it for the third time.. (do I say looking at it ...or reading it...hmmm) I realized that there were parts that I noticed that I must have glossed over the first two times. I looked at the full page abstracts much more intently and saw many things that I didn't before, which I liked very much.
     I plan to order this book for my five almost six year old son so that he may enjoy it as well. It has been a wonderful semester and thanks for all the new reading material that I can reference in the future Dr. Steiling.