Birchsquatch :The Last Bigfoot #1 by Jim Gibbons and Caleb Goeller

This comic first caught my eye because of the large yellow lettering-it stood out against the grey background of the cover, drawing my eyes to it. From the font chosen for the title, it seemed quirky and interesting.After a quick glance through, it also appeared to be about environmental issues, which I am very interested in. Jan Baetans, in the article "Revealing Traces:A New Theory of Graphic Enunciation" discusses the importance of Graphiation ( the drawing/lettering style used for a particular work) , and how it can influence the reader's interpretations and impressions of the work. The graphiation style of this work is very rough and hand-drawn, as if the comic were a quick doodle someone drew. The art seems to have been drawn quickly, and appears in some places almost to still have pencil-lines under the ink ones. It is in black and white; no colour, which adds to the way it seems to consist of simple, quick sketches. The text, too, is rough and hand-drawn, and, indeed, is sometimes hard to read. Such drawing and lettering styles lend themselves to a tone of casualness, and, given the very simplistic style of the art, Scott McCloud's theories ( outlined in his book, Understanding Comics) concerning reader-character identification could easily be applied. McCloud theorizes that the more simplified a character, the easier it is for the reader to identify with said character. Given Birch's simple depiction, perhaps the reader is intended to identify with him. At the very least, one is meant to sympathize with him, as he tells his story of being ejected from his natural home in the forest as a result of human industrialization.                                            

Toward the beginning of the book, Birchsquatch is seen planting a seed to further his garden oasis in the middle of a polluted city. Having been driven out of his home by building developers, he makes a new home here for himself and many other woodland creatures. There is a four-panel sequence of him planting the seeds (page 11). This sequence is referenced and repeated almost exactly later in the book when he morbidly preforms the same process inside the body of a man, a big construction company owner whom he has just killed (21). This repetition is a sort of visual cue that the reader is meant to pick up on.

Interestingly, the first sequence of seed-planting is followed by a panel of Birchsquatch looking up as a loud rumble is heard( this rumble is indicated by text, since the comic medium cannot really reproduce sound, as Douglas Wolk discusses in his article, “Pictures, Words, and the Space Between Them.” This panel is the last of the page, and, given the organization of this page, Birchsquatch almost appears to be looking up at the process of planting he has just completed. Wolk discusses how the organization of panels and page layout can have an effect on the reader; in this case, it allows the reader to make connections, and see the panels in more than one way. 

A similar thing happens a little later on, on page 17, when Birchsquatch goes out looking for the man who has set up a construction site, evicting some woodland creatures out of their home. On the page, Birchsquatch is seen in the second panel, looking down at the man from high above him. The third panel shows the man on the ground, laughing. The organization of these panels allows the reader to read them in sequence, from left to right, as is the cultural norm for western comics.

Yet this organization of panels allows the reader to read the panels also as Birchsquatch looking, from the second, uppermost right panel, down and across to the man on the ground in the lowermost left one. Thus, 's idea that page organization is important is exemplified. As well, a bit of intertextuality  is exhibited on this page through Birch's comment "I'm gonna go put my foot down." Intertextuality, as Matthew Jones discusses in his article "Reflexivity In Comic Art" . Jones explains that intertextuality is the act of referencing another , or multiple other, works or things in a work. this is done in this comment; while primarily this means he is going to go after the man who is causing the problem, this comment also references the Bigfoot legend, through its reference to his feet, in the same way that the cover does , which pictures presumably Birch's footprint, as strange tracks are a key part to the Bigfoot legend. therefore, by referencing the Bigfoot legend in this way, this piece uses intertextuality to add an additional layer of meaning. 

This comic utilizes intertextuality when it references readers' presumed knowledge of the Sasquatch/Bigfoot legend, and also plays with it by putting it in a new light. Intertextuality is highlighted on a paratextual pin-up page at the end of the book, in which Birchsquatch is pictured in the iconic pose of many of the supposed 'Bigfoot' sightings are captured on film; mid-stride and looking back at the camera. However, Birchsquatch is not pictured in a forest, surrounded by trees, but in what looks to be an alley, his name spray-painted in graffiti on the wall behind him, and garbage can be seen at his feet and around him. His mouse friend, Cheese, is perched on his shoulder, just one of the forest creatures he is trying to protect. Here, the artist, Buster Moody, has taken this well-known, iconic shot of 'Bigfoot', and altered it to fit the comic. Birch's name is graffittied on the wall, perhaps as a reference to his fighting the system and his criminal act in the story. Likewise, he is pictured in an alley, underground and away from the public view, much like how the 'real' Bigfoot is believed to be so elusive. He is shrouded in mystery, as the fog at his feet suggests. Indeed, even Birchsqatch's name references this extratextual legend; his name is 'Birchsquatch' an alteration of the word 'Sasquatch' , the name given to the creature. By altering it slightly, adding 'birch', the natural origin of the creature is highlighted.

Thus, both the pin-up artist and the comics creators play with the cultural reference and legend of Bigfoot by blatantly referencing it, yet changing certain things about him in their depiction. 

The Bigfoot's nature as sub-human, sub-animal seems to be highlighted as well in this comic, as Birchsquatch dons a hoodie in order to appear human in the large city crowds. Yet, his closest friends are forest creatures, and he values nature and friends over money, machines, and industrialization. He seems almost a more 'natural version' of human. He is both a part of the human world and separate from it. As he says on page 5, 'to survive, I'm picking up the lingo'. This highlights the fact that he doesn't truly belong here, but has to live here, and blend in, pretending he does. Indeed, he says “Maybe I should have done something to make them notice me sooner...or maybe all that matters is that they don't notice me now.”(6.)

Overall, I found this an interesting, thought-provoking comic that exhibited many things the theorists we have learned about in class have discussed, and I look forward to reading the next issue.

Works Cited

Baetens, Jan. 'Revealing Traces; A New Theory of Graphic Enunciation.”The Language of

Comics; Word and Image. Eds. Robin Varnum and Christina T. Gibbons. Jackson, MS:UP of Mississippi,2002. 145-55.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994.

Thompson, Craig. Goodbye, Chunky Rice. 5^Th ed. Toronto: Random House of Canada, Limited., 2004.20-21. Print.

Jones, Matthew T. "Reflexivity in Comic Art."International Journal of Comic Art 7.1(Spring 2005):270-86

Wolk, Douglas. “Pictures, Words, and the Space Between Them.” Reading Comics. New

York: Da Capo Press, 2007. 118-34