Under the Colour of Darkness

Colour plays a huge part in the second issue of the Plutona series.  The first 16 pages (page 10 exempted) are all set in the darkness of the forest.  In McCloud’s Understanding Comics, Kandinsky is noted for believing “that colors could have profound physical and emotional effects on people (185).  The darkness portrays the characters’ variety of emotions and the fights that ensue because of Plutona’s death.  The first panel on page six shows Teddy’s reaction to Ray wanting to film the dead superhero.  Teddy acts violently by slapping the phone out of Ray’s hands, and the reader can see the emotion of anger in Teddy’s face.  

The theme of death is heightened because of the dark background.  The characters are learning how to deal with death and specifically how to handle the secrecy and darkness Plutona’s death brings.  The mood the black background carries brings out the worst in all of the characters.  Diane, who up to this point has been one of the quiet characters, yells at the top of her lungs to stop the boys from fighting (7/2).  The green emanating from behind her adds to the loudness of her command.  The comic brightens when Teddy is talking  about the other superheroes.  The change in colours allows the reader to know that those panels are not in the same time or place as the main characters; Teddy is only telling a story. 

After the sequence of dark panels in the forest, the panels lighten up when the characters are in their home environment.  Apart from the far off looks in their eyes these environments are untouched by the death.  The brightness signifies a sense of normalcy.  In Ray’s case the panel is still dark which echoes the same darkness and death found in the forest (17/3).   

When all Mie and Diane have gone to bed, they are all alone, no longer surrounded by their families, and their dark thoughts from earlier that day are surrounding them in the darkness of the rooms (19/1-2).  Ray continues in the darkness of his own life while possibly still thinking about what went on in the forest (19/3).  The reader then expects to see a similar panel for Teddy, but instead he is gone which adds to the mystery (19/4).  

The darkness left me with an overall sense of dread by the end of the issue.

Yolanda Macfarlane