Multimodal meaning in Middlewest

Multimodal meaning in Middlewest

                In the third issue of Middlewest, the story starts to resemble a fantasy adventure comic because the main characters travel through the beautiful countryside. these sections of the plot involve finding someone who can help Abell with his new cursed tattoo. The author’s art style renders flourishing natural settings with the rolling hills and the sky. As the colour palate is incredibly bright which reflects the uplifting atmosphere and a happy-go-lucky mood of the characters. The counterpoint to the journey plot is the plotline with the father who is always associated with duller colours or the colour blue.  This common theme of being associated with blue is presented throughout the past few issues, for example from the first issue the blue lighting of Abell’s room, the blue curse mark across his torso, the blue hospital room the father wakes up in, and finally his blue hat when he goes off to find Abell. bright colours are only associated with the Dad comes in to show worry or shock such as when the father realizes that he chased Abell away. This common theme of blue palette colour codes both the character and the mood he brings with him. When blue is used in a negative context it has conventionally signals depression or entrapment, telling the reader that misery follows the father wherever he goes. This misery applies to the mere mention of the father. In this segment of the plot, the main cast is talking about Abel’s father around a campfire at night. This signals that the misery the father brings is omnipresent as he is only acknowledged at night by the main characters and never in the day. This shows the degree of power the father has over Abel’s world that the mere acknowledgment of his father can turn Abel’s world to darkness. This is reinforced by the start of the blue colour palate encroaching to eventually dominating the background after the topic of Abel’s father is brought up. 

Figure 1. page 11,  Abel's father wakes up in the hosptial

figure 2. page 4. Abel discusses his father

Figure 3. page 5. encroachment of the blue palate

                Text and speech bubbles also come into play to help establish character. This is used for the bridge troll who tries to eat the main protagonists. The troll’s speech bubble and its tail are much rougher and more jagged compared to the other speech bubbles with the only exception being when characters yelled. The rough bubbling act as a signal a rough or scratchy characteristic to the troll’s voice when speaking. Similarly, the bolder/thicker front used for the troll communicates to the reader that it the troll speaks in a much louder voice than when other characters are speaking, befitting of the large nature of the troll.  

Figure 6. page 16. the troll's speech bubbles