The Eternal Smile

I chose The Eternal Smile as my Leddy Library material because of the bright cover. While I was browsing the Leddy shelves, I couldn't help but notice that a vast majority of the comics were in black and white. Because my chosen serial comic is in black and white, I desperately wanted a comic with color and an interesting story. I did not want a superhero comic, so I chose this one, after reading several others. I briefly skimmed the comic and noticed the three different art styles. I did not realize until I read the whole book that there are three stories connected by a thematic choice to consider the difference between reality and fantasy in everyday lives. For this particular comic blog post, I will explore the different art styles.

Interestingly, Derek Kirk Kim illustrated all three stories, while Gene Luen Yang wrote these three. Kirk Kim’s art style shifts dramatically within each story as the fantasy world is broken down into the real world. He creates three separate stories with three widely different art styles for an inclusive, yet exclusive experience reading this novel. Before reading this novel, I had not seen such drastic variation in art style from a single illustrator: this read was refreshing and exciting.

Each story is connected by Kim’s use of cross-hatching: the drawing technique used to create tone and darkness. In the first fantasy story, called Duncan’s Kingdom, there is evidence of cross-hatching in the castle’s walls, the frog’s eyes, and the trees. From the first page, reader’s can see that the starts are hand-drawn, as no two are alike. The lines are very clean and there is not an excessive amount of detail in the castle or plateau that it sits upon. There is just enough detail to make out that this story centers on a medieval-looking castle in a forest. The colour palette throughout this story is varied, from the dark purples and grays to the bright yellows and whites during the King’s funeral. 

Although the characters are slightly cartoonish, the clear lines of the art style help ground this narrative in reality, or reality as Duncan believes it to be. Typical of a quest narrative, he vanquishes the enemies and gets the girl, or so it seems. His version of reality is deconstructed by page 50, where the fantasy Monk version is contrasted with the crumbling apartment building, messy room, and buff sports guy. These worlds are linked by the use of clear lines and cross hatching in each image. 

The second story, Gran'Pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile, is much more cartoonish, though a clear line is used as well. However, after the death of Greenbax's assistant, the story becomes more realistic as Greenbax is pulled out of the tank. This switch is accompanied by a more realistic art style. Instead of pink-cheeked granddaughters with too-shiny eyes, readers see a man with sharp, angular facial features and a prominent Adam's apple. This man is likened to Filbert, Greenbax's assistant. Instead, his face is somewhat angular but more round and his eyes are large, definitely too large for his head. 

 

The last story is perhaps the most different artistically from the others. Simply titled, Urgent Request, the protagonist is trudging through life when a scam artist emails her and unknowingly helps her find purpose and confidence. Whereas the other two stories made the characters push away from fantasy, Janet embraces it and helps bring colour into her life. The panel structure is the most restrictive with usually four panels per page. Each panel has rounded edges and a dreary, gray tone. She does not indulge in her fantasy for a long while, unlike the other stories that begin in fantasy and evolve into reality. 

Crosshatching and clear lines are evident in this page layout. The colour palette is established until she enters her fantasy world. The palette changes from a dreary one to a vibrant but calm, pastel one. She imagines Africa with her prince in native dress and animals coexisting. Reality starts to break through and confront her fantasy. 

Instead of devolving back into reality, she brings some of her fantasy with her. 

Overall, this was a delightfully entertaining read. I enjoyed how each story is connected thematically and through aspects of the art style even though the drawings and panel layouts changed markedly from one story to the next.