Page Layout and Colour in Toil and Trouble #2

After reading the first installment of Mairghread Scott’s “Toil and Trouble”, which tells the story of Macbeth from the point of view of the famous three witches, I was excited to see what #2 had in store. Despite previous familiarity with the story, “Toil and Trouble” adds another layer of meaning and makes the reader consider the characters and their world in new ways. While reading Toil and Touble #2, page 22 stood out beyond the rest. This page is the climax of this issue and presents a recognizable scene, the three witches seeing the prophecy as a stunned Macbeth and Banquo look on. The artistry of this page is stunning, and I will be discussing its elements in terms of colour and page layout.

Scott McCloud says differences between black-and-white and colour comics are “vast and profound, affecting every level of the reading experience” (192). So when the two styles are used simultaneously on the same page the reader recognizes differences in meaning. The section that is (nearly) black-and-white indicates the content of the prophesy and therefore the future. The lack of colour also suggests death and deterioration. McCloud also talks about the “intoxicating environment of sensations that only colour can give” (192). Throughout this comic the illustrators are creating sensations, not about reality but about myth and magic. Colour is also used in this comic to signify the number “3” which is important to the story. The iconic three witches are given distinct character traits, appearances, and clothing, all of which use colour to differentiate between them. We can also see this in the witches’ speech balloons, which are coloured depending on who is speaking.

Jesse Cohn describes different forms of page layout used in comics. "Toil and Trouble" would fit in what Cohn calls the “rhetorical mise-en-page” whereby “the shape of the page actively changes to accommodate the needs of the narrative” (Cohn 46). This is seen throughout this comic to convey action and emotion in a dynamic and visually pleasing way. Cohn says, "when comics layout ceases to obey the rule of a grid, the reader's eyes become free to move about in other directions” (52) This gives the reader the ability to choose their reading paths, and certainly on this page we see that even the witches’ eyes are glazed and illuminated, indicating that there is no set path for reading this page. Traditional borders are also modified in this comic, as we can see when tree branches are used to separate and frame panels. This relates to the witches’ association with nature. It almost seems that there are no visible panels, and yet different aspects of the page are separated to differentiate between different times and places. 

The use of colour and layout, particularly in this sequence, allow us to put aside our own reality and enter the world of these three witches, literally leaving us spellbound.

Lauren Farquhar

Cohn, Jesse. “Mise-en-Page: A Vocabulary of Page Layouts.” Teaching the Graphic Novel, Ed. Stephen E. Tabachnick. New York: Modern Language Association, 2009. 44-57.

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