Man Who Wasnt There The

Author notes

MWWT: Spaceman #1 pg22

barking_frog

on Dec. 2, 2007

Another great Ethel panel. Something Caio does throughout this issue that I think works wonderfully is he added birds flying behind Ethel in a number of places (pgs 7, 19, 22). The effect seems to be nearly subliminal, but the juxtaposition of birds with her ugly mug shows Caio understood perfectly what I wanted to do with the character.



TheMidge28: Birds can be used to symbolize all kinds of things depending on how they're presented, but two of those things are beauty and freedom. Birds can give one the impression that they're able to just "fly away" from all their troubles. So here's 300 lb. Ethel trapped in an ugly body with some obvious psychic trauma in her past. Yet despite being grotesque and maybe a bit crazy, she also appears noble in a way, still maintains hope, and appears to have a good heart. In her way she's a bird in a cage with invisible bars, watching her kindred ascend.