Format & Visuals in The Cautioner’s Tale

The Cautioner’s Taleis not simply a collage-style graphic novel. It’s a scrapbook but not one of fond memories. It is actually a notebook of evidence to help the author keep track of names, notations, images and clues. [Insert meme of Charlie Day connecting the conspiracy dots here.] The format of the book has been designed to aid the main character in her investigations and in the case of her disappearance or assassination, it should assist whomever finds it. The journal-style book is filled with torn strips of paper, ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, matchbooks, buttons, keys, envelopes, propaganda flyers, government memos, letters, and photos. All this in an attempting to investigate government corruption or at least document her daily life after the great take over. The decision to present the journal as a scrapbook signifies being in a state of panic—both the main character, Mary Morgan, and the world at large. The pages are unkempt, papers crumpled and stained. Even her hand-written entries are on seemingly found scraps of paper shreds. It is a symbol of being a revolutionary in hiding and speaks to the scarcity of supplies in the world Wilburn has built. Any other format might have muted the sense of urgency here or implied clues have been discovered in a linear, organized fashion with time to contemplate the meaning of each. 

            Being a graphic novel has expanded the possibilities for this story beyond what a conventional novel would have permitted. Most obviously, the length of the book has been impacted; at just 48 pages, the book is short but not necessarily light. On each page, Wilburn has digitally pasted 3-6 clippings or images which each require pause and consideration for the plot. The visual components act as an element of world-building with tone (as previously discussed) and by illustrating images without having to describe them through text ie. photos of characters such as Herr Bigly Rump or Fortuitous Max, the hybrid fruit Pearange, and the seal of the serpent. We even get images of two coded messages and the process by which the main character deciphered the message. The image here, is stronger than any description of this message or decoding process. The pictures connect the reader to the suspense and intrigue into this world. 

Further, the graphic novel format has allowed for this book to be the first in a trilogy without the length and tediousness of a traditional fantasy or sci-fi series. Again, reading the book was still involved because of the layers of content on each page, however I found myself having more patience with a book which let me investigate each note and photo slowly than a 300 page book I would have skimmed through for time’s sake. I absorbed this story on a deeper level and will definitely be reading the remaining two books in this series; an intention I’m certain I wouldn’t have had with a differently formatted book of greater length (at least while still in school). 

The trilogy is important here. The Cautioner’s Talebeing the first of three books allows for loose ends to remain untied, messy even. The story wraps up the conflict of Herr Bigly Rump in a position of power—enough to feel satisfied by progression of the plot but it doesn’t answer many questions posed in this book. The new ruler Dastardly Gott remains unchallenged though we know he’s a corrupt politician as well. Juggler Vein is discovered to be alive in the Arctic Mines but isn’t rescued from imprisonment and hard labor. Scandalous Duplicity is reportedly on the loose by not contacted by Mary after she implies she might form an alliance with him. These unanswered questions leave the story open-ended to entice readers to the second book and gives space for conflicts to build within it. Both the weaving and breaking-up of these story lines in the context of three separate books helps propel smaller arcs appearing in each book and sustain the larger one constructed throughout these stories.