Color in Nimona

    Let’s talk about color choices folks. One of the first things I noticed in Nimona, was that Stevenson chose to contrast her characters with their backgrounds. What I mean is that for most of the panels, the background is pretty dark which allows the characters to stand out in the scenes. Especially Nimona who is the most colorful character of the bunch I would argue. If we look at a scene such as the one on page 119 where Nimona loses her powers, we see that both her and Blackheart are set starkly against the charcoal gray walls of his lab. This heightens a readers perceptions of actions and movements performed by the characters. Nothing is really going on in the background that we need to pay attention to. All of our focus is drawn to our protagonists.

    Now I want to juxtapose my ideas on this contrast with another scene. On page 179 we see Goldenloin and Blackheart in the dungeon/cell where Blackheart is being kept. My attention was immediately drawn to color in this scene because we see the character’s backgrounds shifting rapidly between the same charcoal gray color, and the orange hue of the cell door which seems to be a plexiglass or force field. The charcoal gray blends well with Blackhearts suit, while Goldenloin being thrust against that orange color seems to blend as well. All through the scenes the panels switch perspective from Blackhearts position to Goldenloin’s. I was enthralled by the color choice in this scene, specifically the choice to parallel these characters with their backgrounds in one way or another. I started to read the barrier between the two as an extension of Goldenloin, meaning that the thing keeping their friendship from mending was his refusal to admit that he ruined Blackheart’s career as a hero. This all culminates for me on pages 184 and 185, when Goldenloin finally apologizes for what he did. In these panels, and more specifically on the middle panel on page 185 we see Goldenloin sitting outside the cell, he blends in with the cell wall, and we see Blackheart next to him through the cell wall, the same orange hue. For me, this blending of color signified the mending of their relationship.

    In doing a close reading of this scene, I show only one example of the ways in which Stevenson uses color to deepen the threads she unravels in her narrative. In previous graphic novels we’ve looked at, we’ve been working with black and white, with work in shading as well, so maybe that’s why I was so focused on the way that color was working throughout the story. Coloring and the choices surrounding it are time consuming, there had to be a reason for the author to decide to include color, as well as the choice to use high gloss paper instead of other paper. The cell scene between Goldenloin and Blackheart, and the contrast between characters and their backgrounds throughout the novel helped me understand why color was necessary and how color was working. It adds more than just aesthetic pleasure. It helped to focus my attention and deepen my understanding of the characters as I was reading.