So something that I noticed about Nimona is how Stevenson is able to combine comedy and action while maintaining tension with moments of character-building as well as strengthening/deepening of character dynamics and world building.
Some scenes that I noticed this weaving in included the panels on pg 79 in which Nimona and Blackheart have just returned from their bank robbery. The three bottom panels maintain a decreased level of tension from the previous page during their return to their lair and while Nimona is being, well, Nimona and so excited about their success, Blackheart's expression and interruption brings the focus onto the final panel in which Nimona's simple "oh" in respoonse to an arrow being stuck in her leg not only causes a slight increase in tension but does so humorously due to her nonchalant reaction as well as the lack of background in the final panel which draws the eye to first Blackheart's expression whose line of sight leads us to Nimona's expression whose line of sight draws us to the arrow in her leg and the blood leaking out of it. This moment while hilarious also leads us into the deepening relationship between Blackheart and Nimona with her being her with lines such as "You're such a GRANNY" (80) while he begins to show more and more concern for her well-being while Nimona continuously rejects any moments of sincerity with lines such as "so don't baby me, okay?" (81). Despite this, we still see their character dynamics continue to develop in the ensuing episode of playing World Domination (Monopoly) which is, again, hilarious, and I could discuss it further but ONWARDS.
Another moment in which we see the kind of world building/action/comedy/character dynamics is pg 110-111 in which Blackheart and Nimona have been spotted by the Institution's guards and Nimona is unable to transform (that kind of sounds like a Monty Python title, doesn't it?). The tension in this moment is fairly high considering that they're on the run and can't be caught or (as the reader knows) Nimona could be killed. However, in this moment, due to the snarkiness we get from Blackheart's dialogue and the use of ALL CAPS, humor is brought into the moment in order to create some world building in the form of where and how Nimona's shape shifting abilities can be outdone. This revelation that Nimona can possibly be stuck furthers the tension of the scene before more humor is introduced into the absurdity of the moment with the boy saying "Ma! There's a crazy old hobo here talking to a cat!" followed by the the mother appearing, broom-in-hand, "What hobo! Where!" despite Blackheart's attempt at explaining that he is a scientist and Nimona is in fact "a super-intelligent mutant cat" (111). In this moment, while the moment is comedic, it reminds us of the urgency of the situation and what's at stake if Nimona and Blackheart are unable to escape.
A final moment of humor despite tension, etc that I'm going to look at are the two panels at the bottom of pg 180. This is when Blackheart has been captured by the institution due to him breaking in to give the affected the antidote to the non-lethal poison during the conversation between him and Goldenloin. In the bottom left corner of pg 180, we're in the midst of a fairly serious conversation between Blackheart and Goldenloin and while the tension level is fairly low we get the information, once again, that Goldenloin blew up Blackheart's arm. In the next panel, we get that moment of humor of Goldenloin asking if he has to bring it up every time they talk in Blackheart's simple response of "yes" coupled with the facial expression of mouth set and eyes closed with his head turned away. Now, in this moment, while we don't necessarily get a whole lot more character development or world building or changes in character dynamics, this moment of humor leads us onto the next page in which we get more confirmation of Blackheart's previous jumping of Ambrosius' golden loins as well as finally what really happened the day Blackheart lost his arm and became the villain he was before Nimona came into his life. This then serves to give us both revelation and information about The Institution as well as deepens Goldenloin's character and motivations which plays into the finale of the novel in which I cried a lot.
There are definitely so many other moments that I could talk about, but these were ones where I thought the weaving that Stevenson was doing did A LOT of work and really took advantage of the visual form in a way that's both fun and makes you think and piece things together.
IN ADDITION, something that I think is really cool about this graphic novel is that the story of Nimona began as a webcomic before being published in the novel form (similar to Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu which began as a Tumblr webcomic and is now a two-volume graphic novel that everyone should read cough cough hint hint this is in the Mills Library you're welcome).
Mo, this post is golden (heh). I also loved the way Stevenson allowed her character's appearances to do a lot of the story telling for her (as discussed at length in my blog post) so I'm really glad you explored that topic as well. Her choices in terms of character eye line and face space were also amazing, as, like you mentioned with the arrow scene, it helped to direct our attentions to the important bits of the story in a specific order, which is something thought about quite a lot in film and photography, but I don't always see in graphic novels, especially smaller, independent works like this one.
ReplyDeleteMo--how inspired were you!
ReplyDeletee
Thanks for all of your insight on the humor in Nimona! It was one of the charming aspects that I liked about the novel. It helped to balance out the tension, and allowing the characters to be more relatable. I did find it slightly odd that there was humor in the supposed intense battle between Blackheart and Goldenlion, who were set as mortal enemies. But then when you find out that it was all performance set up by the institution, then it feels like the fighting didn't have as high tension in the second read through. I don't know where I was going with this but the humor does a lot to set the tone and portraying character dynamics.
ReplyDeleteThe humor was so fun! It helped the book present these morally complicated ideas in a way that was interesting and that didn't wander too far into the philosophical (and boring). I'd also argue that it helped us become attached to the characters so that when the stakes were high for them it didn't feel like the author was indulging in melodrama.
ReplyDelete