Word & Image

“Comics books are a lot like rock music,” says Brian Fies, the author of Mom’s Cancer and What ever happened to the World of Tomorrow.

Image: Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies

On Tuesday, November 2, Brian Fies guest lectured for the Intro to Design class at UC Davis. His first book, Mom’s Cancer, was influenced by his mother who was diagnosed with lung cancer. His inspiration came from sketching his mother one day during chemotherapy. Looking back at the sketch, he noticed how the combination of words and image worked together to describe what went on that day.

Image: Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies

Comic books are essentially the juxtaposition of words and images. Brian Fies explained that comics transcend and the words and images must work together to tell a story. Without one or the other the message or meaning will be lost to the audience. During his lecture, he described comic books by using it an analogy to rock music. He explained that all rock music had lyrics and music. When the lyrics are separated from music, the message of the song is not as effective as having both music and lyrics together. Combining music and lyrics together give the song a much more powerful message and have a stronger impact on the audience. The same applies to comic books. The combination of image and words together give much more meaning and depth than having only words without images or just having images without words. Brian Fies chose the comic book form because juxtaposing word and image could easily establish metaphors, symbolism and imagery.

Image: Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies

This is an image from Mom’s Cancer and also was used for the book cover. Brian Fies creates a bisecting border, splitting the image horizontally. The image implies a window panel. The viewer is looking into the window, into his mother’s life of as cancer patient. The upper half of the window marks the mind and the lower half the body. Mind and body are both represented in the text but are separated by the bisecting border in the center. The structure places viewers outside the window, looking in, distancing the audience from fully understanding the hardships and experiences. The combination of image and word exposes the exhaustion and pain of both mind and body.


Credits: Fies, Brian. Mom's Cancer.