Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Fun Home uses a similar conservative layout and visual grammar to many celebrated contemporary literary comics such as Batman or King. What is thought of as a conservative layout would be one without risks, which stays within its' own boundaries and does not stray. However, the underlying message of the story is not unlike other works that we have read like Black Hole, or 100 Demons. The author uses a specific panel layout, realistic details, and blunt texts to get her point across. This is to say that, Alison Bechdel takes a standard approach to her story. I use "standard" in the way of a pattern of layouts withing the comic. What this means is that, Alison Bechdel tells her family tragicomic in a "normal" sort of way. The effect that this has on the story as a whole is that the "abnormal" or outlandish people that are in the world are not abnormal or outlandish at all, but rather more typical and traditional than they appear to be. The author uses the way that society defines "normal" to define her "abnormal" life which she connects to the fact that everyone is abnormal in their own way. She also shows what happens when the process of elimination takes place and what type of effect it has on whom. This process that she uses can also be used to shed light on the idea that "normal" can be the negative instead of the positive. By contrasting her use of simplistic panel layout and intricate illustrations, she is creating the illusion of a physical reality that is much easier to grasp in this literary comic than we could gather from other works. She invites us into her own world of abnormality and by doing so shows the audience that people are simply just people.

As we flip through the graphic novel entitled, Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel we see the domestic use of panel layout that she uses to tell her story. A standard two by three is, for the most part, continuous throughout the entire novel. It is safe to say that we are also bombarded with the excessive use of lines and detail within each picture as well. The author uses an abundance of details in the backgrounds of each panel to bring the reader into the story as if you could walk right into the same room as the characters. While it is common to use such a definable panel layout like the 2x3 that is used in this novel, it is uncommon to use such complex details in every single panel. When we consider another literary comic such as Black Hole by Charles Burns, we see the same 2x3 panel layout but with much less detail within the panels themselves. Because Bechdel uses the same pattern throughout her book, it is seen as very consistent, with little variation. The pattern consists of text above each picture with a speech bubble inside, following of course the 2x3 layout. The effect of this expected pattern on the reader is quite simply, comfort. We get used to reading the story in an unchanging way and therefore are much more