Une Semaine de Bonte and Frank in the River

The two reading selections for this week revealed why wordless narratives are not always successful from the perspective of the audience.

Calling work like Une Semaine de Bonte a "graphic narrative" would be more apropos than proclaiming it a comic or graphic novel.  The work has some sort of issue or subject being addressed, but without giving the reader the full context, it makes it difficult to get across whatever point the work was initially trying to make.  *Given the title of the work (implying one chapter for each day of the week), it seems like we're missing at least six more chapters - again, potentially clipping the story's meaning.  What we can derive from the book though is that the series was likely collaged together from different pictures and drawn over as necessary, creating a thematically dark chapter addressing issues like torture, rape, and death.  The rooster's presence during such events in turn make it seem sinister, making it a symbol of the malevolent acts being portrayed (much like the crow became a symbol of death due to its presence on the battlefield after a fight).  The Moai heads are a little harder to place, and while they too seem to be committing terrible acts, some how they don't come across as malevolent.  The feel of the work overall is comparable to staring at a painting by Heironymus Bosch.

Frank in the River hits closer to what one usually expects from a comic, and could easily be compared to The Arrival in several ways: both take place in a surreal location, utilize some degree of text or symbols to portray their point, and both .  Frank is much more linear in its storyline than Une Semaine, although some details are still left up to interpretation for the reader - for instance, it's never really made clear if Frank should be considered a heroic figure, a trickster, antihero, or just a flat-out buffoon.  The pig-character himself is certainly malevolent enough to make Frank appear in a better light, but it's still questionable.
*Some quick research a little later revealed that this is indeed only one of seven chapters to the series.