This was the perfect palette cleanser after Adventures in Online Dating IV. As I’ve mentioned, that comic was way too cramped and long-winded. Comics are a visual medium, but in that instance, the images were merely a vehicle to deliver the text. I was so enamored with what I had to say that I didn’t consider how to say it. So what better way to take a step back and reassess my approach than a comic with no dialogue?
Just glancing at my script for this one - well, it’s not actually much of a script at all. Nine little thumbnails were all I needed to start hammering away on the initial sketches. I probably could’ve gotten by with no script at all. Off to the side is the note “9/11 - 11/16”. These are the actual dates from when I first saw my neighbor try and fail to toss a rope over a branch to when, one day, I saw him kicking it back on his tree swing, enjoying the fruits of his labor (I took pictures at the time, so that’s how I know the dates). So yes, two months had really passed. I have no idea when he successfully managed to get the rope hung and didn’t even know the swing was installed until I saw him on it.
I wasn’t thinking this when I planned it, but as I worked through this comic, I could definitely feel a Chris Ware influence, especially through the first six panels. Ware often repeats multiple panels and has the action change within them. I am nowhere near as precise and deliberate as him (very few, if any, are), but the general idea is there. It’s a style I enjoy utilizing in filmmaking as well. Seemingly more so than my peers, I am perfectly content to let the camera sit on the tripod and have the scene play out without any camera movement. If you construct a beautiful frame where everything is placed exactly where you want it, why mess with it? Let the image speak for itself. There’s power in the stillness. That being said, it better be a damn good frame since people are going to be looking at it for a while. In some ways, it’s the riskier move. Anyone can swing the camera around and call it “cinematic”, but a stationary camera requires consideration and most importantly, confidence.
An example of Chris Ware’s work
So what’s up with the title? It was originally going to be called “White Man’s Dream”, but I decided it was too provocative (typing it out now, it’s definitely reminiscent of “White Man’s Burden”). So this young couple moves into their new home. It was constructed from the ground up and they are its first residents. They move all their belongings inside, they park their car in the garage, and yet something is missing. The husband wakes up every morning with the same nagging feeling, but can’t quite put his finger on it. He looks out the window to his backyard and it hits him: we need a tree swing. So over two months, he works day and night to get the swing installed. And when, finally, the rope is taut and the seat is suspended, he sits down in it, looks up at the sky and smiles. He has made it. He is content. He is… a true American. Before long, they’ll have a golden retriever, white picket fence, and apple pie cooling on the window sill. And I’ll be there to draw it all.
