Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
We start this chapter on the last third of the lower 48 states. I’m assuming they didn’t take the car to Hawaii or Alaska. Last time even Eric was starting to feel the stress of the tour, but not as bad as Elizabeth has. She’s still having sleeping issues, which isn’t good when you need to paint for an audience.
This is going to be the longest chapter so far in this graphic novel, 42 pages. I’ve been starting to question how chapter breaks are chosen in some of the prose novels I’ve read for this series recently, especially the Op-Center novels, and this is no different. How does someone choose when to break the story and give the reader a break to sleep or go back to work or try to find out why the baby’s been crying nonstop for the last half hour or whatever reason people have. It’s not as bad in this graphic novel because of the panel size and a comic is quicker to get through than prose. You don’t have to describe the scene as much because it’s right there, but it does set your world in a fixed look. There are tradeoffs, as I’ve discussed before between prose and comic novels. Still, this will take longer to go through than the other chapters. Good thing the story’s been interesting thus far.
We’ll see if that continues and how much worse the stress of this unofficial worldbreaking quest is as we dive into chapter 8 of 11.
On the way to the Arkansas show they see a motorcyclist flip after hitting a pothole and stop to help. The cyclist doesn’t want 911 called but a cop shows up anyway, Eric assuming a passing motorist called them, though they didn’t stop to check on him like Eric did. He’s mostly okay but the couple thinks to what would happen if their car got wrecked. It’s a car they love so much they named it after all, plus they need it to complete the tour for all but two states.
We get a brilliantly done page showing Elizabeth’s further stress. At the Arkansas show the black edges of the panel boarder start growing and slowly creep in around her as she sets up, looks into her art bag, and then it’s all black with Elizabeth screaming. I guess the screaming was actually happening because we see Eric confronting her on the side of the road. They’re in the car so she must have finally broke then. Does that mean she doesn’t remember what happened at the show? It’s a good use of the strengths of comics in the way the scene was put together.
Eric has his own stress moment in Louisiana. While giving his usual intro about their trip, a drunken heckler starts mouthing off, telling him to get to the music already and Eric has his own snap, telling him to shut up. That panel, while not as artistic as Elizabeth’s, is also drawn well, and the heckler’s friend tries to calm things down with his buddy and then apologizing to Eric after the show, who also apologizes for making it worse. This leads to another fourth wall break as Eric goes over how to handle a heckler in a way that tones down the situation, and he states some hecklers became fans after a proper difusion. Stand-up comics try to work it into the show by heckling the heckler but in a way that everyone can laugh at themselves and each other, except for the really angry comedians. You’ll have to decide for yourself which is best.
The Texas show is probably a welcome relief. They just finished cleaning out flood water after a hurricane (they should have packed their water wings at this point), so that was good timing. Elizabeth made her best painting at this event, and everyone was so nice. One dude drew his cat in their guestbook, which being cat people I’m sure they were happy about. A few offered them a place to spend the night and they probably should have taken one of their offers. The friend of a friend they stayed with makes Oscar Maddison look like Felix Unger, for you Odd Couple fans out there. Or maybe that’s just my read of it. They do another wall break with Elizabeth, who still has a cough even in the break, discussing how hard it is for her to sleep on the road because she knows that unlike home it’s only temporary. She wakes up Eric just as the break was over, which was a fun touch. These aren’t segment put in like those confessionals in reality shows. They’re happening at the same time as the story.
They pass the sign for the border to New Mexico, but it takes a while before they see the promised “enchantment”. In Los Alamos, where they’re staying for this day of the trip, their friend, whose a nuclear physicist, goes over the history of the town as the place scientists stayed while working on the Manhattan project. No mention of turning one of the scientists into a bald blue man nudist, though. She gets to meet some scientists doing some major work in curing diseases and had a fun conversation with them. Their house host suggests ginger tea and vapor rub for her cough, and Eric, being a good husband, hums her to sleep and promises to make garlic toast, their new favorite cure, in the morning. I’m rooting for the tea. I told you I don’t like garlic. I’m only a quarter Italian. I’m not into tomato sauce, either.
We get a fourth wall break that lasts more than one page for a change, but only because they’re interrupted by the gorgeous scenery while discussing how to handle a long drive. I think she just wanted to draw those cool vistas, but if she’s as good a painter as she is a comic artist I can’t blame her. They are some of the best art in the book.
On the way to Idaho one of their friends’ dad offers to book them a hotel so they get a good night’s sleep. Eric want to tell everybody that they’re grateful and don’t think they deserve it. One, I think you just did via this book. Two, they think you do. Their music is not to my taste but it is to a lot of people who wanted them to succeed. That’s a good problem to have, too many people caring about you and pushing you forward on your goals.
At a music collective in Colorado, that stress shows up again. Elizabeth gets ready to set up after the previous band’s set, and goes completely blank along with the background. Parts show up like the audience, highlighting what’s going on in her head. For her it was hours but from Eric’s perspective it was just five minutes as she notices her stare off into space, which they discuss on the rid to their next location after being in a basement with snorers for the night. The stress is really creeping in, but will it win? We’ll have to wait to find out.
This might be my favorite chapter artistically. Elizabeth is really using the advantages of the medium to sell what’s going on in her head, which she would remember better than Eric’s handling of it because that was his head. He can only describe it to her. There’s also drawings of the areas they drove through and even that one dude who wiped out was draw in an interesting sequence. And our next chapter looks to be a long one as well as they do the pacific northwest and prepare for Alaska. I thought the maps at the start of the chapter was showing how far they came, but I guess they’re actually showing what states are part of that chapter, which works as well. See you next chapter.
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