Frazz Pictonomatopoeia

By | Sunday, August 21, 2011 Leave a Comment
Today's Frazz...
I really like how Mallett signifies the character passing gas in the second panel. Typically, it's something that's depicted through a verbal cues (some for of onomatopoeia -- "phrrrt") and/or some lines indicating the "wind" being sent out from the butt region. Instead, Mallett depicts a small tuba, using a visual metaphor to imply the type of sound being made. He uses color to separate it somewhat from the rest of the image, putting the linework in a lighter color than the black used everywhere else, as well as providing a glowing effect. The two elements, in combination, provide a somewhat etherial quality to the image of the tuba to reinforce that it isn't literally there but just a projection of what people are hearing. Coupled with the facial expressions of passers-by, it ends up being more obvious what's going on there than the child picking his nose in panel one, despite that being more direct and literal.

The tuba is, I think, a clever solution that I don't recall seeing used in quite this manner before. It's certainly not common in U.S. comics. It's an intriguing approach, and one I felt was worthy of pointing out.
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