Words & Images: Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies

Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies

          Last Tuesday, Brian Fies, the cartoonist who created Mom's Cancer and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? came to DES 001 and gave us a lecture. He told us about the whole process of how he created Mom's Cancer and the story behind it. It was immensely inspiring to hear his story and how, unintentionally, he was able to create the great adversity that his family had to endure, into something that so many people are able to relate to thus making his comic so successful.

A panel from Mom's Cancer website

          Brian Fies' Mom's Cancer show how words and images interact and work together, through allusion, to convey a concept. The interaction between words and images is a powerful one as it gives meaning to the comic. If words or images were on their own, they wouldn't be as powerful in conveying a message, especially such themes of family, death, cancer, etc. that are touched upon in Mom's Cancer. Fies comments that his comic played between the lines of ridiculous and serious, which in a way reflects how words and images play a role in illustrating Fies' style; he used some dialogue from his own experiences, which are mostly serious, and he used image to portray his own imagination, which was sometimes literal or comedic, to add a little humor to a very serious and personal part of his life. He even added color to some panels to depict a different emotion or mood, in contrast to the overall seriousness of the comic. Words and images are a powerful medium not only for comic readers, but also an expressive medium for the illustrator and writer.

A Panel from Mom's Cancer website.

          When Fies spoke more technically about the creation of each panel of the comic, I found it interesting to see how words were the most important aspect; so words are put in first, and then the art/image is worked around them. It makes sense because it is the words that guide the reader and expresses a more specific message. It makes me think of advertisement design and how art is not enough when imparting a concept because communicating a message is what's important. You have to use the combination of words and images to do this. Though concept is the most important part of a design, it can never be imparted correctly without the medium of words and image.

Credit/Links:
[Brian Fies' blog] http://brianfies.blogspot.com/
[all images/panels] http://www.momscancer.com/
[Buy Mom's Cancer on Amazon] http://www.amazon.com/Moms-Cancer-Brian-Fies/dp/0810958406