Not Unhappy

To be honest, I find some pages of this book completely incomprehensible.  Yet in this reading one of the pages seemed to have a rare element of clarity that was unexpected.  The page where Jimmy imagines himself as superman (even though it is a horribly obvious page, deeper-meaning-wise) is still significant.  It also connects to one of the other superman pages, the page where he is at the diner with his father, and his father gets waylaid by mini-superman (but it is actually a matter transformer?). The first of those pages described above I will refer to as page A, the second as page B, for convenience.

Page A is right in the middle of the Jimmy's doctor's visit, which is perhaps one of the most depressing, bleakest, and infuriating scenes ever.  His Dad just keeps blabbering on about ridiculous (and sometimes racist) things, and asks Jimmy the most awkward question (according to Jimmy, girlfriend).  While the dialogue creates the tensions between people, the colors and images add a certain sterility and bleakness.  The winter trees, the grey (if only the walls were actually green...) of the doctors office, the same window image repeated over and over give monotony, but also create the stereotypical terrifying doctor's office that really only exists in people's minds.  Because of this build up of tension and bleakness, Page A thus stands out especially.  Not only does the dialogue fade into the background as Jimmy imagines himself flying, but the pictures take you out of the confines of that gross doctor's office for a couple of seconds (and for once in like 10 pages he doesn't have that stupid blood mustache).  So because it is in graphic novel format, as Jimmy is finding an escape, the reader also gets to see and feel that escape more visually.  If only that escape lasted for more than 12 panels before the bird hits the glass and everything (but the glass, oh the irony) is shattered.  That makes this page then blend back in to the rest seamlessly after a momentary happy interruption.  Of course Ware would have to bring the tone back down again and show off the pure inescapability of his pessimism.

Just as emulating one of superman's most well known qualities provides Jimmy with a momentary escape, a mini-superman figure by chance provides Jimmy an escape from a stupidly super-tense moment in the diner.  On Page B, Jimmy is calling his mother again (why does he keep calling?  he never says anything), and is trying to hide this fact from his father.  He is only able to ditch his Mom in time because his father is stopped by a flying mini-superman figure.  While this situation is completely different than the doctor's office escape, the superman figure does prove to be a positive force, letting Jimmy off the hook, allowing his worlds/lives (parents) to remain separate.  On the most basic level, both of these pages provide positive emotions (however temporary) because of Superman's presence.  This sort of clues the reader in on what Ware meant about being "not unhappy" when reading  superhero comic books.  So far, Jimmy has been not unhappy when Superman, or a superhero type figure, is present.