The Arrival (3 points)

     From "The Arrival", by Shaun Tan, I felt a mixture of nostalgia, wonder, among other emotions. It was a somewhat slow beginning, at least for me, because I didn't realize what was going on until the man asked for where he could find a bed using a drawing. As somebody who has traveled abroad before, I think Shaun did a wonderful take on what it feels like to be in a foreign country. His method of using fantastical creatures and a completely invented writing system is stronger than if he had used a language anyone on earth could have connected to. If he had used a simple foreign language found on earth, the readers would have grounded themselves on that, so by using a language that doesn't exist, he plunges them into a world that is nearly entirely unfamiliar to them. The other thing that they can connect themselves to are the other humans in the environment.

    The comic itself is beautifully rendered, and fairly long as well, for a comic with no words. It has a few emotional moments, from talking to the other humans about where they're from, or the end when his family arrives to join him. Throughout the comic, you can tell the man feels increasingly lost in his environment, doing his very best to navigate through a society entirely unfamiliar to him. It isn't until the end that we get to see the satisfaction of something he loves and remembers returning to him. Overall, I'd consider it a pretty strong story, and a well organized-wordless comic.

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