David B: But I don't know how to draw it...

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Scott Brown

The first panel on page 9 is captivating and interesting in many ways. There is a major correlation between the illustration and the words. The picture depicts a very large adult towering over a young child. This child is in trouble, in regards to the man's warehouse. The size of the characters in the panel is symbolic of the power of the adult and the fear of the child.

The child is helpless while being overlooked by the giant of a man. The manager is also given the appearance of an evil and vile man. This may just be an interpretation from the child, but the illustrator poses the man hunched over, which suggests a sinister movement. And he is also given evil-looking eyebrows to show that he has bad intent. 

The final major symbol presented in this panel is the manager about to crush the tiny child with his shoe. These are great connections in the story that tie together the words and pictures. It provides a nice visual aspect of the overall story.





 

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Riquel Norris

On page 33 it talks about how Jean-Christophe's seizures go away and he's put on a new medicine. Then the seizures start to come back.

The drawings are very supportive and well- detailed. They express how his seizures come about as well as how it ends. He also expresses how surprised he is in the last panel on page 33.

He wasn't aware of the seizure when his Mom explains to him what happened.

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Nick Taylor

On page 79 of Epileptic, Jean-Christophe is given his release from the hospital, but he is being heavily medicated, in order to stop the seizures that he is having.  This, however, does not work, as his seizures continue:

and on the first panel on the second line, it states that he continues to have 3 seizures a day, and in the next panel, it says that the seizures “impose a rhythm on their lives.”  This is reflected in the picture of Jean-Christophe being stuck in between the monstrous hands of a clock, almost like he is trying to run, but is stuck in time. 

The next panel shows a monster sitting at the dinner table with the family, with the monster obviously the physical depiction of the seizures that Jean-Christophe is having, while being an obviously unwelcome guest, both in the words on the page, as well as the facial expressions of the family at the table.  

The depictions of monsters and demons continue on with the theme set by the rest of the story, and the monsters depicted at the table and on the clock are very ugly and long, almost serpent-like in nature.   The serpent-like depiction continues on the final panel of page 79, and the descriptive word “slithers” about the monster continues the theme.  

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Alexander Marosy

Within the graphic novel of Epileptic I have noticed that the monsters within the story represent the seizures he is having and how they grip him and control him (Page 116). 

Also, throughout the novel I have noticed that there was some very particular art drawn showing a woman's subjective parts, and her man lover giving her plenty of pleasure. I found that to be very interesting within this graphic novel (Page 49).

I also enjoyed the overall plot of the story with the words above and the pictures below in most images. I also enjoy the overall structure of the story with all the pictures being in black and white, giving the story that sense of vagueness and mystical elements within the story.

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Darla Rogers

I had difficult time trying to decide which series of pictures I wanted to write about. There are so many that I found engrossing, moving, disturbing, and beautiful. 

The page of drawings that I chose to write about is page 130 in my book [231 in the paperback edition]. Jean Christopher has a seizure on the street in the first panel. His figure is drawn much larger than the rest of his family to represent that he is the focus of the panel the family and everyone on the street. In the next panel Pierre-François states that "rubbernecks" are there and everyone knows what to do. In reality, none of them know what to do: they are calling for a Fireman, think that he is having a heart attack, and calling for an asylum. 

The creepiest, most impactful drawing in the next couple panels is the representation of the crowd all as all eyeballs, mouths and noses. This is just one small example. There are numerous dark, and I cant think of a better word than creepy or disturbing drawings. On a final note as someone who has worked many years with people with a variety of seizures, I

personally found this book beautiful and insightful. For years I struggled to try to understand what would be happening in the brains of my friends and what that would look like. This novel touched me very deeply on a personal level. I find it both mystical and magical to have a visual representation of what this disease looks like. It's amazing that someone who is not inflicted with the disease can represent it so skillfully. That doesn't do the drawings justice by a long shot.

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Krystal Elliott

These two pages (228-229) offer us a lot of insight into what the characters in the story are feeling. The section starts off with David is talking to his grandmother about Jean-
Christophe’s condition. 

His grandmother says that he has the “slaws” referring to his epilepsy but he finds out that this term is actually used to describe retarded people. David is upset that people judge his brother by saying that he’s possessed by the devil, that he’s insane or that he’s retarded. 

David’s grandmother also tells David of his brother’s jealousy towards him. Throughout the story we have seen David’s jealousy of the attention that his parents have to constantly give Jean-Christophe. David often wishes that he too had an illness in order to escape from reality but at the last second changes his mind. In these panels, we see how Jean- Christophe might view David and how he is jealousy of David for being normal and being able to do all the things that he used to dream about.

Throughout the page David literally becomes the monster that torments his brother. He jumps on him and teases him until he falls into a seizure. When Jean-Christophe starts to have the seizure, David says to him “That’s the best you can come up with to get away?” this is David’s way of saying that Jean-Christophe hides behind his illness and constantly uses it as an excuse.