XXX

My narrative is about dealing with an alcoholic parent and how the issue affects sibling relationships. I chose to create my whole comic predominately in black and white, while using color to emphasize certain aspects of the story (i.e., the "hero" figure's hair and eyes are in color, as well as the heart in the last panel). I also tried to use a minimalist approach so as to portray important aspects of the story/issue in a stronger manner.

The first three pages set up the hero character's awful job working at McDonald's, utilizing many symbols to convey just how miserable her job is. The fourth and fifth pages show the main character getting off of work, and how even though she is glad to be off of work, she is dreading going home. 

The sixth page shows the hero character arriving home to find her little sister upset, and shows the two sister's father passed out on the couch drunk, surrounded by trash and beer cans, as well as depicting the trash full of empty beer cans, and the refrigerator empty save for a six-pack of beer. I intentionally exaggerated the house's state of disrepair to show the strong impact alcohol is having on the characters' emotional states.

The seventh page's first panel shows the hero character embracing her little sister and offering to take her to the park. In the second panel, the little sister is seen enjoying the park, as the hero character watches the bittersweet moment, as she knows it will be fleeting and end when they arrive back home.

The eight page shows the two sisters hand in hand walking home. In the first panel the younger sister is expressing her dread of returning home, while in the second panel the two are shown once again embracing, while expressing their love for each other through a speech bubble containing only a bright red heart. This break from the black and white standard in the use of the red for the heart is meant to make their love for each other to be overwhelmingly strong, and that is what will get them through the difficult aspects of their lives resulting from the alcoholism that surrounds them.

For the cover design I found a vodka ad in a magazine that was mainly in black and white, and added the "XXX" symbol over the label to be consistent with the way I portrayed alcohol in the rest of the comic. I also outlined the bottle in bold black lines, once again for consistency.