Again, this graphic novel is entirely recommended reading and I will also definitely teach this one for a future course.There's been much discussion as to the value of protein skimming over the past 10 - 15 years, all of which resulted in that the process is an extremely important component in what is universally considered the aquarist's most important goal, i.e., maintaining high quality seawater! I should also add that I've been a major player in those 'discussions' along with writing about the process itself and testing some of the skimmer models available in the marketplace.
It will be interesting to see what other trends and oddities I see as I continue to read further into the subfield and subgenre of the graphic narrative. This style was very different than some of the other graphic novelists I’ve been reading, who typically adhere to pretty strict differences and boundaries between gutters and panels (a la Tomine). The gutters therefore serve to be their own panel in a sense and draw readings into a larger general “theme” heading for a group of inserts. In one scene that occurs in the diner, the large page panel frames the inserts with the 24 hour sign just outside the diner with the entire “gutter” areas in black. Jillian and Mariko employ certain key scenes to frame all the panel inserts, so that we get a definite sense of geography and environment, often of temporal framing as well. Scott McCloud has written about the lack of gutters in much of literary criticism concerning graphic narrative and it has been proposed that gutters actually enclose and provide space for the reader, often enabling chronology to and narrative ordering and meaning to become more transparent. This gives the effect of leaving the panel inserts without having any actual gutters.
Skim around reviews full#
There are occasionally full pages that act as panels with panel inserts within that larger panel.
The other element I found completely fascinating about Jillian and Mariko’s graphic novel is the way they chose to storyboard the narrative. Skim theorizes that Hien must have thought that all Asians were supposed to leave parties early, thereby indirectly referencing her own racial background. While Skim hangs out much longer on the porch waiting to be let back in, Hien leaves and walks home by herself long before Skim does. In this scene, she is booted out with another girl and social outcast named Hien, from a sleepover party. Although we do get a sense of physical difference in the way that Jillian draws Skim, there is only one scene that definitively locates her as mixed race besides the fact that we are given an ethnic middle name of Keiko. Race is presented quite elliptically at a couple of different points in the narrative. Beyond high school suicide, there are issues of race, queer sexuality, divorce, cross-generational romance, student-teacher romance, among other such tropes that would make this book a treasure trove for discussions. The work is really poignant and again, although the novel is marketed toward the young adult crowd, it is something that could be taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well. The novel is also structured around the suicide of a semi-popular student and the corresponding chaos that engulfs the school. The novel essentially tracks their friendship as it waxes and wanes. Her best friend, the more sociable, Lisa, is also interested in wicca. Kimberly is known though by her titular nickname, Skim. The main character, Kimberly Keiko Cameron, is a goth teenager, interested in wicca, and on the outer fringes of the social life at school. Jillian and Mariko are cousins and worked together to produce an absolutely fascinating and spot-on graphic novel about teen angst and rebellion. Jillian is based in New York City, while Mariko is based in Toronto, making Skim truly an example of a transnational Asian North American literature.
My graphic novel training continues in yet another delightful reading selection entitled Skim, which was illustrated by Jillian Tamaki and written by Mariko Tamaki. A Review of Jillian and Mariko Tamaki’s Skim (Groundwood Books).
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