"Cypress" by Simon Gunning
To start off this open thread on pages 34-154 of Bayou, here are a few issues to consider:
- I’d love to hear your thoughts on the parallel world of “Dixie” and the way it imposes itself on the material world of the 1930s South. In this great review, Scott Cederlund describes Bayou as a “southern gothic fairytale,” but I am particularly fond of Zetta Elliott’s recent formulation of black speculative fiction as a kind of immigrant “way-finding” narrative that “celebrates tradition and innovation.” She says:
Over time, Africans in the Americas developed hybrid identities that retained aspects of their African roots yet still enabled them to adapt and survive in their new, and often hostile, environment. “Way-finding” manifested in the Great Migration of the early twentieth century as millions of blacks left the rural South for northern cities; today immigrants from across the African Diaspora continue to join these urban communities, infusing vital energy into existing cultural practices.
- Do you have any favorite pages or panels that blend the fantastic and the real?
- What is it about Lee that allows her to see and do things that others can’t? She can see Billy’s spirit under the water, stumbles into the lynching trees (an amazing panel on p. 49), and she can walk freely on the bank of the swamp while Lily’s feet are stuck. And does her tragic accident (103) change the meaning of her quest?
- Any thoughts on the use of “The Yazoo Herald” as a framing device? (79)
- How about the adaptation of folklore and caricature such as the Golliwogs, Brer Rabbit, Cotton-Eyed Joe, Jim Crow, and the Confederate hound dogs?
I think the question Lee asks her father on page 35 is a central concern of the comic: “Why didn’t you fight?” Calvin Wagstaff’s experience keeps him from speaking up even when he knows his daughter is innocent. He wants to protect his family and home, but it makes Lee’s burden even heavier: she has to battle against white supremacy and the fears of black folks. I like the way Jeremy Love uses the parallel world as a mirror to reflect this absurdity. Bayou, for instance, is an enormous creature, capable of great strength, so why is his back covered with scars (141-142)? Lee responds to his “whining and crying” with a great line: “If I was as big as you, I’d be the Bossman!” She’s a bit naive, of course, since physical strength is not always the determining factor of who holds power, but her honesty is important.
And finally, check out this roundtable interview with Jeremy Love and Trevor Von Eeden, whose comic on boxer Jack Johnson appeared in print this year. (I like Love’s brief, but affirming response to the question about African-American girls and women in comics.)
Posted by elliottzetta on March 28, 2010 at 8:57 AM
Ok, so I got this mixed up a bit b/c I read Volume 1 for our last discussion, and we were only supposed to read *chapter* 1…but I’m interested in Scott’s suggestion that Lee is inhabiting an “imaginary world”–I don’t read it that way at all, and was reminded of Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, where she keeps insisting that she’s dreaming even as all the physical evidence tells her otherwise…I think of Lee as being more awake than the adults around her…just like Lily also sees Joe–perhaps children aren’t yet jaded, blinded by fear and willing to deny magic; kids are more attuned to the natural world, so I’d expect the fluid, supernatural world to be more unified for them…Lee doesn’t resist what’s happening to her, and perhaps that’s where her courage comes from; her mind is supple, sponge-like–she can simply take it all in and act with determination b/c she’s focused on her goal of saving her father by finding Lily. I don’t have a favorite panel, but love the butterflies and the use of light, esp. in the sky. I’m not from the South but the blood red sky reminds me of Jean Toomer’s “Blood Burning Moon”…it’s interesting for me, actually, to read this book because my references are mostly British–I identify more with the global South than the US South, so I do think of Carroll and Beatrix Potter *before* I think of Brer Rabbit…
Posted by Bayou « Fledgling on March 28, 2010 at 9:13 AM
[...] not, either buy Volume 1 or visit the Zuda website and read the whole thing online! Then stop by The Bottom of Heaven and join our conversation—we’re up to page 174. What does magic mean to you? A [...]
Posted by Claudia on April 24, 2010 at 6:35 PM
Hi Zetta! Okay, so this Bayou discussions didn’t quite turn out as I had planned. And then, I got distracted by the end of the semester and forgot to respond to your comment. I love the perspective you bring to this story considering your own history with Carroll and Beatrix Potter!
But since this may end up being the last post on the comic, I’ll share one of my theories with you. (And if you’re not up to pg. 260 this may be a SPOILER ALERT!) I suspect that Lee is not simply attuned to the natural world because of her youth, but because I think her mother – nicknamed “Tar Baby” – is originally from the alternate world herself. In which case, her ability to see ghosts and interact with Bayou and Brer Rabbit is a genetic inheritance as well. But even if this is true, there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
By the way, comics fan will be delighted to hear that Bayou has been nominated for an Eisner Comic Industry Award for 2010 for best digital comic! Congrats Jeremy Love!
Posted by elliottzetta on April 28, 2010 at 11:19 PM
I *thought* Lee might find her mother eventually…now I really do have to keep reading!