MDES
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS University of Dundee
Title
An Alien Invasion Reflection
Module
Creative Piece & Reflective Essay
Module
Science Fiction Comics
Semester One
Danny Barnfield
2018
E.B.E Jeebie: An Alien Invasion Reflection | Danny Barnfield I remember the exact moment I fell in love with the concept of aliens. It was in the fourth grade when a student resource worker presented me with a book of alien abduction stories as an aid in teaching me to read. From that book, a love affair with alien science fiction was born. When a discussion in the Science Fiction lecture came up around the topic of alien invasions, specifically what if War Of The Worlds was told from the point of view of the aliens, it resonated with me. The basis of the question, “What would aliens think about invading the earth?”, was the driving force behind my creative piece E.B.E Jeebie: An Alien Invasion. Through the character of Jeebie, a gray alien from a planet in the binary star system in the southern constellation of Reticulum, I explore the question, “What would an intelligent species think of being portrayed as a cultural stereotype?” Through Jeebies’ point of view, I was able to showcase how aliens are typically used to express human fears or societal attitudes towards one another. Jeebie calls Dan, his flatmate, out on this fact, after presenting him with pop culture references. An example of this can be found on page 3, panel 1, (see Fig. 1) where the reader can see a copy of War of the Worlds, a book where the story is a commentary on English colonialism in the late 1800s. I decided to use a straight, white, cisgendered male as the supporting character in the story. Not only does the human character symbolize the apex predator at the top of the food chain on the planet, but he is also the perceived top of the privilege pyramid culturally. A hegemonic view which is perpetuated a lot in media and literature. The character’s personal views in the comics take an anthropocentric point of view of the universe. Which echoes much of the current belief structure Fig. 1 Barnfield, Danny. E.B.E. Jeebie: An seen in contemporary society. Dan’s Alien Invasion (2018), pp3, panel 1 and 2. response to Jeebie’s attempt to bring awareness to this dangerous view is a reflection on my own personal journey of recognizing my own privilege in this world. And just like the character Dan in this story, I too am continuing to learn and grown from marginalized populations. In addition to my personal experiences influencing the character, I also based the look of the character on my own personal appearance, strictly for personal reasons – I have always wanted to hang out with aliens.
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E.B.E Jeebie: An Alien Invasion Reflection | Danny Barnfield In the last half of the comic, I chose to comment on the fact that invasions have happened before in human history, showing Dan that the real fear isn’t out in the stars but instead currently residing on the planet Earth. I had Jeebie cite the European invasion of American Indigenous populations, comparing it to a more contemporary, and local, example which took place in their own backyard with Mr. Nutterbutter, the neighborhood squirrel. Through this portrayal, my goal was to showcase the absurdity of invasion from the outside, especially when examples of it happen every day. I also chose this moment to comment on the ridiculous notion that an alien civilization would even decide to speak to the human race. This point was stressed with noting the fact that humans share at least 60% of our DNA with every other species on the planet; which could be seen as relatives, but we cannot be bothered to communicate with them. When concluding my creative piece, I wanted to emphasize the point portrayed in HG Wells’s War of the Worlds. In the novel, we witness the aliens’ final demise by “the putrefactive and disease bacteria.” In my reflective piece, I wanted to reinforce the idea that destruction does not have to come from some sizeable outside force, but rather, a smaller one we fail to consider. Although I do not show the destruction of the character Dan, I do leave the reader with the possibility of it. This possibility is accomplished by the comedic portrayal of an angry Mr. Nutterbutter, the squirrel whose life was destroyed by Dan’s invasion of his environment. Throughout my creative piece, I decided to keep the message of the story the driving force for the reader. Backgrounds and colours were kept simple, with background colors chosen to act as emotional markers in story moments. An example of this is in
Fig. 2 Barnfield, Danny. E.B.E. Jeebie: An Alien Invasion (2018) pp.3, panel 4.
Fig. 3 Barnfield, Danny. E.B.E. Jeebie: An Alien Invasion (2018) pp.4, panel 2.
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E.B.E Jeebie: An Alien Invasion Reflection | Danny Barnfield Page 3, panel 4 (See Fig. 2), were Jeebie is educating Dan on the meaning of a “Homo Sapien Gaze.” By using the colour blue as the background colour, I was showing the reader that this was a moment of depth and wisdom. This feeling is then reinforced in subsequent panels (See Fig. 3) where Jeebie was trying to impart knowledge on Dan. By utilizing colour this way, I can communicate the importance of the panel before the reader’s eye has reached that level of dialogue in the story and tie it back to other critical previous moments. Over all, I feel I have created an effective original work. Not only does the work comment on the use of aliens as antagonists in pop culture, it also effectively explains why they are used and does so with a comedic twist. Moving forward in my own practice, I would like to explore more work from an alien’s perspective, especially around the concept of the traditional invasion story.
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E.B.E Jeebie: An Alien Invasion Reflection | Danny Barnfield BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Barnfield, Danny. EBE Jeebie: An Alien Invasion (2018). Secondary Get Science Staff. ‘How Genetically Related Are WE TO BANANAS?’, Get Science (2017) https://www.getscience.com/biology-explained/how-genetically-related-are-we-bananas [accessed 11 November 2018] Wells, H.G. The War of the Worlds (2013) Print, pp. 126.
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Danny Barnfield MDES Comics & Graphic Novels www.talesfromdundee.com