"My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" Commentary

       In reading the graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, I found throughout the graphic novel that Emil Ferris establishes an author's voice in her drawings and writings alone, and in the way that they compliment one another. One of the first things I noticed was that the background was lined paper. This defined her voice from the beginning. In this graphic novel, it establishes that the main character is a twelve year old girl and the lined paper reminds the reader that it's from her point of view, even if the drawings and vocabulary don't match her age. I haven't read many graphic novels, but from my experience it seems that her voice is clearly seen in the style of the drawings and writing because it is so different from others. Graphic novels typically seem to have a sort of grid layout with lots of color and a specific font. However, Ferris's novel uses black and white drawings with little color and font that looks like handwriting. Additionally, her novel has different sections throughout which makes it feel more like a novel with a story than just a comic or short story, especially since there are two volumes. Her "author's voice" also comes out in the characters as well. In the U.S. our comics are known to have superheroes and characters that look like ordinary people. In Ferris' we see people drawn like monsters which is unusual. This is important because we see how the main character sees herself and those around her, but it also develops her voice and her style more. Each drawing clearly has a lot of attention paid to it and the artistic style of the author can be seen in them. This adds to her voice because the drawings and images are such an important piece to graphic novels. Overall, each page, character, and other elements included in Emily Ferris' graphic novel establishes her voice not only as an author, but also as an illustrator.

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