It relates to course objectives in two ways. The actual narrative of the comic engages the weird science genre in a few ways. The ambiguousness of the "experimental ray" plays on the ambiguousness of scientific processes within most examples of the genre. Also reiterated without comment (except to draw focus to it through amplification) is the rift between scientist and common man, where the scientist is seen as having achieved almost total disconnect with ordinary people. This theme can be seen most prominently amongst class materials in Frankenstein.
In a deeper level, the comic explores the way that meaning is created and destroyed. What may be a row of teeth on one page becomes a death ray on the next. The associations are not purely visual, as the row of teeth aided in the creation of a pronouncement of death, similar to the purpose of the experimental ray.
The technical process of making this book was simple, with a couple quirks. First, I knew that I wanted to make it in big heavy sharpie, but the marker would bleed through onto back pages. Also, cutting specifically shaped holes in the paper proved difficult with normal scissors. There was a solution to this problem which was not quite mutual, but which contained a fair amount of overlap. I started skipping every other page to keep the bleed-through on the markers down, and I began cutting with a razor instead of scissors. By inserting cardboard when drawing I could cut down the bleed-through to a page each and I could make cuts without piercing multiple sheets.
On the whole I think the comic book is a success, though I wish there were some more pages. I think this is a project I'll expand on as I come upon more free time.
