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Modern Comic Characters

A contemporary approach to influential graphic novel characters.

Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartes Kid on Earth, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis are similar in that they all share a unique and distinguishable protagonist. 

In their graphic novels, Ware, Bechdel, and Satrapi provide commentary on the social and political issues that exists within their cultural atmosphere by constructing characters with interesting personalities, emotions, and mannerisms that somewhat mirror the responses and struggles of their own authors.

These authors deliberately use the genre breaking model of a graphic novel in order to address topics such as middle eastern oppression, sexuality, and personal identification by using such unique & extraordinary characters.

Because of their individuality, I wanted to take the audience’s interpretation of each character a bit further and hypothesize how Jimmy, Alison, and Marj would function in the 21st century social media environment. 

So, I designed parody Facebook accounts for each character in the context of their graphic novel that I believe accurately depicts how they would interact on social media. 

This account is what I imagine Jimmy Corrigan’s Facebook page to look like, assuming he would step out of his comfort zone to join the social media revolution. 

In Jimmy Corrigan, Jimmy stands as a 36 year old with a dull life and poor social skills. Jimmy struggle to discover his personal identity, both in his childhood and his adult life. 

Jimmy hopes to combat this social struggle by connecting to new people on Facebook. Facebook serves as a perfect medium for Jimmy, as the majority of Facebook users are middle aged. This sense of bravery and effort labels Jimmy as an extraordinary character.

Jimmy would be timid and bashful on his page, explaining why Jimmy’s profile picture only reveals half of his face. 

Although Jimmy does not have many friends, he would easily find friends through the networking ability of Facebook and add people that he found to be interesting. 

Jimmy’s post would be practical and would potentially look a little something like this: 

I would image that Jimmy would check Facebook frequently, as this site would serve as his primary mode of communication with the outside world.

Jimmy, then, would keep his followers up to date with the simplicities of his day-to-day life with posts like these:

Jimmy wouldn’t post often because he would be too hesitant to share intimate details of his life, but he would remain active on his page by consistently liking pictures, watching videos, and reading compelling posts. 

The next parody page is for Alison Bechde’s character in Fun Home.

In Fun Home, Bechdel shares her experiences in transitioning into adulthood after identifying as a lesbian at a young age.

Bechdel also learns to cope with the discovery of her dad, who is deceased, also being gay. These experiences provide insight into Bechdel’s extraordinary and unique nature as a strong individual. 

Bechdel had a hard time connecting with her father, as he was somewhat detached and business like with his interactions. After discovering that she and her father shared the same lifestyle, Bechdel was able to understand her father’s disconnection and learn to identify with herself on a deeper level. 

If Bechdel’s Fun Home character were to have a Facebook page, I would image it would follow a format such as this one:

Bechdel would most likely be very active on social media with her outspoken nature, and she would most likely have several friends who follow and like her posts. 

In being open about her sexuality, I would presume that Bechdel would be very vocal on about gay rights and equality and follow accounts that promote protecting social rights among this group.

Bechdel would most likely share posts that encourage justice among the LGBT community and perhaps post about feminism, sexuality, and more.

Because Bechdel possess a strong sense of self after her experiences with her father, I would also presume that she shared a lot of personal details on her page.

These details would include Bechdel’s interest, goals, and even some of her personal accomplishments. 

Bechdel would enjoy sharing these with her Facebook friends just as she did in her graphic novel. 

Bechdel would most likely enjoying sharing personal details and memories in her posts as well, such as this image of her as a young girl in Fun Home. 

As mentioned early, I presume that Bechdel would most likely be an active Facebook user and enjoy sharing her interests, ideas, and experiences on her page.

The next parody page is for Marjane Satrapi’s character in Persepolis.

In Persepolis, Marjane shares her experiences in growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, a period of immense tyranny and submission. 

Marjane’s struggle in living in a country with almost continues war demonstrates her strength and resilience. Marjane had to combat struggles such as changing schools, wearing a veil, and converting to a different religion throughout her entire life. 

These incidents and struggles undoubtedly show how Marjane embodies an extraordinary character. 

If Marjane’s character in Persepolis were to have a Facebook account, I would predict that it would look like this:

Just as Bechdel, I would predict that Marjane would be very active on social media in fighting against the tyranny and war that is still taking place in Middle Eastern regions. 

From her strong and like-able personality, I would also predict that Marjane had several friends on her Facebook page and received many likes or shares from others on her posts. 

Marjane would also most likely send friend requests to accounts that posted up-to date news on Middle Eastern affairs and share links to propaganda pieces encouraging anti-war notions. 

Each of these parody accounts demonstrates my interpretation of what Jimmy’s, Alison’s, and Marjane’s Facebook pages would like. 

Feel free to send them friend request and read any of their potential posts in the future!