The comic explores themes of vengeance and self-loathing. Characters like Spiral attack others out of vengeance, while Matsu'O experiences self-loathing over the death of a loved one. The authors effectively use techniques like facial expressions, body language, backgrounds, and camera angles to convey emotions like sadness, anger, and defeat that relate to these themes. They demonstrate how the principles of visual storytelling, as described by McCloud, can explore complex themes in comics.

1. X-Men
Part Two: The Leopards and the Cats
By, Becky Arturo

2. Abstract
In this cover of the X-Men, the theme of vengeance and self-
loathing is very prominent. Spiral attacked Elisabeth Braddock
out of vengeance for the X-Men, Gambit arrive to protect the
other X-men, and Matsu’O killed Nyoirin because of vengeance
over lies about Kwannon. Matsu’O experienced self-loathing due
to Kwannon’s death and loss of love, which was another theme.
This self-loathing led to a romantic scene with Elisabeth
Braddock, before Braddock had to stop Matsu’O from taking his
own life. Elisabeth Braddock also experienced self-loathing and
self-doubt during the opening scene due to Sprial’s attack.

3. Theme
• The main theme that was explored in this
comic was vengeance and self-loathing. The
two are paired together, because they seem to
go come as a pair. When one character is full
of self-doubt, it is due to vengeance that has
been taken, or vengeance that this character
plans to take.

4. The McCloud principle expressed here
is emotional expression. By adding head
Position and gaze direction, more emotion
Can be conveyed.
In this panel, Kubert and Ryan utilize gaze direction and a
downward head position, mixed with a face of emotional dismay
to convey the mixture of sadness and anger that Elizabeth
Braddock is experiencing. This facial expression shows the want for
vengeance, while Matso’u’s facial expression and position below
conveys self-loathing.

5. The McCloud principle expressed
here is elevation and status in
body language. Different body
levels can help convey a character’s
specific mood or emotion.
In this panel, the authors utilize body language to show Matsu’o in a
bowing position, while Elizabeth Braddock is standing tall. Braddock
is demonstrating confidence, while Matsu’o is showing defeat.
Matsu’o’s body position exemplifies the theme of self-loathing, as
the reader can see his self-defeat in the panel by the way he is sitting.

6. The McCloud principle being
expressed here is body language.
different positions of the body can
convey a unique message.
In this panel, the authors have Elizabeth Braddock demonstrating
strong body language. Her posture is used to represent show
a confrontational scene. This goes directly towards the theme of
vengeance, as she stands with other Xmen, not ready to be knocked
down.

7. The principle shown here is
Distance and relationships. In
General, as characters’ relationships
Grow closer, they have a smaller
Personal zone.
This panel explores the theme of distance and relationship in the
relationship between Elisabeth Braddock and Matsu’o. While the
two are not truly intimate partners, they do have a close and strong
relationship, which is represented in the panel. The scene is used to
represent to self-loathing Matsu’o is experiencing to do the loss of
Kwannon.

8. The McCould principle expressed
here is a parallel word-picture relationship,
which appears when the picture and words
don’t seem to relate.
In this panel, the authors have a scene of destruction and smoke.
However, the speech bubble is discussing Spiral’s general thinking
patterns. The words and picture seem to be showing two completely
different aspects of the story. The thoughts of Elizabeth Braddock
due to Spiral’s mind games result in some self-loathing, while the
destruction in the image is a result of Spiral’s vengeance towards
Braddock.

9. The McCloud principle represented
here is a word-specific word-picture
relationship. The words tell the whole
story, while the picture is in the
background.
This panel uses only speech bubbles to convey the message
that Matsu’o is sending. He is upset over Kwannon’s death, and
he is worried and confused about how her final thoughts are known.
While the words tell the whole story, the picture helps to show his
self-loathing and sadness in the background. This goes directly
towards the theme of self-loathing.

10. The McCloud principle represented
here is a duo-specific word-picture
relationship. The words and picture tell
roughly the same story.
In this panel, the words and picture both convey the message
that Elizabeth Braddock is trying to save Matsu’o from
killing him to be with Kwannan. The words literally tell the story,
while we can see Braddock lunging towards Matsu’o in attempt
to take the Katana out of his hands. This further exemplifies the
self-loathing of Matsu’o due to the death of Kwannan.

11. This McCloud concept explores
changes of frame. An above the scene
view can help readers see more about
the scene.
In this panel, readers see from a slightly raised
angle. This helps to create a dominate view of
Gambit. It also helps to allow the readers to
see more of the environment in the scene.
The dominance of Gambit leads to the theme of
vengeance, because Gambit’s dominant character
is acting with vengeance.

12. The McCloud principle being
explored here is representing physical
states. Physical states can be expressed
as emotions and interactions with
the physical world.
In this panel, Elizabeth Braddock resembles anger in her physical
state. The authors use her facial emotions to show anger, and they
use her relation to the physical world – causing dust to fly and
pushing into the ground – to convey the same message of anger. She
is angry because she is self-loathing, and wants some vengeance
because of the mind games that were played on her.

13. The McCloud principle being explored
here is combining external source of
stimulation, such as gravity, with
combinations of the emotional primaries.
In this panel, you can see Elizabeth Braddock falling
due to her fight with Spiral. She has fear in her face,
and you can see the force of gravity being represented
in the bottom left of the frame. Elizabeth fell due the
vengeance of Spiral, and she is now falling into
self-loathing. There is also a look of vengeance is the
face of the character catching her, because he too
wants vengeance against Spiral.

14. The McCloud principle being explored
here is representation of sound effects.
McCloud states that the sound effects
should become what they describe.
In this panel, the word SLAMM! Is used to represent Spiral
being taken down at the end of the fight scene. The X-men taking
her down want vengeance on her due to Spiral’s bad track
record. This is very evident by the extreme entrance and knock
down that occurs in the panel, which is exemplified by the
sound effect.

15. The McCloud principle explored here
is emphasizing specific, loud, and/or
important words in word bubbles.
In this panel, Gambit is saying the words “BANG! You dead!” The
authors have emphasized the word “band” to give is a stronger,
louder effect. This makes the scene seem to have a harsher and
less careful tone, which leads to the theme of Vengeance, which is
the purpose behind Gambit’s shooting.

16. The McCloud principle represented
here is an interdependent word-picture
relationship. The words and picture work
together to tell the whole story.
In this panel, the words are used to explain the reason behind the
fighting, while the picture is used to show the actual fighting. While
the words do show distaste, there is nothing in the words that
would tell the reader that Spiral and Braddock are actually physically
fighting in this exact panel, so the picture is used to convey that
message. The words of distaste and the violent fight both work
towards the theme of vengeance, as Spiral is fighting for vengeance,
and Braddock is defending, partially in vengeance as well.

17. The McCloud principle being
explored here is variation in
lettering, which helps to define
important words.
In this panel, the authors have made the words “fine” and
“hypocrite” bold in the second bubble. This helps to
emphasize these words as important – as words that should
stand out. The authors also integrate the graphic symbol
”FWWWW” in the midst of the word bubbles to
differentiate. The emphasis on harsher words allows for
Spiral’s distaste for the X-men to be further explored, which
goes towards the theme of vengeance. She is telling the X-
men these things out of a desire for vengeance.

18. The McCloud theme
being explored here is
close-up frames.
This close-up of Braddock and Matsu-O allows readers to see
the fierceness of Braddock and the pain of Matsu-O. The
close-up frame allows for a good view of emotion. The
authors here have used the close-up to she Braddock’s stare
and Matsu’O’s tears. His tears go towards the theme of self-
loathing, as he is crying because of the death of Kwannan.

19. The McCloud principle being
explored here is expressing
environments through
detailed backgrounds.
In this panel, the authors have drawn Matsu’O in a very
detailed room. The environment leads to a gloomy feel for
the reader, which plays on the theme of self-loathing.
Because of the detailed background, the reader can feel the
gloomy self-loath that is being expressed by Matsu’O
because of Kwannan’s death.

20. The McCloud principles explored
here are variations of frame choice
due to an off-center camera angle
and an increased sense of depth.
This helps convey important
panels and keep readers
interested.
In this panel, the authors use both an off-center angle
and a largely increased sense of depth to show the
lonesomeness of Matsu’O and Elizabeth Braddock.
The distance from everything surround them created
by the sense of depth makes the scene feel hopeless,
which adds to the theme of self-loathing, which
Matsu’O is still experiencing in this panel because of
the loss of Kwannan.

21. Conclusion
• The authors Kubert and Ryan successfully
used many of McCloud’s principles to explore
the theme of vengeance and self-loathing. The
authors used many graphic techniques, as well
as many word-picture combination
techniques. One technique the authors did
not focus a lot is variation of word bubbles. In
this comic, the authors used similar word
bubbles with a lot of words in most panels.