Imagery and Unison: Jeff Lemire's Trillium

Trillium Issue 8 Cover, Image Courtesy of Vertigo Comics

Writer & Artist Jeff Lemire has in-between his high profile DC Comics writing projects found time to tell more personalized stories such as The Underwater Welder and a recent Vertigo imprint offering, Trillium. The narrative, his take on the science fiction love story, is effective (even with some issues I had with the dialogue being a bit heavy handed), in stretching Lemire's ability to tell a story that has possible appeal to a wider audience while simultaneously playing with how he can visually tell a story at a major publisher. He accomplishes an, at times, affecting experience with Trillium by building what I saw was a visual theme of the unison of two people throughout the eight issue run. Here are some brief notes on how I saw that theme is attempted in each issue:

Issue 1

This introduction splits the narrative from the front and back, but introduces the theme of unity nicely in a double splash page as Nika, the main female love interest, ingests the Trillium flower and bonds with the god of the Atabithian beings. Lemire sets the stage for the visual motif of after ingestion, where the visualization forces itself out of the body of the person who has ingested it, bonding the character with the information inside and outside of oneself and later with another.

Issue 2 

The lovers meet and the firmly separate narratives unite on a full page spread before and after ingestion of the Trillium flower. Lemire also sets the unison of the two in individual panels, making sure that they are almost always together in panel when possible.

Issue 3 

A double page spread is used as the temple of the Atabithian become the connection point. I think it its interesting to note here that there is a connotation of the connective tissue to other things we connect to or come to unison with as human beings, i.e. religion, philosophy, ideology--or it may be just me, you tell me in the comments.

Issue 4 

The cover (see below) explains the unification and the layout of the book. When Nika and William are together, as they are for this issue, the narrative and panel construction works in unison, not flip-flopped, or reversed, or even jumbled up on the page.

Courtesy of Vertigo Comics

Issue 5-6

These two issues go together, as after an event in issue four, the lovers are split for these two issues, and Lemire returns to the original split narrative device.

Issue 7

Nika re-connects with the Trillium flower and the god of the Atabithian. We have re-unification with a splash page for the first time in two issues. Lemire did well to wait this long, as the emotional payoff is good for the moment, you know it is coming, but the extra issue wait gave a greater sense of relief.

Issue 8

The issue, "Two stars become one", has Lemire bringing the unison to a climax. Nika and William are in almost every single panel together, including three individual full page layouts and two double page spreads. The last one, where the two stars do finally become one, appears to be a painted or watercolor page that uses a few different techniques.