The Arrival by Shaun Tan shows an interesting take on what a family can go through when in the process of immigrating to a new place. The comic has a realistic style but throws in a mix of very stylized locations and creatures to add to the concept. The story follows a father who travels separately from his daughter and wife to a new location that comes off as very alien and strange. Along with learning how to cope with this new environment the father struggles to find work and to communicate with locals. Common obstacles that real immigrants face.
The comic depicts the plot in a way thats easy to read and understand, despite having no dialog whatsoever. I believe this is done successfully because the characters come off as so realistic that you can easily relate to them and understand their struggles, even if you have never experienced moving to a place thats new. Without any words the comic has to depend solely on the acting of the characters as well as the designs of people and creatures. There is also many side characters (who are also immigrants) with their own stories on how they have come to be in this new place, which adds more weight to what our main character is going through. These side stories add a certain tone that only intensifies the struggle that many people go through, and gives the reader the same feelings in a sense.
This is done throughout the comic, the author taking situations that are strange and unnerving and translating them in a way that makes sense to the reader and gives you a taste of what the characters must be feeling.
