Chapter 4: Page 25

One Vision: Page 25

NOTES FROM JASON

And so we come to the crucial moment in the story of Warren Harker, the obtaining of his sunglasses. Turns out, they were gifted to him by some mysterious old man with some cryptic yet knowing words. You know, there’s something about this enigmatic geriatric that seems familiar. Sure, we saw him several pages ago during Harker’s visions, but that’s not quite it. Have we seen him before? Ah well, maybe that’s just me.

Though we get some insight on this page, we still don’t know just what the glasses do, other than it shows paths and symbols. I’ll tell you what the glasses definitely don’t do: show who’s an alien and who’s normal. As much as Randy and I both adore the movie They Live, we decided very early on to not go that route with the sunglasses. Harker’s mentions of “Reality, true reality” certainly carry traces of that regardless, but there’s far more to Harker’s ability than that. It’s been very vague so far, but I promise clarification will come in later chapters.

You might notice Harker addressing a poster of President Carnelius in the middle panel, and you probably noted its similarity to Colton doing the same thing back in Chapter 2. Certainly not a coincidence, as I don’t think such a thing exists in the world of The Jacket. I mentioned before that Harker was envisioned originally as Colton’s mirror, and this panel is a remnant from that first draft. As I said before, Harker ended up not being Colton’s mirror, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have any similarities between their journeys. It also stayed in because it’s a lot more visually interesting to see Harker address a large poster of his foe than to have him monologuing to himself.

Speaking of visually interesting, I don’t recall the symbols being a part of the script, so I think Randy added those. Really enhances the scene I think. Makes you wonder whether they’re there because of the glasses, showcasing Harker’s first taste of this new world, or if it’s just the marks on the wall bleeding into the past, further convoluting the framework of Harker’s mind. And on that note, you may also have noticed that this scene is not in the first person anymore. Again, it could just be due to it being from the earlier, linear version of Harker’s story. Or maybe Harker is now looking at his past from outside himself. An observer, rather than a participant. It could be the glasses, or maybe Harker’s mind is deteriorating further. Time will tell.

We’re very close to the end of the chapter now, and the Harker flashes have seemingly reached their end. Now that we’ve seen him get his shades and make his declaration of war against President Carnelius, all that’s left is to see how it all plays out. Harker has gotten what he’s been fighting for, a face to face with his enemy, albeit probably not the way he anticipated. We’ll see next page whether it was all worth it.

A final note: Harker’s mentioning of his future looking bright is a reference to a song. This story has had plenty of those, and will continue to, but this one is slightly different. The song being referenced is from the 80’s called “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” from a band called Timbuk 3. When I saw that title, I immediately thought of Harker, and I just had to put it in somewhere. Lyrically, the song has no real connection to The Jacket’s story or world, unlike the other songs referenced throughout. I also don’t really care for the song, so don’t expect to see it on The Jacket’s playlist, but the title itself was too fitting to ignore.