The trick is not minding that it hurts.

[ID: an 11 page comic of the monologue about the color green from Sir Gawain and the green knight done mostly in monochrome green with a few splashes of red. The images are mostly of overgrown places and things and images from the movie of Gawain. The words read:

green is the color of earth, of living things, of life.

And of rot.

Yes

We deck our halls with it and dye our linens.

But should it come creeping up the cobbles, we scrub it out, fast as we can.

When it blooms beneath our skin, we bleed it out.

And when we, together all, find that our reach has exceeded our grasp, we cut it down, we stamp it out, we spread ourselves atop it and smother it beneath our bellies, but it comes back.

It does not dally, nor does it wait to plot or conspire.

Pull it out by the roots one day and then next, there it is, creeping in around the edges.

Whilst we’re off looking for red, in comes green.

Red is the color of lust, but green is what lust leaves behind, in heart, in womb.

Green is what is left when ardor fades, when passion dies, when we die, too.

When you go, your footprints will fill with grass.

Moss shall cover your tombstone, and as the sun rises, green shall spread over all, in all its shades and hues.

This verdigris will overtake your swords and your coins and your battlements and, try as you might, all you hold dear will succumb to it.

Your skin, your bones.

Your virtue.

panel 1- green is the color of the earth: a half underground view of a forest with a few plants and mushrooms and their roots underneath. The mushroom tops are red,

contrasting the green of the rest of it.

panel 2- of living things: the same forest above ground with some plants and trees and a buck peeking out from behind the middle tree.

panel 3- of life: an above view of the forest spreading across the land with a hawk flying above it.

panel 4- and of rot: a deer skull covered in moss, plants, and mushrooms.

“yes” is its own panel with plants growing around it.

panel 6- we deck our halls with it: the interior of a medieval castle with a high ceiling, stone walls, and green drapery hung along the wall.

panel 7- and due our linens: a length of fabric being lifted out of a bucket of green dye, dripping wet.

The illustrations next fill up the page without being in a panel and depict a cobblestone courtyard with grass and moss growing through the cracks in the ground. A mop and bucket stand to the left. This corresponds to “But should it come creeping up the cobbles, we scrub it out, fast as we can.”

panel 8- when it blooms beneath our skin: a triangular frame showing someone’s arm with green rot growing around the wrist.

panel 9- we bleed it out: the same image as above but a second hand cuts into the wrist with a knife, blood drips out of the panel.

the next lines, “we cut it down, we stamp it out” are not part of panels but have corresponding illustrations of a tree stump and a persons foot stepping on plants.

panel 10- we spread ourselves atop it and smother it beneath our bellies: Gawain is curled on the ground with plants growing out from under him. He appears as if he is kneeling before someone or has been defeated.

panel 11- but it comes back: the same image as above but his body has become overgrown with plants and mushrooms

The next section is not in a panel but shows an old castle, broken and overgrown with ivy and moss to correspond to “it does not dally, nor does it wait to plot or conspire”

panel 12- pull it out by the roots one day: this panel covers the bottom of the castle drawing and shows a fist holding a weed with the roots dangling from the bottom.

“and then next, there it is, creeping in around the edges” stands alone above an illustration of a small plant growing back up out of the ground.

panel 13- while we’re off looking for red, in comes green: gawain silhouetted against the sky with a red sun in it. Green follows behind him in a swath of plants and moss.

panel 14- red is the color of lust, but green is what lust leaves behind: two images of Gawain from the shoulders up. In the first he is facing left and looks happy. A hand reaches in from the left to caress he is face. In the second he looks to the right and has a sad/ resigned expression, and there is a smudged green handprint on his face and neck.

panel 14- in heart, in womb: an anatomical heart with mushrooms and plants growing out of it.

panel 15- green is what is left when ardor fades Gawain as king wearing his crown and necklace.

panel 16- when passion dies: Gawain stands with his back to the viewer looking out of a window. to his right is an unlit torch attached to the wall.

panel 17- when we die too: Gawain sits on his throne with his beheaded head in his lap, holding a green belt in his right hand.

“when you go, your footprints will fill with grass” is written over a full page drawing of footprints filled with grass. Small spots of blood are dotted around them.

panel 18- moss shall cover your tombstone: a moss covered tombstone on a grassy hill.

“and as the sun rises, green shall spread over all, in all its shades and hues” is written over another full page illustration of the sun rising over some hills, with green spreading out over them.

panel 19- this verdigris will take over your swords and your coins: a mossy sword sits at the bottom of a lake with a few old coins also scattered around.

panel 20- and your battlements: an overgrown castle turret with a door in it.

the las 3 lines- “and, try as you might, all you hold dear will succumb to it.

your skin.

your bones.

your virtue.”

correspond to 3 drawings of gawain’s decaying body on the forest floor. In the first he is mostly intact with only a few spots of mold and fungi. In the second his flesh had rotted away and is more consumed by plants. In the third there is barely a trace of him, only some mushrooms and a few scraps of cloth.