Warning: contains discussions of sexual assault
In Boom Studios’ Maw #2, by Jude S. Doyle and A.L. Kaplan, horrifying monster imagery is used to depict the mental anguish that follows a traumatic sexual assault. In Maw #1, readers saw the main character Marion descend into deep depression and hopelessness following her brutal attack. The newest issue propels Marion further deeper into despair.
The Maw series begins with two sisters, Marion and Wendy, as they head to a woman’s retreat on Angitia Island off the coast of Virginia. Marion, already hesitant about the retreat, doesn't stay too long after their arrival. After quietly exiting the retreat location, she heads over to a secluded bar. A man sparks up conversation with her and readers see that he slips a white pill into her drink, drugging her, unbeknownst to her. She’s left alone in the grass with her clothes, now tattered, hanging from her body. Without ever showing the attack, readers can deduce that she’s been sexually assaulted. Following that horrific day, Marion attempts to get justice but grows disillusioned with the court system as she’s demonized and the men involved receive a disturbingly light sentence. Marion spirals and the story hints at something, a creature of sorts, stirring within her.
Maw #2, the second installment of this five-issue horror series, begins one week after her assault. They’ve both returned to the retreat location. Marion is alone in her cabin still grappling with her emotional pain. She’s dressed in the same blood-stained clothes from the night of her assault. After getting the will to leave her cabin, Marion finds solace at a nearby beach. She removes her clothes revealing bits of her malnourished, pale, and scarred body. Her hair is falling out and she’s visibly weak. Two men approach and try to steal her jeans. When she gets upset, the men insult her and imply that she’s promiscuous. Marion, already finding men abhorrent, grows enraged. The following panels take on a red hue as her anger bubbles to the surface and she screams at them to get away from her. As she does so, her back arches, her abdomen ruptures, and blood spurts from her torso. Then, a small reptile escapes from her body.
The final two panels show a small alligator in a pool of blood beneath her. The alligator acts as a symbol of Marion’s trauma. It symbolizes the build-up of her emotions brought on by her assault, the unjust court case, and the harassment at the hands of the men at the beach. Doyle and Kaplan’s choice of an alligator to depict the aftermath of trauma is an excellent one. In Native American culture, alligators represent survival and healing. Marion had just endured a deeply traumatic event; the alligator exiting her body marks the beginning of her healing and foreshadows the character’s recovery from her trauma.
Boom Studios' Maw #2 takes readers on a profound look at the aftermath of sexual assault and uses powerful symbolism to speak on an incredibly difficult and painful subject. The end of this issue leaves readers with the hope that Marion will eventually find herself again.