I believe that Santiago’s mixture of art styles was very intentional. The realistic backdrops and images of pop culture (like the beer, bags of food, posters, shirts, and TV images) made the content more relatable. I was also able to gague a time period of the graphic novel. “The Watchmen” clearly provides dates but reading “In My Darkest Hour” we’re forced to use the pop culture references in order to figure out the time period and setting.  The more graphic, real pictures of naked women were very striking and caught me off guard. Those were obviously intentional. They spark a different emotional response than drawings of a naked female body. (… I wonder how those women pictured feel about being naked in a graphic novel…). The drawn pictures didn’t catch me off guard, I expected drawn nudity but seeing the actual pictures really startled me. I think that’s what he wanted. To startle the readers. To cause a weird mix of emotions. I felt more like Omar because I was confused, startled, among other things. The simply drawn characters allows me to go in and out of relating to Omar. However, the very intricate, distorted images, along with their text, forced me out of the graphic novel. I’d become too overwhelmed and confused trying to decipher them. I’d become detached. It was a very different emotional expericnce than I’ve felt in the other graphic novels. Maus was very emotional for me, but in a sad, sympathetic way. I was confused by Jimmy Corrigan. I was constantly changing my emotions with “In My Darkest Hour.”