What makes The Arrival special has nothing to do with the story, but everything to do with the way the author used the medium. Rather than focus on a story the author focused on a feeling and by stripping the dialogue and making this a wordless comic which makes that goal much easier. The story of The Arrival is a very basic one and easy to grasp because it has been told so many times, but what is admirable is the feeling and immersion the author was able to create by using certain uncommon comic techniques. To create the feeling of awe and to make the reader really feel like they are in the world the comic is full of huge full page, extremely detailed illustrations of new land. By doing this the author is able to create the feeling of experiencing a brand new place by giving the reader this grand image then letting them explore it and get lost in the details just as the character must feel lost and at the same time full of wonder and awe.
The author also uses many disconnected images that clearly have the goal of creating a feeling through small vignettes than through storytelling. For example, their is a page of small panels of clouds which aren't really telling a story as much as they are giving the reader a floaty ethereal feeling. They are there to immerse the reader into the internal feelings of the character which are kind of changing and lost rather than show what actions are happening to him. In doing this the author is really able to capture to time and memory of that experience rather than just a sequence of events.
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