The most compelling comic pages

[Zelena]

Let’s start by telling what this thread is not about: it’s not about the work of artists with a spectacular style, it’s about pages that are great because they used wisely what is specific about comics: varied size of panels, vision of angles, transitions from a panel to another, broad plan, close-ups… These “artists” know the language of comic and they used it to bring life to a story. Usually, these means are overshadowed by the story because it is the way it should be. It’s just when I meet less interesting works that I remember what I like in comics.

I started with pages made or just inked by John Totleben (and the reason why the pages are in black & white is because I read it this way):

[Riv86672]

I remember this caused a ruckus after the issue came out.
Some readers thought Byrne had cheated them, some thought he was really creative. I was in the latter group, as i felt he used the sound effects, word balloons and panel shapes to convey the fight in a really clever manner.

[Kirby101]

Very few top this.

[Kirby101]

[Kirby101]

What's great about this page by Barry Smith is how he takes small elements from this gorgeous two page splash to highlight the story.

[Surf]

Doesn't get better than the 8 pages of Krigstein's Master Race

[seismic-2]

Gideon Falls is a complex story by Jeff Lemire that jumps between generations, locations, and universes, with action in all of them affecting the happenings in one another, and with characters who move around and are uncertain in what time, place, and world they find themselves. The book's artist Andrea Sorrentino uses the full visual medium of the printed page to show how these multiple settings are interconnected and interacting, with splash pages like these:







and lots more!

[K7P5V]

Hopefully this counts, but I remember reading an interview where Jeff Smith explained why & how he put this scene together...

[Zelena]

Hopefully this counts, but I remember reading an interview where Jeff Smith explained why & how he put this scene together...

All the pages that have been posted are fitting, in my opinion…

In a way, any skilled professional that does his/her work honestly produces something valuable that deserves praise and respect.
But it’s hard to draw attention on a sample of what has been once called the “Invisible Art” if this sample doesn’t stand out and shows some creativity. I realise now.

I remember this caused a ruckus after the issue came out.
Some readers thought Byrne had cheated them, some thought he was really creative. I was in the latter group, as i felt he used the sound effects, word balloons and panel shapes to convey the fight in a really clever manner.

I haven’t read this story but using so many white panels is certainly audacious and creative.

I also think it’s some kind of a joke too (not the kind that deserves angry reactions, though…) like in this Corto Maltese’s book “La Ballade de la Mer Salée”, (“The Ballad of the Salted Sea”).
In the first page, Corto, angry, rushes into Rasputine’s house and the reader is expecting a fight…


And indeed, there is a fight.

[Kirby101]

Neal Adams

[Zelena]

Neal Adams

I admit, I didn’t see immediately it was a face… and I had to use another browser to see the picture…

[Zelena]

Two pages starring Rachel Summers (the redhead) from different artists.



The first one depicts a sudden and brief fight well rendered by only two panels. Note at the bottom of the page the unusual and expressive view from above: the reader overlooks the characters like Rachel overlooks her defeated adversary…





Rachel in space… From a panel to another, it’s a “zoom-in”: we get closer to the character or is this the character who gets closer to us? We don’t really move, so I choose the second option. The last panel is a “zoom-out”: Rachel is moving away from us. She is like a satellite, a celestial object that is apparently lifeless, on a elliptic orbit…

[DanMad1977]

I recently read the Alpha Flight comic and thought it was lazy. I wouldn't mind a page of white, but that was too much.

The Conan two page spread is great

[Riv86672]

I haven’t read this story but using so many white panels is certainly audacious and creative.

I also think it’s some kind of a joke too (not the kind that deserves angry reactions, though…) like in this Corto Maltese’s book “La Ballade de la Mer Salée”, (“The Ballad of the Salted Sea”).
In the first page, Corto, angry, rushes into Rasputine’s house and the reader is expecting a fight…


And indeed, there is a fight.

What a really clever way to depict a fight. I really liked that!

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

I remember this caused a ruckus after the issue came out.
Some readers thought Byrne had cheated them, some thought he was really creative. I was in the latter group,

Me as well.

as i felt he used the sound effects, word balloons and panel shapes to convey the fight in a really clever manner.

100% in agreement.