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Getting creative with panels

emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
edited April 2009 in Graphic Violence
Anybody read House of Leaves? The novel uses text in funky ways to make the reader feel uneasy. How often does this happen with panels in comic books?

There was a recent Spider-Man story where he was fighting a god of some kind. During the fight, the god punched Spider-man across pages and panels and poor Spider-Man, unable to break the fourth wall, couldn't figure out how he was being attacked from nowhere.

What are some other good examples?

emnmnme on

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    DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Tinker in WE3 moves really fast, and Morrison and Quitely show this by having her moving through an arrangement of panels. It was really awesome, but I don't have a scan.

    Morrison and Sook did some really neat things with with panels in Seven Soldiers: Zatanna.

    DouglasDanger on
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    LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Both of those sound interesting. I'd be interested in seeing some scans. Especially the first one. I have a hard time imagining that funky text would make me feel uneasy.

    As far as other examples, the David Mack stuff on Daredevil is all pretty "outside the box" of normal comic conventions. His words and images are all over the page. The two stories, Parts of a Hole and Wake Up were both good, but his third Daredevil entry, Vision Quest was not really worth reading.

    Lucascraft on
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    durandal4532durandal4532 Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    What you described was in an awesome book that I totally forget the name of now. It was a series of 3-shot faux-60s comic books using obvious ripoffs of Marvel characters. One of them, the Fantastic Four ripoff, had them fighting a cross-section of a 4th-dimensional monster who would move around panels to attack, reaching up and around a door and such.

    durandal4532 on
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    WildcatWildcat Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Wasn't there also a Doctor Doom / Mr Fantastic battle through time a few years ago that actually jumped back and forth across different panels in different issues?

    Wildcat on
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    LanglyLangly Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    Both of those sound interesting. I'd be interested in seeing some scans. Especially the first one. I have a hard time imagining that funky text would make me feel uneasy.

    As far as other examples, the David Mack stuff on Daredevil is all pretty "outside the box" of normal comic conventions. His words and images are all over the page. The two stories, Parts of a Hole and Wake Up were both good, but his third Daredevil entry, Vision Quest was not really worth reading.

    house of leaves has given me the scariest experience out of any form of creative work. If you like horror stuff, or really intense experiences, it's a must read.

    Langly on
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    JoeUserJoeUser Forum Santa Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Final Crisis did some of this, with the Monitor being surrounded by different panels but himself existing in the "white space".

    JoeUser on
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    KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    We3 is the first thing I thought of - Tinker moving between the panels, plus tiny panels of super close-up stuff. And the grid-like security camera footage of the escape.

    There's some creative panel-work in the first few issues of Sandman, as well. I'm thinking of #2 (i think) when he's going back to the Dreaming, around when he talks to the three women.

    KalTorak on
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    mattharvestmattharvest Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Wildcat wrote: »
    Wasn't there also a Doctor Doom / Mr Fantastic battle through time a few years ago that actually jumped back and forth across different panels in different issues?

    I remember what you're talking about, but can't place the issue in my head. Basically, they appeared fighting each other (or something like that) in a FF issue, and they didn't provide the explanation until issues later.

    mattharvest on
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    CoJoeTheLawyerCoJoeTheLawyer Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    KalTorak wrote: »
    We3 is the first thing I thought of - Tinker moving between the panels, plus tiny panels of super close-up stuff. And the grid-like security camera footage of the escape.

    There's some creative panel-work in the first few issues of Sandman, as well. I'm thinking of #2 (i think) when he's going back to the Dreaming, around when he talks to the three women.

    I don't know if this qualifies for what the OP wants, but the black speech balloons in We3 kind of creeped me out.

    In addition, early in Morrision's run on Batman, Batman had a fight in an art gallery which featured old-school comic-book exclamations as exhibits, which were worked into the fight scene. If anyone has a scan or two, it's easier to see than explain. Really, all of this is easier to see than explain.

    CoJoeTheLawyer on

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    SageinaRageSageinaRage Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I think Grant Morrison's Animal Man is one of the quintessential titles for this. It factors into the story fairly heavily at some points.

    SageinaRage on
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    kfroosterkfrooster Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Kenneth Roquefort, the guy who brought us and continues to bring the Astonishing Tales covers story of The Punisher and Wolverine does some great stuff with the panels. I'm going by memory, but during the first issue of Astonishing Tales while Wolverine and Frank are battling Hydra Ninjas, though it's been done before, we have alot of panels ripped up by Wolverine. And if I'm correct, we follow the path of a grenade down the page before it explodes.

    This is the only page is the only one I could find. But it doesn't really hold a candle to the preceding pages.
    wovPun.jpg

    kfrooster on
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    WildcatWildcat Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Wildcat wrote: »
    Wasn't there also a Doctor Doom / Mr Fantastic battle through time a few years ago that actually jumped back and forth across different panels in different issues?

    I remember what you're talking about, but can't place the issue in my head. Basically, they appeared fighting each other (or something like that) in a FF issue, and they didn't provide the explanation until issues later.
    Ah, here it is - naturally, it's a Simonson story.

    Wildcat on
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    KVWKVW Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Most anything Aja has done recently has impressed me. Most notably, his iron Fist work, such as a scene in the first arc of the series, where Iron Fist just casually descends a fire escape and he's shown in various stages of the leaps.

    A similar artist is Marcos Martin and his work on Amazing Spider-Man of late. he had scenes where Spidey was shown walking around a building through different panels before arriving at the final piont of the scene back where he started and banging his fist in his hand with the 'ive got it!' type of moment.

    Both scenes are difficult to describe, but I'll see if I can find a scan later.

    KVW on
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    Futt BuckerFutt Bucker CTRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    What you described was in an awesome book that I totally forget the name of now. It was a series of 3-shot faux-60s comic books using obvious ripoffs of Marvel characters. One of them, the Fantastic Four ripoff, had them fighting a cross-section of a 4th-dimensional monster who would move around panels to attack, reaching up and around a door and such.

    Alan Moore's 1963 ?

    Futt Bucker on
    My color is black to the blind
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    ZeromusZeromus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Seven Soldiers of Victory has a lot of really inspired panel work.

    In general, J.H. Williams III and Frank Quitely are good artists to look for for this type of thing; check out Promethea and the aforementioned We3.

    Zeromus on
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    IrohIroh Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I know it doesn't really count as creative use of panels, but I was pretty blown away by how well Doug Mankhe put the 3D effects to use in Superman Beyond.

    Iroh on
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    KVWKVW Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Iroh wrote: »
    I know it doesn't really count as creative use of panels, but I was pretty blown away by how well Doug Mankhe put the 3D effects to use in Superman Beyond.

    Did he even do the 3D work or did he just draw the comic and someone else with experience in that field just turn it into a 3D comic?

    KVW on
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    ServoServo Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    KalTorak wrote: »
    We3 is the first thing I thought of - Tinker moving between the panels, plus tiny panels of super close-up stuff. And the grid-like security camera footage of the escape.

    There's some creative panel-work in the first few issues of Sandman, as well. I'm thinking of #2 (i think) when he's going back to the Dreaming, around when he talks to the three women.

    I don't know if this qualifies for what the OP wants, but the black speech balloons in We3 kind of creeped me out.

    In addition, early in Morrision's run on Batman, Batman had a fight in an art gallery which featured old-school comic-book exclamations as exhibits, which were worked into the fight scene. If anyone has a scan or two, it's easier to see than explain. Really, all of this is easier to see than explain.

    oh man, i remember when i realized just how prevalant that was in that fight scene. it was both really cool, and a great moment when i realized that jezebel wasn't actually thinking "wow". rereading that scene completely altered my perception of how she was acting once i put that together.

    Servo on
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    TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    KVW wrote: »
    Iroh wrote: »
    I know it doesn't really count as creative use of panels, but I was pretty blown away by how well Doug Mankhe put the 3D effects to use in Superman Beyond.

    Did he even do the 3D work or did he just draw the comic and someone else with experience in that field just turn it into a 3D comic?


    I think he had to really jack up the perspective of the 3-D scenes to make it stand out for the 3-D effect to work.

    Simone Bianchi does some things with his panels, like panels that are silhouttes of characters in another panel.

    Also, in the Daredevil "Parts of a Hole" arc done by David Mack and Quesada that introduced Echo, Mack did the layouts for the pages and Quesada drew it. It was really cool, especially a page where it retells Matt's origins from the center of the page spiraling out. Also, there were pages where Matt was trying to put together the pieces, and it was laid out like a puzzle. Cool stuff.

    edit: here, you ingrates:

    dda-1.jpg

    TexiKen on
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    ServoServo Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    Zeromus wrote: »
    Seven Soldiers of Victory has a lot of really inspired panel work.

    In general, J.H. Williams III and Frank Quitely are good artists to look for for this type of thing; check out Promethea and the aforementioned We3.

    yeah, definitely prometheus- the mobius strip spread alone is nothing short of brilliant.

    Servo on
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    emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    If a publisher really wanted to freak out its readers with a conspiracy, hide messages in the white spaces between panels. Stuff that could be revealed wearing 3D glasses or rubbing away a thin cover. Might work for a Nick Fury comic. :P

    Does anyone remember the Genesis game Comix Zone? Your character could knock enemies through "walls" and tear away some of the background to use as a paper airplane.

    emnmnme on
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    Dorktron9000Dorktron9000 Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Aside from We3, the most astonishing usage of panels I've seen is in Desolation Jones. There is just some amazing stuff in there that will make you go "Why hasn't this been done before?"

    Dorktron9000 on
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    DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    That one page with the map and the panels was really neat.

    DouglasDanger on
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    TethTeth __BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2009
    Tinker in WE3 moves really fast, and Morrison and Quitely show this by having her moving through an arrangement of panels. It was really awesome,.

    This right here, artistically demonstrated how Tinker experienced space and time differently than we humans (or dogs) do. Like how you think you're really fast when trying to catch a fly, but to the fly, you're moving slow as shit.

    Generally speaking (on topic) I think Jim Lee often empowers the story by abandoning the traditional panel. He puts his art there on the page, as a whole, and runs the story across it. No one ever agrees with me.

    Teth on
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    ServoServo Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    Aside from We3, the most astonishing usage of panels I've seen is in Desolation Jones. There is just some amazing stuff in there that will make you go "Why hasn't this been done before?"

    i really think that comes down more to j.h. williams than warren ellis in that case. everything williams illustrates ends up looking insane.

    Servo on
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    Desktop HippieDesktop Hippie Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    There was a fantastic page in the latest issue of Captain Britain. I have the issue, but can't scan it sadly. Spoilers for Captain Britain #11.
    The page before it is normal. Faiza and Black Knight are falling from a destroyed jet, and are trying to figure out what to do. You turn the page and the next page is like a splash page, with one small panel in the bottom right. I say like a splash page because it's a blend of two images - a close up of Faiza's eye, and Faiza and Black Knight falling - and the page is also full of text. Not text boxes, and not speech bubbles, but text, like extracts from a book, describing what's going through Faiza's mind. I thought it was a brilliant way of showing how everything slowed down in Faiza's mind for the few seconds it took her and Black Knight to hit the ground.

    Does anyone have a scan of the page? It's hard to describe, but it's really worth seeing. Especially when compared with the page before.

    Random note: Paul Cornell is in Dublin for P-Con and autographed the issue for me :)

    Desktop Hippie on
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    XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Dave Sim was great at using panels in weird ways. Especially in Church and State II

    Xaquin on
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    CrimsondudeCrimsondude Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    So basically if you want unique panels, read a Grant Morrison book.
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    but his third Daredevil entry, Vision Quest was not really worth reading.

    Is that the one where it turns out Echo's spirit animal is Wolverine?

    Crimsondude on
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    HadjiQuestHadjiQuest Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    On a side note, I read Dark Knight Returns for the first time a couple months ago, and the layout was like nothing I had ever seen.

    I don't know if I'd call it good, though. It was kind of nauseating and claustrophobic at first, but it flowed extremely well, and as things in the story come to climax, the layout feels less and less closed off. By the end I was really impressed with it as a story-telling device, but from an art-only perspective it's pretty terrible.

    Obviously, most of you have read it as well. Was anyone else really off-put by that at first?

    HadjiQuest on
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    TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    When you realize you're getting three times the story with the way Miller made the panels, you like it even more. And he knew when to not go with 15 panels on a page, so it was all good.

    TexiKen on
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    ManonvonSuperockManonvonSuperock Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I enjoyed it actually, and I can't really view something like that from an art-only perspective. The way I look at any sequential work as being successful is if the art and writing are equally important in the telling of the story.

    From that aspect, I'm disappointed with a ton of mainstream comics. However, a good writer/artist or writer/artist team with a great synergy can really bring it together.

    ManonvonSuperock on
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    JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited April 2009
    TexiKen wrote: »
    When you realize you're getting three times the story with the way Miller made the panels, you like it even more. And he knew when to not go with 15 panels on a page, so it was all good.

    Exactly. DKR is packed with story compared to almost anything else of the same length not written by Morrison or Moore. And I think that's why it works so well.

    Jacobkosh on
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