For a while now, I’ve wanted to try doing a double-page spread that wasn’t just a single image spread across two pages. I thought that this moment - where we see the ultimate fate of M.A.R.S.H.M.A.L.L.O.W. - would be a good place to do it.
I’m using as many comic-making tricks as I can to convey the excitement of this moment in the story. First of all, my old favorite, the page-turn reveal, provides that subconscious visual reset in the reader’s mind. This (hopefully) sets them up to be surprised by the visual chaos of this image, which contrasts against the more conventional layouts of the preceding pages. I generally use a pretty standard, grid-based panel layout on most of my pages, with horizontal and vertical panel borders. It creates a certain rhythm and doesn’t distract from the story. I save layouts like this one, with diagonals galore, for the more dramatic moments. Diagonal lines convey more drama than verticals and horizontals. So, for this climactic moment in the scene, I’ve not only tilted every panel off-kilter, but I’m also using irregular-shaped panels, all of different shapes and sizes, while also making the panel borders themselves looser and messier than usual. The whole thing is designed to look chaotic and shaken-up, conveying the action and drama of the moment.
Even with the unconventional layout, I’m still trying to lead the reader’s eye from the top left corner to the bottom right corner of the page. I’ve accomplished this by starting with a small panel in the top left corner, overlapping it with a bigger panel, which then overlaps the biggest panel in the composition - M.A.R.S.H.M.A.L.L.O.W. starting to disintegrate. The diagonal lines in the background of this panel spread out as they descend, both describing the motion of the character while they also lead the reader’s eyes to three more panels. Two of these panels sit under the largest panel. My intention here was to convey that the moments they depict are happening slightly more simultaneously than sequentially - these are almost incidental moments, like “cutaway” shots in film. The story doesn’t necessarily need a reaction shot of Night Knight’s face, but it helps build the tension. These panels also help fill the white space on the page and balance the overall composition.
On the second page I thought it was important to show the spatial relationship between Night Knight and M.A.R.S.H.M.A.L.L.O.W. - common comic-making wisdom dictates that you should have at least one panel on each page that show where the characters are in relation to each other. Directly below this is the other tucked-away panel. It’s somewhat crammed in between the other panels so it was an interesting compositional challenge. I knew I wanted to show Night Knight leaping out of the way, and I’m quite happy with how well the pose fits into the available space. [EDIT: it was brought to my attention by one of my readers that it looked like Night Knight got crushed under M.A.R.S.H.M.A.L.L.O.W. This was not what I was trying to convey, so I modified this pose of Night Knight so that his left leg overlapped the large vertical panel to the right - hopefully it looks more like he's leaping out of the way, almost as if he's leaping out of the panel!]
The final panel on the right side of the page is a long vertical that shows M.A.R.S.H.M.A.L.L.O.W. hitting the ground as he disintegrates and the cables detach from the back of his head and fly into the air. As I was drawing this page, I wasn’t sure whether to have him break up into thousands of small marshmallows, or just marshmallow goop. Each option is equally valid, but carries a different set of drawing challenges and story implications for the succeeding pages. So for now, I chose to kind of split the difference. It’s not crucial to the story, and it’s enough for the reader to know that he’s lost the cohesion of his form.
I hope you like this one, I had a lot of fun drawing it! I’m getting straight to work on the next page and will post it as soon as possible!
Thanks for reading!
Matt Schofield