12th Jul 2022, 7:51 AM
With this one I wanted to try a type of layout that featured Steamroller Man’s full figure, in almost a pin-up style image, alongside a column of smaller panels. I have always associated this specific layout with the “Image Comics style” of the 1990s, but as I tried to find examples on the web, I also found precedents in the work of Gil Kane and John Byrne, and no doubt many other examples are out there.
No matter the artist, the full-figure panel approach provides a wonderful visual anchor for the page, and always looks great. However, this approach was not always the best choice for telling the story visually, in my opinion. Only half the space on the page remains to actually tell the story with sequential images. A lot of the time, with this type of layout, the dialogue does a lot of the work actually conveying the story. It’s certainly a great way to spice up a page that otherwise would just be talking heads!
For Steamroller Man, there wasn’t a ton of action to depict on this page - just Steamroller Man getting up, and then Night Knight trying unsuccessfully to climb up one of the pipes on the wall. So it seemed like a great opportunity to try out this style of layout. The challenge I set myself was to still have the visuals clearly depicting a sequence of events, and also to lay out the panels in such a way that the reader’s eye read everything in the correct order.
Obviously I needed the reading order to start in the top left corner, so I gave that panel a background that is almost fully black - contrast attracts our gaze as a matter of instinct. Rather than going straight down the left side of the page, I needed the reader to then scan to the right, so I overlapped the word balloon and Steamroller Man’s head, causing the eye to zig to the right, over to see his finger tapping his head with a “TINK TINK TINK”. Steamroller Man’s head is angled down and to the left, pointing back to the second-left panel. I angled the pipe in this panel so it was coming out from behind Steamroller Man’s head, once again leading the reader’s eye down to the “POK” sound effect in the third-left panel. The pipe and Night Knight’s arm in the third-left panel are also angling down and to the left, leading to the overlapping word balloons from the bottom panel. This again bridges the gutter, making the reader’s eye finally come to rest just as Night Knight hits the ground with a “THWOMP”.
At least, I hope that’s how you read it!
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