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All characters TM & © their respective owners.

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I would never have been able to attempt a project this large without the strong support of my family. I would like to thank Mum and Paps for inspiring me to work hard and work well. I would like to thank my wife Karen for her courage to see my dreams through to the end. I would like to thank my brother Robert and all of my brothers interviewed in this book—you all continue to inspire me. Finally, I would like to thank my kids at the Savannah College of Art and Design and Indiana University— Keep telling your stories.

Edited by

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KAREN HANKALA

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Cover Copyrights: Dastardly Villain art ©2012 Crazy Magazine Titan ©2012 Dark Horse Comics, Inc. Tellos ©2012 Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo Xenozoic Tales ©2012 Mark Schultz Bruce Wayne TM & ©2012 DC Comics Hellboy TM & ©2012 Mike Mignola Thor, Black Widow and Daredevil ©2012 Marvel Characters, Inc. Big Man ©2012 Rubber Blanket Press Trevor Faith ©2012 Chris Moeller Piece of Wood ©2012 Byron Preiss Visual Publications X-FilesTM ©2012 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation See You In Hell, Blind Boy ©2012 George Pratt The Spirit TM & ©2012 Will Eisner

All characters and artowrk reproduced here are ™ & ©2012 their respective owners, and are shown for historical and journalistic purposes only. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Printed in Canada isbn 978-1-893905-14-6 First Printing

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N T R O D U C T I O N

Chapter One

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S T R A D L E Y

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Chapter Two

R A N D Y

Chapter Three

M I K E

W I E R I N G O Chapter Four

A R K

C H U L T Z

Chapter Five

Contents D I C K

G I O R D A N O

Chapter Six

I K E

I G N O L A

Chapter Seven

T A B L E

B R I A N

O F

S T E L F R E E Z E

Chapter Eight

S C O T T

H A M P T O N

Chapter Nine

D AV I D M A Z Z U C C H E L L I Chapter Ten

C H R I S

M O E L L E R

Chapter Eleven

WA LT E R

S I M O N S O N

Chapter Twelve

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C H I A R E L L O

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Chapter Fifteen I

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F L E E T

V A N Chapter Fourteen

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Chapter Thirteen

M A R K

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R A T T

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J O H N

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Appendixes E

GLOSSARY

O F

F R A M I N G

H E I G H T S

TERMS

SUGGESTED READINGS

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Figure 3.1: Koj, Jarek and Serra, from the ten-issue Tellos, created by Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo.

– Mike Wieringo All characters © Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo

Wieringo

LIKE MY STORIES TO BE AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE… I SACRIFICE SUPERHERO DYNAMIC BY DOING CLEAR STORYTELLING.

C H A P T E R

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A perennial fan-favorite, Mike Wieringo made a name for himself in the comic

industry during the 1990s. Even as a child, he always had a strong interest in the comic book

art form; he was constantly making up stories. He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in

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Illustration from Virginia Commonwealth University under Donald Early, who Wieringo

says taught him more than he would have learned on his own. Wieringo cites college as a

“catalyst for me getting into comics. Everyday, I’m thankful for the experience.” Wieringo is known for his control over the exaggerated heroic form,

though it was his mentor who pushed for him to be well-grounded in the traditional

human form. “Early made me break all of the comic book figure drawing habits I had formed and made me learn from scratch. A lot of people say that an artist needs to learn

the rules before you break them.” He works primarily in pencils and is known for his

work on such titles as The Flash (his first major work in comics), Robin, The Sensational Spider-Man, Rogue, She-Hulk/Thing, Superman and the Fantastic Four. He enjoys developing

characters and stories for his own projects and is best known for co-creating Tellos.

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the sensational spider-man #23 “the spirit is willing…” plot

PAGE THREE Cutting back to SPIDEY, we find that BUEL is finishing his statement from page one, punctuating it with a magikal blast at our most agile WallCrawler! As SPIDEY dodges the bolt of energy, BUEL’S shot accidentally hits one of his GREMLYN Minions… …and turns him into a puddle of gooey flesh… …while a shocked SPIDEY and the other GREMLYNS look on! Wide shot as SPIDEY, ducking another blast, realizes that he’s gotta get outta there but that BUEL is between him and that glowing door… Uh oh! SPIDEY’S the coolest, but he’s still in trouble! (MIKE – if ya can, also put in the other door BEHIND SPIDEY that he came through from the previous Snowscape. Thanks. t.)

When approaching a project, Wieringo feels that he is not just the penciler;

he’s a part of the creative team. The majority of work Wieringo has received over the years has been from Marvel Comics due to his teamwork mentality that the Marvel method inspires. “The difference between storytelling and being a writer/artist is that I do the storytelling with the visuals but I don’t do the overall storytelling of the comic book. It’s more of a collaborative thing. That way I’m more able to be a part of the team. I’m more of a collaborator; I’m the visual end of the collaboration.” Much has been said about the Marvel method of creating comics. The Marvel way is a departure from traditional script form; the writer controls every aspect of the storytelling environment. Wieringo enjoys the challenges of working within a plot

Figure 3.2: Example of a plot-first script (also known as Marvel Style Script).

system: “There are two methods—DC and Marvel. DC involves a full script where the writer gives you everything: dialogue and often times camera angles, whether it’s a down

Above: In this unique comic book creation style, a short plot synopsis without dialog is written. Script for page 3, The Sensational Spider-Man #23, written by Todd DeZago.

shot or a shot from above, a long shot, or whatever. Depending on how complete they want to be, [the writer] sometimes will write a 10-page description for one panel. The Marvel method is where you get a plot outline. Usually we get the story page by page.” Each written and outlined page translates into a page of artwork. In a

determine by the strength of the artist. The artist has the opportunity to augment the

Below: The artist then takes the plot (usually a paragraph) and creates an entire page. The page will then go back to the writer who creates dialog to fit the art.

story because it is not held fast by a deadline-determined script. With the Marvel

Pencils by Mike Wieringo, inks by Richard Case.

bare bones system like the Marvel method, it’s the artist’s responsibility to flesh out the characters, environment and solve pacing issues. The completeness of the final story is

method, there is room to play around with the pacing of the story. “If you think, well, this could use a couple of extra panels, you’re free to throw in a couple of extra beats in Spider-Man and all related characters © Marvel Characters, Inc.

this particular scene and stretch out a moment in time,” Wieringo explains. “The story structure is given to me, I just get to pace it in a way that feels comfortable for me: emphasize certain panels by making them bigger, add panels if I think that I can stretch out among them to make it more of an impact visually, that kind of thing. You’re given props and backgrounds and sometimes the postures of the characters. Working [within] the Marvel method, the writer suggest actions, character motivations... and it’s up to the penciler to convey them. I prefer using the Marvel method because it gives me more input as opposed to DC’s full script method where you’re sort of just a hired hand asked to draw the writer’s vision and not able to put any of your own in it.” At all stages of production, successful comic book creation is about teamwork. Sometimes working with a writer who may not understand the importance of storytelling can be difficult, especially in the Marvel method, the structure is so loose that a writer with real storytelling experience must be able to be visual enough to get production rolling. “Sometimes I wish I could work with a writer who started out as just a penciler and understands not to smash so much into one script. But so far I’ve worked 35

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Figure 3.12: The panel grid in action. In this example, Tellos #1, page 18, Mike Wieringo uses the grid to keep the story’s flow energetic. In panel 1, the chase is established. When Serra lands in panel 2, the pacing slows down because it is a wider panel than 1. Moving to the 2nd tier of information, Wieringo chose to stretch the panel over the width of the page to show that the chase has moved onto the rooftops. Because it the panel is much shorter than the others, the action happens quickly.

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All characters © Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo

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Finally, in the 3rd tier, the panel borders are stripped and the figure breaks out of the panel into the preceding panel. Even within rules defined by layout, you can break the occasional rule to emphasize a moment. If every panel on the page broke the grid, than the last panel couldn’t stand out. This is the first time the reader gets to see Serra in action, so Wieringo has made it memorable.

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When a narrative becomes complex, good panel arrangement can create order.

Good panel design is often an overlooked part of storytelling with many sequential artists.

Abstract panel shapes, too many panels on an angle, and haphazard placement of panels

can detract from the pacing and eye movement of the story. It can create confusion which can distract a reader. Panel arrangements should never be arbitrary. Comics storytelling is

designed around a finite number of pages. Within each page, many actions and plot points need organization. For Mike Wieringo (Figure 3.12), working within a grid layout is vital. Good panel grids allow the reader to easily follow the action. The story dictates

the panel arrangement for an artist; and the artist strives to group many thoughts, actions, and scenes on a single page. A common mistake is to place too many panels on a page. In doing so,

visual clutter occurs with too many graphic devices or panels vying for the reader’s attention. Five to seven panels per page is considered the average needed to clearly convey a section of storytelling. If more panels are used, more demand is placed on the artist’s time and faculties to ensure that the page still communicates effectively.

Figure 3.13: The grid used to promote pacing.

Figure 3.15: The grid over a story. Horizontal gutters help to group moments together in tiers. The vertical gutters help create emphasis in the panels working in the grid system. With a clear layout, the action has the opportunity to breathe. Page 1: The largest action happens in panel 1, so it is the largest. In the second tier, incidental action takes place. In the third tier, our new combatants observe the situation which is not as important as panel 1.

The grid format allows the artist to assign value to panel information. In a basic 6-panel layout, for instance, there is a clear horizontal line that separates two sets of panels (Figure 3.13). All panels start off with equal importance (far left), but by simply moving the vertical gutters left or right, panel emphasis is spotlighted. Modulation of panel size effects how the story reader interacts with the story. The eye moves quickly over smaller panels and pauses when presented with a larger panel. If the action is of minor storytelling importance, make sure the panel reflects this. Only when a major plot point needs to be emphasized do you utilize the large panel. Figure 3.14: Tiers used to group panels of action, scene or information together.

Page 2: The 1st tier establishes where all of the characters are. In the second tier, the missing actor shows up in a very small panel to promote speed. The last tier is dominated by red as the pacing hits a crescendo.

The artist is given even more options with which to work when tiers of information are defined (Figure 3.14). Horizontal gutters serve to separate scenes, actions or thoughts. For this example, the three levels of information will be kept equal in height. To move from one scene to another, group the panels in as many tiers as possible. A scene can take place in two tiers, but as soon as there is a change of scene, the artist simply can start in the third tier. When both the horizontal and vertical gutters move, this is when the magic happens. Panels now modulate in service to the story. So now groups of actions or certain scenes can be emphasized over others (Figure 3.15). Vertical gutters help to emphasize the actions while the horizontal tiers can group or separate these actions. The grid format is successful because it is simple to follow. There is no confusion about moving from left to right, then top to bottom. Experimental layouts can may lend excitement to storytelling, but it takes a great deal more work to achieve clarity. A structured grid, whether six panels or some other number, promotes clear storytelling because the reader automatically knows which panel to read next. This allows the information to be told on its own merits.

All characters © Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo

Page 3: The pacing now becomes active. In the first tier, the action is broken down. In the second tier the spell is cast. In the third tier (most important) the spell didn’t work and the heroes are still standing.

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Figure 6.1: Hellboy from The Corpse and the Iron Shoes.

WA N T T O SIMPLIFY MY STYLE DOWN TO TELL A B E T T E R S T O RY.

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Mignola

Mike Mignola

HellboyTM and all related characters are trademarks of Mike Mignola

C H A P T E R

S I X

As a child, Mike Mignola loved comics and wanted to draw monsters for a living.

He went to the California College of Arts and Crafts and after two years of learning,

“I was raring to go out and do real work.” Being an illustration major in school,

Mignola found that the only place he would be able to draw monsters was in comics. Since Mignola was not confident that he could draw these creatures

and make a living, he trained himself to be an inker. “I started working at Marvel as an inker and I was horrible at it and after about a year one of the editors up there said:

‘You’re terrible at this, do you want to try drawing this stuff instead?’ I didn’t have confidence. I didn’t know that I could draw anything else. So it really came down to we

can’t give you any inking work anymore because you’re just so awful. So I got demoted

into drawing instead. And I’ve been drawing ever since 1982.” Mignola is best known for his work on his own creation, Hellboy. He

has won awards for Best Writer/Artist for Hellboy and has artist/writer credits on numer-

ous comics projects including: Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser, Alien: Salvation, Batman:

Gotham by Gaslight, Zombie World, Abe Sapien, and BPRD. In movies, he adapted Francis Ford

Coppola’s Bram Stroker’s Dracula into comics and lent his concepts to Disney’s Atlantis and

New Line’s Blade II. Though he does a lot of “odd and ends,” Mignola is happiest when

he does his own work, which includes drawing all the monsters he wants.

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These days, Mignola creates his own comic book stories. Earlier in his career,

this was not the case. “I started plotting my own stories. I did a story for a Clive Barker horror anthology and I told this story to the editor. They said that’s fine. I told it to a writer also. I told them what I wanted to do, they said that’s fine. I sat down, I drew it and I gave it to this other guy and had it scripted. He was unsatisfying because, while I was afraid of putting the words in my character’s mouth, when I saw someone else do it, I thought that’s not quite what I would have had them say. That was the experience the first time I did Hellboy. I didn’t have the confidence to do my own thing so I talked to John Byrne. He said he would do it with me and though he had no input really in the HellboyTM and all related characters are trademarks of Mike Mignola

plot, I told him everything I was going to do. He may have made suggestions here and there, but for the most part I sat down, I made up the story, I drew the comic, and then I wrote down what everybody was talking about, gave it to John and he rewrote what they were talking about. There are a lot of places he just copied what I wrote. What I found after doing this for a couple of issues is when he would change my stuff, I liked it better the way it was. To John it meant I had gotten to the point where I was ready to write the stuff myself. But it was scary. I’d been drawing this stuff for 10 or 12 years and writing was something I never aspired to. But now that I’m doing it, it’s really difficult to go back and work from somebody else’s script.” Mignola does not see himself as a writer and finds being labeled merely an artist too restricting. But as a visual storyteller, someone who creates writing and art to tell a story, he feels he has found an identity. “There’s something to be gained by doing both things together and being able to make the decision of whether I handle this particular problem with a word or with a picture, and working those two things together as opposed to working with a writer where a lot of times you’re stepping on each other’s toes. “I just read something with Will Eisner and he said he considered himself one who writes with pictures. That’s really a good one because that’s what storytelling is. I couldn’t imagine just writing something. I’ve done some projects where

Figure 6.2: Mike Mignola has developed a reputation as one of the best designers and storytellers in sequential art. In this page from The Wolves of St. August, note the use of graphic shapes and atmospheric pacing to tell this horror story.

I’ve written for other people but for the most part I would find it extremely unsatisfying just writing because there’s things I need to do with pictures. I have to work the two things together; it’s a nice niche to be in.” Mignola has no set structure for developing his creations. Every new project is treated differently each time. Mignola definitely gives each story careful consideration. “I still don’t have a real standard formula for [creating comics]. I’m always plotting stories, so at any given time I probably have four mini-series and five or six short stories rattling around in my head. I don’t take very good notes, I just keep retelling the stories in my head until the opportunity comes: ‘Well we need a short story,’ ‘We need a mini-series,’ or whatever. At that point, I just sit down and I do the thumbnails 71

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Figure 6.10 (left): Page 18 from Hellboy: Seed Of Destruction #4 as it was originally printed with all word balloons intact.

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W O R D S

A comic story must be a marriage of text and image. Most comic readers do not

concentrate on just the words, nor do they just look at the pictures; words and pictures

Figure 6.11 (right): Without detail, the colors, shapes, and panel arrangement are not enough to indicate page navigation. Narrative flow is created with the skilled placement of word balloons.

have to work in tandem for a comic to be successful. Several elements can exist simultaneously within a panel—a

word/thought balloon, caption box, sound effect, and the visual image. All of these elements, when properly strung together, form a single moment of the story. If the reader struggles to read any of these elements, or gets confused over which panel comes next, then the layout has problems. The experience of reading a comic book should be a smooth one; the reader should not have to work. The key is to design each panel as a cohesive unit of information: should the reader see the image first or the word? All of the elements involved in panel creation must somehow lead

the reader’s eye to the next panel and then the next page. This is called eye movement.

The pace at which this movement occurs is completely up to the writer and artist. The

more information, the more a reader slows down as he or she must take time to absorb the information.

Western comic books are read left to right, top to bottom. It is a flow that cannot be disturbed. Correct placement of word balloons and appropriate panel layout can encourage this movement. Mike Mignola, for instance, insures readability by embedding the word balloons first before creating the artwork. He understands that words, word balloons and artwork are all part of one thing—the story. Hellboy: Wolves of St. August, is a

great example of using balloons to maintain eye movement. Without word balloons to ensure proper eye movement, the page does not work (Figure 6.10). Notice that once the eye leaves panel 1, the natural tendency is to move to panel 4. This is because the red used in panel 4 is on the same approximate level as the red used in panel 1. The connection between these colors overpowers the natural desire to read from left to right, set4

ting up a possible problem with the flow. Most readers follow words, however. The balloon or caption box is

keeps eye movement on track. With the word balloons next to each other reading from

top to bottom (Figure 6.11), the eye now moves from panel to panel in succession. White word balloons are a jarring graphic device that leaps forward from the color schemes surrounding them. There is no confusion and the page is read in proper order. Panel layout can be problematic as well, and clear progression between panels is hard to attain. When looking at the

Figure 6.12 (left, inset): Hellboy page with all of the word balloons and caption boxes and removed.

next example (Figure 6.12), the reader can interpret the progression of the panels in this

Figure 6.13 (below): The page as it printed in Hellboy: Seed Of Destruction #1 with balloons and caption boxes intact.

Hellboy page in any number of ways. Without the aid of word balloons or caption boxes, the layout can be confusing, especially in

HellboyTM and all related characters are trademarks of Mike Mignola

problematic areas such as panel 2. Since red is the dominant color in panel 2, the eye picks up on the same red in panel 4. After this, the next panels left to read would be panel 3 and then panel 5. Another alternative reading: after panel 2, panel 3 follows. However the movement of the figure in this panel pushes the eye toward panel 5, bypassing panel 4 entirely. To maintain proper eye movement throughout the page, a brilliant use of word balloons and caption boxes is used (Figure 6.13). By reading the next text box in succession after panel 2, the reader is instantly drawn to panel 3. Narrative cohesion is maintained by bridging the caption box from panel 3 into panel 4. The final panel to be read is panel 5. With balloons and captions in place, the story flows correctly. Design is the means by which good visual communication is possible. To a storyteller, correct placement of balloons and captions ensures the enjoyment of a story. 81

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WITH EVERYTHING T H AT ’ S B E E N MADE SO FAR, THERE STILL IS SO M U C H M O R E T H AT CAN BE DONE.

– David Mazzucchelli

C H A P T E R

N I N E David Mazzucchelli’s childhood dream

was to someday draw superhero comics. He loved the sequential art form early on and drew his first Batman and Robin comic strip (in crayon) as a toddler and wrote and drew his own comics through high

Figure 9.1: Big Man from the self-published Rubber Blanket #3

school and college. Mazzucchelli has worked on some memorable comics

through DC and Marvel, including Daredevil and Batman: Year One. Despite this commercial success, he felt that he wanted more from the comics industry than was available to

him through the superhero genre and decided to move on. While taking two years off to collect his thoughts, Mazzucchelli

became more interested in the so-called underground or alternative comics being

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produced in America. He was invited to a European comics convention where he discovered many interesting comics he had not seen before and was specifically struck by the works of artists such as Lorenzo Mattotti and Christian Gorny. He was influenced by their abstract stories and expressionistic style, themes that already interested him in art and literature. Mazzucchelli has since self-published three issues of Rubber Blanket, adapted Paul Auster’s novel City of Glass for comics, and has written and illustrated short stories which have been published in Snake Eyes, Drawn & Quarterly and Zero Zero. He also

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teaches comic book courses at the Rhode Island School of Design and the School of Visual Arts in New York.

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Mazzucchelli’s accomplishments in the sequential art field are numerous.

His origins are found in the superhero genre and one of the works he is most noted for in this genre is Daredevil, issues 227 - 233. Along with writer Frank Miller, Mazzucchelli orchestrated the downfall of Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil. In this seven-issue story arc, the Kingpin learns of Daredevil’s secret identity and systematically destroys Murdock’s life. After many trials and tribulations, Murdock rises above the confrontation and eventually turns the tables on the Kingpin. Ironing out the story is the most important step in the creative process, and Miller and Mazzucchelli would often discuss plot points and story enhancements. “To begin, Frank and I had conversations about what the story was going to be. He would write a full script and when I got it we would have another conversation. I might make some visual suggestions that were different from what was in the script. Often, Frank agreed with what I wanted to do, which is why he wanted to work with me. He wanted to get my visual input.” Once all of the story’s nuances were hammered out, Mazzucchelli would begin work on the art. “The first thing I’d do is read through the story a few times and figure out where the high points were. Then I’d go through it in thumbnail form and start

Figure 9.2: Example panels used to heighten emotion. To give the feeling of claustrophobia and persecution, Mazzucchelli draws Matt Murdock in narrow, tight panels. The Kingpin is on top of the world destroying Murdock’s life and his panels are much more open and wide.

breaking the action down into panels. The planning of pages is very important to me, you know, thinking about where the most dramatic points are going to be. I don’t want to use some kind of panel arrangement that I might want to save for a very important part of the story, so I try to think about the rhythm and the flow of where things are going. Then when I start making rough sketches based on those panel breakdowns, sometimes I find that even though I like the way I’ve arranged panels, in order to draw the thing I want to draw I’m going to have to change it a little bit. Other times, I’m able to fit what I want within the

panel shape. To me, how you read the panels across the page is very interesting, and really controls what’s going on.” The panel shape itself can help the reader relate to the characters within a scene. “My approach in those stories was to really try to put the reader in the position of the character.” The two main characters in this story are Matt Murdock/Daredevil and the Kingpin. Both men trade narration and Mazzucchelli illustrated the characters’ feelings by utilizing a graphic device as simple as a panel shape. “A good example of that would be in Chapter 2—“Purgatory” (Figure 9.2). Matt has now lost his home and job, and one way that I hoped to show the difference between the way Matt and the Kingpin were feeling was with the shapes of the panels. In wanted to put Matt in very tall panels, so that you start to get this squeezed, claustrophobic feeling. When you turn the page and see the Kingpin, I put him in wide, open panels so that he is in control of all the space around him. I tried to use narrow, squeezed panels [for Matt] whenever possible. That presented a little bit of a problem because it made the panel composition more difficult. But I think it really gives that sense of him feeling like he has no place to go.” 107

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Simonson

Figure 11.1: Thor by Walter Simonson.

TA C K L E A S T O RY AS IF THERE’S A PROBLEM I N E E D T O S O LV E IN ORDER TO TELL THE STORY MOST E F F E C T I V E LY.

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Walter Simonson was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and reared in the Maryland

suburbs of Washington, DC. He went to the Rhode Island School of Design where he

majored in Illustration. While in art school, he became interested in the challenges of

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creating comic books, eventually writing and drawing a 50-page graphic story entitled

The Star Slammers for his senior degree project. He moved to New York City in August, l972 and began drawing comic

books professionally first as a freelance artist and eventually as a writer as well. Since then, Simonson has worked for a number of companies and drawn such characters as Orion,

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Manhunter, Dr. Fate, the Metal Men, Batman, the Teen Titans, Thor, X-Factor, the Hulk, the X-Men, the

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Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Gen-13. He has also drawn the comic book adaptations of the movies Alien and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as well as continuing adventures for both Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars and written the comic book adaptation of Jurassic Park. The award-winning Simonson also taught a graphic storytelling

course at the New York School of Visual Arts between 1992 and 1998.

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Though Walter Simonson has drawn almost every character in the Marvel Universe,

he is probably most noted for his work with Thor. He began writing and drawing the adventures of The Mighty Thor for Marvel Comics in 1983 and chronicled the icon’s adventures for two-and-a-half years. After turning the artwork assignment over to Sal Buscema, he continued to write Thor for another year-and-a-half. Thor and all related characters © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Whenever approaching a new project, Simonson finds it important to understand the nature of the characters involved in the story. The visual storytelling must be inspired by the heart of the story. “My general approach in terms of overall design is to think first about using the layouts to reflect whatever I regard as the essence of the story I’m telling. Thor, to me—as a character and as a book— looks back at the past, to a time of gods and mythology. It has elements of science-fiction in it, but it essentially is a conservative book—at least that’s the way I treated it when I was working on the title. “The result is that I did relatively restrained layouts on Thor. They were straightforward, and different from, say, the Fantastic Four when I was drawing that

Figure 11.2: To create the effect of an epic battle, Simonson uses several solutions. Visually, he tells the story utilizing splash pages and splash spreads. Narratively, all words were existed on three levels: dialogue, sound effects and poetry.

title. The Fantastic Four was science-fiction based. So for the FF I did some pretty goofy layouts. I tried to do layouts that were more design-oriented and radical. “In many ways The Fantastic Four looks forward towards the future as Thor looks back towards the past. The overall approach I took to laying out each book was really determined by the way I felt the story needed to be told with those characters. “In my case I try to let the graphic solutions grow out of the story rather than just applying random graphic solutions to the story. Some stories facilitate unusual layouts and some stories seem to demand something much more straightforward. I try to approach the problem of storytelling by examining the story itself first and then developing the solutions based on that.” In issue #380, Thor battles the Midgard Serpent in a life and death struggle over Midgard, or Earth. This is indeed a grave situation as Thor is pitted against one of his greatest foes. The battle was epic and thus an appropriately grandiose visual solution must be implemented. The final graphic solution and the story plot went hand in hand. “One of the essential problems in that story, just as graphic narrative, is that in the mythology, the Midgard Serpent is enormous, encircling the Earth at the 131

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Figure 11.11: Example of sound effects used to add visual excitement and an aural effect from Orion #25 by Walter Simonson.

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Sound effects are another important trick of the trade storytellers can employ

in the comic narrative. Though not looked upon as essential, these effects can add depth

to a panel of comics. Similar to adding color to artwork, sound effects can emphasize

the narrative. Sound effects rely on typography and placement to read clearly and the

artist or letterer must think like a type designer to get the most out of a sound effect.

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The way a sound effect looks will determine how the readers hear the sound in their head. By their very construction, sound effects can be used as an aural device that works on a completely different level than dialogue and exposition. Color also sets these devices apart from normal word balloons. If the colorist chooses to, they can design the sound effect to be more or less noticeable depending on the colors chosen to in relation to the colors already in the panel. A sound effect colored with a color that exists in the panel harmonizes the sound with the environment. Whereas a color that competes with the background and the sound effect will become louder and cacophonic. In the first panel of page 30 of Orion #25, a fearsome explosion has just racked the planet Apokolips. The cool blue “THKRAKKADOOMM!” is suspended above the warm reds and yellows that are used to color the explosion itself Orion and all related characters © DC Comics

(Figure 11.11). In the third panel of the same page, as Orion uses the Mother Box to recreate the flowers, it emits a repetitive “ping” sound. Since the panel background is green, the compliment of this color, orange, again pushes the sound forward from the rest of the art. However, in the second panel of page 28 of Orion #25, the onomatopoeia “SKREEWHAM!” erupts as the army of Darkseid disintegrates. The sound effect is colored in the same manner as the action so it integrates with the panel. The sound’s typeface is displayed in a rough and organic style. Type style can give the sound a distinct personality. And since “SKREEWHAM!” overlaps the panel underneath it, the sound is so loud that it breaks the borders. This placement can prolong the sound over panels, creating a kind of resonance in the reader’s mind. Typically, the sound effect is drawn to mimic the sound it is to represent and so the way the words are visualized will determine how the word will be heard. In the fourth panel of page 28 of Orion #25, we see the “THAMM!” repeat five times (Figure 11.12). The type is designed in a mechanical and straightforward manner which embodies Orion’s cannon. The placement of these blasts overlaps panel five, producing an echo effect. In panel five, these shots rip through the ground and the word “PTHOOM!” repeats four times. Because this reaction is drawn thinner the sound is less Figure 11.12: In this example, Simonson uses typography to determine how a sound will sound by how it looks.

full and the volume decreases. Size is important to the sound effect as well. The more insignificant the sound the smaller it should be and the louder the sound, the larger it should be; size dictates volume. A sound can start off quiet and small and become louder and larger over a panel, several panels or several pages. Also, sound effects can be placed in front of the action so the reader is almost “deafened” with them and has to process the effects first, or behind the action to make the sound more of a background effect. There are so many ways to use sound in comic books. When used effectively, sound effects can become another tool to immerse the reader into the creator’s world. Of all of storytelling tools, sound effects tend to be the tool thought of least. But with a little creativity any story could benefit with a little ZIP, BAM or POW! 141

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