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COMICS RIFFS I LOVE: More of Frank Thorne's L-shaped panels!
🕑 Added 2019-11-08 14:00:04 +0000 UTCFollowing up from last week's COMICS RIFFS installment highlighting Frank Thorne's unusual use of L-shaped comics panels in Red Sonja, here are s'more examples of the technique I dug up online, plus a few pages showing my own use of the layout riff.
As seen in the page above, Thorne shares an interesting characteristic with Shirow Masamune: Namely, both artists can draw compelling action scenes using relatively teeny figures, as seen in the Appleseed Databook page below:
Verrrrry few artists can get much dynamism and energy out of wee figure drawings; it's a difficult task, I can assure you!
Below, behold two concentric L-shaped dealies in a page from Korak, Son of Tarzan(?):
In the Star-Spangled War page below, Thorne uses the L shape to set up a right-to-left action sweep, and danged if it doesn't work just fine:
Check out the really unusual tier of panels 4-9 in the Dracula(?) page below, the layout of which feels almost abstract (or impressionistic? or abstract impressionistic?):
Below, an unusual take on the (inverted) L, with insert close-up of Sonja at the juncture of vertical and horizontal sections. (Insert close-up shots are another fave riff of mine, which I'll blither about on some other Friday.)
Let's be honest, though, folks... Much of the time, the L-shaped panels are used to claw free space in which you can stuff (often excessive) dialogue, as seen in the dismayingly chatty pair of pages below:
Finally, I'll close this post out with a pair of L-shaped panels of my own from Empowered vol.11 (on sale now, folks!). First up, an action panel from the technically demanding tower-crane fight early on in the book:
Below, another L from the Caged Demonwolf scene later on in the book. (Attentive readers might notice that the right leg of the L features a reference to an admittedly cryptic scene from Empowered vol.6.)
Amusingly enough, I've found even more examples of Thorne's unusual panel structures online (including U-shaped and V-shaped panels!), but I'll give you folks a break and take a few Fridays off from flogging this riff. (Plus, I'm likely gonna order a few collections of his Red Sonja stuff, which will likely yield even more examples.)
Comments
Adam Warren
Strong praise; thanks much!
Adam Warren
Lordy loo! My condolences on having a jackass for an art teacher.
KranberriJam
I wish I could go back to my college days and shove stuff like this in the face of my main art teacher, who said that comics and illustrations "weren't real art and took no talent." Love reading this stuff!
Strypgia
The Vol 11 crane fight gave me flashbacks to the one from the opening of Casino Royale in all the best ways.
Joe Crawford
Fascinating stuff.
