strip panel naked

Strip Panel Naked: 'Unstoppable Wasp' And Complicated Layouts
Strip Panel Naked: 'Unstoppable Wasp' And Complicated Layouts
Strip Panel Naked: 'Unstoppable Wasp' And Complicated Layouts
I love the fun Marvel books, like last week's Unstoppable Wasp. It reminds me why I started reading superhero comics in the first place, and the whole thing is a blast. You can tell the creators --- Jeremy Whitley, Elsa Charretier, Megan Wilson and Joe Caramagna --- are having tonnes of fun, too. It starts to bleed into the way they present the story, with some non-traditional layouts on quite a few pages. The comics form is often limited to just regular panels, gridded pages and the like, but it's not the only way to draw a story on a page, obviously. So when you see an example like Nadia recounting a story of her father --- Hank Pym --- and it's told through the mask of Ant Man, that stands out. It breaks the normal mold of what you'd expect, and it does a couple of things that help tell a story.
Strip Panel Naked: The Considered Approach of 'Hulk'
Strip Panel Naked: The Considered Approach of 'Hulk'
Strip Panel Naked: The Considered Approach of 'Hulk'
Sometimes when you read a story, something sticks out at you. A page might feel weird, or a layout might seem odd and distracting. It could be that it's just a bad choice on the team's part in figuring out the approach to tell the story, or it could be an example like in the new Hulk book where it's very deliberately done for effect. Mariko Tamaki and Nico Leon have a very specific visual style for the majority for the book. It's not that it's simple, but there's an obviousness to it. It looks like comics. Some panels overlap, but there's a standard structure that doesn't look too unusual. Everything works on columns and rows, and it's fairly regimented. It all breaks apart in a scene with Jen in the lift.
Strip Panel Naked: Center Focus In 'Lake of Fire'
Strip Panel Naked: Center Focus In 'Lake of Fire'
Strip Panel Naked: Center Focus In 'Lake of Fire'
I love Lake of Fire, by Matt Smith and Nathan Fairbairn. I mean, I really love it. It's an incredibly well told story from a formal point of view, and both Smith and Fairbairn bring a lot to that book. It wrapped up this past week, which means it's as good a time as any to take a look at one element it repeatedly uses throughout its final issue; center focus.
Strip Panel Naked: The Lime Green And Purple Of 'Hawkeye'
Strip Panel Naked: The Lime Green And Purple Of 'Hawkeye'
Strip Panel Naked: The Lime Green And Purple Of 'Hawkeye'
You've got to hand it to Jordie Bellaire; she really understands color in comics. There's something effortless, restrained, and yet bombastic and intelligent about her work in basically everything I see her color. Yet again, in last week's new Hawkeye #1, working alongside writer Kelly Thompson and penciller Leonardo Romero, Bellaire concocts a perfect palette for the storytelling.
Strip Panel Naked: The Text Panel In '4 Kids Walk Into A Bank'
Strip Panel Naked: The Text Panel In '4 Kids Walk Into A Bank'
Strip Panel Naked: The Text Panel In '4 Kids Walk Into A Bank'
This week I wanted to talk about one of my favourite first issues of this year, and one particularly cool sequence in 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, by Matthew Rosenberg, Tyler Boss and Thomas Mauer. There’s a moment where one of these bad guys punches one of the main characters, a girl, in the face. It recalls Reservoir Dogs and its stand out ear cutting-off scene. The way that works is by not showing you it actually happening --- and that's a key thing in terms of storytelling generally. A reader's imagination is often more powerful than what you can show them.
Strip Panel Naked: Coloring Tradd Moore In 'Ghost Rider' #1
Strip Panel Naked: Coloring Tradd Moore In 'Ghost Rider' #1
Strip Panel Naked: Coloring Tradd Moore In 'Ghost Rider' #1
Tradd Moore’s work is crazy, detailed, over-the-top nonsense, so it’s great to see him back on a story --- no matter how short --- for Ghost Rider #1. Moore is especially notable for his flexibility, and the opportunities for fun this provides to his collaborators. With his work being larger than life, it means the colorist working with him can play around with their work, too. They don’t necessarily have to strive for realism in their rendering, and can make the colors really pop and get in your face. Val Staples has that opportunity with their short story in Ghost Rider, and she takes it.
Strip Panel Naked: Negative Space in 'Jessica Jones'
Strip Panel Naked: Negative Space in 'Jessica Jones'
Strip Panel Naked: Negative Space in 'Jessica Jones'
There’s a particular sequence in the latest issue of Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos and Matt Hollingsworth’s Jessica Jones that I want to focus on this week. About halfway through Jessica Jones #2, Jessica heads back to her office and, before she enters, she imagines what might be waiting for her behind the door. Soldiers, Avengers, or the street-level New York superheroes. Instead of going in, she decides to flee. The double page spread makes unusual use of white space, but what does that white space represent?
Strip Panel Naked: Changing The Medium In 'Slam'
Strip Panel Naked: Changing The Medium In 'Slam'
Strip Panel Naked: Changing The Medium In 'Slam'
There’s an expectation of what comics will be when we pick one up, particularly in the monthly "floppy" format that most of us are reading. At Thought Bubble recently, on the Image Comics panel, a few of the creators were talking about how they were able to play around with the medium a little more, and change expectations of what comics are, especially away from "mainstream" books. This week, rather than dissect a single storytelling approach in a comic, I want to look at a comic doing something unusual with the form --- the Boom Studios roller derby comic Slam, by Pamela Ribon, Veronica Fish, Brittany Peer, and Jim Campbell.
Strip Panel Naked: The Craw County Red Of 'Southern Bastards'
Strip Panel Naked: The Craw County Red Of 'Southern Bastards'
Strip Panel Naked: The Craw County Red Of 'Southern Bastards'
The latest issue of Southern Bastards was released last week, and we’re finally able to get back into the world of Craw County. Reading Southern Bastards always brings one thing to mind; it’s something you tend to find on every cover, and the whole interior of the book is drenched in it: red. Artist Jason Latour links so much of this story with red, and turn any page and you can see how heavy an influence it has on the palette.
Strip Panel Naked: Invisible Lettering in 'I Hate Fairyland'
Strip Panel Naked: Invisible Lettering in 'I Hate Fairyland'
Strip Panel Naked: Invisible Lettering in 'I Hate Fairyland'
Lettering is a criminally underrated part of comics. When you see good writing, you tend to notice, and when you see good art, it gets talked about. The best you can say about good lettering is that it’s invisible. When done well, no one should even realize it’s happening. There’s been some stunning lettering in every issue of Skottie Young’s I Hate Fairyland, by Nate Piekos of Blambot, and it deserves to be noticed.

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