Three Pages

Three Pages

Something a little different this time. When I was in South Africa for Comic Con Cape Town, one of the panels I participated in was one whose topic I had suggested to the con organizers. What if, I said, I wrote a page of script, and we gave it to three different artists, and see how they each approach drawing the page.

The organizers loved the idea, so I, uh, volunteered my friends Phil Hester, Sean Izaakse, and Bill Masuku, who were all attending the show, to join in. What followed was, to my mind, a pretty fascinating look into how the same script page – Black Panther meeting Batman – turns into something different in the hands three different artists.

First, here’s the script page I wrote: six panels, establishing the setting, the character (Black Panther), and then introducing another character (Batman). In a “real” comic, this sequence likely would be a bit longer to let it breathe a little. But in the interest of this exercise, it’s distilled onto one page. I also did not include any dialogue, as I normally would in a full script, since that’s not what the exercise was about.

*****

PAGE 1

PANEL 1: We open to an establishing shot to give the readers a sense of where we are. The setting is the Wakanda throne room of Black Panther, an expansive shot to show off the space. Design it as you see fit, as long as we have some African sensibility to the space. We’ll need a large, ornate window in the space (maybe in the shape of the panther symbol). We see at least some of the Dora Milaje standing guard at the edge of the throne dais or steps. I seem to remember a Steve Rude image that had giant sculpted panther head (the cat, not the hero) with mouth open, and the throne within. Merely a suggestion, not a necessity. There is, however, an actual panther near T’Challa. It’s a scene of majesty, the royal court gathered. Feel free to place an element in the foreground to both provide some depth in the image, as well as to eat up some space.

PANEL 2: Pull in closer for a shot of Black Panther on his throne, essentially our intro shot for him. The real panther is near him. Black Panther is regal, not brooding.

PANEL 3: Smaller panel as we concentrate on the head of the real panther. The ears are up as the panther’s head perks up. He has sensed something, and he’s wary, but we don’t yet know what.

PANEL 4: We’re looking at the large ornate window. A caped figure is crashing through the window, sending glass shards everywhere. The figure is, of course, Batman. The real panther has started forward so we see panther’s head toward the foreground of the panel, snarling up at Batman’s figure.

PANEL 5: Batman lands on the floor amid the shards of glass, his cape draped around him, more a menacing shape than a man.

PANEL 6: We end the page with Black Panther rushing at Batman, one fist clenched, ready to fight. Batman stands his ground, not overtly aggressive, but confident and almost stoic, ready for whatever is going to happen. Perhaps a side view here, so we see the heroes as equal figures.

*****

The first page finished was by Sean Izaakse, who went the extra mile to ink the page. Really beautiful, dynamic work, expanding the six panels to eight panels, a very cinematic treatment.  

Next was Bill Masuku’s graphic treatment, working strong shapes and silhouettes into the page while retaining the six-panel format. Love the hand-drawn sound effect.

For Phil Hester’s page, we have two images. First, Phil’s initial thumbnails on my script page as he worked out the initial storytelling. You can see the progression from the first impulses, composed in the initial blush of reading the page, to the finished storytelling. Phil chose to trim the panel count to five by combining some elements.

One script, three artists, three pages of storytelling. Same story, different executions, and all of them of work. During our panel in Cape Town, the discussion included Sean, Bill, and Phil all talking about how they approached the page, and why they made the decisions they did. I would not presume to speak for them here. I think it was recorded, so maybe it’s floating around out there on the internet.

The exercise makes it obvious how much the artist is a co-author on any comic. The writer (me) essentially creates a recipe. The artist takes that recipe and makes the actual meal that’s served to the hungry customer. Thanks to Sean, Bill, and Phil for taking part, and doing the hard work.