The Anatomy of a Page

As a comics writer, one of my most gratifying moments is getting a page of art back from an artist. From a creative standpoint, there is little else that gives more a thrill than seeing the words I write transformed into sequential art. Seriously, when I know art is coming, I stalk my inbox, dizzy with anticipation. That’s how I was when I knew the first page was coming from JM (seen at right)—totally worth the wait.

When I first decided to start this production blog, I had it in mind to produce this column. Way back when, in the infancy of my comics writing days, I made it a habit to seek out scripts from writers I admired. For starters, I wanted to learn the simple basics of formatting and things like that. And though there’s nothing simple about a comics script—every writer not working under a specific house style formats his or her scripts in their own way—I still found it infinitely helpful to absorb whatever tricks and tics I could. I was also interested, though, in how the bridge was gapped between script page and what I saw every week in the actual book. I spent a lot of time comparing script pages to sequential pages (most frequently in Y: The Last Man, one my favorite series of all time).

My idea, then, was to give some insight between my script and JM’s completed page. The truth is, though, I don’t feel like I have much insight to offer. JM pretty much nailed it the first time out; when I got the penciled page (seen below left), all I had pretty much had to say was, “yep, this rules.”

Still, there are a few things to point on, to give an idea of what JM and I were working to achieve here on page 1.

The first thing, and maybe the most important thing, is the complete symmetry of the page’s design. What I wanted to convey was a taut sense of control, which is part of what is being conveyed here, thematically. You see the symmetry not only within the panels—the mechanical hub is symmetrical, as are the cribs—but the panels themselves. They are all equal size. Here’s what my original script said:

“Newborn babies are lined in perfect, far-reaching rows, equidistant from one another. Above them is the testing apparatus: a system of mechanical hubs, arms (resembling a crane) that move up and down the rows, doing their work.

None of this is visible though, not in this first panel. We begin with an ECU on the base of one of the arms. Focus on the base’s eye—think HAL from 2001. Each base has four of these eyes, giving a 360-degree view of its surroundings.

We want the base to look sleek, sterile—that’s the feel of this aspect of the future to be depicted here. Again to reference 2001—recall how everything on the space station was perfectly symmetrical and composed. That’s what we are after here. “

One issue that arose came in the final panel. The perspective switches—in panels one through four, we have this static camera that is simply puling back. Then, we see what the hub sees, looking down at the baby. Originally, my script called for a more digitized perspective; imagine what Stark sees when looking through the Iron Man suit. Kind of like that. JM and I decided that was too jarring of a switch, that it would compromise that symmetry and control, so we eliminated those details. The script read like this:

“Panel 5: Switch to the hub’s perspective, looking down its arm into the crib. A small finger-like swab is extended down into the baby’s mouth. It’s collecting genetic DNA code.

We should literally be looking through the hub as if we are inside it. It’s vision, though, is only slightly distorted—we don’t this to be Robocop. What’s important, though, is we read its operation, projected somewhere on the hub, so to give a better idea of what it’s doing.”

This might all seem subtle, but it’s the subtleties that build and create the whole.

Again, JM’s art captures the world of Terminus exactly. I also think it’s a good starting point for the book itself, in that it creates a sense of intrigue. An earlier draft started with the murder crime scene, but this is more effective in that it’s unexpected and, hopefully, creates a sense of mystery.

So, that’s it for now. I’ll post the lettered version of page one sometime soon, as well as some more previews!