More On The Page Turn |
There's a little device that doesn't get a lot of attention in comics but its crucial. The page-turn panel. It's the panel at the end of each page. And it's very important 'cause it's the one that should make you want to TURN the page to see what happens next. It can be the penultimate moment of drama at the nexus of a major subplot that you need to flip over to see the resolution. Or it can be as cheap a device as the cast turning to an off panel character and saying, "YOU?!" Then you turn the page and find out it's only the kindly old lady from next door stopped by to borrow a saucer of milk for the kiddies. But it "made you look!" So both work. The page turn can also be a fake. The last panel on the page can show some shadowy monstrous figure spying from the darkness on one of our cast members, seemingly ready to pounce and tear our beloved icon to bloody ribbons. Then the reader turns the page only to find that we've cut to another scene leaving them wondering what happened next in the previous one. That kind of page turn serves to pull them PAST the next page and keep the tension at a simmer in the story. The greatest page turn panel I've ever seen was when I was a kid. Lee and Kirby were doing one of their "Tales of Asgard" back-ups in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY. Thor's in the land of trolls and just kinda strolling along with Uru in hand. But no trolls. He's wary. He's ready for 'em. But there's not a one of the ugly, gatemouthed critters about. Then...in the last panel of the page, we see a wicked, long fingered, pinkish hand reach out from some steaming crater and grab the Thunder God by the ankle! As a young sprout I actually jumped in my chair. THAT'S a page turn! |
©2001 by Chuck Dixon. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced without permission. |
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