I am speechless after last week. I hadn’t realized what brutal critics were reading my little feature. However, since it was absolutely fascinating and I’m still feeling a bit under the weather right now, let’s try it again!
The following is a randomly (insomuch as any human choice can be random) selected image from last week’s White Tiger #1 Preview. I picked this preview because while I know the character from her appearance in Daredevil a few years ago, I’ve never seen the artist before. It’s an action scene.
Thoughts?
October 6th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Okay, I’ll try.
I have no idea of the context of this panel, and I’m not familiar with the character of the White Tiger. I presume that’s her receiving the boot in the breadbasket?
The thing that strikes me the most is the perspective. I can’t believe how big and long Daredevil’s right leg is.
Not sure about the setting… I guess we’re on a rooftop at night. Why does she have a shopping bag on a rooftop?
The area behind the woman is full of pointy or even phallic things that she wouldn’t want to land on, so I hope she recovers from that kick okay. Daredevil seems to be kicking her pretty hard, though; half the panel is covered in impact lines from the kick. Did he sneak up on her? Doesn’t look like she’s in a fighting stance.
And here’s my big insight: Daredevil looks like he’s using those ladder-rails on the left for support. In fact, the way they’re arranged makes them look like two overlapping D’s–Daredevil’s own symbol. Combine that with the pointy things behind her (same shape as his horns, his other trademark), and we see that this is clearly his territory.
Is there anything else to support that idea? Well, there’s not a lot of detail, and the scene is kind of dim and murky all over, but there is a lot of emphasis on the tactile–the impact lines, the bricks–and the laws of perspective certainly seem to be out the window… it’s like the place is being presented to us sort of through Daredevil’s own senses.
Daredevil’s colour is red, and the White Tiger’s colour is presumably white, so let’s look for those. The only red is on DD’s costume, so that’s nothing, and the only white is on the impact of the kick, which is interesting, but I can’t make it mean anything. But the shopping bag is pink, which is halfway between red and white. Are the two of them fighting for the contents of the bag?
October 6th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Why is Daredevil’s right leg eight feet long?
October 6th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
I don’t get it. Is DD’s foot
(1) going THROUGH her?
(4) gone PAST her?
(2) LONGER than her gut?
(3) being inserted into her gut pushing out an equal amount of her back?
(4) inconsequential because she’s CARRYING SOMETHING on her right and it’s been nudged into frame?
In other words, WTF is that thing sticking out of her back?
October 6th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
That should have been 1 thru 5. Also Dan, I think it’s a matter of the artist’s idea of perspective; DD’s calf and heel, the bars on the left, and the black-clad woman’s left leg are the closest things to the viewer and hence, depicted as the largest.
October 6th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
The thing sticking out of her back is… I don’t know which one you mean. Either it’s impact lines going past her side, or it’s the fold of her jacket lobing out at the back.
October 6th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Here’s another picture that I’d like to see analyzed regarding “what costumes say about characters”:
http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0610/04/newxmen31c.htm
October 6th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
I think it says, “Paco Medina hearts breasts.”
October 6th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
I like it. It has a lot of energy and looks like it was drawn with quick, sure lines. Sure DD’s leg is a little long but I think the exageration works and makes it more dynamic.
The bag seems to imply that the attack was a bit of a surprise, I mean, if she knew she were in a fight, she would have put that down right? One fist is clenched so I’m guessing she just crested the roof saw daredevil and had time just to get the fist ready but not much else before he kicked her. The impact lines also surround her head. Lines radiating from the face are time honoured ’sudden awareness’ symbols a la Spidey and his spider sense. Adds again to that surprised feeling.
And that’s a solid kick meant to take the air out of someone. He seems to think he needs to deal with her fast so that she doesn’t have a chance to get at him. So he regards her as a plausible threat.
I really like the panel. It communicates a lot about the moment and makes me wish I could see what came before and after. Sure there are a few awkward bits like the disappearing foot but the moment the artists created more then makes up for that to me!
October 6th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
The perspective on Mr. Murdock is pretty wonky. Otherwise, this is a very competant panel. The bars on the left give a sense of depth. And everything else in the panel (building detail, the window, even the side of the bag) draw your eye towards the point of impact.
With regards to the perspective, the most difficult obstacle is Daredevil’s costume. The only distiguishing parts of that costume are the logo and the horns. In a panel like this, you have to twist him around so you can clearly tell who it is. If this were Spider-Man, you could make that kick look more natural and the costume would still come across.
October 6th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Boy, that is really crappy art.
Unless DD’s shoe size is 27, his leg just simply CANNOT look to be that much closer than the woman’s side.
So-so art doesn’t really hurt a books chances with me, but horrible art takes so much away from the story that I quickly lose interest.
October 6th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
No real comment here, aside from agreeing with everyone else about Daredevil’s leg being about 20 feet long. Extreeeeme foreshortening, there! (No, Ugly American, that’s not artistic license, that’s just really exaggerated perspective.)
October 9th, 2006 at 5:45 am
I like the lines in this image and the way they break it up. Daredevil’s Y-posed body is the off-center centerpiece. The bars on the right seem to spell out DD, for Daredevil, I’m guessing. The impact or force lines are emanating out from the point of impact, and imply movement in the same direction as the kick but the opposite direction that both characters bodies are moving.
I like the symetry of the two bodies, they both seem to be folding/falling towards the left of the image; although one is falling backward and the other forward.
The light source seems to be obscured by the character on the right. The faded colors seem to imply that the moment takes place at night.
The pink shopping bag (?) is a nice touch. I like how the handles to it are drawn; they add to the sense of motion in the opposite direction of that of the kick. The impact of DD’s foot is what I first noticed, but the handbag was second.
October 24th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Guy…you are real…i like you…write me
i want to see you…