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danschkade · 7 years

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PAGE x PAGE MINI-ANALYSIS — “FIRST SIGHTING: SUPERBOY” from THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #500 (1993)

PUBLISHED: DC Comics, June 1993

SCRIPT: Karl Kesel

PENCILS: Tom Grummett

INKS: Doug Hazelwood

(After this point, I don’t know for sure who did what — this is just one of many stories in this king-sized issue, with only the script, pencils, and inks credited to this story in particular. However, Grummett and Hazelwood also drew the 40+ page story that makes up the bulk of the issue, and so it wouldn’t be the craziest thing to assume they did the duties on this story as well. Acknowledging that this is an assumption, those credits are:

COLORS: Glenn Whitmore

LETTERS: Albert De Guzman

EDITORIAL: Mike Carlin with Jennifer Frank)

Fun autobiographical fact: my mother bought this comic fresh off the stands, way back in the summer of 1993. A direct followup to THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN, this five and a half dozen page monster ran her $2.95, plus Texas state sales tax. I was all of three years old and didn’t know Superman from Peter Pan, so I wonder: did she run the numbers and figure, yeah, the son of a behavioral economics professor and an information systems management consultant was probably going to be the kind of serial fiction nerd who’d appreciate this comic? Did she take a gamble on the outside shot of it becoming a collectable? Or, Occam’s Razor: after all the media coverage about how DC Comics had killed the Man of Tomorrow, she saw the “BACK FROM THE DEAD?! THE MAN OF STEEL FIGHTS FOR HIS LIFE!” cover blurb and thought it might be worth the three dollars ten to find out how he did.

[Cover by Jerry Ordway]

In today’s mini-analysis, I’ll be looking at just four pages of this issue. I was flipping through it for the first time in years and appreciating it in a new light, owing to my newfound appreciation for the action-packed but emotionally intelligent storytelling of penciller Tom Grummett. The issue ends in four short stories that introduce the four infamous replacement Supermen; Steel, The Eradicator, The Cyborg Superman, and of course, my man Superboy — and it wasn’t until this read-though that I realized the Superboy segment was scripted by Karl Kesel, someone who does the same kind of clean, classical work with the writing that Grummett does with the art. Now, full disclosure: I’ve worked with Karl on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: GODS AND MONSTERS for Dynamite Entertainment, but I’d like to think that instead on biasing me in Karl’s favor, it just gave me a greater understanding of his scripting acumen. I’m sure you agree.

Since Kesel and Grummett are currently reuniting to resurrect their sci-fi adventure series SECTION ZERO on Kickstarter — more on that at the end of the analysis — I thought their four-page introduction to the Metropolis Kid might be worth an in-depth look.

THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #500 and all characters contained therein are property of DC Comics, reproduced here solely for educational purposes.

***

Before we start, this is the page that precedes Kesel and Grummett’s story (this preceding story scripted by Roger Stern with art by Jackson Guice and Denis Rodier):

So, this is what’s in our heads as we head into our next story, yeah? Okay. Onward.

PAGE ONE

The opening of this page has a couple hoops to jump through: it’s the start of this new four-page story, and has to introduce us to our characters and setup like any opening panel has to. But it also has to maintain the loose illusion of being a continuation of the main sixty-five page narrative; it can’t indulge in a splashy title page. And lastly, it has to execute a pretty acute tone shift from the darker than dark “Vengeance of Superman” vignette Stern and Guice just served up.

The path that vaults all hoops at once: Environment As Action. The blaring alarm at four in the morning, the scrambling troops (who in this first panel act more as setting than as characters), and a couple simple caption boxes letting us know what’s up. Background? Man, to hell with a background, we only got four pages for this thing — it’s all action, it’s all information, and it’s coming straight for us, right down to our super heroic focal point character making eye contact and shouting orders at us. This is How You Engage a Reader 101.

The rest of the page immediately, but smoothly, gets us up to speed. Who’s the Captain America guy? The Guardian. What’s his deal? He’s in charge of the Cadmus soldiers. Who’s the suit? Westfield. A reminder of the early hour — that’s clearly important, and Kesel doesn’t want us to forget it. What’s Westfield’s relationship to the Guardian and the soldiers? The wet blanket superior officer who commands authority but not respect. Who do we like more? The Guardian, because he’s a better leader and we’ve seen his face, so we connect more with him even though his face is now partially masked. Plus he looks like a cool superhero, while Westfield looks like your friend’s lame dad. And it all ends on a classic page-turn cliffhanger: “No telling who — or WHAT — is on the other side!”

Five panels in, and already we’ve forgotten all about “the Vengeance of Superman…”

PAGE TWO

Ballsy use of such a huge panel in such a short story. The muted, mid-tone coloring of the lab not only makes the Guardian stand out, maintaining him as our focal character for this scene, but also draws our attention to the small scrap of bright red Superman cape hanging on the shattered glass tube. Situating that scrap in the bottom right quadrant of the panel guides our eye clockwise towards the next panel. And just in case you didn’t notice the scrap on its own, Grummet uses Westfield’s eyeline and his outreached hand to draw an invisible line to it. Also of note: Guardian, the honest hero just doing his job, notices the big thing, the shattered tube — Westfield, who knows what’s really going on in that lab, is the one who notices the scrap first.

Guardian is super dominant in the rest of this scene. He picks up the scrap, taking physical charge of the evidence of Cadmus’ sketchy Kryptonian secret. He’s looking directly back at Westfield, who’s turned away from him and is making excuses; signs of weakness. Guardian continues to be the largest/strongest presence in panel three and again in four, where he aligns with our POV as we look up at Packard. Speaking of Packard, he’s rocking another very recognizable lame dad look. So far the two grown-ups we’ve seen who aren’t exciting soldiers or cool superheroes are stuffy, grumpy squares. This is what adults are like in this Superboy story.

Note how the room feels full of soldiers throughout this scene, even though there’s only ever one soldier in each panel. The smoke filling the room goes a long way to achieving this effect, suggesting unseen mass, and Guardian seals it by commanding “McFarlane” to “Have your squad search every inch of this place.” Great way to keep the scene full, but not cluttered.

PAGE THREE

As we change from interior to exterior settings, the page layout changes from the boxy, squarish panels of the previous pages to a series of page-wide horizontal panels. Nearly every panel is a good example of a different way to utilize this type of layout, starting with panel one: it gives us a nice wide establishing shot, clearly showing the geography of the tunnel entrance, the highway, and Metropolis beyond.

In panel two, the powerful left to right movement of Superboy punching the grate off the tunnel entrance is enhanced by how it utilizes all the vertical space, giving the feeling of focused power — like a bullet through a barrel.

In panel three, we see how well a horizontal layout helps us introduce a bunch of characters at once, with lots of non-active space on either side of them for everybody to get in a line of character-establishing dialogue. Kesel even sneaks in a nice little hint at the nature of Superboy’s powers. Notice that the Newsboy in the middle of the pack doesn’t get a line, but that’s fine, because he’s featured heavily in the next panel. No need to cram everyone’s moment into the same panel, which usually feels forced anyhow.

In panels two through five, the limited vertical space is employed to cut our freshly-minted Superboy into segments. By keeping us from seeing all of him at once, we build his mystique and the anticipation of the reader, not to mention helping us get a feel for the individual elements of his complex new costume.

PAGE FOUR

Ladies and gentlemen: a late but strong entry for best superhero costume of the 20th century. After teasing him for pages, we get this legitimately iconic reveal of our new Superboy — no matter what he says he is. We also benefit from how well Kesel and Grummett established the spatial relationship of Metropolis, the tunnel, and the highway, so that we don’t need to show any of the Newsboys to know we’re sharing their POV here. We’re so familiar with the space at this point, we inherently know that’s where we are. This composition is thematically strong, too — he’s throwing this last defiant declaration before turning back around and heading down into Metropolis, into whatever adventures await him there. It’s like a low-grade cliffhanger. It’s a promise of something exciting to come. This is how you introduce a character.

***

You can buy the full 65-page issue of THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #500 for the surprisingly low price of $1.99 off Comixology! It’s absolutely worth the read, containing one of my favorite Pa Kent stories ever.

Now, like I said -- SECTION ZERO!

Kesel and Grummett reunite to bring back the high quality old school team-based adventure comic — one of the few types of fiction that genuinely does work better in the medium of comics than it does anywhere else, and these guys are high in the top list of creators who can pull it off. If the Superboy pages above did anything for you, SECTION ZERO is totally on your frequency. Take a look:

Right?

If you want to read more preview pages and learn more about the project, I highly encourage everybody to check out the SECTION ZERO Kickstarter — it’s entering its last week and I so want to see this book on my shelf.

***

As always, feel free to check me on any mistakes I might have made, add your own commentary, or share similar examples of good comics done well. I’ll be back next week with a different, longer comic to peruse.

Be well!

PREVIOUS PAGE x PAGE ANALYSES:

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #69 (with Aud Koch)

THE SHADOW STRIKES! #13

PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN #13

BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #17

#Superboy #Page x Page Analysis #Karl Kesel #Tom Grummett #Section Zero #Superman #DC Comics #Educational Purposes #comics

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adrelianafernandes · 7 years

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Divulgence

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous. All rights belong to Thomas Astruc and ZAGtoon.

Summary: During the Evillustrator, when Marinette and Chat Noir were trapped together in a box, Tikki tried to come out to help, but Marinette pushed her back into the purse. What if she had managed to come out before Marinette pushed her back in?

Notes: Reposting this because I finally decided to create a Tumblr blog. Hey everyone! I’m Silver and an aspiring writer and reader. It’s a pleasure to meet you all! I’m open to commissions and requests and questions - I’ll be opening up a page on that in a minute as soon as I figure out the formatting.

(This is part one of a series called Reveals and Revelations. I’ll be tagging them all with this so it’s easily found :))

XxX

“And I’m taking back my promise,” the Evillustrator snarled, rubbing something out on his drawing tablet. “Chloe’s going to get a little lesson that she’ll never forget!”

Marinette yelped as Chat Noir landed on her, squirming all the while as the box enclosed the both of them.

Then she heard the tell-tale sounds of the Evillustrator’s magic, and she knew that the boat’s engine was gone. If they didn’t escape soon, they would drown.

The Evillustrator smirked, before leaping off the barge and into the distance, heading towards the Grand Paris.

“We’ve been penned in,” Chat said, desperately prodding the floor and corners of the box with his staff. “Literally!”

“Aa-” Marinette started, only to be interrupted as Tikki poked her head out of her purse.

“Marinette,” she said in her high, squeaky voice. “There’s no time! Transform!”

Immediately Chat Noir stopped, his green eyes wide as he took in Tikki.

Marinette immediately shut the purse, covering it with her hands. “Ahaha,” she laughed. “It’s a new toy! From Japan! It’s uhm, really new and says the weirdest things! Never says anything when you want it to!”

Chat Noir could only say nothing as he stared at Marinette silently.

Then the boat lurched suddenly, and they yelped as the box slid to the side of the barge, just stopping short of the railings.

“Chat Noir!” Marinette called out desperately. “Use your staff! Extend it upwards!”

Chat Noir snapped out of his reverie, before smirking at her. He retracted his baton, before twisting it vertically. Then he smirked at Marinette before sweeping her in a princess style hold and extending his baton.

The end of the baton smacked against the ceiling of the box, lifting it and the two up as it extended. Chat Noir then angled the baton, continuing to extend it until they were over the bridge, releasing the baton and dropping down onto the bridge. Then he looked at Marinette.

She laughed nervously. “Haha, yeah, new toy, really unreliable…”

He smirked. “So it’s buggy, is it?”

Despite herself, Marinette groaned. “Not another pun, Chat…”

His smirk widened. “There’s my lady,” he said, before grabbing the baton as it dropped down from the air. “I’m going to stop the artist. Don’t make me wait too long, my lady.”

He tossed her another smirk, before extending the baton and leaping onto the roof of the next set of buildings.

Tikki poked her head out of the purse. “I’m sorry, Marinette. I didn’t think he was there.”

Marinette sighed. “I really didn’t want anyone to find out, but if it had to be anyone, at least it was him.”

“That’s true,” Tikki said thoughtfully. “Ladybugs and Chat Noirs have been partners for centuries.”

“At least it was my partner. Imagine if it were my parents, or Alya, or Adrien!” Marinette laughed.

“That would have been awful!”

Tikki giggled, zipping in the air. “Come on, you have a kitty waiting for you!”

Marinette nodded. “Right! Tikki, spots on!”

XxX

Chloe pressed her ear up against the door at the knocking. “Chat Noir, is that you?”

Then the Evillustrator erased the door, and she screamed, running to her bed and hiding beneath it.

“Chloe…” The Evillustrator called out. “Where are you? Are you hiding? That is so cute.”

Chloe shrank back in fear, ice blue eyes wide as she stared at the red clad legs of the Evillustrator.

“Are you hiding?” The Evillustrator asked sneeringly. “In the closet?”

Chloe gasped, and at that, he erased the closet on the tablet, and it followed suit in real life. Then, Chloe screamed as the Evillustrator erased all of her clothing.

He smirked to himself as he heard the scream. Honestly, all it took to get Chloe out was to threaten her clothing and beauty. She was so easy to lure out; all of the akumatised villains had found it ridiculously easy to lure her out every single time.

He grinned, before erasing the bed as he swiped on his tablet. Chloe screamed again, before running frantically towards the corner of the room.

The Evillustrator smirked. “I win, Chloe. I found you.”

“My Chanel dresses! My heels!” Chloe shrieked, before gasping dramatically. “You’re a monster!”

“You like to walk all over people, but you don’t like it when others trample over you, do you, Chloe? Do you?!”

Chloe could only scream as she ran fearfully from the drawn giant heel. Then the two heard a thwack and the heel disappeared.

“Sorry, but even if she does walk over others, she doesn’t deserve to be actually trampled,” Chat Noir said casually, raising his hand as the baton returned to him.

“In the comics, this is what is known as the final showdown,” the Evillustrator said thoughtfully as he gazed at Chat Noir, who merely rested his baton on his shoulders.

“Not really,” Chat Noir smirked. “We’re waiting for a plus one.”

As if on cue, Ladybug dropped in through the open balcony doors. “Sorry I kept you waiting, kitty.”

“A lady is always fashionably late,” Chat Noir replied, before settling into a fighting stance.

“Uhh, hello?” Chloe called out. “I need saving here!”

The Evillustrator smirked, before erasing the floor, forcing Chat Noir and Ladybug to back away quickly as the floor disappeared from under them.

Of course, Chat Noir’s luck meant that he slipped on the edge, his arms flailing as he tried to keep himself upright, before he managed to grab on the edge of the floor, digging his claws into the tile as he dangled precariously from the edge.

“Ladybug, this cat doesn’t have nine lives!” he yelled out desperately.

Ladybug set her jaw, before tossing her yoyo high up into the air. “Lucky Charm!” she yelled out as a series of hearts surrounded the spinning yoyo. Then a small object fell out of the air, right into Ladybug’s waiting hands.

“A bouncy ball?” She asked in confusion. “What do I do with this?”

“Hah!” The Evillustrator laughed harshly. “Try and stop me with that, little lady.”

Ladybug glanced around, sky blue eyes darting as they searched the room. Then several objects lit up with a red and black spotted pattern, and she smirked. “Gladly!”

She tossed the ball as hard as she could towards the lamp just past the Evillustrator, his eyes wide as they followed the ball’s motion. Then it smashed it, before the ball rebounded, bouncing off walls before impacting the lamps of the room, blanketing it in darkness.

Then Ladybug’s yoyo shot out, wrapping around the Evillustrator’s arm, before yanking on the arm suddenly. The Evillustrator was taken aback, his surprise forcing him to drop his drawing pen onto the floor.

Ladybug back-flipped, her hand quickly snatching the pen off the floor before she landed in a crouch. Then she snapped the pen, dropping the halves on the floor as a black butterfly flew out.

She ran her finger over the cover of her yoyo, the halves opening like a ladybug’s wings to reveal a white interior. Then she dropped the yoyo, letting it swing slightly to gain momentum, before she thrust it into the air, catching the butterfly in the glowing white space of the yoyo. Drawing the yoyo back to her, she smiled. “Bye bye, little butterfly,” she said as she tapped the surface, letting a now white butterfly fly out.

Chat Noir vaulted upwards, flying up and onto solid floor as Ladybug grabbed the bouncy ball, tossing it into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!” She called, as the object dissolved into a swarm of ladybugs which flew around the room, fixing all of the damage.

Then black bubbles covered the Evillustrator, dissolving to reveal Nathanael. He groaned and sat up, wondering why he was in a room with Paris’ two superheroes and an annoyed Chloe. “Wha-what I am doing here?”

“You got akumatised, Nathanael,” Ladybug explained.

“You’re in the Grand Paris right now,” Chat Noir continued, before a beep from Ladybug’s earrings warned them of the impending talk.

“Gotta go!” The two superheroes called in unison, before leaping off the balcony and onto rooftops with only one destination in mind: the Eiffel Tower.

XxX

“You can’t tell anyone,” were the first words out of Ladybug’s mouth as they landed on the beams just below the viewing deck of the tower.

Chat Noir could only nod solemnly. “I promise.”

Ladybug sighed. “Good.”

Then she sat down, and closed her eyes as she let her transformation wear off. Tikki hovered in the air between them, giving off an apologetic air.

“So this is your kwami,” Chat Noir said in wonder. “Can we trade? I want one that is actually sweet and doesn’t demand cheese all the time!”

At this, Marinette and Tikki giggled. “Sorry kitty,” Marinette said teasingly. “But unless you have pierced ears, it’s a no can do.”

At this he slumped. “Aww, Marinette…”

Then she slumped too, sighing. “Are you disappointed?”

Chat Noir immediately broke out of his fake slump. “What?”

“Are you disappointed that the perfect Ladybug is actually clumsy, unconfident Marinette?”

Green eyes widened. “No! I could never be disappointed with you Marinette, never! You’re so beautiful and sweet and kind and friendly!”

Blue eyes widened. “You… really think that, Chat Noir?”

He smiled gently. “Yeah, I do.”

Tikki swooned from over them, cooing from her perch on a higher beam. “That’s so cute!” she whispered to herself as the two leant in closer, before their lips brushed slightly.

Then Marinette seemed to snap out of a trance, before she backed away rapidly. “I-I can’t, Chat!”

“Wha- why?!” he exclaimed.

She shrank back. “Because… my heart belongs to someone else.”

This time, Chat Noir’s slump was real as his ears drooped, and green eyes filled with hurt. He scooted back along his side of the beam as well, drawing his legs in to curl against them as he stared at the beam silently.

Then he sighed. “Do I at least have the pleasure of knowing who captured my lady’s heart?”

Marinette bit her lip, before she decided to tell him; she owed him that much. “A-Adrien Agreste.”

Suddenly Chat Noir’s eyes lit up again and his ears were alert. “What did you say?”

Taken aback by his sudden happiness, she repeated the name.

At this, Chat Noir whooped, before picking Marinette up and hugging her close to him in joy.

“Wha- Chat, what’s wrong?”

He didn’t seem to hear her, his eyes filled with joy as he stared down at her with love.

“I’m sorry Chat, but I can’t. I love him,” Marinette said, unraveling herself from the mass of excitement that was Chat Noir.

He froze for a moment, before laughing.

Marinette was starting to think something was very wrong with her partner at this point. “Chat, what’s wrong with you?”

He paused, before he smiled at her. The smile that always threw her for a loop, because it was just so familiar, but she could never place it.

“I think this will explain it all,” he said softly, before releasing his transformation.

Marinette shielded her eyes as the luminous green light washed over her. When she opened them again, she almost screamed as her eyes took in the face of her not-so-secret crush.

“A-Adrien?!” she shrieked.

The boy in question smiled sheepishly, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at the girl. “Hey, Marinette.”

She almost seemed to freeze for a moment, before she did. Her eyes grew unfocused and she stared at the ground for a long time before Tikki flew off her perch and whispered something in her ear that made her snap to reality again.

Then she laughed. Adrien smiled as he heard it, the tinkling tones music to his ears. “Marinette,” he said, moving closer to his partner. “I love you.”

She turned, and their faces were pressed up against each other, lips brushing each other’s once more as she whispered her next words. “I love you too.”

#miraculous ladybug #adrienette #ladynoir #reveal #evillustrator #fanfiction #revealsandrevelations

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