Panels: Raymond’s Leaves

If you’ve also been following my comic, Things Change, you’ll have noticed my use of the silhouettes of leaves to alter the shapes of my panels (starting in last Wednesday’s strip and continuing today and this week’s forthcoming strip). While the particular use I put these silhouettes to is my own, the visuals came from an old Flash Gordon episode by Alex Raymond. The half page below is from November 10, 1940 and can be found in Checker’s Flash Gordon Volume 5.

You’ll note the silhouetted leaves in the outer panels and a rock in the center panel that Raymond uses to open up space for his text. This is a much more clever way to insert the text than his usual method of putting the text right over a colored section of the panel or having the art just stop around the text. It integrates much better into the panel and looks great. (I should mention this is after Raymond gave up the use of word balloons in the strip.)

Tags: alex-raymond, flash-gordon, panels

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