Power Panels 4

I've made my love for Grant Morrison's superhero work pretty apparent, so it should come as no surprise that I absolutely love the artwork that goes along with his stories. While All Star Superman is a genius piece of fiction, at least half the work is done by powerhouse artist Frank Quitely.

There's a lot of story told in the few panels Quitely's given to draw, and, somehow, he manages to cram a lot of information into just two or three pictures. Take the below sequence, for example:


I completely missed this little moment when I first read All Star Superman. It's pretty simple what happens, actually: Clumsy Clark Kent notices some falling debris, so he "accidentally" trips into a passing man, slowing him up and saving his life. All the while, he's carrying on a conversation with Lois Lane as if nothing is happening. It's a pretty standard move for the Superman character - in fact, there's almost nothing special about this sequence (other than how well it's rendered, of course).

The reason this sequence appeals to me so much is that, for three brief panels, we almost see two separate stories unfolding:

1. The story of Clark and Lois and their conversation.
2. The story of the man walking his dog

So, really, these three panels form an "X," with two different narrative lines meeting up in the middle for one brief exchange, then each story again going off on its own. Of course, we DON'T follow the man any further down the street, because no matter WHO he is, he likely won't be doing anything more interesting than, say, punching a robot sun so hard it explodes with a giant mushroom cloud.


Theoretically, though, this sequence makes me realize that, in the comics format, it is entirely possible to tell two different (though connected) stories AT THE SAME TIME without NEARLY the hassle that the same task would demand in a movie or novel.

And that, to me, is just plain cool.