{"id":2483,"date":"2015-05-05T16:27:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T23:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2483"},"modified":"2024-01-08T16:31:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T00:31:11","slug":"maggies-world-029-uncovering-comics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-029-uncovering-comics\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 029: Uncovering Comics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 029: Uncovering Comics<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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When I was pulling comic books off the rack in 1947 to decide which to favor with my weekly dime, it was the cover that drew me to each in turn. That\u2019s what the cover was designed to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, while I did pull each of those off the rack, the one I would buy<\/em> was the one that displayed stories inside<\/em> that would entertain me for the week to come. Because comic books have always been about the stories. Judging a book by its cover? What goes for books goes for comic books, too: The cover doesn\u2019t always represent what\u2019s inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An entire essay could be (and has been, I\u2019m sure) devoted to the challenges of creating a comic book cover. The issue has to be easy to differentiate from the preceding issue while maintaining enough of a consistent trade dress to let the casual shopper notice it immediately. And so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what has happened in the field since the 1940s has been an increasing emphasis on covers over contents. Whether you see the graphic on eBay or in a Wikipedia or price guide entry or from an assortment of other information sources, it is\u2014over and over again\u2014the cover that is the focus. In part, that\u2019s because it makes for fast identification and because the copy being shown can be left to reside safely in its bag. Heck, it\u2019s even the covers that tend to bring top prices for original art, no matter how compelling the interior pages of the issue may have been. And, yes, that may be because the cover\u2014designed to attract the viewer\u2014is so compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his satiric The Eltingville Club<\/em> last year, Evan Dorkin wrote, \u201cIn comics you can judge a book by its cover. That\u2019s how a pro<\/em> saves time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s time to look under that cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We tried increasingly at Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide<\/em> to display a portion of the stories we loved\u2014and were beginning to focus even more on that sort of thing, as we featured information about back issues. Though it\u2019s the back issues I\u2019m talking about here, I continue to believe that it\u2019s still the interior tale that leads us to buy the comic book these days\u2014even though it\u2019s the cover we most often see in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When you flipped to the first page, didn\u2019t you just have to find out what was going on?\u00a0Hawkman<\/em>\u00a0#4 (Oct.-Nov. 1964) \u00a9 2015 DC Comics.\u00a0Tales of Suspense<\/em>\u00a0#63 (March 1965) \u00a9 2015 Marvel Characters, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Making a Splash<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Interior strategies varied from company to company over the years. The second place the editors tended to place the \u201cbuy me\u201d emphasis was often on the first interior page. So some opted for what amounted to a second cover. Was it because comics aimed at older readers were deemed to need more flash? It seems to me in retrospect that it was the superhero stories that more dependably used a follow-up splash. In early days, the page might fill the top two-thirds with a compelling image; eventually, that grew to a full page. You see the cover: That image is cool! You open the issue: Wow, even more cool! (Bonus: Such opening pages also bring high prices for their original art, because the splash page is also designed to be compelling.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, the comic book was even illegally sold coverless. (\u201cIt shall not be sold or distributed with any part of its cover or markings removed,\u201d read the fine print on many comics\u2019 splash pages.) Whether the reader found one of those copies or just routinely flipped to that first interior page, the splash was carefully crafted. And, hey! It often took less work to draw one panel than a multi-panel grid. It\u2019s a win-win situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first story page is designed to grab you, and there are other ways to do that than with a single image.\u00a0Groo the Wanderer<\/em>\u00a0Vol 2 #3 (April 1983) \u00a9 2015 Sergio Aragon\u00e9s.\u00a0The Spirit Section<\/em>\u00a0(March 27, 1949) \u00a9 2015 Will Eisner Studios, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Different Introduction<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

As noted, though, not all classic comic book storytellers went for that single-panel kickoff. We take the opening splash panel for granted today, but it wasn\u2019t a universal approach in the early days of comic-book entertainment. The Dell titles, for example, tended to plunge right into the story in a multi-panel grid. In the seven-panel opening page of Dell Four Color<\/em> #223 (1949), the Museum of Natural Science Third Assistant Janitor ordered, \u201cToday, Janitor Duck, you\u2019ll polish the stones!\u201d How would that set-up capture a young reader? Well, maybe it was the continuation: the fact that, in the seventh panel of that page, Donald dropped one of the \u201clittle square rocks\u201d\u2014\u201cAnd it broke\u2014like an egg<\/em>!\u201d I just had to read the 31-page epic that followed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cover of Tarzan<\/em> #11 (Sep-Oct 1949) was a simple scene of Boy and Tarzan fishing. It had nothing to do with the issue\u2019s contents. But the five panels kicking off \u201cTarzan and the Sable Lion\u201d featured Tarzan in an acrobatic (but kindly) duel with Numa the lion: \u201cFull of fight! It would be wrong to destroy him!\u201d And that led into a 24-page story involving: taming and then protecting the lion; meeting, fighting, and befriending Buto Matari; and then the three of them freeing slavers\u2019 captives including Jane, Boy, and the residents of Buto\u2019s village. In short, there was a heck of a lot more action inside than had been indicated by the jolly cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the cases of splash page avoidance, that first page is usually a set-up for the action or comedy to come. And it seems to me to be a far more complex invitation to the reader than a splash page. Because it\u2019s about the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These interior pages are classics: more memorable than their (excellent) cover images.\u00a0Bone<\/em>\u00a0#2 (Sept. 1991) \u00a9 2015 Jeff Smith.\u00a0Impact<\/em>\u00a0#1 (March-April 1955) \u201cMaster Race\u201d \u00a9 2015 William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Going Deeper<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The greatest impact of a comic book tale, however, should come later in the tale than an opening page, because a well-crafted story needs to be a payoff for the cover as well as for the earlier pages. Maybe that\u2019s a discussion for another day; in any case, covering that topic without spoiling the stories under discussion is tricky. In fact, in the two images I\u2019ve chosen here, the small concluding panel of \u201cMaster Race\u201d has an impact to which that short story has been building\u2014but it\u2019s not the conclusion. Nevertheless, both pages are, with reason, considered to be classics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we were to identify specific comics interiors with a single image, I suppose I\u2019d opt for the first interior page of the issue. But I\u2019d add to that the consideration that the most memorable<\/em> page of the issue may come later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you had to pick your favorite story page of all time, could you pick just one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the first Tuesday of every month here on<\/em> Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n