Batman SNOW 192 page 22

Tip 7: You are the master of your page.

Any of Seth's pages could probably serve to illustrate this tip, but I chose this one because, though it is a splash page, (and therefore theoretically desirable) it has none of the elements that people who want to buy art are looking for: no action, no image of the superhero, no blood and guts, no people in it even, except these drawings of photos of people. And yet, Seth put a lot of information in it. At the upper left there is a book. I am guessing it is a crime novel; its title is DEFICIENT MOTIVE: is that what Batman reads at night in bed? At the lower right there is the stain from a cup or glass that was set on the pages. (We see in other pages also how physically sloppy he is.) He uses file folders to hold information about his potential team of helpers, and he has photos of each one--not only the candid shots, but he seems to have driver's license photos as well. Where did he get those? There are a short pencil, a pen, and a marble on his desk as well as one of those round glass paperweights with something trapped inside--a shell?

But it is not just the information that tells the story, it is the presentation of it. Batman does not have the folders in a stack; he has them spread out on a desk or table, and is going over them with his left hand. Though there is no action, that hand with fingers spread out over the folders and photos tells the story of someone contemplating the people in his folders and wondering if they are the right choices. There is a tension, an intimation of unsettledness here despite the lack of action or even of human figures.