Vertigo Pop Tokyo 2 page 21

My computer was down for a few days, and then we were out of town, so I am just now getting back. I am not sure if I have posted this page before or not. But this wonderful page is worth another visit even if I have already showed it.

Basically we have two big panels, each of which shows someone in mid-fall. In the first Hike has jumped out of the way of Hara's bullets, and we see him from the front, foreshortened to the max, from our point of view which is level with his. In the second big panel Hara has been shot, and we see him from the side falling with a large movement off the porch (Note the slight tilt of the horizon.). We can see where the bullet hit, not only from the spurt of blood, but also from the angle of his head and shoulders. Th empact knocks his head forward in a way that is completely recognizable when you see it, but I think not at all intuitive to create. The fact that Hike falls toward us in the foreground, and Hara falls to the side in the middle ground also is evidence of our relative relationship with the two characters. Though Hike is not the protagonist we are on his side; we empathize with him. Hara is a fall guy; we see him from afar and don't object strenuously if he is hurt.

The other small panels are like the chorus in an ancient Greek play, plain and simple in themselves (they don't even have backgrounds), introducing the players in this confrontation and commenting on the action. The page is another good example of Seth's Tip 25: Find the center of interest on your page and make sure something interesting is happening there. There are actually two centers of interest, and they are VERY interesting, both in themselves, and in comparison with each other.