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Landry Walker's Writer's Commentary on A Clash Of Kings #15

Published Thu, 24 Jan 2019 13:00:56 -0600

Landry Walker has a Writer's Commentary on A Clash Of Kings #15 from Dynamite, out now.

PAGE 1:
So… much… dialog. It's such a tricky thing. No matter how masterfully done, we lose so much of the beautiful art the team is creating. For example, the field that Stannis and Renly meet in here is filled with tree-stumps, all recently cut down. The art was even reworked to make sure those stumps were there. But… are they? I mean, if you could peel back the layers of lettering than maybe they are. I guess that would be one of the better functions of true digital comics. Press something and all text disappears. Press something and all colors disappear. And so on.

PAGE 2:
Damn. Mel can really draw a horse. That's one a lot of artists struggle with.
Some people argue against this kind of panel structure, with a vertical panel running down the side of another panel. Specifically, panel 2 of page 2 here. But personally, I have no problem with it. Comics are written in a specific language unique in the arts, and while it is a commercial property there is nothing wrong with asking the consumer to put in some effort to understand the flow of the page.
That said, the lettering really guides us well here.

PAGE 3:
Top and bottom panels are fairly open on this page. A hard thing to sacrifice. Look how much dialog surrounds these panels. But if the book has no moments, has no bits where it breathes and lets the visuals lead the story, then why are we doing this comic at all. Last I checked, a few people were okay with this story in novel form…

PAGE 4:
Last panel. In almost any other comic I would utterly reject the idea of that caption box. But this is its own kind of creature, and it's interesting to just let it be the thing that it is.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of caption boxes. They came to the fore after heavy use in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns series. But that was a book intentionally evoking a certain kind of narrated crime fiction. It's not appropriate for all comics. That's a tangent, I admit. But captions… they should not be ubiquitous to the medium and frankly, they're a serious cheat when writing. Why labor to express the story visually when the little box can just tell you what you need to know?

PAGE 5:
Ever shifting camera angles to keep the conversation of people on horses from getting dull!
PAGE 6:
I know Mel had some issues drawing that peach. Who cares though. He kills on drawing a horse, like I mentioned previously.
PAGE 7:
I think we should have asked for the sword Stannis carries to be brighter. It feels just… gold here.
I like what Mel did on panel 4, adding that dust kicks the energy up. Anytime you can have something that is in motion on the page, you can build your energy up on the page. There are other ways to, through composition of the page and arrangement of the panels to build up the tension which in turn adds energy. But sometimes all you need is some billowing dust.
PAGE 9:
I wrote the bottom panel of this page to have the character's son horseback riding away from the camera, dwindling in the distance. It's important to remember as a writer that you pick your battles. What I wanted from the panel wasn't absolutely needed, and the artist found another way. You have to let the artist do that. They are on the front lines of every script. They have to be able to adjust as they go so that the deadlines stay intact. If something is really important, make your case. But don't die on a stupid hill over something no one will ever really care about.
PAGES 11 and 12:
Notice a couple of the crowd scenes we see the figures become indistinct. Because they aren't important. There are some people who would clamor for every figure to be perfectly represented, no matter how distant. After all, you get that in TV and movies, right? But comics aren't in motion. Everything is static. Fixed. The rules change under those circumstances. Again, motion, energy. Not to mention making sure the focus lands where you want it to.
Besides, reality isn't high def. Go look outside and see how colors wash out and shapes lose cohesion at a distance.
PAGE 13 and14:
I love opening and closing these scenes with location shots. Maybe I'm overdoing it, but I think with the scope of this story we need it. Alan Moore once wrote that as a writer, when you notice yourself relying on the same tricks over and over, it's time to change up. So, always worth considering… is there another way?
PAGE 16:
This was a really tricky one, and was changed all the way up until the art was being lettered. The last panel at one point had the silhouette of Jaqen whispering in Arya's ear on the right. But where do you put the word balloon then? Tailless works, but isn't as strong when you can see the shape of the face. Ultimately, I realized we didn't need the outline at all. He's off panel Simple solution for something that should have been self-evident. But hey, I'm usually typing these books while falling asleep at my computer.
PAGE 18:
We went a little literal here. The faces are actually drifting around Arya. More space and we might have found a more artistically driven way. That said, I love Arya's body language on this splash. This is when she starts to regain an element of control. Previous to this, she has been at the lowest point she ever will be.
PAGE 20 and 21:
Love that last tier. Worked hard to make space for it and then Mel and the rest of the team took it even further. The whisper had to have power. Then follow this with Arya's last panel on page 20. Like I said, this is when Arya starts to reclaim her agency. It needs to have some gravitas.
And hey, we didn't end on a location. So win on that one.