"Secret Defenders" - 1993 Comic book style illustrations Panel-by-Panel continuity storytelling

---

Continuing in the vein of the previous entry of comic book style illustrations
(a series of magazine cover submission samples - as seen [HERE])
today I present a sample of comic book page art with an 11-page submission (11 pages being a typical length of a "back-up" or secondary feature) of pencil artwork (of a short story of my own creation) that I worked up to present at Marvel comics back in 1993.

It is traditional comic-page art - what is known in the industry as "panel-by-panel continuity" - in which the artist draws the series of events that take place in the story (as written either as a basic plot or a full script) in order to present the narrative in a linear, visual manner for the reader.

From a purely technical aspect, the work is done in black pencil over blue pencil roughs. All drawn on vellum finish bristol illustration board.
The pages are drawn at a size of 10 inches wide by 15 inches high (on an 11 x 17 board), and would then be inked (an inker finalizes the art in permanent india ink) lettered and colored - then shrunk down to comic size for final printing (the modern comic size being approximately 6.5 x 10.25 inches).

I should note that there is a certain skill-set that has been recognized as being a factor to read comic books and "follow" the artwork - essentially knowing the visual "language" of how a comic page is laid out. Some people just can't do it.
Add to that sometime confusion, the fact that English (usually American) comics are read differently than eastern (traditionally Japanese) comics (there called "manga").
I won't go into the "backwards" nature of manga here - as it doesn't apply.

In these samples, like most American comics, the flow of action is read from left to right, top to bottom (much like a standard text-only book). The confusion sometimes comes in where oddly sized panels (sometimes called "frames" or "boxes" by non-comic readers) are utilized or some other visual trick that is meant to direct the reader's eye through the page. (Never mind the perceived chaos of double-page spreads - since I don't have any here.)

These pages are set up in a fairly straightforward manner, not too many tricks in the bunch, so it should be easy to follow along.

Even though I "wrote" the story myself (as a basic plot), I don't have any text present on the pages, instead allowing for the pictures to tell the tale.
For your convenience, I will give page breakdowns of what is transpiring, since I don't expect anyone but die-hard comic readers to be able to know what is going on.

One last thing; I should give a brief "bio" of the characters in the story just so you'll have an idea of who they are and what they do.

The cast of characters are:

---

Doctor Strange
Master of the Mystic Arts
and Sorcerer Supreme
of the Marvel comics "universe".
(I presented illustrations of him in the previous post entry [HERE])

During the time-frame that this story took place (1993) he was in a state of having lesser power and used an enchanted tarot deck to determine who he would assemble for his "team" of "Secret Defenders" to confront the task at hand.

---

The Man-Thing
A swamp creature who is guardian to a "nexus" located in the Florida Everglades.
He used to be a man.
While now nearly mindless, he reacts to emotions of those around him.
The most important thing to know is that:
"Whoever knows fear... BURNS at the touch of the Man-Thing"

---

Scarlet Witch
While she has studied the practice of actual magic,
she is primarily a mutant,
born with a power that allows her to cast "hexes" which affect probabilities.
(Basically she can cause the unlikely and/or the impossible to occur.)


---

Spider-Man
Everyone knows Spider-Man.
Climbs walls. Shoots webs. Fast and Strong.

---

OK. Everyone up to speed?
Then let's proceed.

*click pics to make Giant-Sized *

---
page 1 of 11
---

Top of page (panel 1):
As we view the swampy landscape of the Florida Everglades we see the Man-Thing trudging through the murky waters of his home.

Bottom of page (panel 2):
He comes across a strange, almost alien object in the heart of the swamp.
A crystalline artifact of strange power that eminates with the energies of the "nexus" which he protects.
It is unnatural for it to be here.

---
page 2 of 11
---

Panel 1:
Instinctively sensing its "otherness", as it is somehow accessing to the nexus' mystic energies, the Man-Thing reaches out to touch the mirrored object, which seems to beckon to him.

Panel 2:
Making contact with the surface of the crystal, a transfer of energies occurs between the item and the Man-Thing.

Panel 3:
Behind his otherwise vacant eyes, the long-dormant human self of the Man-Thing regains consciousness.

Panel 4:
Now semi-aware, the power of the nexus erupts from the body of the creature, sending him into a paroxysmal attack.

Panel 5:
The entire swamp is alight with mystical energies, while in the distance a storm gathers ...

---
Page 3 of 11
---

Panel 1:
Stormy weather in New York City, as we view the edifice of the Greenwich Village home (the Sanctum Sanctorum) of Doctor Strange.

Panel 2:
Inside his study we see the master of mysticism levitating and in observation of the Man-Thing's plight via his mystical Orb.

Panel 3:
Utilizing his enchanted deck of tarot cards he calls them forth as well as his "Eye of Agamotto" (his mystic "3rd eye") to see the truth of what the cards reveal.
Four cards show him who he should summon to aid him in the task of saving Man-Thing and stopping whatever it is that has done this to him/it.

Panel 4:
Having seen the cards, Strange takes a moment to reflect and prepare.
(in a caption that is not present, he states that two of the cards showed his own image and that of the  Man-Thing "reversed" - an upside-down image in tarot cards usually alluding to an opposite aspect of the card's image).

---
Page 4 of 11
---

Panel 1:
Releasing his ghostly "astral form" from his physical body, Dr. Strange flies out of his Sanctum (through the distinctively shaped window) into the city to contact the remaining two heroes that the cards has revealed to him.

Panel (row) 2:
Spider-Man (revealed as the Knight of Swords) is hanging on a wall when the astral form of Dr Strange passes through him and explains the situation. Spider-man agrees, grabs Strange's hand and they vanish.

Panel (row) 3:
The Scarlet Witch (shown as the Queen of Cups) is reclining in bed with a magic tome. Strange rises from the smoke of her candle to bid her a greeting and beg her aid. She assents and they too vanish in a cloud of smoke.

---
Page 5 of 11
---

Panel 1:
The group appear together, ready for action, in a swirling cloud of magical smoke.
Dr Strange is once again in his physical body.

Panel 2:
They are in Dr Strange's Sanctum and he gestures to a doorway that shall lead them to where they need to go.

Panel 3:
Strange casts a magical spell to open the portal...

Panel 4:
...revealing a series of pathways (like an MC Escher landscape) where the physical laws hold no bearing.

Panel 5:
They pass into the portal, Spider-man giving a backwards glance (and most likely a joke) as reality goes topsy-turvy.

---
Page 6 of 11
---

Panel 1:
As the Man-Thing is still suffering convulsions of explosive energies, a doorway of light opens into the swamp and the three heroes emerge.

Panel 2:
Doctor Strange instructs Spider-Man to occupy the Man-Thing and to keep him away from the crystalline object while the Scarlet Witch acts as his aid in a mystical solution.

Panel 3:
Spider-Man rushes off to his physical confrontation while Scarlet Witch and Dr Strange begin their mystical tasks.

---
Page 7 of 11
---

Panel 1:
Spider-Man puts himself between the Man-Thing and the object of his desire/torment.

Panel 2:
With Scarlet Witch protecting his physical form, Dr Strange lets his astral form free.

Panel 3:
As Strange's astral body enters into the mind of the Man-Thing, it sets off a flare of awareness in the eyes of the Man-Thing - the energies from the crystal protecting themselves - ...

Panel 4:
...which cause Man-Thing to lash out!
Spider-man leaps out of the way and...

Panel 5:
tries to subdue the Man-Thing.
(not an easy task as Man-Thing is made of swamp and impervious to physical harm - Spider-Man's fist passing right through the swamp creature's head.)

---
Page 8 of 11
---

 

Panel 1:
Flipping over the Man-Thing, to once again position himself between him/it and the crystal, Spider-man also shoots webs at the Man-Thing trying to snare it against a tree.

Panel (insets) 2, 3 and 4:
Man-Thing uses his mucky form to ooze out of the web-trap and vanish into the swamp waters.

Panel 5:
Only to emerge in a rage of motion tossing Spider-Man out of the way.

Panel 6:
Spider-Man, using a web-line to swing around a tree brings himself back to the battle.

Panel 7:
Unfortunately, he gets mired, once again, in the Man-Thing's muck-encrusted form.

Panel 8:
Spider-man looks at the two heroes in the background and wonders just what Dr Strange is doing to rectify this situation.

---
Page 9 of 11
---

Panel 1:
Dr Strange in his astral form is making his way through the terrifying corridors of the Man-Thing's mindscape. His floating "Eye of Agamotto" leading a pathway through the dangers.

Panel 2:
Strange cats a spell...

Panel 3:
...sending these assorted horrors away, screaming... out of the Man-Thing's mind.

Panel 4:
The way now made clear, a light shines in a distant chamber... the very center of the Man-Thing's being.

Panel 5:
Entering the doorway, Dr Strange, views the Man-Thing in combat with his own human nature, while the energies of the Nexus cascade in a pillar of power in the center of the room.

Panel 6:
The Man-Thing's human self sees Dr Strange and warns him off, Strange trying to reach him.

---
Page 10 of 11
---

Panel 1:
Now aware... and AFRAID, Man-Thing's human self is set aflame by the mental aspect of the Man-Thing - burning away layers of humanity until only an infant remains.

Panel 2:
Strange looks solemnly, noting the loss of the adult man who was trapped inside the monster.

Panel 3:
Doctor Strange takes the infant and carefully places him, upside down (in a birthing position) within the energies of the nexus.

Panel 4:
With a tearful wave, Man-Thing bids goodbye (and thank you) to Doctor Strange as the mystic vanishes from his fading mind.

Panel 5:
Emerging from the Man-Thing's body, Strange passes over Spider-Man - who now realizes that Man-Thing has stopped fighting.

Panel 6:
Reuniting with his own physical form, Dr Strange instructs the Scarlet Witch to cast her hex upon the Man-Thing.

---
Page 11 of 11
---

Panel 1:
Scarlet Witch casts a gentle hex upon Man-Thing, which causes the fractured energies that were being emitted to form into a cohesive single pillar of energy - the nexus made manifest.

Panel 2:
Emerging from the Man-Thing, the infant form of his own human self is born anew.

Panel 3:
The three heroes "midwife" the baby casting loving looks upon him (while Spider-man makes funny gestures).

Panel 4:
Despite a hesitant warning from Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange presents the infant to the care of the Man-Thing, who receives the infant lovingly.

Panel 5:
Strange turns to the crystal mirror that was the cause of all the previous events, and sees his own reflection - teasing, tantalizing and tormenting him in the form of the multitudes of ways that he has appeared over the years, a slideshow of his every possible moment, for good or ill ...

Panel 6:
...and he smashes it into a thousand glittering shards!

Panel 7:
While Spider-Man looks behind him, wondering if they did the right thing, Dr Strange assures them that the Man-Thing is the best caretaker for the infant. They vanish...

Panel 8:
...leaving the now near mindless Man-Thing, once again as the guardian, not only of the nexus, but of his own newborn self.

- The End -

Obviously, I had a pitch that I was going to propose wherein this would lead to a new Man-Thing series, with his assorted supporting cast, usually misfits and outcasts themselves, helping him in the gathering of assorted people of power and abilities - from myriad realities - thus forming a new "Guardianship" of the nexus.

However, no publisher receives unsolicited stories, so I had to leave all that behind and just send this art sample.

I received some favorable replies, some with suggestions and wishes to see more samples, but for the most part, comics were starting to take a downward turn, sales-wise, around that time. In three years, Marvel would file for bankruptcy, from which it would take them several years to emerge.

---

I should note that normally, pencil pages aren't so... "final" looking. Usually, pencils are fairly lightly done, with blacked in areas only lightly marked.
I penciled these pages very darkly, so they would reproduce well in photocopies.

As for the style of artwork presented here, it isn't truly in my normal style.
Extraneous cross-hatching was very "in vogue" during those years, and as such I tossed in a lot of extra hatch marks to "match up" with the then-current trend.
If you look at the art and remove the crosshatching, the artwork is relatively clean and clear.

There were some visual tricks that I did employ in my storytelling.
Some I was happy with , others, not so much.

I was happy with the concept of the panels from page 4; showing the character as they had appeared to Dr Strange on the cards. And then the panel shapes gradually turn more upright like traditional comic panels.
I liked the idea of it, but the very small size of the ensuing panels made it hard to leave enough room for any text that might be required.

Also, in my rush to complete these in a timely manner (I tried to complete one page per day - an average in the field [some might say above average these days]), I left some details out or rushed through others. Some backgrounds are sparse. Others, like the Escher-esque staircase chamber could have been done better. Some figures (mostly smaller figures, like those of Strange and the Witch while in the swamp, are sketchy at best.

Under normal operations the inker (the person who finalizes the artwork in ink) or the colorist would fill in the blanks and fix any rushed errors.
However, a submission sample can't rely on those other professionals to make it look good.
It needs to be as perfect as it can be on its own.
And as such, my submission wasn't quite up to professional publishing standards - or my own.

Still, other tricks of the trade that I employed here, I did (and do) find pleasing;
I frequently broke through the confines of the panels, and pages, allowing characters to seemingly leap forth from their 2-dimensional space. It's a fairly common artistic device, but one that I enjoy.

There are a few other bits that I find that I still like.
The first panel of page 4. Strange's astral form going through his window, in the rain is a favorite of mine.
Another is the start of page 9 with the weird landscape that Strange has to circumnavigate with the bizarre creatures inside the mind of the Man-Thing.
Man-Thing giving "birth" has a certain look that I think worked well (the lighting, the pose and the overall effect).
And I can't help but laugh at Spider-Man making "faces"' at the baby on page 11.

But I leave it to you, the viewer, to tell me of your thoughts.