Spotlight On A Kirby Design Sequence

A little earlier today, Tom Brevoort posted the following Sgt. Fury page over on his Marvel Age of Comics tumblr. (You are following that, aren't you?)

The bottom three panels leapt out at me for the brilliant way they draw the reader's eye across the page. That explosion almost forces your eye into the last panel, doesn't it?

And then, the billowing smoke pulling the through-lines of the plane wing...? Love it!

I want to point out the more subtle things, too, though. Like how that middle panel isn't a duplicate of the previous one. There's a slight change in the angle (very evident where the crosshairs' frame is broken by the gutter) and the image is slightly larger. Not only are you given the perspective of the gunner, but you get the sense that you're following his eyesight specifically as he leans in and his body picks up the vibrations of the firing machine gun.

But then you also have this nice bit where the large black blob creeps up the three panels, starting in the lowest left corner, then enlarging a bit, before finally fully breaking into the panel untethered, mimicking the flow of the explosion to the clouds and simultaneously helping lead the eye to it.

It's just a really gorgeous piece of design work, I think, and I just wanted to take a few moments to highlight it.

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