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Iron Man

An example of a great sequence of panels

The accompanying image is just a part of a full page published in September 1969 and drawn by Georges Tuska. Made up of 12 panels, it shows Tony Stark being pursued by the police. The diversity of angles and rhythm created by the number of panels make this one of the most gorgeous pages published in comics in our opinion (of the ones we’ve seen, naturally). Despite its age, it is still relevant.

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Finding paradigms, exceeding one’s concepts

In an analysis of an Iron Man retrospective featuring the period when Archie Goodwin was writing, Darren says, “He (Archie Goodwin) actively works to find a paradigm that will work for Stark.” (Darren, “Archie Goodwin’s (& George Tuska’s) Run on The Invincible Iron Man – The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Vol. 2 (Review/Retrospective),” April 25, 2013, http://them0vieblog.com)

Darren also identifies several innovations that Goodwin introduced into the Iron Man universe. But at the same time, he shows that Goodwin did not exploit the full potential of his own ideas. Several were taken up and extended by other writers. Goodwin was introducing new concepts without developing them fully, without allowing them the dramatic charge they would have deserved. We feel this analysis also applies to several contemporary comic books. Authors are full of ideas and concepts, but we don’t often see a paradigm: a universe that fits coherently with the character and with his or her interactions with the surroundings. In our opinion, Mark Waid’s Daredevil offers this type of paradigm, where we go beyond the concept to focus on the essence of the character.
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