32)
I’m taking a few days off from my
serialized posting of the original art pages to my uncollected 1994 graphic
novel, “The Mark In America” to post and blog about one of the highlights of my
collection, the complete set of all 9 pages of original artwork, by Lee Elias,
to “Banker’s Holiday”, starring the Black Cat. The story was first printed in
“Black Cat” #2, published by Harvey Comics in August/September 1946, reprinted
in “Black Cat” #10 (1948), and still later in “The Original Black Cat” #5,
published by Lorne-Harvey in 1991. These are pages #2 and #3.
Panel #1 of page #2 is a reprise,
an echo of panel #2 from page #1; similar yet different. The “camera” has
trucked out and raised to near eye level, giving the impression of a slight
time elapse, mostly because the dialogue in the first panel indicated greeting
and introductions and the second is the start of action.
All of the panels but #3 on page
#2 have heightened, almost exaggerated depth of field. Students of inking
technique should study the manner in which Elias separates the layers, keeping
the panels clear and readable in spite of the rather intricate details. I’m
especially impressed by panel 5, where the gun Linda has trained on Wililams
doesn’t disappear into the movie crew behind it. And check out panel #4, how
Mr. De Pille in the foreground is separated from the background figures by an
occasional (but not omnipresent) thin halo of white.
Page #2, panel #6 seems somewhat
awkward however; Williams shoots the gun out of Linda’s hand while running
toward the horse in the foreground. The detailing on the horse’s saddle seems
overly ornate until one reads page #3, panel #1, which show Williams and horse
galloping off into the distance. Elias’s judicial use of detailing and
placement has rendered it unnecessary to depict all the intervening steps
(Williams mounting the horse, spurring it, etc).
My main quibble is that the
important action, Linda’s gun getting shot out of her hands, seems poorly composed;
unlike panel 5, here the gun DOES disappear into the background. It seems to me
that with only slight adjustment it would have been possible to silhouette that
action in the open door Williams has just run through.
On Page #3, things start to heat
up, inking-virtuosity-wise and plot-wise, that is. Panels #3, 4, 5 & 6 are
one-after-another impressive displays of highly detailed yet crisply and freshly
inked compositions with admirable depth of field. Panel 5 is especially
striking as a depiction of a crowd one doesn’t get lost in.
These are pages 2 & 3 of
“Banker’s Holiday”, starring Black Cat, from Black Cat #2, published by Harvey
Comics in 1946.
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