This script was written by Mike Richardson, publisher of Dark Horse Comics. The fifth in a series of "flashback" sequences which together told the story of the main character's life from birth to death. This series of "flashbacks" is told in single-page installments beginning each issue of the 12 part mini-series "Will To Power", and ending the last issue as well.

For me, the project starts with a script. The script usually indicates what happens on each page, and the entire story must be told within this set of guidelines. How would you choose to illustrate this page?

The visual design of a page or entire comic book is called the Layout. A script can be a rough guide to this layout, or very detailed. In any case the penciller must make many choices. Given the same script, fifteen artists would arrive at fifteen different ways of visualizing it, each having a different effect on the reader.

The composition of a panel has many emotional/psychological qualities affecting a reader's experience. These compositions have to work well within a sequence of panels describing the action, and in the best of worlds, be aesthetically pleasing in an overall page design. The story ought to flow from page to page with a rhythm the readers should feel inside, though they may turn the pages (obviously) at their own pace. This is part of what makes reading a comic book such a unique experience, distinct from comic strips or any other medium.

• The action should be clear but not boring to look at.
• The visual pacing should have quiet moments as well as "highlights" of more sensational design, in step with the rhythms of the story.
• The choice of character placement can make the reader focus on one idea, or one character's viewpoint over another.
• Lighting, scale and perspective can emphasize action, drama, and theme.
• The reader's eye should flow easily over the sequence of panels without questioning which comes next.
• The page layout should help keep the reader's eye from being directed off the page, until its time to go to the next one.

After studying the sketches, I develop the one I like best ( considering all the issues from above). I enlarge the sketch, and make tighter drawings on tracing paper. As the details are added and adjustments made, the challenge is to maintain the energy of the thumbnail sketch. My "style" being relatively naturalistic, this is essentially impossible.

I decided to go with the sequence below. In the first panel, the boy not only looks more isolated, but we're viewing his world as he is, as if we're standing right behind him. This makes us feel more as if we are him, highlighting his experience of the event for us. As for the second panel, I tried to "echo" an earilier page, where Frank/Titan is a happy toddler discovering his reflection in a mirror. To me, this suggested themes of self-awareness, innocence or guilt, and questions of identity. The artist must "read between the lines" to express the full meaning of a story visually, and sometimes, so must the reader. For (MUCH) more self-indulgent babbling about this stuff, click on this sentence.

I chose to add the image of the broken picture. Some of the fun of comics storytelling is in designing a sequence that describes an action without actually showing it. This helps bind the reader in more deeply to the story, because it engages his/her imagination. This is another reason comics have such a peculiar, and often wonderful quality about them. Here, it's fairly obvious that Frank has thrown the picture of his father to the floor. Even though this wasn't requested in the script, I felt it clarified Frank's feelings. The writer and artist tell a story together.

Above are my finished pencils (from a photocopy) and below, the final inked, lettered and colored page (scanned from the printed book). The number of panels and incidents, plus the change of location, posed quite a challenge to me, to make the page readable and hang together as a whole design while emphasizing certain moments in each of the two sequences.