Comic Book Page Analysis: Wolverine #1

Image credit: Marvel Comics

The above image is Page 8 of Wolverine Issue 1 (Sep 1982) by

Writer: Chris Claremont

Penciller: Frank Miller

Finisher: Josef Rubinstien

Letterer: Tom Orzechowski

Colorist: Glynis Wein

Editor: Louise Jones

Supervisor: Jim Shooter

Wolverine (Logan) has arrived in Japan in search of his lost love and meets with his old friend/colleague.

Panel 0

 A plain caption box of Logan's thoughts giving information about his friend, Araki, a new character being introduced in this page. 

     

Panel 1

Logan is trying to contact his lover Mariko while Araki is warning him about the impending danger. This horizontal panel sets up the context of time and place. The nighttime in Tokyo, Japan is represented by the illuminated skyscrapers in the background.

Both Logan and Araki are present in a huge lavish apartment in a high-rise building. The various furniture items and glass walls depict opulence. The glass walls also help us peek into the stereotypical Japan in the background without needing extra dialogues or speech bubbles.

One more noticeable thing about this panel is the absence of borders which gives it a grandeur appearance by bleeding into the page.

Lettering in this panel is also very cleverly done. The empty space left for the roof is used as the thought caption box in Panel 0. The speech bubbles are at a distance from each other. While reading, the readers' eyes traverse across the panel getting a sense of timelapse. This is done as two conversations happen throughout the panel. One, where the two friends are talking, and another where Logan is talking on the phone in Japanese, represented by angle brackets < >.

 

Panel 2-5

The next four panels are square-shaped and of the same size with equal gutter space between them. They are structured this way because they are equally important parts of the scene and contain equal time duration.

The background is plain yellow. This is certainly done to enhance the action in the foreground layers (not because the artists got lazy). The background is not necessary anymore. In cinema, this is done by defocusing the background elements.

Panel 2

Logan is not able to reach Mariko. He is putting the phone down in frustration, hence it is the primary foreground object.

Panel 3

While talking to Araki, Logan is drinking and smoking. This shows the relax pace of the conversation in addition to showing Logan's personality.

 

Panel 4

Extreme close-up of Logan. Araki informs Logan about Mariko's marriage. Logan is beyond shocked. The horror on his face is shown by the duochromatic pink and white colours which intensify the expressions.

Panel 5

Logan is very angry! His blood-red colour is saying it all. No words needed!