Panel By Panel: ‘Withdrawn’ and Establishing Character in a Frame

Hello everyone, and welcome to Panel by Panel, a periodic exploration of comic panels around The Duck. I am taking a break from submitted comics this time to spotlight a panel from a recent comic I stumbled upon. This week we're talking about the comic Withdrawn, created by Duck user Casscade. Specifically, we are looking at a panel on page "1.6."

First off, the panel in question:



So, I want to discuss establishing character in a single frame or image. How can you tell us about a character in a single shot? This panel does an excellent job with that, especially as a capper to a series of panels that provide context. This panel works wonders - but the previous panels do a lot. This is a lot like the pacing of a joke. We have the beats that lead to the final punchline. I haven't even had much time to read the comic beyond this moment - but I get a strong feeling of what sort of person Domenic is.

So what have we gotten so far? A funny visual of someone passed out from drinking - who seems to be living with his mother. It appears there is some sort of transition in his life - or at least some arrested development. We also note the presence of a dog which is rendered funny in the full sequence because we see the dog in the bed while he is on the floor. This works especially well given the angle looming over him - while we are not in his mother's point of view, we still kind of are because we are also looking down at him.

Furthermore, this is an excellent representation of environmental storytelling. There is a lot of detail in the environment represented within the panel, but it never gets so busy that you lose focus on the character and his mother, who is just starting to enter the frame. The elements feel natural in their position without feeling overly curated - we still have what is essentially center stage to introduce our hero(?).

But, what do you think? Please share your thoughts. You can also share links to your pages and panels that you've made that evoke a similar framing. I'd love to see them.

If you want to share your comic for usage in a future installment of Panel By Panel please do! Send me your best, and I very well may write about it.

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