Broken Frontier

In Part 3 of our series on the creative process in comics Alex Sheikman and David Moran analyse the panel-to-panel storytelling of their Robotika series with fellow Indie creator mpMann. Part 1 can be read here and Part 2 here.

Robotika: For A Few Rubles More

mpMann: Pages 12 & 13 also struck me as slightly "odd." Now, Alex, I like most of your graphic devices, but this one puzzles me a little...? For six panels, you’ve dropped the panel separations you generally use in favor of a single black line. There are other examples of this, as on Page 6 where you use it to compress the insertion of a needle in an eye, blurring the boundaries between a single panel and a sequence. But that doesn't seem to be the case in this later sequence where we are alternatively tracking our heroes and a mysterious figure with his head in a basket as they enter a dangerous looking town. I'm not clear on why the decision was made to change the panel boundaries?

Robotika: For A Few Rubles More - Pages 6, 12 and 13

Alex Sheikman: As for Pages 12 & 13 and the borders between them…well, starting on panel three, Page 12 that is one shot that is being "filmed" with a zoom lens, so that’s why the borders are missing and the images are separated by simple lines. If you notice in the lower corner of panel three, Page 12, there is a little sign, which is zoomed in upon in the next panel. In the lower left corner of panel four, Page 12, there is a walking figure, which is then zoomed in on in panel one, Page 13. In panel two, Page 13, the "camera" zooms by the walking figure and speeds on towards the town in the distance. In panel three of that same page we get closer to the distinctive looking tower in town and (hopefully) the reader's eye is directed downwards into the last panel (panel four) to find our heroes standing at the base of the tower in the middle of the town’s street.

David Moran: That’s funny, Alex, because I didn’t even really notice most of those little details in any of those panels until you just called it to my attention now. I also notice that all six of the "zoom" panels (panels three and four on Page 12, and panels one through four on Page 13) are all the same size and shape. And you also mentioned using a "lens," so in your head was it as though you were looking through the eye of a camera during this sequence, and you made all the panels the same size and shape because you wanted to maintain an even, "static" look to the sequence…or am I just reading too much into this here?

Alex Sheikman: That is exactly right and you correctly captured my motivation behind that sequence...the fact that you did not notice it before probably points to an execution that is less than successful, but I hope to get better, and handier, at storytelling as I learn, and discussions like this are helping a lot.

David Moran: …Uh, the fact that I didn’t notice before probably amounts mostly to the fact that I’ve just been waaaay too busy lately to heavily scrutinize much of anything.

mpMann: Sometimes it is best if the man behind the curtain stays there. But there are times and reasons for wanting your techniques to announce themselves; and also times when it is best if they are unobtrusive. Sometimes the form takes the forefront and sometimes the content. In this case, I think it’s fine that the technique doesn't overwhelm the story flow.

But Alex, I am curious, is the world of Robotika fully formed in your head? Do you have a lot of knowledge about it, or is this something that you are discovering and exploring as you come to it? What science fiction worlds have influenced you?

Alex Sheikman: Every time I start drawing another issue, I think I have very clearly visualized what will be in it, and I believe that the vision of Robotika’s environment has been finalized. However, as I progress from page to page, new things appear in the panels that I have not thought of before. So to answer your question, Robotika keeps re-shaping itself in very unpredictable ways…in a way it is as much of a journey of discovery for me as it is for the readers. I do hope that by the end of the first three-part cycle, I can illustrate a "Traveler’s Guide" to the world of Robotika and be fairly accurate.

As far as influences go…man, everything that has been floating in my cranium for the last few years. I think that for the present series, the Road Warrior and Sergio Leon eWesterns take the front seat. Also, recently, based on Brian Churilla’s (ASP’s The Engineer) recommendation I saw The Proposition. For me, that movie had some story issues, but stylistically it was perfect and I would like to be able to achieve the same level of craftsmanship someday.

mpMann: Alex, your sense of design, of architecture, tools and machines, ornamentation and modes of dress, is all quite distinct. Ever think of going into industrial design? More seriously; what are your sources of inspiration for this? Any movies or books or artists that really opened your eyes?

Alex Sheikman: As I mentioned above, my inspirations come from all over the place, but the two artists who made me aware of the fact that things need to be designed (instead of just being drawn off the cuff) are Alphonso Mucha and Ludwig Hohlwein. Very different artists, one an Art Nouveau genius and the other an Industrial Designer…and yet very similar in the fact that for both of them the design was king. Mucha definitely indulges in over rendering, and that very much appeals to my fondness for ornate renderings. Hohlwein is almost the complete opposite in that he leaves out anything that does not contribute to the message he is sending. It was after I spent time studying Hohlwein’s work that I finally realized why Alex Toth was such a genius at what he did.

mpMann: OK. At the bottom of the second page of SEEK (right), the backup story at the end of the first issue of Robotika: For A Few Rubles More, there is the most bizarre house. (See my previous question.) So now I want specifics. Where did that thing come from?

Alex Sheikman: David in his script called for a structure that would clearly show that the old couple was not doing very well…I don’t know why, but I started drawing pipes coming out of the ground and that was the foundation for the house. I am just thankful that I only had to draw that thing once.

David Moran: Wait, the old couple’s not coming back for the next series?

Join us again on Wednesday for part 4 of this round table analysis when the team turn their attention to mpMann's Inanna's Tears and also discuss the controversial issue of decompressed storytelling...