Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Haley Reading Group: Batman and the Outsiders, Part 2



[Haley Reading groups Fall 2020]

One of the challenges and opportunities for a writer composing a comic book about a team of heroes involves giving the full group a chance to take on the spotlight at different moments.  

Early on in part 2 of Batman and the Outsiders, writer Bryan Hill and artist Dexter Soy collaborate to orchestrate a dramatic fight scene. The scene involves quite a few different moving parts. 

Let's focus in on just a few panels. Briefly describe a sequence of action across two or three panels that you found most interesting in terms of a writer and artist working together to convey visual storytelling. Why did you find that scene especially captivating?

14 comments:

Donovan Washington said...

The scene I found most eye catching is when Ishmael first attacks Kaliber's safe house looking for Sofia. The writer had very little to do in the initial scene due to the minimal amount of words. For the majority, only sounds are being described. I can tell the artist and the writer had to work together greatly during this scene due to the way the sounds are all displayed in each panel. The difference in color, size, and font all together let the reader know that the sounds of, "KRASSSSHHH", "KAKK KAKK KAKK", and "CHING CHING CHING" all have very different sounds unique to themselves respectively. I found this use of words and color together to make this scene the most captivating.

Thomas Siganga said...

For me, out of all the weapons and effects used, I found Kaliber's lasers from his gun more eye-catching than anything else. First of all when he originally protected Sofia from Ishmael, but particularly when he shoots Ishmael's arm to protect Black Lightning. Layering this fighting was sound effects and characters yelling which made the scenes more captivating. This is necessary too due to being a comic.

-Thomas Siganga

Devin Ellis-Martin said...

I found the first fight scene in the beginning of Chapter 2 so captivating, mostly due to the way they convey the fight without using many words. The chapter goes many pages with only pictures and some words emphasizing the sound of weapons clashing and readers like myself are still able to be drawn into the scene. - Devin Ellis Martin

Isaiah J. said...

I found the panels at the end of the fight scene to be the most memorable. Specifically, I most enjoyed the part where the fight should have been over, but Ishmael used his power to create a giant explosion and to take Sophia.
This scene was the one where I could most easily imagine how it would look animated. Even as the villains were winning, you could see that Ishmael truly felt that he was the hero, and the imagery backed it up.

Jalen White said...

I found the fight sequence to open the chapter was quite stunning. The way the art almost jumps off of the page was impressive, and to me it felt almost cinematic. The word usage was sparse, mostly letting the action speak for itself, which I found to be quite the artistic decision.
To me it felt like the author had full trust in the illustrator, to let him tell a portion of the story through his perspective. It was easily one of the more memorable parts of the comic book so far.

Jalen W.

J'kolbe K. said...

The panels I found most interesting were the ones when Sofia was alone contemplating suicide. Those couple of panels put so much growing focus on the gun and the crying Sofia that it completely leaves the reader open for a surprise. When the bad guy crashed through in the next panel, which took the entire next page, almost made me jump. I'm sure the Artist worked hard to draw such a suspenseful scene.

Tyler B.C. said...

I found the fight with Ishmael to be an excellent example of writer and artist telling a story together. Specifically, where he states "the demon has filled me with light" while floating in the air. He is shown to be regenerating his recently shot forearm; this gives some hint to the extent of his power and a what this "light" is.

Youssef H said...

The scene that got my attention was when Ishmael attacked Sofia, then Kaliber and the outsiders came in to help. This was the first time that the group gets to meet batman's friend. I am sure the writers tried to give each member of the outsiders a moment to shine against Ishmael. But they eventually failed and batman tried to encourage them by putting the group into the right mindset for the current situation.

Anonymous said...

The scene I found captivating were the panels right before and when Sofia made the save for Kaliber. Showing the character trait that Sofia will not be a willing damsel in distress by having her initially running away before making the choice to stay and fight. Though her interference still lead to her being captured it allowed us to get an understanding of the type of character Sofia is.

Chris W.

Phoenix Johnson said...

My favorite scene was when Ishmael counterattack Signal and Orpha. The writer creates great pubs for Ishmael when the counterattack happens. Orphan calls out Signal, then Soy draws a picture of Signal throwing Orphan in the air. Hill then gives Ishmael a pun as above, so below. Soy's illustrations show Ishmael grabbing Orphan's foot and throwing her back at Orphan. This was a great combination of wit and artistic abilities which made me find the panel captivating.

Noah Jones said...

My favorite scene was the scene where Sophia was told to stand down. I liked how they made the pictures come to life through the sounds. The KACK KACK KACK and CHINGS when said out loud really portray the sounds of what would be happening in that scene.

-Noah Jones

Torian henry said...

The scene I was most captivated by was the battle between sophia and Ishmael. I felt as if it was big moment in the developing plot of the novel because it begins to tie characters together for more character development arcs through out the story. I believe the writers trusted the artist vision for what he had entailed for the fight and the result was exceptional.

Torian H.

Justin Jubert said...

My favorite scene or sequence from Part 2 was the part where Sofia puts the gun to her chin, crying, and says, "I'm sorry dad." This is a very emotional scene and the way the artist and writer work together to create it is very impressive. It speaks to deeper undertones and problems hitting society including grief, regret, depression, and more. I look forward to more scenes like this throughout the story. I also want to learn more about her backstory after reading this. - Justin J

William Shanklin said...

The most captivating part to me was in the first few pages where Black Lightning was first using his ability. The reason I believe this is because I really liked the way that the ability was drawn. Also, he added the sound affects the lightning would make if it were like a movie instead of a comic. - William Shanklin