Tellos #1: Three Frogsoldiers in Motion

Every year, on Mike Wieringo’s birthday, I write about some aspect of his career. This year, I’m continuing my “hyperanalysis” of “Tellos” #1. We pick up on pages 8 and 9…

In the previous two pages, Jarek (the human boy) outran a group of Frogsoldiers and then outsmarted them by tricking them into jumping in an enclosed space, where they knocked themselves out.

These next two pages are a parallel sequence starring Koj (the lion “King of the Jungle”). The two had split up a couple pages earlier when the frogsoldiers attacked. It’s a little bit of divide and conquer. With Jarek’s part out of the way, it makes sense for Todd Dezago’s story to cover Koj’s way of defeating the little green jerks.

Again, it’s brain over brawn. Koj is, no doubt, a mighty warrior, capable of quick action with his sword and, should all else fail, throwing his strength and muscle after the bad guys.

Like Jarek, though, he goes one step further. He uses his knowledge of the city of Jeffsport to his advantage, and lures the soldiers into a trap.

It’s In the Eyes

One page 8, we establish the scene, with Koj running away and the frog soldiers not that far behind him.

It’s panels 2 and 3 here that deserve a closer look. When you first read this book, you likely sped through this part. It’s two panels of word balloons. It’s a character thinking while running super fast. You know he’s fast, because you get speed-lines there, right? Oh, and his cape is pulling back and away from him. That’s always a good tell.

But check out that face. Look carefully at those eyes and those eyebrows. Check out the expression with his mouth. Wieringo shows you the moment when Koj sees his solution, just as Dezago’s script plants the words in his mind. There’s an immediate change in his facial expression with the realization that his plan is going to work. That smile is an exciting portent to the reader.

It’s a great example in a very simple way that the two creators are working together here to drive the moment home. They’re in sync. The art, when carefully read, tells the moment on its own. Koj goes from a thinking face to an excited face. (I love that look on Koj’s face in the third panel, with the big smile and the excited eye.) That frees up Dezago to give Koj something more fun to think, including a phrase like “frog-free afternoon.” He doesn’t need to force exposition into the panel to carry the story.

I can’t wait to get to the big panel on the next page for the reveal, but there are a few interesting things left to look at on this page first.

Moving In Three Dimensions in One Panel

In panel four, Koj reaches his destination in a spot behind “pillars” — he includes the quotation marks in his thought balloon, which immediately lets the reader know that things are not as they seem.

I really like the composition of this panel. There are a few interesting things going on. The most interesting one is the implied curve of movement. The panel reads cleanly left to right, but the frog soldiers are technically moving right to left.

They’re also moving towards the reader, but on the page they’re still in motion towards the left. It doesn’t drive your eye off the wrong side of the panel, though. That’s because the last one is facing back into the panel.

Read those three frog soldiers carefully. Pretend for a second that this is one of those panels where one character is seen three times in the same panel, to help indicate their motion. If you look at the panel that way, even subconsciously, you’ll follow the motion of a single frogsoldier moving to the fore, then looking to the right side of the panel, and then squaring up and aiming a bow and arrow to the right.

The one thing that sticks out to me in a weird way but which may actually work, is that character in the hood and cloak at the far left of the panel. He’s not necessary, though when I look at his now, I see him as a funneling tool. He’s pushing the frog soldiers back towards Koj. They need to turn a little earlier than they otherwise might have, just to not run into that random guy.

Wieringo has used these three frogsoldiers to guide your eye in the direction of the movement beautifully. There’s also a patch of empty space between them and Koj. It’s just a little bit of cobblestone sketched in, with a harsh shadow cutting across the ground. It gives the frogs somewhere to go next. That one uncluttered part of the panel helps break it up into two halves, one for the frogsoldiers and one for our protagonist.

Having the “pillars” be mostly silhouetted helps to keep things mysterious and vague. The little bit of color and texture you can see helps to set up the reveal on the next page.

Now, I have to be honest about panel 5. Which part of the large stone creature is Koj hiding behind? I can’t tell. I have no idea. It’s tough to make it all out in the lower left corner with the shadows and the sound effects blocking some of it.

The weird thing is, it almost doesn’t matter. It might be a complete cheat — it might not be a specific part. It might just be a closeup on the right shape and color of something that matches the giant rock creature guy. As you’re reading through the page, the odds are pretty good you won’t think about it. For as many times as I’ve read this issue over the last 21 years, I’m just noticing it now.

The other important thing is that it’s something coming down from the top of the panel. In the next panel, we have a closeup on the frogsoldiers’ faces as they look up, tongues sticking out, and a trio of exclamatory word balloons to show their shock and awe. It draws your eyes straight up and to the right which, not coincidentally, is where the next panel and the big reveal is.

The Meta moment of this review: The frogsoldiers in the story are looking in the same direction as you’re going to look for the next panel. There’s no falling off the page — Wieringo carries you through to the next panel and page immediately. He leads you right in, almost subconsciously.

Now, in a perfect world, that big reveal of the stone man would be on a page turn. The giant wouldn’t be seen on the right hand page while you’re reading the left hand page. It’s not that you’re trying to spoil yourself, but you can’t help it. You see it, even if it’s just in your peripheral vision. It’s too large to ignore.

Since we don’t get that shock and awe, I’ll appreciate the way Wieringo guides your eye up to the top of the next page with those looks at the bottom of the previous one.

Asking Questions, Propelling the Reader Forward

A quick thought on storytelling first…

The storyteller’s job is to keep the reader’s attention, and keep them moving forward. Every beat of the story should include something that leaves the reader wanting more. For every question answered, another one is asked. Turn the page.

This page breaks down into four moments, all of them driving the story forward. Dezago’s writing propels the reader by always getting the reader to ask more questions.

It starts with a simple chase. Can Koj outrun the frogsoldiers?

Then there’s the moment where we focus on Koj as he’s looking for a solution. He has something in mind, but will he find it? Yes, he does! But what is his plan?

In panel four, he’s putting his plan in motion. He’s found a place to hide behind a “pillar”. But what is that pillar, really?

And in the last tier of panels, the frogsoldiers see the trap they’ve fallen into. The trap is sprung. What is that trap?!? Everyone now knows but the reader. That’s a classic bottom of the page page-turn moment.

There’s no boring moment on this page. One thing leads into another, every motion is a result of the previous one. Every time one question is answered, the next one is immediately raised. The story rolls along. You want to read the next panel to get the next answer.

You see this more easily when you look at a story in a larger, overall context. We tend to see things in three act structures with inciting events and rousing come-from-behind victories. But the same techniques can drive an individual scene. With comics, those beats are broken down into panels, so it’s easy to visually see how that story works, when it’s done right.

Dezago and Wieringo do that well here.

OK, now let’s get to the reveal:

The Big Reveal In All Its Dimensions

It takes up two thirds of the page, which is fitting since we’re showing a friggin’ giant stone monster character guy. It’s a wonderful composition.

Let’s talk about all the dimensions in this panel. Let’s look at how Wieringo and series colorist, Paul Mounts, pull this panel off.

First, Rock Guy isn’t directly facing the reader. He’s not squaring up his shoulders with the page. He’s twisted just a bit. In addition, his arms are on different levels, and at different angles. They’re not flailing about. They’re in motion, though, and you can sense the weight of the character on the page, given his size, degree of movement, and the comparison of his size to his surroundings.

There is no “Twinning,” as animators like to say, where one half of the body mirrors the other. This character isn’t a model sheet. He’s a real living thing displaying lots of motion. He’s partially twisting at the hips. His arms and hands are reaching out, but in different ways. His legs are one in front of the other.

His head is the only thing facing perfectly forward, but that works in a drawing where every other part of him is twisted in different directions.

The secret weapon of this panel, though, has to do with the frogsoldiers along the bottom. They’re acting in a very similar way here as they did in the fourth panel of the previous page. Again, imagine it’s all the same frog being very active in one panel, such that you see the same frog moving across the panel. It feels like the one frog is running right past you, even as they move from right to left.

But most importantly, no two frogsoldiers are at the same distance from the reader. Each one overlaps the next. The positions they take encircle the Rock Guy and surround him without space in-between. They look like the same soldier frozen in time at different moments of the same motion.

Finally, Paul Mount’s colors make those characters pop off the page. By coloring in all the lines in the background and muting those characters, the stronger characters of the frogs and the rock guy in the foreground jump out at you.

Mounts’ coloring in “Tellos” is always bright and appropriate for the book. He specializes in bold colors and saturated hues. But in “Tellos,” you can also see him experimenting in those earlier days of Photoshop with adding textures in. For the time, they’re impressive. Today, we’d probably thing they’re a little overdone or too obvious. The pattern added to the rock creation doesn’t quite look high definition enough. It feels a bit blocky, almost. The sky background looks like an actual painting, which works well.

There’s one more panel on the page:

One Last Hairy Detail

The credits for this issue list Nathan Massengill and Rich Case as inkers. I’m not sure which one of them is responsible for this one, but it’s pretty cool:

That’s an extreme closeup of the rock god’s right arm. Go figure — he has hair there. But check out the little detail in the way Massengill or Case inked this page. I love how the hair line cancels out the ink line on the edge of the arm there.

It’s not perfect when you zoom in on it this far, but it works, and that’s the important thing. I’m guessing that’s a white ink pen drawn in after the fact, but I’m open to other possibilities — leave a comment if you have an idea how this is done.

It’s the little things that impress me sometimes…

Further Reading

Analyzing “Tellos” #1 is an on-going Pipeline Project (TM). It’s taken five years to get through the first 9 pages, which means it should be completed by around 2030 or so. Here are the previous installments:

• Hyperanalysis: Tellos #1, Page 4
• Using Low Angles in Tellos #1

And, of course, I have a similar Hyperanalysis of the first issue of the Mark Waid/Wieringo “Fantastic Four” run together. Here are those articles:

• Fantastic Four #60: Pages 1 and 2
• Fantastic Four #60, Part 2
• Drawing In Three Dimensions
• How to Introduce Characters By Action