Mage: The Hero Discovered # 15 Pg. 26

Another winner!

OK now you're just showing off! I LOVE it, such a poignant page, full of potential and subtly. Congrats again! 

Another -SENSATIONAL- page in your brain-melting collection, Jim, that underscores a fundamental truth about Matt's masterwork: there's no such thing as a "slow" Mage page.  This one shimmers and simmers like a slab of pitch blacktop on a hot Hades day, from the "heat haze" transition in panel 1 (as Kevin descends between regions / trial transitions of The Styx casino) to the stark, bare panel composition and backgrounds (which is really the visual equivalent of the silent part of a movie soundtrack, pre-jump scare), where the only adornment is the skulls of babes.  Chilling, terrifyingly atmospheric stuff, and one of the things that makes Matt's Mage I work so damn potent is that it's impossible to separate Matt's journey as a storyteller from Kevin's journey as a hero: there's constant refinement and growth, and each issue is not a simple step forward, but a triple-jump LEAP forward (like a run of Beatles or XTC albums).  At this point, Matt's hard-won powers are absolutely ~humming~ around him (filling the sky like hovering ravens) and he's gotten -SO- good that it feels like we, as viewers and readers, are no longer able to pay attention to his growth as a storyteller while in the moment of reading his work, because he has become invisible (as all great creators do while you're engaging with their work), because all that exists is "now" and "The Story".  After reading issue 15 of the first Mage, it becomes clear to the reader that the TRUE plot of the book is really about a comic book writer / artist opening their eyes... then sitting up... then getting their feet under them... then standing... then (impossibly) running... then -FLYING-... then slaying DRAGONS.  Y'know, autobiography. :)

This page also serves as a testament to how much the great Sam Keith allowed that to happen, too, as his thin lines, impeccable taste, and unerring storytelling instincts elevated Matt's work into the stratosphere.

Wishing you sincere (and -very- heartfelt!) "congratulations" at adding this mighty slab of pure graphic magic doesn't do the occasion justice, Jim, but I'll do so anyways. :) Another incredible, incredible add, sir!  Scatchamagowza!!

Oh!  And ALSO!!  How Matt structures the panels here, to "stack" Kevin so that he (Kevin) works his way from right to left as he walks on (rather than left to right), closer and closer to that left edge of the page, not only plays into the "internal logic" Matt had established about The Styx (down is up, left is right), but it also pulls the reader further and further from the literal page turn - there's more real estate for the viewer's eye to traverse and their hand to move - and it feels like we have to reeeeeeaaaaaach - before we can see what comes next (...and it's the triple-page reveal / foldout, right?  Which I had never seen in a comic, before reading this...).  A subtle (but titanic) "behind the curtain" storytelling flex that proves us all putty in Matt's hands.  -SO- good. :)  Amazing page, Jim. :)