Xerø #8 Page 7 by ChrisCross

This is a very obscure page, but meaningful to me -- XERø was a short-lived espionage series with race-bending characters from Christopher Priest and ChrisCross that came out from DC in the late 1990s. Priest's commentary on the series on his website gave me a lot of insight into writing, and his description of Cross' work on this page taught me a great deal about "directing" a scene visually. When this page came up at an obscenely low price, I snapped it up.

From Digital Priest:

http://digitalpriest.com/legacy/archive/xero/cross.htm

"TABLE FOR ØNE: Cross finds the emotional center of a scene, emphasizing the villain's loneliness by isolating him and partially obscuring him with the cafe umbrella. This is brilliant, breathtaking storytelling, the emotional subtext and subtlety at play, here. and Cross was regularly hammered for this by editors who simply didn't get it; who just thought Cross was clueless about where to put his virtual camera, missing completely, the genius at work here. Without one word of dialogue, Cross has added tremendous depth to the villainous Øne, Xero's arch nemesis. The previous page featured Øne in a high voltage action sequence, full of explosions and, one would guess, loud music. Going from that to this static subtlety, Cross literally and emotionally unmasks Øne in a sequence that is both riveting and revelatory. The too-tall panel one sets up the canopy over Øne's head as the gloom settles in on him and Øne is enveloped by and then swallowed by shadow. This sequence sets up the page turn where Øne is taken by surprise by his boss, Frank Decker, who suddenly appears in the next frame, startling Øne (something not easily accomplished), and signaling Øne that he has been marked for death. It really doesn't get any better than this, kids."