Detective Comics 1066 page 19 by Ivan Reis

This page from the always great Ivan Reis presented two incentives for me.

The first one would be “who doesn’t love a good transformation page? Especially if it regards a werewolf”.

The second one was that this page is the previous one to the fantastic DPS I posted recently, creating an intense 3 pages sequence.

What I really like about said transformation, is its tempo and rhythm. Instead of the exploding “awoooooooooooooo” version we oh so often get in comics or movies, this is one is slow and creates more tension and creepiness on the page because of it.

In panel one, we get a shot at a very calm and very human protagonist, dusting some snow off while facing Mr Freeze. He is very tidy and presents well. One could say elegant.
Then a close-up on his torso to show us that he is changing form. His hairs are getting loose from the back of his head, his nose is widening, some fangs are showing and more importantly, he has no pupils anymore.

The rest of his body is also changing as a monstrous hand is picking a vial off the ground. The subtle lines around it are more visible on the OA than in the colored version and indicates movement as the hand is growing.

Then the Bat(arang) enters the scene and klank away that precious vial, giving us but a glimpse of the monstrous form. That hand is not human anymore and that head, drenched in shadows, looks pretty menacing.

The following two panels have Victor do his thing and those 3 inserts do a nice job at slowing the pace (of the transformation) before the big reveal of the full werewolf head who is about to be jumped by the Bat, as indicated by the pointy shadow on his shoulder.

That rendition of the werewolf is just terrific and terrifying as he is turning towards his opponent.

The storytelling is rock solid and reads super fluidly as always with Reis. I especially like the final open panel where everything points the reader’s eye to the right and prompts him to turn the page (to that impressive DPS): the Bat’s shadow, the werewolf tilted head and his respiration cloud in a cold environment.

Even for Reis’ usual level of excellence, this one feels very cinematic in terms of storytelling.