WILDSTORM SPOTLIGHT 1 PAGE 9 BY CARLOS D’ANDA AND RICHARD FRIEND

Unexpectedly effective page from an artist whose work I don't normally enjoy. I'm familiar with D'Anda's work from the DC Universe game for which he drew the tie-in comic but I did not enjoy his art on that series at all. On this page, however, D'Anda does a nice job of moving the eye through the page both horizontally and vertically. 

It's funny that you point out his comparative lack of subtlety because this page shows that he had the capacity and openness to taking a more varied approach to rendering and page design. I'm going to assume it was Moore's script and art direction that pushed him in the right direction, as you suggest. 

I don't know anything about this penciller other than his name, but having read several pages of Alan Moore scripts, I can pretty much tell you that everything about the look of a page should be creditied to Moore, except for the act of laying the graphite down on the paper! That's only a slight exaggeration. I noticed that Friend went full on Travis Charest with the rendering techniques in the final panel. Nice little nod to a guy Friend had been known to work with. Much like outer space backgrounds, who doesn't love a good, solid black background every now and then?

The framing of the all black background is pretty effective here. Got that flowing sense of movement from the characters, getting closer to us in that last panel.  Congrats, man!

Easily conveys being lost in infinity.  

deep imagery complimented so well by the deep black inking of Friend. really cool page that catches the eye even on a small zoomed out thumbnail at first glance. congrats!

Not a fan but it is amazingly beautiful! Huge congrats!

Pretty great as Moore asks the big picture questions with pages like this.  In the end does it all mean anything.  As for the art, there is something to this page in just the simplicity of the panel borders.  With them, there is a sense of direction and movement even thought qit appears they are rudderless in a void.  

Richard Friend's inking is always spot-on,love it !

Yes - some beautiful storytelling here, with the black background adding a brooding sense of isolation and being lost in the abyss, while maintaining a fluidity of movement for the characters (which our eyes emulate as they move across/down the page and sink deeper, deeper, and deeper...).  I also love the "crackle" around the panel borders here (just as you mention) adding a fantastic texture to the piece - imagine the panels without it...  Having our heroes break through the bottom page border (and over the panel walls of panel 3) really makes this a very compelling image.  Sumptuous black inks!  Really pretty page, F M!  GREAT pick up!