Book 1, Page 47
Added 2017-10-31 23:47:33 +0000 UTCBecky here! I've been looking forward to this page for awhile. Before the script was even written, Barry had the idea of Lillian regularly spouting off trivia as an annoying/endearing character trait. We planned to keep an eye out for opportunities to fit that in. So when I found out about a chase scene in 63, I was like "OMIGOD WE CAN DO THAT HERE!!!"
My dad is an architect in Pittsburgh: lots of tasty old brick buildings there! I remember him pointing out building facades where windows had obviously been filled in or an extra wing had been added. I always thought it was so cool when he could look at a building and tell how it had been altered over the years. 63 Howard Street was built in the 1880s as a warehouse, and my guess is they took out the old elevator when the building changed hands.
This was also the first SuperButch page where the panels weren't arranged in a grid. When I started roughing out the page, this was the easiest way to fit everything in without having empty space or cutting out important information. I also thought that the clunky, irregular panel shapes captured the feeling of frantic movement, but not speed. Of course, with a non-standard layout, it's harder to know what order to read in. Barry and I had a...spirited discussion about this. In the end, I pretty much kept the layout, and Barry moved the word balloons around for maximum reading-flow.
Anyway, Happy Halloween, and please enjoy this spooky stairwell!
