[Comicsstudiessociety] Nine-panel grid

[Gilmore, Shawn Patrick]

Aidan

It’s a great question. There are certainly 3x3 pages before Watchmen, but I’ve not seen anyone point to the sustained use of such a regular grid throughout a full comic or series.

In earlier comics, there are certainly grids, like the attached example from Tales of Suspense #85 (1967), which is 3x3; but the page before is a 2x2 grid and the page after is 2x3. Maybe others have some other examples that are used more systemically?

As a side note, Watchmen’s contemporary The Dark Knight Returns uses a 4x4 grid, though much more loosely.

All best
Shawn

From: ComicsStudiesSociety <comicsstudiessociety-bounces+sgilmore=illinois.edu at lists.osu.edu> On Behalf Of Aidan Diamond via ComicsStudiesSociety
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Subject: [Comicsstudiessociety] Nine-panel grid

Hi all,  I’m working on a comic that, like Watchmen, pretty much exclusively uses the nine-panel grid or variations of it. I was wondering if anyone knows whether Watchmen, certainly the first to popularize this grid, was the
Hi all,

I’m working on a comic that, like Watchmen, pretty much exclusively uses the nine-panel grid or variations of it. I was wondering if anyone knows whether Watchmen, certainly the first to popularize this grid, was the first to use it to such a degree? There must be earlier examples, even of single pages using the grid, but I’m unfortunately not well-versed in comics before the eighties. Basically, I’m wondering if—much as this comic, The Seeds, is clearly drawing on a lineage to Watchmen—if Watchmen was visually establishing its own lineage, much as it does metatextually and thematically, and what that lineage is, exactly.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Best,
Aidan

Aidan Diamond
Ph.D. Candidate | Teaching Assistant
Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture
Comparative Media and Culture
University of Southern California
aidandia at usc.edu<mailto:aidandia at usc.edu>
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