I think the point with the Darwyn Cooke page is to show how to get the Flash doing Flashy type stuff without having to overthink the process too much. I mean, he speeds up, he slows down, he loves his wife, he loves knocking out villains.

And the "widescreen effect" is chosen for a reason, I guess, since in proceeding pages, like this one, it's the standard grid more or less:

I've been trying to find some good George Perez Flash stuff, as he may actually draw the best "running motion" outside of Infantino.

Or, right. That "wide screen" thing he seems to favor.

'Member when comicbooks averaged six, eight and even nine panels per
page?

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Certainly do.  But is there a 'rule' on how many panels there should be to a page?  What about how many word balloons to a page or how many words in them?

Kirby did pages with three panels on, he even did the occasional splash page.  FF# 48 had two.  #49 had two in a row.  Didn't Walt Simonson do an issue of Thor that was all splash pages?  Didn't you do an issue of Alpha Flight that was essentially blank for six pages?  What about the various techniques that you used on She-Hulk?  In a Silver Surfer Graphic Novel by John Buscema every page except one is a splash.

I know that this wasn't every issue and I've quoted people that have worked for a long time in the industry, but it doesn't make the point any less valid. 

If there is a 'rule' then it should be 'whatever it takes to tell the best story.'  Which I believe is something that you live by. 

Some people could look at Blood and Trenches and think that it's a bit of a cop out that it's not inked and coloured.  It could even be someone's first comic, or first comic by you, and they could think that you don't know how to ink, or that it's a low budget company that can't afford to print the insides in colour.  Not that it was your choice as to the best way to present the story. 

Isn't saying that Blood and Trenches will be shot only in pencil limiting yourself?  Which has been proven because you've coloured in the blood.  You could reason that it adds contrast, etc, but it also would have worked if you'd used a bright red against a subdued pallette and black ink.  And as you've stated previously, those pages were designed, 'never to be inked.'  Cutting yourself off from using two extra tools in the comic tool kit is limiting yourself.

Every time something is created, rules are applied.  It could be the strict grid system that was used in Watchmen, or the grid that Frank Miller used in DKR.  One that he completely abandoned for the follow up.  It's as though he thought to himself that it would look nothing like DKR, which itself is a rule. What seemed like an 'anything goes' policy in She-Hulk was a rule.

Stan Lee basing the Marvel Universe in New York (and the universe beyond) was a rule.  The same way that DC have Metropolis and Gotham. 

Sometimes we put these things there to keep ourselves in check, sometimes it's go give ourselves a challange.  Sometimes it's because others have done it and that's how it's done.   Other times it's because it hasn't been done before so even if it fails, it needs to be tried.

I didn't really have any issue with the format of New Frontier and just figured Cooke was giving himself a challenge to see if he COULD tell the story that way.  Or at the very least had some effect in mind he wanted to create with it.  Now if Cooke began doing ALL his projects this way then I see what JB is talking about above in regards to doing all his other work "from the pencils".  It would get old really fast and I'd begin to seriously question the whole point.  but as a one off thing, it was fine.  Like a sideways comic or an issue of splash pages.  It just happened to be a long mini-series.

Or do they still call them maxi-series?

I think Ethan Van Scriver

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It's Van Sciver. Not two "r's". I'm not a huge fan of his either ( I think he tries to cover his stiff figure work up with a lot of hyper-detail) but at least we can get his name right.

I can't see how that by stating that by having preference (a rule) to how we approach a creative task is a weak argument.

As none of use where there when Stan Lee took steps to create what we now know as the Marvel Universe*, we can't know this for certain.  But as far as I can tell he made the decision that it would take place 'in the real world' and not a fictional world.  The way that DC has Metropolis and Gotham.  He wanted to tell stories in the world we live in.  If a building or point of interest was mentioned, he expected the artist to depict that place.  I believe Avenger's Mansion is located at the site of the Major's Mansion so I would assume that if anyone was drawing it, they would use that location for reference**.  Peter Parker lived in Queens, so it would need to look like Queens when his doing stuff there.  That was his rule.

Darwyn Cooke deciding on that format for New Frontier.  His rule.  I know that he doesn't do that for everything, he just wanted that format for that.

You can't say that that him choosing to approach his work in a cetain way is limiting but you approaching your work in a certain way is a creative choice.  What is the difference?

You wanting the effects that you get with rough paper and pencil for Angel.  Your rule.  As you have mentioned previously there were certain occasions where you had to change your approach in order to accomplish this effect.  I would imagine there would have been moments where you thought that if it was being done 'normally' it would be easier.  But then you think of the end product and do what it takes to get it done.

Just to make it clear, I'm not knocking Angel at all.  It is very good.  Excellent in fact.  But it can't be denied that by choosing to use pencil only (with the odd effect from Photoshop) you have to stick to a personal rule that you created.

You can have all these wonderful effects that the pencil has to offer.  But at the end of the day, it's still just a pencil.

If you were taking full advantage of the medium has to offer then you would sit down and think about the approach used for each panel.  Watercolour, Oils, Collage, Pastel, Stick dipped in mud, Photograph, whatever.  Of course if this approach was used (by anyone) then it could come off as being confusing or inconsistent, or showing off, or that the artist doesn't really have a clue and is just trying anything.

Again, as you have mentioned before, you use PITT pens all the time.  That is now a rule for you.  I'm sure that you would use other impliments in the need arose, but I would say that you would try to solve everything with the PITT first.  But it could be said that you are cutting yourself off from the effects you acheive from using Brush, or Dip Pen, etc, etc.  When it all comes down to it, a black line is a black line.  Doesn't matter how it was produced, right?

If something has been done before, and by the same artist several times, doesn't make it a bad thing.  It makes it a preference.  If it becomes something of a crutch or a mask, then it becomes a bad thing. 

In an interview in the mid 90's Mike Mignola said that his excessive use of black came about as a way of hiding his mistakes.  Now he is a fantastic artist (I've been a fan since Rocket Racoon) and can pretty much draw anything.  But not everything looks good in his current style.  Old Castles, Graveyards, and all the other staples of Hellboy look great.  But take him out of those things and it doesn't look so great.  Whereas if he went back a stage or two towards Cosmic Odessey or Wolverine: Jungle Adventure then he would be able to have a more coherent look.  But he wants all the black, so that's how it is.

Kirby pretty much stayed with the classic format for pages.  Neal Adams went all over the place. (I've not read everything by either of them so I can't give a definitive)  Neither are wrong, but they put in their own rules with which to follow.

Will Eisner seemed to insist on breaking all rules while making new ones at the same time.  That was his rule. 

As far as I'm concerned he's top of the heap.

*And by Marvel Universe I mean all the various add-ons that have been created since.  'New York (and the Universe Beyond)'

**Being the geek that I am, the first time I went to New York I went to that location to take photos of that buidling and various views of the streets surrounding it in case there was ever a need for me to draw the mansion. 

Your brilliant smarminess aside, Chad, DC has brought back Krypto, shoehorned Lex Luthor back into Clark Kent's past, resurrected the original Supergirl, and unleashed the city of Kandor. In effect, trashing what they hired John Byrne to do with Man of Steel.

Don't work so hard at being obtuse.