X-O Manowar #7 Spotlight: Lettering

X-O Manowar #7 Cover B by Dexter Soy & Veronica Gandini

 

In X-O Manowar #7, the action heats up quickly with the proverbial bang. Or boom. Or, even a little bit of buzzing? But first, Troy Whitaker holds a press release to explain the events that took place at the end of X-O Manowar #6.

Like any billionaire, Troy Whitaker seeks to shape our perceptions with his version of events. Yet one thing that letter Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou stresses is that Troy is taking all the blame for what happened in France. Hassan makes just two words in the above panels bold, but its enough to make us realize that under no circumstances does he want the public to blame Aric for the tragedy that occurred.

Contrast the normal dialogue balloons in the above panels with the two below. In the first, the arrow from the balloon goes wobbly. In the second, the entire balloon goes wobbly. Self-assured people like Troy Whitaker don't achieve the success and dominance they do by letting Joe Public see them...get wobbly.

 

 

One minute, Desmond is using the blue ball to interface with Shanhara. In the next, Shanhara leaps out of the ball in full ghost mode. The shape of her dialogue balloon, as well as the up-and-down letters, emphasize the feelings her expression suggests.

Also, notice that the background color in the balloon is blue, not red. Hopefully, I'm not giving away too big a spoiler here, but that's significant.

 

 

In the next panel, Shanhara has returned to her blue ball, and her dialogue balloon is colored red again. The shape of the balloon is normal. As with Troy Whitaker's speech, Hassan makes one word bold to show that Shanhara is stressing it. 

Interestingly, Hassan places the red dialogue balloon much higher than it needs to be. It infringes in Desmond's first balloon. Then Desmond's wobbly {sigh} balloon infringes on Shanhara's balloon. Clearly, Shanhara is not just Desmond's toy or tool, to be used as he sees fit.

 

I also like the way the long arrow from Shanhara's dialogue balloon in the above panel ends in an elegant arrowhead. Or is it a little burst of flame? 

Finally, consider the panel below. The action takes place inside the nanite swarm, or what Troy has designated the Hive Mind. Hassan's sound effect helps us hear the vortex of power X-O Manowar is generating. It's not a bang or a boom or a crash, but more of a thrumming.

 

 

In X-O Manowar #7, letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou does his usual brilliant job of bringing us into the action, the characters, and the drama. Many thanks, Hassan!

Dragon Dave