Simply genius comic book design

I don't know how many people know the Moomins, but I just got my hands on a beautiful edition of the English translation of the original comics. This comic was started in 1945, and went on until 1993, and the design of the comic is absolutely genius.

Tove Jansson created in the Moomin comic book amazing designs and comic book flow. The use of the hose as the frame of the comic and making it lead in such a clever way from square to square it a beautiful design method allowing for a smooth flow of the story and the artwork across the page. The detail of the details create a very playful design and flow that all can appreciate.

On further extremely good design, a young artist from Brighton comes to mind: Hannah Berry. I often think of her when I am designing my own comics and thinking about the narrative flow and boundaries of my comics.

In the opening page of Britten & Brülightly, by Hannah Berry, nominated this year for the grand prize of Angoulème comic book festival, one can see a comic book page with no traditional block boundaries between the action in the comic. The text is not in speech or though bubbles, the images create their own boundaries and the flow of time is expressed in the simplest way. The simplicity of the narration flow comes through the balance of the artwork and the storytelling, allowing for the images to flow naturally and the story to be told in an original and artistic manner. Hannah Berry, as I do, uses white space to separate the the frames of the comic book and lets the natural boundaries of the images be self sufficient. The narration through images comes so naturally that one is instantly drawn into the comic book.