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Splash Page - How Many Panels?

Started by Spider-Variant,

15 posts in this topic

Spider-Variant

Spider-Variant

Posted
Posted

Ok, I'm sure this has been discussed before, but just curious on what is the prevalent thinking on this topic.

 

How many panels can a Splash Page have and still be considered a Splash?

 

I see it quite frequently that pages are listed as splashes when they have several other panels. What if the page is split 50/50 with two large panels? Could you call this a Splash page?

 

I'm a purist I guess and a true Splash only has one panel.

 

Other thoughts?

 

 

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comicartcom

comicartcom

Posted
Posted

a splash page is 2 things:

 

1) the first page to a story which may include anything from one large panel to a large introductory panel and other panels below (sometimes the format is different with the large panel below)

 

2) an interior page that is almost always 1 large panel, but chapter splashes - like what DC used in the 50s-60s - can have the configuration mentioned in #1

 

almost all EC splash pages have a panel inset

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irchooker

irchooker

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Posted

Ah, but Malvin, you are ignoring the initial, and true IMO, definition. A splash page is page 1. If it has 40 panels, it doesn't matter. Page 1 is a splash page. Beyond that, I agree with you: an interior splash is the panel. None of this 2 panel but one is 4/5ths stuff.

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Artemaria

Artemaria

Posted
Posted
A "true" splash page only has panel.

 

If it has little ones.. I would be OK if it's called "splashy"

 

but sorry, if you want to draw a hard line, splash is one panel IMHO

 

Malvin

 

Agree with Malvin. A true splash is a one image (or panel) page.

 

Don't agree with the other poster who says it is always page one. During the Bronze Age and much of the Copper Age, a title splash page was customarily the first page. However, in more recent vintage comics, many title splash pages are buried somewhere between pages 2-8, with page 1 often being introductory panels or background story.

 

To me, a true splash page is a one panel page. I do prefer title splashes, but a full battle that takes up a whole page (with no other panels) still is a splash page.

 

However, I do not agree with certain descriptions that I've seen (for example on eBay), that take tremendous liberties such as "quarter 'splash' page." That is marketing nonsense, and from what I understand, the quarter panel "splash" would be considered by most collectors to be just a panel page.

 

Good luck with trying to get a consensus on this.

 

Best.

 

- A

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comicartcom

comicartcom

Posted
Posted

these are from my CAF page and are all different examples of splash pages

 

splash01.jpg

 

splash02.jpg

 

splash03.jpg

 

splash05.jpg

 

splash08.jpg

 

this one we actually wouldn't call a splash, but a 2-page spread, which is another category

splash07.jpg

 

by the way.. the Wrightson piece was stolen at SDCC in 2003.. If anyone leads me to it they will be rewarded

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comicartcom

comicartcom

Posted
Posted
Is the problem mixing up the definitions of Splash page and Title page?

 

I don't think this is correct Ruben.. Comic publishers have never made such a distinction and have always referred to the styles of pages shown in my post above as "Spash pages".. and seeing as it is the publishers who coined the term "splash page" I think I need to defer to them.

 

To go even further, whenever I have sold such items, they are always referred to as splash pages in my catalogs and lists, although I will say that I have used the terms "half page splash" "two-third's splash" "full page splash" "interior splash" etc which come to think of it - are also publishing terms. I have never heard a publisher calling anything a "title page"

 

I think if a publisher created a "glossary of definition" they would define a splash as the introductory panel to a story. Until the Marvel days, this was almost always the first page of a book/story and it was exceedingly rare for it to be an interior page prior to 1962 because in general - that didn't fit the publisher's needs.

 

This has been blurred in the post 1962 comic world, which has even seen books - like the Death of Superman - to consist of a story entirely constructed of splash pages.

 

myself, I'll always go with the description as used by publishers as to what a splash page is.

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CollectingFool

CollectingFool

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I don't have access to my books right now as I'm on the road. I remember when I had my store that one of the comic guides (maybe?) had a glossary of terms that I would photocopy for newbies in the hobby. I seem to remember seeing a distinction between splashes and title pages there. I won't be home to look it up for a while but if someone has one handy that may settle it.

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comicartcom

comicartcom

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Ruben.. was the book written by a publishing insider or a fan?? It makes a difference.

 

"Splash" is a publishing term coined by magazine publishers concerning the way that the publisher "hooks" the reader. It was never indicated that the term was meant to explain a single full page illustration.

 

A splash in that terminology was meant to indicate a larger panel on the first page of a publication that tells the story in one look, or the lead in to the story in one look much the same as the first few bars of a song are meant to hook the listener

 

Virtually all of the Superman splashes in Action Comics #1-100 are one large panel at top and 2-4 panels below. (I know because I have them all scanned). There are only a few that do not meet that description.

 

There are comics that have only one splash page no matter how many stories there are in the comic book also - Dennis the Menace of the 1950s are a prime example. The page ones mostly have a 1/2 page splash and the rest of the stories frequently are entirely panel pages which is an example of what the splash was used for (to hook you into buying the comic)

 

Yes, full panel splash pages have become the norm, but they have only become so in more recent decades. They have metamorphasized into something they were not originally as in the 1940s the idea was to get you right into the story and the splash panel was almost alwasy the beginnig of the story and this changed in the Marvel age where the splash page became more of a representation of a particular point in the story that the editors (or artists) felt was important

 

Splash page never indicated (to the publishers) that the first page was a single panel.. it was an indicator that there was a large panel that served a specific purpose. The fact that this terminology has become "updated" does not negate the history or the description of older terminology.

 

Rich

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vodou

vodou

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Posted
A splash page is page 1. If it has 40 panels, it doesn't matter. Page 1 is a splash page. Beyond that, I agree with you: an interior splash is the panel. None of this 2 panel but one is 4/5ths stuff.

This is the correct historical definition from back office editorial. Today's definition is anything that could sell for more with that moniker keyworded

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