Breaking borders

Like anything else, breaking borders should only be done to enhance impact and aid the flow of panel to panel storytelling. This page shows a dream-like sequence written by Peter Milligan where the character sees his wife floating above him moments before he dies. There are some rules I follow when breaking borders. First, border breaks should follow the rules of foreground/background/ middleground. Used correctly, this can create a sort of 3D movie effect. I wanted the wife in panel three to break borders, but since she’s in the middleground I had to have the head in the foreground at the bottom pop out of the panel. Second, objects breaking borders should only spill over into consecutive panels. Here, the character’s helmet in panel one leads the eye right to panel two, the wife’s hair takes us from panel two down her legs pointing at the soldier at the bottom of panel three, and her left elbow leads to panel four. If you break the border, break a whole lot of it! If it’s half-assed, the effect will be weak and it’ll look like you simply ran out of room. Be bold!