The opening moments of Romero’s Night of the Living Dead are sublime. There is this palpable sense of tension as Barbara is victimized by her brother. The strange man looming in the background seems like an after-thought. But, Romero masterfully blocks out the scene, ensuring we never forget about the strange man/zombie.

Any good story understands the importance of blocking your scenes correctly. It’s the difference between good and bad visual storytelling. Horror stories depend on carefully constructed visuals to communicate the stakes to the viewer. Take the final moments of John Carpenter’s Halloween for example. A film about a horrific murderer ends with seemingly random shots of front porches and suburbia. But, this is to remind the viewer how close these murders hit to home. It can happen to you, lock your doors, and shut the blinds. And the effect was striking.

When constructing a horror comic – blocking can be the difference between successfully inspiring an emotional feeling and total failure. When working with the zombies of Double Take, Bill Jemas often cites the work of Mark Millar when it comes to referencing action scenes.

There is an obsession in comics with intercutting action. The medium allows the reader to be in more than one place at once on a page. But more than that, comics are reliant on turning the page; the choice of pacing ultimately rests entirely in the hands of the reader. So often creative teams will experiment with blocking in order to undermine the reader’s expectations.

Take for example one of the best page turns in comic’s history. Barbara and her father are relaxing. The dialogue is casual and chunky. Alan Moore lets the reader relax in the moment. But an off-hand comment: “was that the door?” Prompts the reader to push themselves into the next moment. You turn the page, expecting nothing.

The result is perhaps one of the most shocking moments in Batman history. Joker casually sits behind the open door. His gun is drawn, and before the reader can even process what’s going on, Barbara is shot. There’s no dialogue on the whole page – and it hits like a boxing glove.

The Walking Dead comic has achieved these shocking results several times. Every single time the moment has been built into a page turn, and packed a wallop. A few come to mind – but I’m afraid to spoil them here. If you’re curious read my top ten moments from The Walking Dead comic – here.

Careful scene construction is the difference between success and failure in comics. When approaching the opening scene of my comic, “Race: Brother’s Keeper” #1 we’ve paid extra special attention to how the scene should look and feel. We’ve broken down the exact location, we know the layout of the area – intimately, and we’ve draw out a map.

So this allowed us to clearly concoct a visual narrative from choice angles and intercuts that will create a pulse pounding opening scene that can set the tone for the entire issue. There is a violent scene that focuses heavily on the death and shaming of one character. Photo reference was used in every panel to create a really guttural tone that cuts to the core of the moment. Elsewhere we have a real feet against the pavement chase scene. Every angle was carefully constructed based on the map, and the camera is motivated by the action within the scene. Within it all we’ve constructed a tableau of death that is sure to send uneasy shivers down anyone’s spine.

Everything has been so meticulous in blocking that we’re bringing a certain macabre beauty to something so chilling and horrendous. It feels more than a little wrong when you take a step back – but there is artistry in death. The style and care will hopefully ooze from the page thanks to the careful attention to detail. That’s the best part of comics – you can only hold the reader’s hand for so long before feeling that burning itch to betray it.

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This Zomblog will run every Monday and Friday until I run out of things to say about zombies. Next time – if schedule’s permit I’m itching to show you some actual rough layout process shots of the book as it takes shape. That way we can talk about refining the scene.

Until then check out Double Take’s blog – Double Take Universe to keep up to date on the incredible comics that will be coming your way in September. And head over to their Kickstarter to secure yourself the full ten launch issues. Which just went over 10k and has only a few days left to go! So please get out there and support good comics!