History Main / OddShapedPanel

* When he draws ''DetectiveComics'', JH Williams III divides the ComicBook/{{Batwoman}} segments from the ones focusing on [[SecretIdentity Kate Kane]] by giving Kate standard panel layouts while Batwoman's scenes feature all manner of {{Odd Shaped Panel}}s, from jagged-edged starbursts to fight scenes shown entirely in panels shaped like lightning bolts.

* ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'': [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00074.html Three panels merged into one -- one on top, two below]]

* There's some panels in ''Manga/IchigoMashimaro'' that are convex quadrilaterals, some of which are right-angled trapezia. ...trapeziums? Nothing odder than that, though...

* Sounds as panels also appear in Frank Miller's work, for example when Marv shoots a corrupt preist in SinCity.

* One issue of ''TheFoxAndTheCrow'' featured Crow dressed as a giant (with stilts); the reveal-panel was elongated to accommodate his increased height.

--->-- '''Thog''', ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0788.html #788]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Feathers are one of the odder shapes, actually.-] ]]

* Creator/WinsorMcCay's ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo'' (1905) and George Herriman's KrazyKat (1914), are possibly the trope makers. [=McCay=] created the elastic layout- in the later pages, almost no two panels are the same shape. In several story arcs, he has panel borders break or shatter after being pushed- or in one case eaten by the main cast. He was also one of the first to use the 'explosion' panel. Herriman's sunday layouts featured nested panels, inset panels on open backgrounds, slanted and sliding panels, and circular panels, among others. The layout varied wildly week to week- except for a brief color run in the 20's- and sometimes dispensed with panels entirely.

* Sam Kieth's ''TheMaxx'' did this all the time.

* TheDeathOfSuperman comics, in 1992, has a very interesting example. It starts by the wake of Doomsday, who then starts attacking everything in sight, until {{Superman}} arrives. Then Doomsday focus on him only, and they start fighting, without dialogue (since Doomsday can't talk at all and [[ImplacableMan won't stop its attacks]]), each page having 8 panels. The next issue was more pure fight, with each page having 7 panels. Then 6, then 5, and so on. The last issue, then, is composed only of single-panel pages of Supes and Dooms beating the crap out of each other, and in the last one ''both of them die''.

* ''MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'' plays with this quite a lot.
* ''OdeToKirihito'' contains spiral-shaped panels at points to convey multiple actions in quick succession by a single character.

* Regularly used in Creator/AlanMoore's {{Promethea}}. Most often this trope takes the form of having the panels evoke mystic symbols relevant to the subject of the chapter.
** It should be noted that ''Promethea'' is PlayingAgainstType for Moore; most of his works are famous for adhering to extremely rigid panel divisions (specifically, the 3X3 grid), even in an age where such things have become outdated. Even his biggest action sequences rarely, if ever, step outside the boundaries of their respective panels.

* The {{New 52}}'s version of Comicbook/SwampThing makes the panel borders shaped like tree branches, most often when Alec Holland is using his powers.

* In the GraphicNovel ''{{Joker}}'', a crash involving SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker and the protagonist shows the characters' reactions to the impact drawn inside of the word "CRASH" as if the word was a panel. It also uses the "Broken Glass" effect mentioned above, as if the reader is watching the characters' reaction through the breaking windshield of the car.

* ''FruitsBasket'': The most common is a diagonal side.
* There's some panels in ''IchigoMashimaro'' that are convex quadrilaterals, some of which are right-angled trapezia. ...trapeziums? Nothing odder than that, though...

* ''{{Adekan}}'' has a lot of round panels.

* The first couple of issues of ''ElfQuest'' drawn by Wendy Pini almost exclusively used [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ01/DisplayOQ01.html?page=11 rectangular panels]], but by issue #4 she was [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ04/DisplayOQ04.html?page=22 starting to experiment]] with [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ04/DisplayOQ04.html?page=18 more ambitious layouts]].

* In ''AmericanBarbarian'', [[http://www.ambarb.com/?p=20 a triangle to introduce the second plot line.]]

* ''ImpureBlood'' [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter001/ib007.html superimpose a long, short panel over the middle division]]

* Frequently used in the ''CalvinAndHobbes'' {{Sunday strip}}s, particularly after Bill Watterson's first sabbatical.

* ''{{Project 0}}'' does this all the time to the point that no two pages are really designed alike. Notable example on [[http://www.centralcitytower.com/2010/02/continuing-where-we-left-off-we-present.html page 6]] where Owen's fall is fragmented into vertical frames like the symbol for signal strength bars to show that his powers don't 'get reception' in the [[AbandonedArea Machine Graveyard.]]

* [[DresdenCodak Aaron Diaz]] doesn't seem to like even rectangular layouts. He frequently uses circles or cuts the page into triangular shapes.

* ''MurryPurryFreshAndFurry'' uses free-form panels with wavy borders.
* The panels of ''HannaIsNotABoysName'' are very frequently irregularly-shaped (check out the center bottom panel [[http://hanna.aftertorque.com/?p=151 here]]) or overlapping. It fits with the high-energy feel of the comic and its manic protagonist.

* ''TheLifeOfNobTMouse'' often has the top of a character's head popping out of a skewed ellipse during conversation pieces.
* Every panel in ''CwynhildsLoom'' has rounded corners.
* ''AllOverTheHouse'' also often has the top of a talking character's head popping out of an elliptical frame.

* In ''PennyAndAggie'', when Brandi knocks out Xena, the panel borders [[http://www.pennyandaggie.com/index.php?p=950 buckle]] as if from the force of the blow.
* ''ALessonIsLearnedButTheDamageIsIrreversible'' is famous for doing this effectively in a great many of their comics to reinforce events or theme, such as [[http://alessonislearned.com/index.php?comic=18 here]].
* Stuff protrudes from panels in TheWayOfTheMetagamer a lot, but [[http://wayofthemetagamer.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/32150 this comic]] is a particularly notable example.

* ''PumpkinFlower'' normally has boxes in lines of three, but panels get funky when characters are hallucinating [[http://pumpkinflower.comicgenesis.com/d/20081003.html]] [[http://pumpkinflower.comicgenesis.com/d/20100316.html]]
* ''FarOutThere'' [[http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1027271/page-25-one-big-happy-family lives]] [[http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1027706/page-59-well-she-is-a-girl by]] [[http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1027835/page-76-warning-sudden-plot-shifts-may-result-in-neck-injury this]] [[http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1028455/page-91-one-mans-trash-is-another-mans-misidentified-trash/ trope,]] [[http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1068896/page-174-now-the-word-thinking-sounds-funny-to-me seriously.]] The most jarring thing it can do now is a [[http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1069365/page-188-alan-moore-called-he-wants-his-page-back normal layout.]]
* ''KeychainOfCreation'' uses angled panel gutters for action scenes.
* ''TheDreamlandChronicles'', [[http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/chapter-08/page-513/ mostly overlapping]].
* ''BobAndGeorge'', [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000816c rarely]].

* ''LastRes0rt'' [[http://www.lastres0rt.com/2009/03/my-eventual-publisher-is-going-to-hate-me-for-this/ has one page where one of the characters goes out of the panel(possibly onto the next page)]]
* ''WapsiSquare'' [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/suits-me/ like here]]
* ''{{Pibgorn}}'' [[http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2002/03/16/ triangles]]
* ''EerieCuties'' [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/d/20090629.html pentagon]]
* ''QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'': [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00074.html Three panels merged into one -- one on top, two below]]

* ''WoodenRose'' [[http://www.woodenrosecomic.com/comic/chapter3/68.html not lined up straight]] or [[http://www.woodenrosecomic.com/comic/chapter3/76.html with slanted edges]]
* ''FeyWinds'' [[http://www.feywinds.com/comic/page.php?id=78 Slanted and overlapping]]
* ''ThePhoenixRequiem'' Slants [[http://requiem.seraph-inn.com/viewcomic.php?page=34 here]] and [[http://requiem.seraph-inn.com/viewcomic.php?page=36 here]].

* ''{{Strays}}'' [[http://www.straysonline.com/comic/134.htm slanted sides and superimposed]]
* ''FamiliarGround'' [[http://www.familiar-ground.com/2009/03/13/short-term-memory/ An inset square]]
* ''DorkTower'' [[http://www.dorktower.com/2001/01/28/comics-archive-65/ Cut-out corner]]

* ''{{Tamuran}}'' [[http://www.tamurancomic.com/?p=458 slanting sides]]

* ''{{Dreamkeepers}} Prelude''

* ''{{Roza}}''

* ThistilMistilKistil [[http://tmkcomic.depleti.com/comic/ch03-pg15/ During a fight, slanted sides]]

* In ''NipAndTuck'', [[http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00570.html one without a border, to indicate]] it's not part of the {{Flashback}}.

* In ''{{Endstone}}'', [[http://endstone.net/2009/12/14/issue-3-webpage-1/ slantwise borders during a fight.]]
* In ''NextTownOver'', [[http://squidbunnies.com/nto/?p=325 framing faces in panels like lockets.]]
* In ''{{Doodze}}'', [[http://seguemediagroup.com/doodze/?p=1012 slanted across the line of their fall]]

* In ''BlueYonder'', [[http://www.blueyondercomic.net/comics/1355750/blue-yonder-chapter-1-page-38/ superimposed]].

* In ''{{Erstwhile}}'',

* In ''DominicDeeganOracleForHire'', planar or psychic magic is shown via unusual panels. If an extraplanar entity is spying on the cast, he will show up outside the panel. When Dominic went to the elemental plane of destruction, his progress was shown as a panel getting periodically blasted and damaged. Most recently, when the King held the demiplane with Nimmel on it hostage, he elbowed the panel, which then [[http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2012-06-08 chipped away at the demiplane]]. In that same battle, the fight taking place on two planes is shown by the King [[http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2012-06-12 reaching from one panel to the other]].

* In ''TheSpecialists'', [[http://thespecialistscomic.com/page-126/ overlapping squares show enlarged pieces of the room.]]
* In ''DragonMango'' [[http://dragon-mango.com/comic/chapter05/dm05-42.htm a black and red-outlined speech bubble, shaped like a smoke cloud.]]

* In PennyArcade, [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/01/28 a telephone conversation shown in diagonally sliced -- with a jaggy in the middle -- panels.]]

* Frank Quitely often experiments with odd panels, for example he will occasionally make the panel the literal fourth wall of a room. In {{We3}} he gets really inventive with sequences using a large panel with a series of tiny panels showing all the small details of the scene layered on top of the larger panel, or in one sequence he tilts a series of panels sideways as a character is moving through them, and its awesome looking.

->'''[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0788.html Thog]]''': ''thog will always treasure thog's adventure with talky-man. it featured non-traditional panel layout.''
--->-- ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''

* One issue of John Byrne's run on ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'' featured Snowbird facing one of the Great Beasts, Komolaq, described as "the living embodiment of winter". The battle featured a number of unusual frame shapes and placements, made all the more noticeable in that the frames were all blank(the idea was to depict the battle taking place within a severe blizzard, with nothing but flying snow visible). Only the frame shapes and locations, along with dialogue, provided any clues to the action. A CrowningMomentOfAwesome for John Byrne, in that he made the fight work on the page.

* In part one of ''Maus'', when Vladek sees a pair of Nazis up and shoot somebody in the street for the first time, he is depicted panicked looking, in a Star of David shaped panel, emphasizing his vulnerability, as a Jew, in how to respond. If he ran, he singles himself out as a target, if he stays, he could be caught up in a broader pogrom.

* Regularly used in AlanMoore's {{Promethea}}. Most often this trope takes the form of having the panels evoke mystic symbols relevant to the subject of the chapter.