minimalist storytelling

I've worked on hundreds and hundred of comics, as either writer or editor, but Batman Adventures #20, by the unbeatable creative team of Kelley Puckett, Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett is the only comic I can remember where not only did the writer note in the script that the penciller and inker owed him a debt of gratitude for the paid day off, but where the letterer actually wrote in the margin on the original board, "I get the art to this page"...and indeed he—the great Richard Starkings—did. And justifiably so.

I don't remember who ballooned this page. I was usually a stickler for doing the ballooning when I was editing, but Richard always felt free to tweak the placements as he saw fit. I have no idea whether he did or not here—although knowing Richard, he probably did—but he surely placed each and every balloon absolutely perfectly, down to the millimeter.