‘Layouting’ for the plot: Charles Burns and the clear line revisited

Abstract

Relying on a close-reading of a page selected from Charles Burns’ X’ed out (2010), this article proposes a critical debate on the stakes of producing and reading remakes. In other words: what does it mean to rework a Clear Line aesthetic, both from the point of view of drawing and from that of storytelling? We argue that this reworking does not only reveal hidden aspects of the original model, but it also provides new feedback on the way we read it. More specifically, at the end of our original reading of Burns’ remake, we ask for the opening of a debate on the Clear Line style (in the past it has been too often reduced to the technique of stylised drawing and a smooth, transparent, storytelling). For us, the beginning of such a new debate will be the discussion of layout and nonlinear ways of storytelling that are very different from standard panel-to-panel transitions. As we discuss throughout, it is the power of these aspects that Burns’ work helps us to best think through.