Comics Vocabulary: Multi-Panel Pan Sequence

Three-panel pan sequence from Alan Moore's '1963' comic book Mystery Incorporated, published in 1993, art by Rick Veitch and Dave Gibbons

The “1963” image above got me thinking about multi-panel pan sequences in comic books and comic strips.

I bought Alan Moore’s “1963” Mystery Incorporated comic book in 1993, and enjoyed it without noticing the above panel. 1963 is Moore’s homage to (and parody of) the early 1960s Marvel Comics created mostly by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. These comics included the beginnings of various costumed heroes that are now all over, including on movie screens. The big early 60s Marvel debuts include Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, X-men and many others.