Let’s count how many ways this is a bad page of comics, shall we?

1. The inset panel at the top of the page is directly underneath the dialog balloon that responds to it.

2. That same dialog balloon is actually from the man, not from the woman. But the placement isn’t intuitive.

3. The dialog balloon in the bottom left corner of the second panel is pointed at the wrong person and is placed weirdly – ideally, it should be at the top of the panel.

4. The use of an arrow to tell the reader that they should read down, not across. Arrows on this layout are an automatic red flag.

5. The jump cut to the fourth panel is jarring. An establishing shot would have given the reader context as to where this person was and how he relates to the previous three panels.

That’s it for the technical portion of our analysis. Next, let’s talk about themes and content. This gentleman is the exact stereotype of a slovenly man-boy who drools all over women in the most degrading way possible. It’s intimated on this page, but it gets more explicit over the course of the story. And the woman is depicted as an idiotic blonde who doesn’t pick up on the fact that this man’s camera set up is made of cardboard and trash. 

In short, this is one of the worst features I’ve seen in Heavy Metal in a long time. And I’ve seen some terrible stuff in these pages. 

(Heavy Metal issue #147, November 1993 – Page 9 Network by Schultheiss)