It struck me as funny, Count, that one of your complaints about classic newspaper strips is that they left a lot of empty space. You're surely not suggesting that filled-in space is a standard of quality. Frankly, the reason I have a problem with a lot of contemporary artists (Perez included) is that they fill in ALL THE SPACE -- often to the agree that their panels and splashes have no focus. I blame this partially on the re-sell value of original art. Once the artists found out they could sell their original art to collectors and fans, multi-panelled pages and sequential story telling went out the window. Almost every page became a splash page because splash pages sold for the most money.