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5 page spreads on the iPad?

If you've been following my twitter feed at all lately, you may have noticed that I've been debating whether to buy a new laptop or an iPad.  As much as an iPad would be a new toy, I'm really wondering if I need a full laptop who's functions just mimic the Mac Mini that's becoming my home computing hub.  An iPad would be a peripheral to my home computing system, not a replacement for it.

Of course, one of the big things for comic fans is digital distribution and how comics look on the iPad.  I've got a couple of confirmations that comics look real nice.  Well, Marvel Comics and anyone selling through Comixology looks real nice.  The one holdout so far in the digital realm has been DC Comics.  Yesterday, the Geeks of Doom had a panel recap from Wondercon with Jim Lee talking about digital comics.  There's one thing that he as to say in that recap that sounds really hollow:

“I’ll use Blackest Night as an example. You open that up and — I don’t want to spoil anything — but there’s a spread inside that’s just amazing. You cannot replicate it on a device with a smaller screen.”

O.k.  If Jim Lee won't spoil it, I will.

I assume he's talking about the 4 page spread showing all of the resurrected characters.  It's four pages that fold out.  It's a trick that's been done before; when you need that big, Big, BIG moment, you make the page extra big.  When two pages aren't enough, go for four.

Only it's not needed.

It's exaggeration and overkill.

It's a trick that is pulled out to make you think you're reading something that's bigger than it is.  The last time I really remember it being used was in Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's The Ultimates II, where they showed some kind of gigantic battle that I only remember because of the self-indulgence and excess it demonstrated rather in any actual storytelling.

And that spread that Jim Lee is referring to in the above quote is no better.  It's a fanboy moment that doesn't do anything for the story.  What do these large spreads really accomplish that couldn't be done within the normal confines of the page.

Imagine if suddenly you had to put a 2nd TV next to your regular set because Lost was going to show how "big" a moment something was by doubling the size of the image?

Imagine if one page of a novel was 2 times the size of every other page because it was a "big" moment.

Now I'm all for playing with format but, in storytelling, you establish certain rules and story-telling conventions.  To break those by manipulating the page size for only part of it is a cheat. 

Of course, Jim Lee has done this same thing with a fold-out spread in All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, showing the Batcave.

But that one is o.k. because it was kewl.