Scenery Porn/Comic Books

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Scenery Porn in Comic Books include:

  • If there are two things that Cerebus is known for, the one that isn't soul-crushing misogyny are the intricate pen-and-ink backgrounds rendered by artist Gerhard. The trade paperback covers are even more impressive.
  • The series Top Ten is a good example of this trope in comics. Every bloody panel is filled with incredible detail of the city of Neopolis, as well as no less than three visual Easter Eggs per page.
  • Another independent comic book example, Luther Arkwright and its colored spinoff Heart Of Empire had a lot of thought put into the Steampunk backgrounds, which were usually flooded with references to other issues, Victorian culture, Science Fiction or random statues of Luther (after he died).
  • Sky Doll puts great effort in settings that will only be shown for few panels. It helps that one of the creators is an architect.
  • Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet has far more interesting scenery than characters, at least so far.
    • His Copper strips on the other hand have both.
  • In Archie Comics' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures series, the Turtles' world tour arc is kicked off with some breathtaking artwork of the cliffs of Tibet.
  • Archie Comics themselves were prone to this, especially if Bob Bolling was behind the desk. Just look.
  • Roger Leloup of Yoko Tsuno fame loves drawing very complicated backgrounds of all kinds.
  • Bryan Hitch. His Triskelion is a sight to behold.
  • Moritat the main artist for the Elephantmen series has his work often compared to Blade Runner’s fantastic Cyberpunk sets.
  • James Stokoe’s comics like Wonton Soup have heavily detailed backgrounds full of Easter Eggs.
  • Brandon Graham's comics have weird and wonderful environments full of imaginative bizarreness and Funny Background Events.
  • Geof Darrow, hands down. Though his work can also enter into Scenery Gorn due to Squick, like when the main character in Hard Boiled wonders through the red light district.
  • Moebius, who is a major influence on the four artists mentioned above, is quite the master of this trope, ranging from the Arcadian forests of The Adena cycle, the strange alien worlds of Arzarch and the futuristic metropolises of many of his sci-fi stories.
  • Philippe Druillet takes this to insane heights with his multiple page spreads of epic, near-surreal landscapes.
  • Jack Kirby liked to create so many distinct and strange fantastic machines and cities that Kirby Tech is practically a Trope in and of itself.

Back to Scenery Porn