The Art of Gabriel Hernández Walta

In “The Vision” penciler Gabriel Hernández Walta’s unique style empowers the eerie silences and punctuating moments of violent eruption to create a rare and powerful atmospheric anxiety that drives the story onward and signals many of its key themes. 1/7

Walta inks his own artwork in the series, with colors by Jordie Bellaire. Walta’s compositions build scenes and moments very slowly, often lingering on the mundane in a way that ought to be dull but can instead be deeply immersive. His timing is impeccable. 2/7

Furthermore, where most comics art aims for seamless immersion, Walta employs a style here that is both rigid and sketchy in nature, thus calling attention to the artifice of the world portrayed alongside its simmering imperfections. 3/7

For domestic scenes, Walta often employs aspect-to-aspect transitions, which, c/o Scott McCloud, “set a wandering eye on different aspects of a place, idea, or mood.” This creates a sense of aggressively circling the subject, adding to the sense of unease and smothering. 4/7

The panel grids are tightly rectangular and with almost zero panel bleeds, again contributing to the sense of entrapment. But the angles within panels can be quite varied, creating a sense of being off-balance or disoriented. 5/7

All of this lays the groundwork for shock & surprise in the moments of violent eruption. As writer Tom King describes, Walta “has this way of doing this quiet but really eerie paneling, where everything sort of seems relaxed and then violence explodes through the background.” 6/7

King’s talent as a writer is self-evident, but “The Vision” is a story that depends, to an incredible degree, on atmosphere in order to build the anxiety that defines it. In that context, Walta’s contribution to this story is simply immeasurable. 7/7