11 March 2026
When a splash should stay still
Not every X-Men cover wants a clock. How we decide a splash is already finished as ink.
Collectors often arrive with the loudest cover in the pile. A dozen mutants in mid-leap looks like motion. On the lightbox it usually reads as noise.
A splash already contains its own duration: the eye travels from a fist to a title caption in the time it takes to breathe. Adding a drift across that surface fights the composition. We mark those pages “still” in the first week and look instead for a corridor, a stair, or a two-shot where a head already turns.
If you are preparing a brief, name the quiet page as well as the cover. The cover can remain the companion’s front sheet without being the timed file.