Agreed, and you can use the size/number of panels to emphasize the timing of certain moments:
Many panels = slower pace
Fewer panels = faster pace
Large panel = big moment
Small panel = small moment
(YMMV, feel free to break any of those “rules”—they’re shorthand, not standards)
One of the things discussed in here recently about comics writing is the importance of not having a character do multiple actions per panel. BUT this is not as far as it goes:
Sometimes you want to have an action or gesture or reaction over multiple panels. Because timing is IMPORTANT.
I was talking with Chaykin about this once (forgive the comics name drop) and at some point the clouds parted in my mind and I said “so in comics… space EQUALS time.” I think everyone making comics has at least a vague sense of this, but it’s helped me to be conscious of it.
This also extends to graphic design. But a lot of it isn't just space, but density. While a big open space exudes a lot of time, it can actually be processed fairly quickly by the reader, and unless it's extremely interesting, they move quicker through a big space than a densely detailed space.
Of course: how the space is utilized is part of the formula of how much time it equals.
And also — you have no guarantee that the reader will follow your lead and take the time to look at every detail and read every word. But you do your best to guide them.
I always found that dichotomy interesting. You'll want to use a big panel for a BIG moment, but by its nature a big single panel goes by quickly unless it's loaded with so much information that it might as well be many panels. You can undercut your big moment by letting the reader pass it too fast.
