I think what makes this picture affecting is that it's a good introduction to the main character. Will Eisner spent a good amount of time in his book about comics explaining how posture, and visual relationships between figures, can define a character and advance a story. Up is powerful, big, victorious. Down is weak, small, defeated.
In this shot, we see that Crimebuster is above the three ... let's call them ne'er-do-wells. Poor guys. Some of them are, or were, addicted to meth-amphetamines. A typical comic shot like this in a typical superhero comic would show the triumphant hero standing and all the bad guys knocked silly. Here, though, we see that three men are lying face down, and some of them are conscious, and all of them have their hands bound behind their back. To me, it's almost a story in itself how a single man can put restraints onto three resisting suspects, but Crimebuster has pulled it off.
There's also the mystery of the tire iron. What's it doing there? Too late, the story's already started!
The Lacrosse Rape Hoax | Issue 1 Page 2-3 | ComicsForGrownups
