Lio and the Fourth Wall 5

Mark Tartulli's humor is definitely outside the box -- literally. His innovative comic strip Lio often plays with the confines of the comic strip panels, breaking through them and other wise incorporating them into the story (see Lio and the Fourth Wall for other examples). In his 3/14/14 strip, Lio's in a perilous place. (click on image to enlarge).

What's the role of the panel border? At first glance, it looks like the edge of  the paper being shredded -- paper that the two-dimensional Lio's trapped in. But when you orient the comic vertically, it appears as if the panel border isn't just the edge of the paper, it's also a framework that Lio can wrap his hands around! So is the border two-dimensional, or three-dimensional? Like a detail in an Escher picture, it's really both. Brilliant.

One more thing -- note how all the normal details of Tartulli's strip reinforce our perception that Lio exists on the surface of the paper. The signature, date, copyright notice and web address are all tumbling down the page.

Another comic tour-de-force by Tartulli.