Maze Comic Book Cover #66 - Puffin Around

Issue #665 in my comic book cover series is called Puffin Around and features the maze of a Puffin. The background of the comic is much more modern than usual. I just wanted to play around with new designs. This comic also concludes my 4 issue run of bird mazes.

My comic book cover mazes can be found in 2 places:

Comic Book Cover Mazes - Year 1 (Issues #1-53)

Comic Book Cover Mazes - Year 2

To receive a book of my first year of comic book book mazes (Volume 1 with mazes #1-53) you can sign up for my book alerts - any time I launch a free maze book, or paid book (on Amazon), I will send you a note about the new book launch.

Maze of the Week 23 Redux - Wrigley Field Sign (MOTW#170)

I used to make a lot of sign mazes. Not so much anymore. I enjoy making them, but most of them are ignored. Except the famous signs. Some of those are ok. Which brings us to the Wrigley Field Sign Maze. It is a simple maze, and I made it in color. Looking back, I don’t like that it is floating on the page. So I am updating it. Here is the original post:

Maze of the Week #23 - Wrigley Field Sign Maze

Here are the enhancements I made to improve the maze:

1. Changed the Start/Goal. I switched start and goal to internal - with words instead of arrows to allow me to work on the outside portion of the sign.

2. Added the Background. I added a background, including the base of sign that holds it to the stadium, windows, stadium pillars, and fencing. All of this to give it a more realistic look and stop it from floating on the page.

3. Added Texture. I gave the concrete portion of the stadium some texture to make it look more realistic.

4. Maze resized. I changed the maze to be 11.5 x 7.5 vs regular letter size. It looks better.

5. Branding Changes. I moved the branding into the window and switched it to vertical to integrate it into the maze more. I also changed the branding to white from black.

6. Sign message change. I changed the message on the sign, and added lights that are out for more realism. “Home of the Chicago Cubs” is permanently on the sign - no need to repeat it.

7. Background details. I added bolts onto the steel beams to show more detail and I added blinds in the windows behind a see through windowpane - they are hard to see without zooming in.

Let’s check out the before and after:

I think both mazes work, but of course I prefer the new one best !

Some data: The new file is 566MB from 24MB. Much bigger !

I will be replacing the homepage with the new maze going forward. You can find the maze download there !

If you like this type of content check out all of my case studies:

A Collection of Maze Design Case Studies to Improve your Mazes

Happy maze-ing !

Comic Book Reviews: 4 Great Comics with Maze Themes

When I am not making mazes for this website, I am reading, and that usually means comic books. When these two subjects intersect, I find it particularly enjoyable. Today I bring you 4 different comic books that I recommend, each of which deal with mazes as part of the plot. On this site, I have multiple sections of comic book style mazes (comics year 1, comics year 2), if you are interested in maze puzzles also.

The Maze Agency (2023) AMZN

by Mike W. Barr (Author), Silvano Beltramo (Cover Art, Artist, Colorist)

29 pages, Scout Comics

I was excited to hear about the return of The Maze Agency. This is the comic's fourth revival: 1988, 1989, 1997, 2005, and 2023. It was nominated for a Eisner Award way back in 1989 as the best new comic. What makes this comic special is that it revolves around 2 detectives who try to solve a crime that plays out in front of you. All clues they see, you see. By the end of the book the question becomes - Do you know who did it ? In this first issue I played along and got the answer right ! So much fun. and of course, you encounter a few mazes along the way, on the cover and within the logo

I recommend it. 8.4/10. Read more about the history of the comic on Wikipedia.

Mazebook (2022) by Jeff Lemire AMZN

256 pages, Dark Horse Books

I had to include all 5 covers (plus there are even more variations out there that are very cool). I am a big fan of the writing of Jeff Lemire. He is probably my favorite comic book writer and when I saw he had a maze themed comic I had to read it. It did not disappoint. The maze theme was a constant part of the story and layouts of the pages. This is a really well done book and concept. The story follows a grieving father who receives a late night call from his daughter who says she is stuck in a labyrinth. Can he solve the maze and find her ?

The book is full of mazes. Highly recommend it. 9.8/10

Maze (2022) AMZN

from Dark Horse Comics, 220 Pages

by Thiago Souto, illustrated by Thiago Souto

If there is a comic called Maze you know I needed to review it. This is the story of a boy named Nico and what happens in his dreams when he goes to sleep. And what happens is Nico goes on adventures with his friend Góreck. The book takes place almost entirely in the dream world and that makes for some wonderful illustrations as you can see on the cover. I really enjoyed the number of full page illustrations in the comic and the story is good too. A key part of the story is Góreck going on his own adventure to find Nico and this involves traversing a maze in the dream world. If you get a chance this is a good read. And you do not need to take my word for it becasue it won the best new release category in 2018 of the Angelo Agostini Award, a Brazilian comic award.

I recommend it. 8.4/10 !

Oh My Gods! 2: The Forgotten Maze (2022) AMZN

from Clarion Books, 208 Pages

by Stephanie Cooke (Author), Insha Fitzpatrick (Author), Juliana Moon (Illustrator)

When I first checked out this book from the library (online) I thought it was a regular book for Young adults. And in a way it is being targeted at kids 8-12 years old. What I did not expect was that it was actually a comic book.

This particular comic reminds me a bit of The Wicked + The Divine if it was written for 4 graders. The comic takes place at Mt Olympus Junior High and includes characters like Artemis, Hermes, Medusa, Apollo, Athena and Aphrodite, so you understand the theme ! A portion takes place in a forgotten maze underneath the school where the group looks for an antagonist called M1N0T4UR. Here is just before they enter the maze challenge from the M1N0T4UR.

Overall this is a fun story, and worth a read for any age. I give it an 8.1/10.

So if you like comics I recommend each of these 4 comics. While each comic has a different artistic style and uses mazes in the plot differently, each of them feature stories that are engaging and fun to read.

Other maze comic reviews you may like reading:

Maze Comic Book Reviews - Theseus And The Minotaur

Maze Comic Book Reviews - Jim Henson's Labyrinth Comics

Maze Comic Book Review - Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman)

How to Make a Laser Maze

In a series of posts I will show you how to make a maze in a wide variety of design constructions. The 44th type of maze construction is the Laser maze. Let’s define what I mean, then get into the example. This particular maze type was brought to my attention on the reddit maze page by user naveedurrehman. It is a puzzle type drawn maze and unique in that the pathways are invisible initially and created by the maze solver !

LASER Maze - A type of PUZZLE maze where THE SOLVER USES PHYSICS TO DETERMINE WHERE A LASER beam WILL BOUNCE in order TO SOLVE THE MAZE.

I want to mention there is a physical version of this maze type, and it may make you think of the movie Entrapment starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Also, Mr. Beast featured one on his channel.

And there is also a physical kids game version of this maze made by Thinkfun where you use mirrors to solve challenges. The game was the winner of the Good Housekeeping Best Toys Award !

How to Make a LASER Maze (DRAWN)

Step 1 - Draw the Outline and Possible Goals

The outline of a laser maze includes 3 sides with an opening for the initial laser to move through. It is possible to do multiple shapes but the most basic is 3 sided for this example. Goals, or possible goals line the outside of the walls. I suggest nothing less than a 4x4 grid, meaning 8-12 possible goals around the border. I like using pink blocks to highlight and guide where mirrors can be placed during maze creation.

Step 2 - Draw the Initial Laser and Mirror

Draw a laser, at the top reflecting off the first mirror/wall. This is essentially your “START”.

Step 3 - Draw the Solution

Add mirrors (walls) that the laser will bounce off of to make the maze solution. In my example below, I fill most of the maze.

Step 4 - Add the Unused Mirrors (walls)

If the solver followed the physics of the laser and bounced in the correct directions, any walls you add will never be used. Be mindful to not block any used pathways that would re-direct the solution. I also deleted my pink block guides.

Step 5 - Add the Directions

This is a type of maze that needs instructions to solve. Add them to the maze. I used simple directions.

Step 6 - Create the Solution (OPTIONAL)

Make the solution to the maze.

Additional Laser Maze Examples

Each laser does not need to bounce 1 level or block, it can move across larger distances. There is no need to fill each block with a mirror, gaps are interesting ! Here is a 5x5 version that includes gaps:

For my next example, I lined 3 sides with possible goals, so 15 total possible goals instead of just 10 using the 2 sides.

Additional Design Discussion:

Do they need to be square/rectangular ? No. But the use of right angles makes solving easiest. There is no question which direction the bounce is going to go to. A triangle, hexagon, and other geometric shapes would also work, with some complications to work through.

How big can they be ? As large as you can imagine.

Only right angles ? You can use other angles, but they complicate the design for both the creator and solver.

Ready to make your own laser maze ? Good Luck !

I did a 3 part blog series on maze constructions if you want to design your own type of maze. Part 3 includes all of the conditional maze options.

Part 1 - Starting and Ending a Maze - Speaks to the 9 most popular ways to start and stop a maze

Part 2 - Maze Path options - Explores the 12 different pathway options for a maze

Part 3 - Conditional Path options - Speaks to 11 different conditional options to add to a maze to make it more enjoyable

Interested in learning how to make or draw other types of digital mazes ? I have step by step instructions on how to make over 40 different maze types.

If you prefer making labyrinths, you can find step by step labyrinth making instructions.