ESSAY:
Arthur G. Slade

So You want to Write Comics? Get Real!


     BAM!  CRACK!  POW!

     I wish it was that easy.  But writing comics isn't
as simple as it looks.  Yes, many of today's top comic
bestsellers have heroes in tights (and heroines wearing
even less), fighting the maladjusted villains panel
after panel, stopping only to check their hair in a phone
booth window.  But look a little deeper and you'll
discover you've only scratched the surface.  Comics are
becoming respectable. Comics are literary.  Comics are
coming of age.  Hence the regards for Art Spiegelman's
Maus or Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.
     Where do you begin?  Well first you have to have a
story.   Then you have to write it.  Sound familiar?
It is, except you need one more thing: an artist
(assuming you're not one already).  What that means you
have to communicate to him exactly what you want to be
portrayed on the page.  This is where the scripting of
the comic comes into play.
     There is no set way to script a comic.  Your only
goal is to portray the story to the artist (and through
him, the reader).  Some writers prefer the Plot style
scripting.  In this style of writing you describe what
happens from panel to panel, including action and
dialogue:

Slade/HALLOWED KNIGHT # 1/PLOT

ONE: Caption: NEW YORK, PRESENT DAY.  View from above
of RACHELLE, a 28 year old woman, walking down a dirty
ghetto street in New York.  She is slouched, and wearing
loose clothes, trying to look inconspicuous.   There is
an old apartment building next to her, in one window is
a t.v. with a well dressed male Anchor who says: "Violent
crime is up 30%.  Experts have no explanation for this
increase."
TWO: Closer view of Rachelle as she walks past a
consignment store, with bars in the window.  Inside the
store is another t.v. showing a talk show.  The TALK
SHOW HOST is a black woman, with two guests. GUEST ONE
is an ethereal looking woman who is dressed in a long
gown.  She says: "Yes, I did see an angel.  It was
glowing.  It talked about an overwhelming darkness."
GUEST TWO: a middle aged, thin man with glasses says:
"The aliens told me the same thing." 
THREE: Now a street level view of Rachelle from the
front.  She is walking with her head down.  Behind her is
an old, busted up car.  A drunk is inside the car, both
legs hanging out a window.  THE RADIO says: "Can you
believe it, folks?  People in Waklo, Texas say the dead
have come back to life!  What's more frightening than
an undead mother in law?"

     The plot style script is in present tense and
explains a detailed story. It's important to include the
dialogue so that the artist knows exactly what type of
expression to put on each characters face, and what
emotions have to be expressed.
     The second and, (in my view) more accessible
scripting method, is the movie script.  Which explains
everything to the artist, and breaks it down panel by
panel.  There are generally five to six panels of
artwork per page.

PAGE ONE
PANEL ONE
Close up of Azure.   His face is bloody and dripping
with sweat.  He has just awakened from being beaten.)
CAPTION:  "...IN THE CRUELEST..."
AZURE: Mary!

PANEL TWO
Pull back to a full view of Azure.  He has been
tied to a tree, and has been hanging for hours.
There are five Anglo-Saxon ruffians gambling for his
clothes, rolling stone dice.  A fire is blazing near
them.
CAPTION:"...MOST HEARTLESS MANNER POSSIBLE."
JARETH: I GET HIS BOOTS!  IF THE STONES FALL MY WAY I GET HIS BOOTS!
RUFFIAN TWO: HIS BELT IS MINE!

PANEL THREE.
Close up of stones with weird runes on them.  They look like dice.
JARETH: YES!  I GET HIS BOOTS!


     The third method of scripting out a story is
rather self explanatory.  Write it and sketch it up
yourself, then hand it to the artist (assuming your
skills aren't quite up to par). He'll do the rest.
     My style is to tell the artist as much details
as possible, then leave it up to the artist to
interpret events.  This is where you have to trust
the artist's instinct too.  I encourage the artist
to throw in extra panels if he feels they need them. 
To change things around.  This is co-operation at
it's highest.  It's a wonderful thing when an artist
takes what you have in your head and puts it down on
paper.  It's even better when the artist refines it
into something deeper.
     Another word to the wise is be brief:  there
isn't a lot of room for your villain to wax on about
how his childhood in hell made him the demon he is
today.  Perhaps more so than in any other medium,
concepts have to be expressed in the briefest manner
possible so they don't jam up the entire page, thereby
hiding the art work.  Comic are the mixture of art and
story. There has to be a balance. Examine your favorite
comics and get a feel for how many words you put in
each word balloon.
     Comic stories still have all the structural elements
of a regular story, the rise in action, the climax, the
denouement.  In that sense they are no easier to write.
Everything else you have learned as a writer can be used
here.  You still have to know your characters.  Even if
Maximum Muscle wears a purple suit and a cape, he still
has that little boy inside at who was yelled at by his
mad scientist father. He still falls in love. He still
feels awkward in social situations.  
     My most important advice for writing comics is this:
get real!  Yes, comics are mostly fantasy superheroes,
but they all have a human side to them.  There has to be
a story, there has to be personality...there has to be
reality.  The 13 year old market is surviving and
thriving, but there is also a core readership of mid
twenties to early forty year olds who love comics, and
want real stories.  Remember the Incredible Hulk, who's
favorite line was "Hulk smash"?  Times have changed. 
Read the now famous AIDS issue (#420) that deals with
homosexuality and the Hulk coming to terms with the fact
that his friend is dying of AIDS.  If you approach
writing comics as creating 2 dimensional storylines with
one dimensional characters, you'll produce flat comics.
     Finally, where's the cash?  How do you get in on the
ground floor?  Well, like all writing, it's not for the
timid. If you have a favorite comic, study it.  Read
every issue. Know every character.  Come up with a plot
line and send it to the editor (found in the front of
each comic) with a professional letter describing your
credits and a short example script.  You might get a
phone call or a letter saying "Go ahead, we love your
stuff, kid!"  Others are going the self publishing route.
Find a willing artist who has the same dream.  Complete
a comic, lettering it, colouring it, and getting into
the distributor catalogue and getting it out there.
With luck and talent you might make money...you might
get noticed.  And either fly solo or get picked up by one of
the bigger comic book publishers.  And even cheaper
solution is mini-comics, comics that have been created
and photocopied and stapled and sold to your friends and
local comic shops.  Don't frown, it's a beginning...and a
lot of talented artists do it, for the pleasure of creating.
And isn't that what we're in this writing business for?

     BANG CRACK POW!    

This Essay was previously published in Freelance Magazine and Byline Magazine.
Stay Tuned for more essays...coming soon!


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