Jan 14 2009
Another Five Common Mistakes of Comic Book Writers (#6-10)
6. Don’t make your heroes too powerful.
Characters should be weak enough that the writer can easily challenge them. For example, if your character is as powerful as Superman, you’re going to run out of potential adversaries because only a supervillain can challenge him. In contrast, Batman can have dramatic fights with regular humans. For example, can Batman rescue hostages before a gunman can shoot them? That’s an interesting scene. It wouldn’t be interesting for Superman. He’d just fly in superfast and save them. That’s boring. There’s no challenge.
As a rule of thumb, I highly recommend against giving any character superstrength and superspeed. Either one could be problematic, but together they will probably cripple your story. I’d also recommend putting some limits on their powers. If your character is so ridiculously strong that he can push the moon out of its orbit or fly so fast that he can go back in time, he will probably make readers roll their eyes.
7. Please avoid rewinding the story, particularly bringing back dead characters.
If something in your story happens, you should not make it unhappen. Revealing that something was “all a dream” or a hallucination or a computer simulation is more likely to confuse your readers than intrigue them. Readers are also likely to feel annoyed that you jerked them around. Instead of wasting their time with a fake story, why not tell a story you’re actually willing to stick to?
The worst kind of rewinding is when the writers undo a character’s death (usually with gimmicks like a deal with the devil or time-travel or resurrection). If death is just an inconvenience, then readers won’t care whether the characters die or not. If your story is action-heavy, that’s probably game over. The fear of death is usually one of the primary reasons that combat is interesting.
8. Go easy on the catchphrases, particularly if the audience is older.
Catchphrases are very cheesy (Hulk smash! Flame on! It’s clobbering time! Dragon up!) They are not very well-suited to most modern audiences. If your target audience is mostly older than 13, I’d really recommend downplaying the catchphrase or at least making it a bit sober.
9. Please don’t let the hero solve all of his problems in the same way.
If your hero uses the same solution every time, it’ll probably get tedious. Force him to mix things up a bit. For example, if your character is a hardboiled tank, try putting him in a situation where he can’t go in with both guns blazing. If your character is like Ironman, try separating him from his powersuit for a scene. Etc.
10. Don’t pad your pages.
Every panel should advance the plot and/or develop a character. Otherwise, readers are going to get bored pretty quickly. Would you pay to see people chatting? “I’m doing well, Mary Jane. How are you?” If you’re not advancing the plot or the characters, the plot has probably stalled.
Also, please be especially careful about splash pages (pages that only have one panel). They take up a lot of room, so comic book editors expect that splashes will advance the plot in a major way.
Did you find this article useful? If so, please read the other articles in this series.
- Part 1
- Part 2
I’ll be sure to watch number 8. “It’s Showtime!” hahaha. I probably won’t give Adrian a catchphrase, his name is interesting enough.
When your series gets published, you can definitely ask your editor what he thinks about a catchphrase. I notice that Static Shock (a relatively recent comic series) included a catch phrase, so it might just be an acquired taste.
I’ve tried thinking up a catchphrase for one of my guys, but I don’t know what to use or who to give it to.
The only catchphrase I may have Adrian repeatedly say is “Action!”
Hmm… I’m not quite feeling “action!” Then again, I’m not fond of catchphrases in general, so it’s not really surprising that I’d feel that way.
Dammit, I’m already getting caught by number 10. I’ve got 8 pages of my superhero story so far, and 1 1/2 pages of that doesn’t advance the plot at all. Now, normally, this wouldn’t be bad… but I’m supposed to be writing a short story. At this rate, the finished draft will be some 40 pages long…
For the interested, here’s a “back-flap summary”:
Meet Darryl (no superhero handle yet, although not for lack of contemplation, he’d be the first to say), the son of globally renowned superhero “Avenging Angel”. He’s kind of sick of the high standards he’s constantly being put up against. Especially since his only power is a half-assed version of his mother’s ability to fly: the ability to fall to the ground in any manner he chooses.
In order to make a name for himself (and give him an easy way into the superhero business), Darryl decides to enter The Champion’s Tournament, a rigorous qualification tourney that would grant the winner a hero’s apprenticeship to The Champion, intergalactic defender of peace. As the tournament progresses, Darryl makes new friends, new rivals, and finds himself learning more and more about what it means to be a “hero.”
Of course, the first step to achieving your dreams is always the hardest – but it’s even harder when you’re up against 1200 other hero candidates!
Hmm, I think you’re right. 1.5 pages of padding could be problematic in a short-story. If you’re on course for 40 pages, I’d recommend cutting out as much of those 1.5 pages as possible. (If length were less of an issue, I’d recommend introducing more links between those 1.5 pages and the rest of the plot, so that the 1.5 pages felt like part of the story).
One way you could shorten things is by making the contest less drawn-out. For example, if there are 1200 candidates, there are probably going to be a lot of challenges or duels before he gets selected. (Probably 5, I imagine). That’s fine for a novel, but a novel could probably spend 30-40 pages on his selection. In contrast, I’d recommend limiting the scope of the selection process for a short-story because I imagine you’d be limited to 10 (maybe 15) pages there. Bringing it down so that he only has 2 (maybe 3) challenges/duels would probably make things simpler.
What do you think?
I’ll try integrating the padding into the story first, and then once I have a complete draft (some time in the distant future…) and a final page count, I’ll cut out the super extraneous stuff. Er, no pun intended.
I was already planning on cutting out at least 75% of that 1200 with the first challenge, so no problems there. I’m debating on how many people should be in the final round… There should be at least four people (Darryl, two of his friends and the primary rival), but this final round needs to be a free-for-all battle scene, so I can’t have so many characters that I’m over-reaching my abilities as a writer. Got a good number for a brawl between supers?
The big characters in this story, not necessarily listed by importance:
- Vincent Barel, “Combat Kid” (bad name, I know): a bit of a jerk, he’s bullied Darryl since primary school, and has a “ends justify the means” attitude to the tournament. His powers include enhanced reflexes, enhanced senses, superhuman acrobatics, and above-average strength. He has been trained in a very bestial form of martial arts passed down through his family.
- Olen Moreno: although he is a bit shy around strangers, Olen is the type of person who can’t abandon people in trouble. His caring nature and heart of gold make him very likable, but he is a bit too honest and trusting to really deal with “villains”. His power is the ability to see flashes of the future when he concentrates or panics; with time, he will also be able to see events that are happening in the present, or events that have happened in the past.
- Casey Fuller, “Zerox/Crue-Cut”: although he has a temper, Casey buckles easily against those who are stronger than he is. Case in point, he becomes Vincent’s lackey during the first round of the Tournament. His power is the ability to create clones of himself out of anything that comes from his body, be it hair or nail clippings or his blood.
- Troy Rivers, “Daedalus/Datalyst”: an intellectual by nature, Troy is cool and rational at all times, even under duress. He was Casey’s friend prior to the Tournament, and so follows him into lackeyhood under Vincent’s command. His power is the ability to instantly and accurately gather information about any object or person that he sees, sometimes involuntarily.
- Lianna Pratt: Energetic and vigilant, sometimes a little foul-mouthed, sometimes a little girly, always a big time fan of the Avenging Angel. Lianna (“You can call me Li.”) is a complicated girl with a simple goal – become a superhero that can protect the weak and defeat the unjust. She becomes Darryl’s best friend and his most admant supporter during the Tournament, despite wanting to win the apprenticeship for herself. Her power is the ability to create “psychic bubbles,” which can perform a wide range of functions.
Darryl, Lianna, Owen, and Vince are the four that HAVE to be in that final round. Guess who becomes The Champion?
I think four is a good number.
I planned to have a three way free-for-all, with Showtime, Michelle, and another competitor in the final stages of the contest.
Right now I’m working on my comic strip, but I also want to work on a serious graphic novel, a sort of moody Sailor Moon meets Chocolat (Joanne Harris).
Granted, this is about action comics, but can you create a graphic novel with a quiet tone? Can you balance the action with the protagonist’s melancholy?
I want to start out the story with the protagonist hanging out with her best friend after a disastrous birthday celebration. Would that be okay, if I made it a hook, or no? Can dialogue rather than action hook a reader?
Hi, Jaya.
I’m not that familiar with Chocolat, so just to recap, this is what I understand about the plot: the protagonist and her young daughter move into a conservative town and open a chocolate shop during Lent. The mayor tries to shut her down, but her warmth and skill win over the town as she encourages them to think outside of the box. The IMDB summary suggests that there is a lot of romance.
My impression is that Chocolat’s target audience is 30+ women. One of the main differences between Sailor Moon and Chocolat is that Sailor Moon has a more publisher-friendly target audience. Namely, 13-20 year-olds (mostly girls but with a substantial peripheral demographic of guys as well). This is important because graphic novels are typically sold in stores where customers are guys aged 13-25. The more appealing you can make your story to those demographics, the easier it will be to find a publisher.
“Can you create a graphic novel with a quiet tone?”
Quiet as in action-sparse, definitely. What do you think about Spiderman Loves Mary Jane as a comparable series? It’s heavy on relationships (romantic and otherwise) and has virtually no superhero action. Its target audience is around 13-18. That’s probably a bit younger than yours is, but is it close?
Aside from SLMJ, the other action-light series that come to mind are Persepolis, Watchmen and Maus.
“I want to start out the story with the protagonist hanging out with her best friend after a disastrous birthday celebration. Would that be okay, if I made it a hook, or no?”
That sounds fine. Just make the stakes high. Even though nobody’s life is at stake*, it should be clear that this birthday debacle is a big deal.
–*Or so I imagine.
Also, it’s not clear from your description whether the person that is suffering from the birthday disaster is the protagonist or her best friend. I’d recommend writing it so that it’s the protagonist that’s suffering. If it’s just the protagonist helping the best friend getting over her bad day, readers may wonder “why am I reading about [protagonist] when it’s the best friend that’s going out and doing interesting things?”
So B. Mac, can you set up a review forum for me?
Sure. Here it is. Also, you might find it helpful to look at this article.
Chocolat is aimed at women in their thirties, but I think that a teenager could enjoy the story. I’m going by the book, which I’ll summarize:
Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk move to Lansquenet, a sleepy French town with turmoil. However, as the Priest Father Reynaud tries to root these “pagans” out, believing that they are corrupting the town.
This is a quiet novel because while burning boats and abusive husbands exist within the plot, Mrs. Harris focuses more on Vianne helping people deal with grief, mend family ties, and find new lives for themselves.
I guess what I mean in terms of quiet is “not as much action,” or I don’t want the action to dominate the story. My villain isn’t evil evil, and like the Sailor Moon villains she creates monsters; but she actually doesn’t want them to get killed, which leads her creating only a few. (The reason for the lack of action.)
I have a passive protagonist who gradually does more as she comes to realize her inner strength.
It is the protagonist’s birthday disaster, by the way. The friend is important, but doesn’t steal the show (as far as I know; I’m just planning out the plot before actually drawing it.)
I don’t think bringing back dead characters is always bad, if there is some grave consequence for doing so. For example, I was very annoyed by Heroes in season 2 when Claire’s blood could cure everything. The show lost some tension because a dead character could now be resurrected (fortunately they’ve since dropped it).
Then there’s Supernatural. I think they’ve used the “bring back from the dead” thing 3 times now, yet there is always a dangerous aspect to what they do. The price of bringing someone back is always high. Even when Dean was brought back by an angel, it was only so he could stop the Apocalypse (long story).
I agree heartily with #6! I’m severely limiting the powers of my heroes. Nothing kills my interest in a character faster than overpowering them (*coughCABLEcough*). Who wants to play with the kid in the neighborhood who pulls new rules out of nowhere so that he wins every time? That’s no fun. Giving your characters powers with defined limits forces them to be more resourceful and creative in how they solve their problems, and forces YOU, the writer, to come up with cleverer ideas, too.
I’m also trying to make my villains *smart* instead of cliche. If the heroes seem to be getting too close, the villains need to adapt and change their game plan to stay ahead of them. Have people make intelligent decisions (as intelligent as is in-character, that is) and make the reasoning plausible and solid.
That sounds like a plan, Illustar. My first two heroes have pretty limitless abilities and I hate that. I’m still trying to come up with good limitations. I=
Hey, I have a question for you, B. Mac. I was thinking about how you said it becomes dull when the hero can never face average criminals. Well, they certainly can’t but since my story happens in the future, there is some future technology. Maybe criminals have newer weapons to challenge people with abilties? Would that work out as long as the general public could access these weapons or criminals could get them at the black market?
I disagree with #6. I enjoy large non realistic powers and still think of challenges. For example, if a world contains many supervillains? Also, why is bringing back dead people bad for the plot?
Bringing back dead characters is bad plotting because it makes death meaningless. If death is meaningless, who cares what happens in the fight? If it doesn’t matter whether a character dies or not, the fighting is meaningless. Those are some nice punches and kicks, but they don’t matter.
I think that criminals armed with supertechnology could work. The goal here is to give yourself the ability to suddenly bring in serious foes that don’t have to be introduced. Usually, a supervillain has to be introduced, which is why it’s hard to write a hero that can only be challenged by supervillains.
I like supervillains that work with ingenuity and resources more than those that just have ridiculously powerful abilities. For example, in Watchmen I found Ozymandia’s plan to be genius. He doesn’t have any powers, but he was able to destroy a huge chunk of NYC and stop a nuclear war. I was far less impressed when Frieza blew up the saiyan planet with a blast. Yawn.
I think you may be focusing too much on powerful villains, which are good, but people only remember and appreciate villains with style. For example, the Joker is one of the most famous villains because he oozes style.
I’m not so convinced about the Joker in The Batman. Are you?
I’m speaking of the Joker in general.
I don’t think that The Batman is done very well.
Which Batman is The Batman? is that the one from WB, where the Joker had long hair?
yes and a cute batgirl
Oh, I didn’t like that one either. I don’t really like The Brave anf The Bold. Batman doesn’t feel like himself.
I enjoy The Brave and the Bold, but that’s probably because I prefer the a more light-hearted Batman. I’m not the biggest fan of the darker Batman that’s become popular in recent years. And The Brave and the Bold features many characters who are generally overlooked, which pleases me greatly.
The Batman started off really good. Especially the Clayface story. Then somewhere along the line (I think when Robin was introduced, but not because Robin was introduced) it just degraded. The final episodes with the Justice League were just… meh…
The Brave and the Bold is good because it gives minor superheroes like Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Plastic Man etc. a chance to appear as main characters, whereas otherwise they wouldn’t be strong enough characters to merit a show. The Blue Beetle show wouldn’t work, but the fact that it’s Blue Beetle plus Batman makes it watchable.
Ick. I found Aquaman’s cameo in The Brave and the Bold particularly annoying. It was like the writers had been assigned to write the episode as an audition for an Aquaman show. On the other hand, I think that cameos work much more smoothly on an ensemble show like Justice League. For example, Booster Gold’s performance in The Greatest Story Never Told was ridiculously entertaining in part because he was a nobody.
Also, on a completely unrelated tangent, I think that Batman’s voice actor in Brave and the Bold is distinctly subpar.
Batman’s chin in the BatB bothers me. I know it’s the animation style, but seriously, a chin that is sharply square does not exude manliness.
And as for…Aquaman…yeah, underwater bank robbers, hmm? Never in a million years. Still, his addition in Teen Titans (yeah, shoot me for watching the show as a kid) was not bad.
Okay, Aquaman aside, Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, Red Tornado, The Atom, Deadman, heck even Speedy! They were all pretty interesting.
But what I like about BatB is some of the internal thoughts, they crack me up!
‘Thespian’ Robber: Thou shalt feel the sting of my blade!
Batman: (thinking) Somewhere, Shakespeare is spinning in his grave.
Blue Beetle: Whoa, it’s like no time has passed at all!
Batman: Due to the quantum anomalies of the wormhole, none has. (thinking) Which is just a fancy way of saying this job gets weird sometimes.
But one thing I definitely didn’t like about BatB is their version of the Joker. Ugh, absolutely nothing distinctive or interesting about him. Luckily he doesn’t feature much.
And as I have said numerous times, I love Teen Titans! Yaaaaaay!
I need some help. My comic has 8 people. Is that too many?
Heya, Markeith! You’d probably need to describe more about the characters specifically… Are they the eight HEROES of the story, or just eight important characters in general, including the villain and his henchmen? If it’s a superhero team of eight people, you probably have too many. ^_^;; In my review forum, we’re discussing how my NINE main characters are simply overwhelming the plot. Three, four, or five heroes in the main team are a better shot than eight.
Hello, Markeith. When you say eight characters, do you mean eight heroes? That would probably be too many for a short series. However, a team of 4 heroes + a love interest + 2 villains + a side protagonist (like a cop) would be very feasible. If you’re doing a team of superheroes, I’d recommend keeping the team to 2-5 members. If you have more heroes than that, it will be hard to develop them all. (Also, fight scenes with 8+ main combatants will be hell).
Would you like a review forum?
“7. Please avoid rewinding the story, particularly bringing back dead characters.
If something in your story happens, you should not make it unhappen. Revealing that something was “all a dream” or a hallucination or a computer simulation is more likely to confuse your readers than intrigue them. Readers are also likely to feel annoyed that you jerked them around. Instead of wasting their time with a fake story, why not tell a story you’re actually willing to stick to?”
I think this is a very very wrong advice to give. I mean, it depends on the genre. One of my favorite comics features Dylan Dog, an investigator of nightmares and the paranormal, so dreams, hallucinations of all sorts, not to mention bringing back of the dead… (there are episodes where everything is a dream or a parallel reality in all 120 pages) are simply his playground, and occur often (but don`t steal the show). It`s really a thrill and a pleasure to be “jerked” around like that and I`m not the only one who feels that way.
I wish you the best of luck.
I haven’t read any Dylan Dog, but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that revealing to publishers and/or readers that the entire issue or graphic novel (or even a major portion of it) was a dream is more likely to anger than please them.
I think it’d help if the dream sequences somehow advance the “real world” plot, as in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. But I think the most common use of dreams is to introduce some shocking event/change/information that doesn’t affect what is actually happening the story in any permanent way. I don’t think that’s usually effective storytelling. For example…
Author: And then the love interest dies!
Reader: OMG!
Author: …But it was all just a dream!
Reader: Kthxbai
Would it be mistake to recap what happened every issue?
I don’t think it’s necessary to do it every issue, but I don’t think that it’s a major mistake. If the book is otherwise publishable, I can pretty much guarantee that an editor wouldn’t pass you up because you had a recap. (For one thing, the earliest a recap could come up is the beginning of issue #2, and by that point you’ve had some time to give them a taste of your work).
10 is overdone in modern comics a lot. What happened to the days when stories could be told in one or two issues? For mine I have a few standalone plots that connect in the big over-reaching plot.
And #6… Good times… When I was twelve all my characters were so freakishly powerful. Electra (my names sucked too) could walk through anything a curent could pass through, fly by becoming a lightning bolt, and don’t even get me started on combat. Too much power is the mark of an immature writer in my eyes.
Splash pages are evil.
“…Don’t even get me started on combat. Too much power is the mark of an immature writer in my eyes.” I agree that it would definitely be a red flag for an unpublished author.
However, I don’t think it’d be a problem if the author sufficiently challenged the character. That said, most nigh-invincible characters are not sufficiently challenged. I don’t think a publisher would miss much if it preemptively rejected every submission with a main character that was substantially more powerful than (say) Spiderman or Batman. DC’s got that market locked up pretty tight.
Also, it’s harder to do crossovers with nigh-invincible characters.
Haha. I remember starting out I would often give my character one power and try to make it branch out into as many powers as possible. ” He can control water because he can use air to lift and shape it. It came out lame every time. Now I try to work with one power that opens itself up to versatility. After all, it’s not really about the powers, if you’re clever you can make nearly anything look good.
Any superpower can turn be really powerful. Someone who can control water, for example, could be unstopable. He draws all the water out of somebody’s body, they’re now dead, and little effort is needed.
Exacta. It’s all about the limitations. My Showtime controls water, but I would never play him as super powerful or a killer. In fact, he’ll cut objects with water but not people. Go moral code!