Comments on: Comic Book Writing Tip of the Day: Sell the Next Issue

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:46:25 +0000

I really like the character going missing in the last page, particularly if it seems like the character is in danger. That’s a solid cliffhanger.

The main villain entering the battle could be interesting as a cliffhanger. I think that you would need to establish the character well for it to feel important, though.

I’m not confident about the first one. I think most readers would get pissed off that a character seems to die but doesn’t actually.

By: DemonEye

DemonEye — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:10:56 +0000

Hey what about a villain seemingly dying and then showing up alive and shushing the audience(yes the deadpool thing)?
Or a villain higher up(demonic superhero is the theme for my novel so it’s the big one coming) deciding to enter the battle him/herself?
Or a character goes missing?

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:12:00 +0000

I like the way they handled the origin story as backstory. Leading with Vulture, Reptile and Electro rather than A-listers like the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus was a pleasant surprise. However, I thought that it was questionable to use both Electro and Shocker early on. Their fighting styles and powers are very similar.

I didn’t like the dialogue as much as the plotting. I’ve never been fond of Spiderman’s quips, and they irked me here. However, Norman Osborne was executed very well. He had style without going completely over the top. For example, “don’t apologize, Peter. I never do” sticks out as something that develops the character without making him feel cartoonish.

Also, some of the storytelling is a bit cliche. I wince whenever the story cuts back to Peter’s high school… the geeks vs. jocks conflict feels tiresome. (Then again, I’ve probably seen a lot more of these stories than the average TV watcher). I liked the high school setting better in X-Men: Evolution because the setting was more unusual.

Also, I found it a bit amusing that the show is broadcast on a station owned by Warner Brothers, the company that owns DC Comics. (Spiderman is owned by Marvel Comics, of course).

Incidentally, I notice that the superhero shows I enjoy most are consistently DC. Has anyone else noticed that? For example, compare Justice League, Lois and Clark and Batman: The Animated Series to the Spiderman or X-Man cartoons. I enjoy the Spiderman and X-Men cartoons out of nostalgia, but I wouldn’t actually want to watch them now. I think DC does better in television than movies or comic books because superhero shows tend to rely more on funny writing than interesting fight scenes. DC’s fight scenes tend to be less interesting because DC heroes tend to be more powerful and less creative. (Teen Titans was one notable exception).

Television characters also tend to be very simple– the best examples I can think of are the teenage mutant ninja turtles with a single defining personality trait each. To overgeneralize a bit, I think DC heroes tend to be easier to simplify than Marvel heroes.

Also, on an entirely personal level (and one I don’t think that will apply to the target audience for these shows), I feel it’s easier to relate to the stars of DC shows because they’re usually portrayed as adults. In contrast, Marvel heroes are usually notably younger than me, like the high-schoolers and junior-high students in the latest Spiderman show and X-Men: Evolutions. On the DC side, I think teen versions like Smallville and Teen Titans are the exception rather than the norm. Justice League did a pretty good job of playing its characters in such a way that older and younger watchers could relate. For example, the Green Lantern–Vixen–Hawkgirl romantic triangle had some elements of a high-school romance, but it never seemed kiddy.

By: Dforce

Dforce — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:42:39 +0000

While on the subject of Spiderman: Anyone watch the Spectacular Spiderman animated series? It's pretty decent.
While they are "stuck" in high school, the story seems to mesh that and the villains pretty nicely. Gwen and Pete are gonna clearly be the canon couple (since its a cartoon, I don't think they'll kill her off on this continuity). Doc Oc is one of the serious villains (though they did replace the Kingpin with a shark who reminds me of Kisame of Naruto, lol). By season two, Venom has come and gone and is back again, and Jameson's... son (lol) doesn't turn into a werewolf but a-- well, watch and see. Most of it's on youtube under webslingspiderswing's account.
Just felt like sharing.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:22:51 +0000

Agent Black does look a lot like Peter Parker. When we asked our artist to design Agent Black for the comic book, the reference we gave was of a fairly well-known political scientist.
To make the character look more young and relatable, I specified that he should look like he had just rushed out of bed that morning.

By: Ragged Boy

Ragged Boy — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:36:05 +0000

I like Peter Parker’s style for some odd reason. Did you know that geek chic is in right now for men’s fashion? I like his red sweater and brown jeans combo. Although the sweater is a little plain, it would benefit from a deeper V-neck and maybe two or three vertical stripes on the face of the shirt. But not in the middle, middles are cheesy, maybe slightly to the right. And a colored undershirt to contrast the red. He’s could also roll up the sleeves. Alternatively, he could throw on nice tan blazer or, if he was feeling adventurous, a dark blue one.

I like the pants, especially the fit, I would hope that they are denim and not cotton like khakis. Khakis are so straight edge, they can work though. I suspect he’s wearing some lumpy brown shoes, those can stay.

If I were Petey’s friend, he’d always look stylish. Then again, my style is a little showy and I’m sure that’s not Peter’s personality.

Sorry for the fashion tangent. Haha

By: Ragged Boy

Ragged Boy — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:01:22 +0000

I’ve already got the concept art for Lae and Jim, I need to make adjustments to Lae’s physique. I wanted her to be plus-sized, by modeling standards of course. But I think I’ve got Jim down. I’m really struggling with Adrian though, I’m finding it difficult to make an attractive black face. But I suspect an artist will be able to pull it off. I’m better at abstract concepts and art, anyway.

Unfortunately, our scanner cords were never found, so I don’t know when I’ll be able to post any art.

Fortunately, I”m in no rush to get my stuff produced just yet. I want to at least be done with the script and synopsis by the summer. Then I can focus on the art production and getting money. My horoscope said that Aquarians will have fortune in searching for jobs soon. Although, I only partially believe in astrology. Sometimes it spot-on and sometimes it’s a complete miss.

By: C.R.

C.R. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:07:13 +0000

Hey, is it just me or the manga Pete Parker looks a lot like Agent Black.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:27:17 +0000

Ok. Good luck. You are much better at pencils than I am, so what would you think about doing a few concept drawings before you bring an artist on board?

I mean, umm, we did ten sets of eyes for Agent Orange and none of them felt like they clicked. It was a lot of work.

By: Ragged Boy

Ragged Boy — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:06:35 +0000

You could be right about the character design. Jimelly is simple, like Orange he also wears a longcoat. In addition to that he wears a turtle neck sweater underneath. It’s a pretty generic chemist outfit with futuristic additions. He’s really simple-faced, no lips, no nose, large black eyes, and blue skin/membrane, plus a futuristic headset.

Lae’Trell may be a little more difficult. I suspect it will take a few attempts to make large ram horns that don’t look menacing.

I think I’m ok though, I’ll work it out.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:32:35 +0000

Another thing you could consider is rewriting the sample so that you don’t show exactly what the aliens look like. One of the things I learned was that character-design for exotic characters (like a mutant alligator or aliens) is exceedingly difficult. I tweaked my cover so that we don’t see Agent Orange’s head, which means that I only have to design A.O. once I get published.

Including an exotic character in the same raises the risk that an an editor will think “dear God, this art looks absolutely goofy/awful.” I think a character like Agent Black or Adrian is less likely to have a risk of repelling an editor, because there are fewer ways to go wrong with a relatable human.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:43 +0000

Ok, Ragged Boy.

1. The first thing I would recommend is applying for summer jobs now. The economy’s not great, so try applying to a ton of places. (I applied to 20 places during the summer of my junior year of high school and got one offer). You’ll probably want 5-6 pages and a cover illustrated (at least inked, and ideally colored). For the art and lettering, you’ll probably need $300-$450 total. The good news is that a typical summer job pays $6 an hour for ~35 hours a week, so you could have that much money within a few weeks of the start of summer.

The places that are most likely to be hiring for the summer are stores that are relatively recession-proof, like super-cheap restaurants (McDonald’s, etc) and grocery stores.

If speed is really essential, you could try looking into job opportunities that you can take on immediately. For example, at my high school there was a school store that let students work 5 hours each week. That could give you a head start.

2. When you have the money, then I’d recommend going to DeviantArt’s Job Offer forum and posting a notice that you’re looking for a comic book artist to pencil, ink, and color. I’d recommend including the following elements:

–Size of your project: how many pages you want illustrated. I’d recommend mentioning that there could be more pages later on.
–Budget (optional). You might want to mention upfront around how much you’re thinking about spending. For example, if I were doing something like this, I’d say something like $300+ (negotiable). Or whatever your price range is.
–Include a link to the script for the sample you want illustrated so that artists know what they’re getting into. Make it look as professional and easy to read as possible. If you’d like, I can post it on SN. (We did that for David, and over 50 people have seen his script excerpt).
–What kind of style you’re looking for. You’ll probably want to list 2 or 3 series with similar styles. You’ll probably want to mention your target audience here.
–Encourage people to do a 5 or 10-minute sketch of one of the characters, probably Adrian because he’s probably the character that will appear most in the sample. Most of the artists that apply won’t actually do the sketch, but you might get a surprisingly good sketch by one of the artists that does.

I imagine you’ll probably get 10+ credible offers, and I’d recommend taking a week or two to evaluate those.

By: Ragged Boy

Ragged Boy — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:28:53 +0000

Assistance please.

http://www.superheronation.com/2009/02/25/comic-book-writing-tip-of-the-day-sell-the-next-issue/#comment-18615

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:35:52 +0000

Ah. Yeah, I did have a few business cards printed on dog-tags, but they were expensive. I’ll let you know if we make any more, but I didn’t find them very practical. For one, you can hardly fit a URL on a dog-tag.

By: Dforce

Dforce — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:31:28 +0000

Drat! Confusion abounds B. Mac!

This was for a pilot, a COMPLETELY different story than the one Abban is in. The villain here is named Rune.

As for the pins, they weren’t exactly pins (but I remember them made of something metallic). Something about “business cards” as a joke advertisement that you wanted to hand out, but wasn’t about to pay for more than needed because it didn’t make sense. The piece said to e-mail someone if interested in getting a tin card, or something. Oh well.

And as far the now-known comic, rest assured I’ll buy it if I come across it.