Lawyer

• +: Like journalists, lawyers can be drawn into a wide range of plots pretty easily.  Even if there isn’t a legal angle to pursue, a lawyer can also be called in as a consultant, advisor or investigator.
• +: It takes less research to capture a lawyer’s voice than it does to write a scientist or soldier.  In most situations, such as speaking with witnesses or clients or juries, lawyers use less jargon and speak in a way that’s pretty clear for readers without legal training.
• -:  You really need to have some basic familiarity with the law and what lawyers do.  It’s much easier to just make up stuff with a scientist or journalist.
• -:  Cliche.  Between Daredevil, the Huntress, She-Hulk, and Manhunter, there’s plenty of competition.  Still, lawyers aren’t as cliche as journalists or scientists.
• -:  I think lawyers have a bit less international appeal.  Journalists and soldiers and teachers do pretty much the same thing anywhere in the world.   In contrast, lawyers are more limited to their countries because national laws are different everywhere.
• -:  Usually unaccountable.  Give him a boss, ideally one he doesn’t get along with.
• Tip: focus on unusual jobs.  Editors have already read many comic books where a wrongfully accused suspect begs someone like Matt Murdock to clear his name.  If you try something that cliche, you REALLY need to execute it well.

Soldier

• +: Built-in audience.  Military action is a fairly well-established subgenre, so that will make it easier to pitch your story and find an audience.
• +:  Some editors and publishers (particularly Devil’s Due) are very comfortable working with military characters.
• -:  It’s a crowded field.  Many superheroes either are soldiers or have military backgrounds (Captain America, the Punisher, GI Joe, etc).  In fact, this type of story is so common that “supersoldier” has its own Wikipedia entry.
• -:  Military characters tend to be two-dimensional.  Spend some time developing the personality.
• -:  Military stories are prone to ideological ranting.  Do you think that servicemen tend to enlist because they’re honorable patriots or because they had no other opportunities?  How would you describe  the typical relationship between a soldier and his commanding officers?  It’s hard to hide your preconceptions from the audience.
• -:  When it comes to military characters, it’s hard to strike the right balance between research/authenticity and readability.  Because the military sphere is alien to most civilians, you have to make more adjustments for readability than you would if you were writing a story about a cop or a teacher.  It would surprise you how many readers don’t know the difference between a commissioned officer and a noncom.

Criminal

• +:  Sort of unexpected, particularly if the hero is undercover.
• +:  Very wide plot range.  You can pursue a lot of angles that are mostly off-limits to other types of heroes.
• -:  Too much overlap with lawyers and politicians.
• -:  Will readers want him to succeed?
• Tip: I’d recommend either having the hero go undercover, gradually turn away from his life of crime or have some compelling reason to become a criminal.  If he’s a bona fide criminal, he will be hard to root for.  (See The Hood, etc).

Teacher

• +:  Extremely relatable, particularly to young readers. Aside from police officers and firefighters, teachers have pretty much the only job you don’t need to explain to kids.
• +:  You already know what a teacher does and sounds like.  It won’t take you much (if any) research to write a teacher.
• -:  Really hard to work into the average story.  Unless your character is a science professor, how could his work as a teacher tie into his work as a superhero?  Maybe  he’s teaching someone really important (like the child of a VIP or someone with superpowers).  Maybe he’s an undercover cop investigating a crime ring at a local high school.  Maybe he teaches at a very unusual school, like the Xavier Institute, etc.
• -:  Not particularly plausible.  Teachers can’t just run off whenever they want to fight crime or investigate something.  Unless your hero is willing to let supervillains run amok during school hours, he’ll have a lot of absences to explain.
• -:  Vulnerable to life-lessons and preaching.
• -:  It sort of forces you to use the teacher’s students.
• Tip: It’s difficult, but I really recommend tying the hero’s day-job to his work as a hero.  If there’s no connection, the story probably won’t feel coherent.

Mercenary

• +:  A bit fresher than soldiers.
• +: Sort of like criminals, mercenaries may have more story flexibility than soldiers.
• +/-: Typically less regulated than soldiers.  On the plus side, this gives you more room to experiment with unusual teams doing atypical things.  But they’d probably be less accountable to a chain of command than a soldier would be.  Still, you can get around that by challenging him in other ways (like, ahem, in the battlefield).
• -: I think mercenary antiheroes are pretty cliche.  You’d have to execute it really well.
• -:  The profit motive usually makes mercenaries less heroic than soldiers. It may raise likability issues.

Bodyguard

• +: I think there’s a considerable market for assassination plots.
• +: I think assassination plots tend to be both interesting and easy to distinguish.  Adjusting the skill-set of the assassin will lead to a dramatically different story.
• -: It’d be hard to explain how a bodyguard has enough off-time to be a superhero on the side.  Usually, when a superhero serves as somebody’s bodyguard, they’re doing it in costume (as in the Batman episode Laughing Fish) and not as a day job.
• -:  Bodyguards are really limited by plot-type and where they can go when they’re on assignment.  If they have to be next to their charge at all times, the story’s probably going to stall because the character can’t do much but react.  On the other hand, if they’re roving investigators like a Secret Service agent trying to avert an assassination plot, that could work quite nicely.  Day of the Jackal is probably the premiere story in that mold, so I’d recommend checking it out.
• Tip: I recommend focusing on the investigation angle more than the protection angle.

Bounty Hunter

• +: It complements a superhero’s work very nicely.  If a major criminal breaks out of prison (which happens rather often in superhero stories), maybe the police turn to a bounty hunter to capture the fugitive more quickly.
• -: The profit motive may raise likability issues, but I think less than it would for a mercenary.  A bounty hunter’s job may entail violence, but a mercenary’s job is violence.

Did you like this article? Please see part 1 here.

Journalist/Photographer

• +: Can be easily tied into almost any plot.  Whether Godzilla’s attacking, a meteor is about to hit Metropolis or every car in town has mysteriously turned bright pink, a journalist will have something to do.
• +: Good opportunity for conflict (with his editor, with his co-workers, with the people he’s covering, etc.)
• -: Cliche.  Between Superman and Spiderman and Tin Tin and Spider Jerusalem, journalists have been used a lot.
• Tip:  If you use a journalist, give his media outlet a distinct style.  That will help differentiate him from Clark Kent and Peter Parker.

Businessman

• +:  Like journalists, businessmen can usually be involved in a plot fairly easily.
• +:  Businessmen may have access to interesting and exotic resources.  That will give you room to shake things up a bit.
• -:  Less potential for conflict with a boss.  A journalist will have an editor, but a corporate executive doesn’t really have a boss.
• -:  Corporate intrigue is usually harder to follow than journalism.
• Tip: Make him low-ranking.  That will help keep him relatable.  Also, try to avoid complicated plots where one businessman does corporate battle with another.

Scientist

• +:  Character flexibility.  There are a ton of scientist archetypes, but here are a few that come to mind:  quiet and brilliant, eccentric and brilliant (Einstein), restrained-and-professional (CDC), wacky-and-professional (DARPA), etc.  Your character will probably be some flavor of smart, but aside from that the sky’s the limit.
• +:  Science is fairly easy to work into stories.
• -:  In his lab, he’s probably boring.
• -:  It’s hard for an author to fake scientific competence.  You may have to do research to make the character sound believable.
• Tip:  Get him out of his lab as much as possible.  Field research is more interesting and has more storytelling potential than lab research.

Detective/Cop

• +: Built-in audience.  There are a lot of people that like reading detective stories.
• +: This doesn’t require as much research as a scientist, and there are many excellent cop shows.  (I recommend the first few seasons of Law and Order and The Wire).
• +:  Good potential for conflict between superhero and police.
• -:  Poor plot range.
• -:  These stories tend to feel like rehashes of Law and Order or Sherlock Holmes.
• Tip:  If your hero is a cop, it’s particularly important to make the hero and the villains stylish.  That will help distinguish you from Law and Order.

Private Investigator

• +:  Usually easier to write than detectives and cops.  (Less legal jargon means less legal research).
• -:  Not particularly well-suited for a wide range of plots.
• -:  Less potential for conflict than most other professions here, because a PI usually doesn’t have a boss.
• Tip:  Have him work for a PI agency.  That will give him someone to fight with at work.

Did you like this article?  If so, please see part 2 here for details on lawyers, criminals, teachers and mercenaries.

1.  It will be easier to pace the story if the day job can set the hero against the villain. For example, if there’s a new supervillain in town, a journalist has to report what happened, detectives have to investigate his crimes, lawyers might be involved if someone got framed, etc.

2.  Superhero day jobs are often investigative in nature.  Journalists, detectives, lawyers, private investigators and the like are very popular.

3.  Superhero day-jobs usually have a distant boss.  For example, Peter Parker and Clark Kent do most of their work outside the office.  (This makes it a bit easier for them to maintain some independence from their boss).

4.  For dramatic purposes, it’s best to have a tough boss.  That gives you opportunities for conflict and will help make the character relatable and likable.  If the character doesn’t have a boss (because he freelances or owns the company), his obstacles will probably be less serious.  (Alternately, he might have corporate obstacles, like Bruce Wayne having to fight to keep control of Wayne Enterprises, but it’s definitely not as as relatable).

5.  It will probably be most dramatic if the job is stressful and high-stakes.  Would you rather read a story about a superhero that was a professional knitter by day or a superhero that was a detective investigating a grisly string of murders?

If you liked this article, you will probably like Common Superhero Day Jobs.

1. Try to keep the group’s acronym short.  Anything longer than 8 letters is probably too long.
2. When you’re filling in what the acronym stands for, don’t feel pressured to use all the letters.  Using all the letters may force you to try to cram in a cheesy-sounding word to get around a tricky letter.  For example, if your group of psychic superheroes called itself FAZE, the acronym might stand for the “Federation of American Empaths,” even though it didn’t use the Z.
3. In a novel, when you spell out an acronym like SHIELD or the CIA or whatever, I recommend not putting periods between each letter.  It would look more awkward if you wrote it out like S.H.I.E.L.D.  Also, using periods may force you to use ugly commas.  “I love S.H.I.E.L.D., but Nick Fury scares me.”  Eww.
4. The best group-names suggest something about the group and what it stands for.  No one would confuse SHIELD with HATE, for example.
5. When you’re coming up with a word to use as the acronym, nouns typically work better than adjectives.  In the context of your story, the acronym is a noun, so it might look weird if you had to write a sentence like this:  When the supervillains escaped, the President knew he had to call SURLY.

A better example of a unique weakness is the Martian Manhunter’s vulnerability to fire.  It doesn’t feel arbitrary that fire might damage something.  Unlike yellow or kryptonite, fire is dangerous to most living things.  Compared to kryptonite, something generic like fire has the added advantages that it’s easier to acquire and use.

Other authors sometimes use completely innocuous weaknesses, but that’s tricky and usually contrived.  Let’s say your hero is vulnerable to marshmallows.  You’d probably have to come up with a (goofy) explanation for his weakness, then show that he somehow discovers that he’s weak against them, and then show that the supervillain somehow discovers it as well.  Generally, it’s easier to work with weaknesses that are plausible and logical.  That helps you avoid relying on ridiculous contrivances to explain how the villain discovers the weakness.  (You could work something like fire into a fight scene even if the villain doesn’t know it’s his weakness.  I don’t think you could do the same for marshmallows).

I think the best weaknesses are side-effects of the hero’s strengths.  For example, a hero with supersight might be vulnerable to intense light.  Someone with superhearing might be vulnerable to loud sound.  One advantage of these weaknesses are that you can work them into secret-identity stories.  Clark Kent isn’t likely to run into kryptonite when he’s having dinner with Lois, but he might get a migraine when a jet flies overhead.  Here are some other possibilities.

• Superstrong heroes are probably too dense to have much buoyancy.  That would make it very difficult for them to fight in water– even treading would be a tremendous struggle for someone like the Hulk, let alone Ben Grimm or Slate.  If your villain needed to escape, he could take advantage of this by flooding the room with water, knowing that he will float upwards but that the hero will sink.
• Super-fast characters would create a lot of friction when they run.  A supervillain might try to take advantage of that by dousing the room with a flammable oil (so that the friction will set him on fire) or anything slippery.  However, the slippery angle has already been used fairly extensively.
• A psychic’s powers would probably require more concentration than physical powers.  A supervillain might try to take advantage of that by flooding the room with a weak tranquilizer gas to make it harder to concentrate.  Loud noises might also work.  Finally, if the villain sets distractions before his final plot is set to go off, the hero might be completely exhausted and badly in need of sleep when the final battle commences.
• Someone that wears a powersuit is probably not very dexterous or precise when he has his armor on.  A villain may be able to trick him into taking off his suit (or at least parts of it) by planting a bomb.  I doubt anyone could manually defuse a bomb with metal gloves on.  Alternately, your villain might also try using a powerful magnet to reduce his mobility or an electromagnetic pulse to fry his circuits.
• Unlike humans, most terrestrial animals cannot metabolize alcohol.  If your character is not human (like Superman), he might not be able to either.  That could easily lead to interesting social situations.  Additionally, you could probably work it in as an ingestible poison.  It would be much less incriminating to have an assassin armed with Bud-Lite than cyanide…
• Capture the hero’s girlfriend.  Add an explosive booby trap.  Voila!  Instant trap.  Ideally that will kill the hero, but the worst-case scenario is that it kills the girlfriend, leaving the hero in an emo funk for years to come.

Alternately, you can try a quirky vulnerability to Kryptonite or something else that isn’t usually dangerous.  If you’re leaning that way, please see this cautionary article.

Did this article help? Submit us to Stumble!

1)  These stretch gloves are as simple as gloves get.  They will help your hero look more human and relatable.

2) These are also very conventional.  Like #1, they lend themselves to human-looking gestures but are more professional and smooth.  The contrast between the light-gray and charcoal portions gives these a mild sci-fi vibe, but you could easily eliminate that by recoloring the light gray portions.

3) These look poorly-fitted and uncomfortable.  To make these look less uptight, I’d recommend ironing out the pockets of air in the finger and palm.  I like the longer sleeve, though.  It helps makes the hero feel epic and out of the ordinary.  The long sleeve would be very appropriate for, say, Superman (if he wore gloves).

4) The bold seams here give these a gritty, badass feel.  But these could easily be adapted for a light and whimsical character like Static Shock by blending the seams and changing the colors.  The straight lines are clean and striking.  The logo space could easily be adapted for something appropriate for your superhero.

5) These gloves are too bulky around the fingers.  The character’s gestures will probably look unnatural.  However, that could be advantageous if the character is a villain, particularly one that’s supposed to be a faceless henchman.

6) These gloves are gaudily military.  I wouldn’t recommend using them unless the character’s uniform is otherwise very military.  To adapt these gloves, I would reduce the color contrast and simplify them by removing the straps.

7) These look like something Robocop or a dystopian biker might wear.  Armored gloves will always look unhuman, but these are particularly unhuman because of the strange protrusions rising from the fingers.  If you wanted to make this character look more heroic, I’d recommend ironing these gloves out and making them smoother.

These are similar to #2 but more badass.  I’d recommend simplifying these by removing the ornamentation on the thumb.

9) These are more Golden Age.  B-3 pilots crews wore them.

1)  These are classic military boots.  They’ll probably be pretty effective if you’re looking for your character to come off as hardass, professional, disciplined, etc.  If you’d like to make these come off softer, I’d recommend lowering the heel and making the toe protrude less.

2)  These SWAT boots look pretty badass and contemporary, but I’d recommend taking away the zipper.    You can also simplify this boot design by removing some seams to reduce the number of distinct sections.

3)  These British assault boots combine some of the characteristics of the first two pairs.

4)  These British fireman’s boots have a peaceful sci-fi vibe.  They look ceremonial.  I like the white stripe for a slightly gaudy touch.

5)  These boots also feel sci-fi.  The heel makes them look slightly foreboding. Also, Cadet Davis assures me that they are so deadly uncomfortable that he would rather march in stilts… the wuss!

6)  These are civilian office shoes, like what a businessman or IRS agent would wear.   I can assure you they are uptight and not very comfortable.  To make the character seem more relatable, I would recommend making the shoes less shiny– otherwise it will seem like he regularly buffs his shoes, which is a bit creepy.

7)  These Oxford shoes are more contemporary and laid-back than the previous pair.

I’ll offer some visual references for gloves, helmets, firearms and shirts/coats later.

]]> http://www.superheronation.com/2008/08/31/government-gear-can-keep-your-superhero-from-looking-campy/feed/ 11 http://www.superheronation.com/2008/07/07/cliche-superhero-characters-national-paragons-captain-ethnic/ http://www.superheronation.com/2008/07/07/cliche-superhero-characters-national-paragons-captain-ethnic/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:14:18 +0000 Cadet Davis http://www.superheronation.com/?p=907 One common superhero archetype is the national paragon, a hero designed to represent a country, ethnic group or other group of people.  The most obvious example is Captain America, but the list is long.  For example, Hadji from Johnny Quest exists only to charm snakes and hack computers.  (Also, have I mentioned that “haji” is an ethnic slur?)

Here is a list of potential problems with using national paragons…

1. It usually suggests that the author doesn’t understand other cultures well. For example, one common problem is that the author assumes that other countries are pretty much mirror images of his own. For example, “Captain Germany” might wear a flag-themed suit like Captain America’s. That strongly suggests that the author doesn’t know a thing about German culture or its aversion to anything remotely nationalistic. Captain America’s costume is almost always a poor choice of costume inspiration for most national paragons because it hailed from a time that was nationalistic even by American standards.

2. When authors write national paragons, they usually rely on tired cultural tropes. For example, Japan’s hero will almost always be a samurai or ninja. An African hero will probably resemble Black Panther, a romanticized pre-modernite. His superpowers probably involve some primitive weapon like a spear, his ancestors or his close connection to animals. Even though the author may not intend a noble tribal warrior to come across as a slap at Africa, it’s virtually impossible to avoid that.

3. If you want to draw all the characters from the racial and ethnic majorities of their countries, please include an in-story explanation. Why does an American or French paragon have to be white? For example, the UN bureaucrats selecting the team members want the Japanese member of the team to look “like Japan,” not like one of those damn Ainu or whatever. Perhaps the team’s organizer thinks that a white American is more likely to generate public and media interest than a black.  Or China would flip if its representative were selected from outside the Han majority.   There’s great potential for comedy here, especially if you want the organizers of the team to come off as calculating and callous.

4. If you have to use non-English words to name the characters, please avoid politically tainted words (Blitzkrieg, Kamikaze, Ubermensch, etc). If you think a mainstream German character might call himself Blitzkrieg or Ubermensch, you have no business writing a German character. If you plan to violate this rule, please provide an in-story explanation. For example, perhaps the team’s organizer names the German “Ubermensch” because it seems to have a heroic connotation a la Superman.  Wrong!   (Also.  Please don’t name third-worlders anything with an animal– thanks).

5. National paragons usually come across as representatives of a group rather than individuals. It’s very hard to fix this. If you’re writing your characters to be “typical” representatives of a group of people, they can’t be individuals. You may be able to overcome this problem by giving the character some traits or mannerisms that aren’t typical for his nation or ethnic group. (If you find yourself saying that “No, I can’t have him do that, because a [member of nation X] wouldn’t,” you’re probably sticking too closely to the idea that he’s just a representative of that nation). Be flexible! Readers will appreciate it.

6. If you give specific national origins to the Asian and European members of the team, please do the same for the South Americans and Africans. If you don’t, please provide an in-story explanation.

1. Give us a reason to care. This does not mean that your character has to be similar to your readers. However, if your character is a prince from Atlantis or an alien emissary, you do have to convince us that we should care about his story. Readers tend to prefer stories that feel relatable.  Although you can probably convince readers to look at a book about Atlantis’ court intrigue, it’s more of a struggle than selling a story about Peter Parker, the guy next door.

One way that you could help readers care about a highly exotic character is by giving him a few distinctly human characteristics. For example, even a savage alien warrior might have an affection for his family that seems positively human. For example, I have a picture for you…

This alligator’s smiling hatchling makes him looks very friendly. You might even forget that he’s a 750-pound predator! Does your character have a highly unusual origin story? In what ways will we relate to him?

Finally, it may help to show the character interacting with a familiar human culture. That will help us compare and contrast the foreign culture to our own and we will probably empathize with an alien struggling to fit in. For example, would an alien know how to use a doorknob? A doorknob’s function is not at all intuitive. I think readers would sympathize with anyone who struggled with something like that.

2. Don’t make your hero a Chosen One– give him a chance to prove himself. Characters generally make their strongest impressions on us as they fight through adversity. But if your character was born into a highly powerful caste or inherits some great power, that robs readers of the chance to see him prove himself. How has your character earned his story? For example, the Green Lanterns recruit someone only after they have proven themselves worthy. Likewise, the Amazons choose Diana to be Wonder Woman not because Diana was born a princess, but because she snuck into the Amazonian trials and won the competition. She became Wonder Woman despite her high birth, not because of it.

If you would like a character who has an unusual birth story, I would recommend making him the victim of chance. Instead of being born a prince, make him born into a low caste. Instead of making him an object of unbridled admiration, like Eragon, may he has to overcome widespread doubt and/or contempt.

3. It may be useful to tie your character’s origin story to the villain’s plot. Ideally, your hero will have some link to the villain. At the most cliché level, the villain killed the hero’s family or received his superpowers in the same accident. (Fortunately, you can create more original links in your story).

Spiderman has an origin story that builds a tight plot. Spiderman gets his superpowers through a scientific accident, like his archrival Norman Osborn. The two also share a personal connection through Osborn’s son and, more importantly, they are moral foils. Peter Parker’s morals center on several ideas: “with great power comes great responsibility” and that revenge is rarely satisfying– his attempt to get back at a wrestling boss gets his uncle killed. In contrast, Osborn believes that power and entitlement come hand in hand, which is why he kills his business competitors. Finally, there’s a strong white-collar vs. blue-collar aspect to the fight, which is especially compelling because the series doesn’t romanticize poverty too much.

One example where the origin story leads to a random, jumbled story is Static Shock. Although he receives his powers in the same accident as his villains, he doesn’t share any other links with them (personal, ethical or otherwise).

4. Is the character’s background too exceptional? For example, instead of being just a soldier, your character is a Navy SEAL. Instead of being just a government functionary, he’s a cabinet secretary! Instead of being a corporate flunkie, he runs the company… he won a Pulitzer…he’s won several Nobel Prizes, etc.

It’s much harder to write a gripping story about Bruce Wayne (the company’s owner) than Peter Parker (an entry-level nobody). No one’s going to get in Bruce’s face like a supervisor would. Additionally, someone who has truly mastered his sphere, like a Navy SEAL or Nobel-winning chemist, will probably be completely self-confident. Real people sometimes doubt themselves, so they can relate to heroes that have some doubts. (However, for a mainstream story, pushing the self-doubt too hard will drive the story into emo wangst territory).

Alternatively, you might want to use a character who has an impressive but low-ranking background. For example, a Wall Street stock-broker or Army sergeant are not especially high in their respective organizations but either would have many useful skills.

5. Give us a chance of a happy ending. If the character’s origin story hinges on an overwhelming tragedy, what’s he fighting for? No matter how many criminals The Punisher executes, it won’t bring back his murdered family. Your ending doesn’t have to be happy, but if readers think that a happy ending isn’t possible, they probably won’t care about the story. Effective tragedies usually generate drama by playing on the readers’ hopes and expectations that the ending will be happy.

If you plan to use a tragic origin story, I’d recommend looking at Spiderman and maybe Spawn. Even though they’ve lost loved ones, these characters still clearly have something to fight for.

Thanks a lot for your feedback; I’m writing an article on how to make superheroes loveable.

Creating Superhero Characters

1. List of Superpowers
2. How to Give Your Superhero A Day Job
3. Common Superhero Day Jobs, Part 1
4. Common Superhero Day Jobs, Part 2
5. Superhero Creation Questionnaire
6. How to Create Weaknesses for Your Superhero
7. How to Name Superheroes
8. Modern Superhero Naming Conventions
9. Questionnaire for Nonhuman Characters
10. Random Name Generator for Alternate Identities
11. Three Qualities of Solid Villains
12. How to Do Superhero Gadgets Well

Origin Stories

1. How to Write Origin Stories
2. Plausible Origin Stories
3. Why Secret Origins are Usually Awful
4. “Just Another Comics Blog” Argues Against Origin Stories

Five Common Mistakes of Comic Book Writers

1. Part One
2. Part Two
3. Five Superhero Plots that Need to Die

Other Advice for Comic Book Writers

1. Experiment With Your Panel Layouts
2. Should You Write a Comic Book or a Superhero Novel?
3. Free Comic Book Scripting Software
4. Use the Ending of Each Issue to Sell the Next Issue
5. Make Your Recaps Stylish
6. Sketch Your Pages Before Sending Them to the Artist

The Mechanics of Writing a Superhero Story

1. How to Write Superhero Fight Scenes
2. How to Pick Superpowers that Make Your Story Work
3. Common Problems with Superstrong Heroes
4. Common Problems with Psychic Superheroes
5. Common Problems with Powersuited Superheroes (like Iron Man)
   

Marketing and Visual Issues

1. Easy-to-Fix Visual Design Problems for Superhero Characters
2. How to Make Your Story Less “Weird” and More Novel
3. Superhero Visual References: Boots
4. Superhero Visual References: Gloves
5. Superhero Novel Proposals:  How to Write the Comparable Works Section

Getting Published

1. Publishers That Accept Unsolicited Submissions
2. What Goes Into a Comic Book Submission?
3. A Few Tips on Submitting a Comic Book Script
4. How to Communicate With Editors