FUNERAL ONE

FUNERAL TWO
Orator:  [NAME] was a friend, an ally, a brother in arms, a confidant, and a comedian with the driest delivery you could possibly imagine.  He knew most of us better than we knew ourselves, and sometimes had no problem letting us know that fact when we strayed from our true north.

Orator:  We were him, and he was us.

(There’s a full page of six characters looking downcast and/or weeping).

FUNERAL THREE

This one is from my DVD collection.

FUNERAL FOUR

This one is also taken from a DVD.

Reporter:  In addition to friends, colleagues and loved ones, heads of state from over 400 countries are expected to attend today.  In the streets ofcities all over the world, thousands have gathered to pay their last respects.  Our all-day live coverage will conclude with his ceremonial interment later this evening.  Later, our panel of commentators and pundits will debate the question on everybody’s minds: without [HERO NAME], can there be a [TEAM NAME?]

…

Orator:  Though we gather here today, bound together in sorrow and loss, we share a precious gift.  We are privileged to live a life that has been touched by NAME.  He possessed many extraordinary qualities and he shared them freely.  But none of them were more remarkable than his ability to discern what needed to be done and his unfailing courage to do it, whatever the cost.  Let us all strive to accept this gift and pass it along, as a tribute to NAME, who taught us all how to be heroes.

…

Teammate 1, celebrating hero’s life after the funeral:  He’s holding a grenade in his hand like this and it blows and he doesn’t even move.  I say, “are you alright?” and he says–

Teammate 2:  This is the best part!

Teammate 1:  Fine, and you?

[END SCENE]

By tomorrow, I’ll have an article up about superhero scenes that need to die. (Similar to Five Superhero Plots That Need to Die, if you remember that one). about Superhero Scenes That Need to Die.  Except for possibly heroes screaming NOOOOOO after seeing a teammate get killed, superhero funerals have to be at the top of the list.  The good news is that commemorating the life of a fallen hero does not have to be bland and faceless.  Indeed, I rather liked the toast at the end of funeral 4, although it’s probably worth noting that it wasn’t at the funeral itself.  I’ll have more advice later.

Also, if you’d like to check your guesses about which funerals came from which series, please see the comments below.

This dialogue is tacky.  First, is there any remotely intelligent reason to tell the villain where she went to school?  Second, even if there were, ideally the writers could imply her background rather than have her tell us.   Third, that is a lot of words for the middle of combat.  She’s monologuing like a 1970s villain.  Finally, if the point of this is to show that she’s a skilled writer, shouldn’t her comeback be, umm, witty?

This is far more effective.  The writers have made it clear that he’s a football player without having him explicitly announce it.  (Show, don’t tell!) His line is short and fits into the combat much better.  Having just removed the immediate threat, it’s sort of believable that he could take a few seconds to gloat.

2. Most publishers won’t evaluate a comic book submission unless it has ~5 illustrated sample pages. This means that a writer will usually need a professional-grade artist friend willing to work for speculative pay, a paid freelancer or the skill to illustrate his own work.  If you don’t know any artists and don’t have $500-750 for a freelancer, I’d recommend submitting to Dark Horse or another publisher that doesn’t require art samples.  However, if you can pull off a competent art sample, it will really help your submission.

3. Pretty much no one considers proposals for licensed works. Do you have an awesome idea for a Star Wars or Buffy comic?  Unfortunately, with licensed works, the publisher will almost always contact the writer it wants to work with rather than vice versa.  Additionally, when they need a writer for a major series, they will hire someone experienced and proven rather than an unpublished author.  Sorry. If you want to write for Spiderman or Batman, you need to establish yourself first.

4. Comic book companies usually buy the rights to the series and characters. In contrast, novel series are almost always creator-owned.  If you really care about maintaining ownership over your characters and stories, I’d recommend looking at Image Comics. Almost all of their series are creator-owned.

5. Unlike novelists, comic book writers are usually paid upfront by the page. Novelists usually receive an upfront advance which they keep even if the book sells poorly and royalties if it sells notably well.  Image Comics pays NO upfront money, just royalties. With Image, you’ll earn more if your book sells well, but you’re absolutely screwed if it doesn’t.

6. Comic book readers are usually males between 15-30 years old. Selling to women is much harder because they typically won’t even go in comic book stores. (This is changing somewhat, but currently most comic books and graphic novels are sold in specialty stores).   Children are also a tough market.  They don’t have the money to buy books themselves and most parents and teachers are not receptive to comic books or graphic novels.

7. The two most important factors for whether a comic book will get published are whether it looks like it will sell well and whether it fits the publisher’s style. I could have the most awesome comic for kids in the world, but it would still get rejected at Avatar. “Umm, you do know we’re into extreme content, right?”  Also, if you’re writing a superhero story, make sure that the publisher actually handles superheroes.

8. Because sales considerations are so important to publishers, I’d recommend checking out Comic Chronicle’s sales lists from time to time. For example, if you were thinking about doing a Superman-like series, it might interest you to know that Superman usually gets outsold by Buffy and Deadpool, among many others.

9. Comic book teams can be quite large. For example, my team includes a (deep breath) writer, a penciller/inker, a colorer and a cover artist and that’s before a publisher and editors are involved. Also, we’re from three different continents and will probably never meet in person. How’s that for globalization?

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1.  The only goal of your submission is to convince a publishing professional that your novel or comic book is likely to sell thousands of copies. Nothing else matters.

2.  Follow the instructions on their website. Most agents and publishers will have submissions pages that lay out what they want to see.  In most cases, it’s best to provide just what’s on the list and nothing else.  (Exception: if you’re submitting a comic book script, consider submitting some inked or colored pages even if they aren’t required– these pages will help the editor decide very quickly whether your proposal is serious).

3.  Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar. Trying to impress a publishing professional without clean writing is like trying to run a filthy restaurant.  It really doesn’t matter how good the cooking is– customers will run out screaming anyway.  Proofread or perish.  Not many publishing professionals would bet tens of thousands of dollars on an unpolished writer.

4.  Before you submit your first novel, the manuscript MUST be finished. An experienced author can pitch a concept; an unpublished novelist cannot.  Don’t bother trying to write to publishers or agents until your manuscript and synopsis are ready.  Comic book writers, you probably need the script and series synopsis for the first issue finished before you can submit.  Each publisher has different requirements, though, so check first.  For example, Image requires illustrated sample pages but no scripts.  In contrast, Dark Horse requires only the first eight pages scripted for a series and a synopsis (no art).

5.  This is a business proposal, so be as specific about your target audience as possible. What is the age of your ideal reader?  Gender?  Are there any other significant demographic traits?  (Note: comic book writers, be aware that most comic book buyers are males between 15-30 years old– publishers may be leery about working with significantly different demographics).  Many authors are leery about giving themselves a target audience because they feel like it’ll limit the appeal.  “If I say my novel’s audience is guys between 8 and 13, what if it turns out that high school girls also want to read it?”  Don’t worry about it.  Stating your target audience is mainly important so that the publisher/agent can evaluate whether you have a realistic idea of who your main audience is.  This is what Image Comics says about target audiences:  “Tell us who the target audience is (‘Everyone’ is NOT realistic — there’s no single book on the market today that everybody buys).”  The same goes for novels as well–perhaps two novels out of a million have an almost universal appeal, like Harry Potter.  If an author just seems to assume that his book is one of them, he will probably seem clueless.

6.  When you’re describing your story, focus on what matters…

• Interesting traits about main characters (like personality and important background details)
• Goals of main character(s)
• Obstacles/antagonists
• Character development arc(s)– how do the main characters change over the course of the book or series?

7.  …and DON’T focus on inconsequential details.

• Minor demographic traits (typically height, weight, eye color and hair color, etc).
• Side-characters.  As much as possible, focus on the mains.  If the sides are more interesting than the mains, you have a problem.
• Unnecessary world-building details.  If your fantasy world has six castes, please don’t tell us what all six are.  Focus on what we need to understand the thrust of the story (probably just the caste of the main character and the villain).
• Superpowers.  They’re not nearly as interesting or important as the goal(s) the hero will put them towards.  I wouldn’t recommend spending more than 1-2 sentences on a superhero’s powers.

8.  Please don’t bother telling them how much your friends/family love your writing. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t matter.  Publishing professionals are a lot more experienced in this field than your friends.  Otherwise you’d probably be submitting to your friends.

2.  Show that you understand what sort of publisher you’re submitting to.  In particular: do they publish other series that have a similar art style to yours?  Do they publish series with similar content?  For example, some comic book publishers specialize in military action or horror rather than superheroes.  Target audience?  Issue length?  For example, Image and particularly Dark Horse tend to publish series at 32 pages an issue.  If the publisher does not publish stories similar to yours, you are probably dead on arrival. 

3.  Show, don’t tell.  Editors don’t really care about your opinion of your series.  BAD:  “This is a gripping, exciting story about a relatable protagonist.”  BETTER:  “John is a regular teenager who has two days to solve his own murder.”  This is much more effective because it gives the editor the evidence to conclude that the story is interesting.  It also gives more specific details to distinguish this story from the other 50 submissions the editor has opened today.  Remember, your opinion doesn’t matter.  You wrote the story– of course you think it’s interesting.  

4.  Don’t waste time on the mechanics of your story.  You have between 1-3 pages (usually closer to 1) to summarize your story.  Don’t waste more than a sentence or two on the superpowers.  The personality and often the background of the main character(s) tend to be much more important. 

5.  Differentiate yourself.  It’s not good enough to say you’re writing a superhero story.  The editor may have read 250 superhero proposals this week.  How is your superhero story different?  Why should he accept you even though he rejected them?  This is one reason why it’s a mistake to focus too much on superpowers rather than personality, character background and mood.  Characters can have exactly the same powers but still feel different– for example, see Hellboy, the Thing, and the Hulk.  Similarly, a character can have different powers but still feel like a ripoff.  (For example, Static Shock is sometimes derided as a Spiderman clone).

Here are some of the popular characters that have been introduced in the last ~30 years.

• Wolverine has claws, regeneration and agility.
• Cyclops has an eye-beam.
• Spiderman has agility, spider-webbing and danger-sense.
• Storm can fly and control the weather.
• Deadpool has regeneration, agility and sometimes strength.
• Hiro Nakamura can stop time, teleport and travel through time.
• The Haitian can erase memories and nullify powers.
• Pretty much every other character on Heroes has a single power.
• Reed Richards is smart and stretchy.
• The Invisible Woman has telekinesis and forcefields.  And, umm, invisibility (though you hopefully knew that one).
• Ironman is tough, smart, and armed with lasers and conventional arms.
• Hellboy, Hulk and Ben Grimm (among many others) are just super-tough.
• The Human Torch, Iceman and Static Shock (among others) control an element, often with flight or another travel ability.  (Well, ice and electricity aren’t elements, but they’re very similar as far as superhero writing is concerned).

In conclusion, pretty much every popular hero introduced in the last ~30 years could be summarized in ten words.  (Can you think of any exceptions?  Spawn, Sandman and possibly Invincible are the only ones that came to mind).

Almost all of the modern characters that have really caught on have only a few powers that are easy to explain.   This is particularly true–perhaps almost necessarily true– when the story is about a group of superheroes rather than an individual.  You probably don’t have enough space to develop three powers each for a group of five.  When you’re dealing with a cast as large as X-Men or Heroes, I’d only recommend giving 3+ powers to characters that are unusually important.

1. Do it as a novel, not a comic book. Comic books depend on male readers aged 13-25. The problem is that the people that are most receptive to magical superheroes (kids and women) generally do not buy comic books.  This is one reason that magical superheroes are very, very hard to publish as a comic book. The magical superhero stories that tend to sell even remotely well tend to be TV shows (Sailor Moon or Jake Long) or novels (Dresden Files).

2. If you are absolutely dead-set on a comic book, I recommend using Japanese-style art. American teens are somewhat more tolerant of magic in anime stories like Sailor Moon than they are of American-style stories like Dr. Strange or Zantanna.

3. Make it easy to understand what the character’s magic can do. Make the limits as clear as possible and keep them steady. If the hero’s powers fluctuate over time, it won’t be so interesting when he is suddenly able to overcome an obstacle. If you change the rules to allow the protagonist to succeed, your audience will feel that you’re cheating.

4. Keep the number of spells low. That will help your audience remember what the character can do, and it will help minimize the time you spend describing the content of the character’s spellbook. If all we know about the character is what’s in his spellbook, he’s probably not very interesting.

5. Restrict the protagonists’ access to magic. That will force them to devise nonmagical solutions once in a while, which is interesting. For example, maybe he can only use spells at night or when he’s not tired or maybe he uses up his reagents. If the character has to go without magic once in a while, he will help prove to readers that he is impressive even beyond his magic. For example, the protagonists had to solve puzzles at the end of the first Harry Potter book without using magic. Good stuff!

6. Most successful magical superheroes have Masquerade problems– nonmagical people can’t know about magic. That can create a lot of interesting and dramatic situations. How does your hero save the day and maintain the secret? It also helps keep the world somewhat relatable. Well, there are a lot of magical creatures running around, but life is still more or less the same for 99% of humanity.

7. Give the characters spells that can be used outside of combat. For example, Raven has telekinesis, which is fairly versatile.

8. I generally recommend against mixing magic and science fiction. It usually doesn’t work. Mixing fantasy and science fiction is usually tacky. I think that’s why audiences hated the alien twist at the end of Indiana Jones and Peter Parker’s deal with the devil in One More Day.

How can I do it right? Have the character stays shrunken for longer than just an issue.  It’ll push you to develop the formula in a fresh direction, and hopefully one more fertile than “and then they discover a microscopic civilization!”

2.  Body-swapping. One character switches bodies with another, usually involuntarily.  The drama usually comes from the characters having to survive despite having different powers or having to play different roles than they’re used to.

How can I do it right? This isn’t necessarily bad, but it has been done extensively.  It tends to work best if the characters have to keep their identities secret.  If Jim and Luke can just tell everyone that their bodies have been swapped, it’s not really an interesting obstacle.  But if Jim and Luke can’t talk about magic or the supernatural hijinks they’re involved in, then body-swapping makes it that much harder for them to keep up the masquerade.  Give them difficult situations they can’t duck.  For example, “Luke” suddenly has a piano concert and “Jim” is now the starting quarterback.  The only way for them to protect the secret is to learn (or feign competence in) something totally new.  Good luck!

Also, I strongly recommend against switching characters of different genders or species.  It’s got a lot of potential for creepiness.

3.  Age change. The villain or an accident causes a character to get drastically younger or older (usually younger).  This is even worse than shrinking because a hero turned into a baby is no longer a character so much as a prop.  Also, these episodes/issues tend to be overwhelmingly cute.  Ick.

How can I do it right? I’d recommend trying it like Big or Thirteen Going on Thirty or Seventeen Again. The story follows the character as he enters another stage of life. How does he handle his new predicament?  That’s an interesting situation.  In contrast, babies can’t do anything but cry.

4.  World War II time travel. Time travel is not a problem in series that have been built around it, but “let’s do an issue set in World War II!” is shoot-me-in-the-face bad.  The villains are two-dimensional, there’s no chance the writers will let the heroes win, and it’s cliche.

How can I do it right? Realistically, you can’t and I wouldn’t recommend it.  However, if you’re dead-set on trying anyway, maybe pursue some angle other than the villain going back in time to help the Nazis.  One alternative would be having the heroes try to stop a well-intentioned antagonist from going back in time to kill Hitler (because Germany might win the war with a competent leader).  This is stronger because the villain is more morally complex and because sneaking in to guard a hostile target is inherently more dramatic than an all-out assault.

5.  Underwater adventures, particularly with Atlantis. It’s very hard to do an interesting aquatic tangent.  Have you ever heard anyone say that he really wished Aquaman or Namor would show up?  Me neither.

How can I do it right? I think your best bet is to set most of the story in a sealab or a sealed city under the waters.  The less time the characters spend in submarines or swimming, the better.   Also, this kind of story might work better as a series focus than as a tangent.  It’s not that aquatic stories necessarily suck (see Finding Nemo or The Little Mermaid), just that an aquatic setting is usually a waste of time for land-bound heroes. Additionally, few land-bound heroes have powers well-suited to interesting underwater fight scenes, so it might help to have the climactic battle in a sealed environment like a domed city or in a coastal city above the water.

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A-List

• Dark Horse.  Not nearly as large as Marvel or DC, but it still chalks up about 5% of the market.  They work with a wide variety of stories, but not very many traditional superhero stories.  DH is one of the only publishers that accepts scripts unaccompanied by art samples. (That’s really useful if you can’t afford to put together an art sample).
• Image.  It does a few superhero stories, but they usually have some satire or other spin on the genre.  A lot of its stories focus on material that is supernatural, gritty or just plain loopy.   Its series are mostly creator-owned.

Mostly Professional

• Top Cow.  Their art tends to be more realistic and dark.  Their stories sometimes have a sci-fi, cyberpunk element.  They are… ahem… not shy about using sex appeal.
• Zuda Comics.  This is DC’s webcomics division.  The idea is that webcomics compete against each other and fans pick a winner.  The winner gets a contract.
• Boom Studios.  They have a very wide range of material, but humor and horror tend to stick out the most.
• IDW.  Initially known for horror, but now they also specialize in licensed properties like Transformers and GI Joe.
• Abacus Comics.  They only publish ongoing series with at least four issues in the can.  Their art tends to be anime-inspired.  The colors tend to be bright and lively.
• Avatar.   Avatar does a lot of work that is ridiculously dark and “edgy.”
• Oni Press.  Its series tend to have a more cartoonish style.  It also has some dark, emoish cartoons, like Black Metal.  It doesn’t do much in the way of superhero stories.
• Devil’s Due.  Very eclectic.  Its series include traditional military action (GI Joe, The Corps), wacky investigator stories (ODD Squad, The Lost Squad), horror, and a bit of fantasy.  Hardly any superhero stories.
• Tokyopop.  They publish manga, not comic books.  A typical American comic book will have around 24-32 pages, but manga is much, much longer and uses a less laborious style of art.  If you want to publish manga-inspired comic books, do so elsewhere.
• Red 5 Comics.  Best-known for Atomic Robo.  Their work tends to be offbeat (like a teen angst about the son of a supervillain, or Atomic Robo).  It looks like Midknight is also about a superpowered family.
• Bluewater Comics. “With stories that range from classic myths, science fiction and superheroes to Hollywood legends such as William Shatner, Roger Corman [and] Ray Harryhausen… Bluewater is a fresh voice in comic publishing.”  Bluewater’s artistic quality seems very uneven.  Some of the art is  respectable, but some of it makes me want to drive a railroad spike through my eyes.
• Arcana Comics.  Canada’s largest comics publisher.  Many of its comics have a fantasy, sci-fi or supernatural bent, but it also has a few traditional superhero series.  Its webcomics have a wacky, eccentric bent.  A few of its series deal with political issues, but it doesn’t look very conservative-friendly.
• Viz Media.  They do manga and anime.
• Gettosake.  Focuses on “urban style animation, comics and illustration.”  It looks like most of their characters are African-Americans.  Some of their projects relate to African-American history (Nat Turner, the Underground Railroad, etc).  The production quality looks fairly high, but the publisher doesn’t look like it has really gotten off the ground yet.
• SLG Comics.  Specializes in dark, offbeat humor.  Its series are creator-owned.  In 2005, it added an imprint (Amaze Ink) that would publish more genre-oriented series.  They also do some Disney-licensed series, like Gargoyles.
• Komikwerks.  Specializes in webcomics, particularly the kid-friendly World of Quest.  It also has some grittier fare, such as a WWII werewolf story and a cop drama.
• Moonstone Books.  Focuses on gritty comics about private investigators and the like.  Some of their works also have a spooky supernatural bent (werewolves, mummies, etc).
• Top Shelf Productions.  “Hip but endearing.”  They have a very broad range of stories, from gritty sci-fi (The Surrogates), comics for kids (Johnny Boo), superhero satire (Marshal Law), some historical stuff (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Moving Pictures).  Many of TSP’s series look deep and somber.
• Teshkeel Comics.  Mostly involved with distributing American comic books in the Middle East.  However, they also some original work of their own.  As you might imagine, that tends to focus on young characters from around the Islamic world.
• Chimaera Studios.  Your guess is as good as mine.  They have a few traditional superhero stories, a few horror series, some sci-fi, etc.  Some of their works are marketed as humor.
• Digital Webbing.  Focuses on superhero stories, supernatural noir and supernatural investigator stories.
• Sweatdrop Studios.  They’re a UK outlet that produces English-language manga.
• Dabel Brothers Productions.  Focuses on comic book adaptations of novels.

Seedy

• AK Comics.  This Egyptian company has a focus on Middle Eastern stories, but it also prints in English.  It doesn’t look very professional, though.  They’ve been up for 4 years and don’t have a website in place yet?
• SuperReal Graphics.  Its name is a bit of a misnomer… its art is notably bad compared to pretty much any of the other companies listed here. On the plus-side, their titles are all creator-owned and it looks like they’re very welcoming of newcomers.
• Markosia.  They have a lot of fetish-looking stuff.  They also have grim sci-fi that looks very professional and well-done, but umm, yeah.  A lot of fetish stuff.

(Please

1. Audience (age and gender)
2. Genre and content
3. Style/mood
4. Setting (real-world Earth vs. historical vs. the future vs. a Tolkien-like fantasy world)
5. Length, for books (length usually goes hand-in-hand with the age of the audience)
6. Art style, for comic books (dark and gritty vs. Western cartoons vs. anime/manga, for example)

Prospective publishers love it when authors put some thought into this.  If your query clearly shows that you have looked into which publishers will be the best fit for your book, you will look professional and competent.  A good place to start is looking up 5 or 10 comparable works on Amazon.  Where did they get published?  For comic books, which editors signed on?  That should give you a few publishers to look into.

I’ll use a very particular example to show how easy this is.  For example, right now I’m looking for publishers that would be interested in a guide for how to write superhero novels and comic books.  It’s aimed at teens.  Many publishers have printed books for kids that want to write, so finding apt publishers shouldn’t be a problem.  I’d also like to look at publishers that have printed guides about writing comic books.  

After 30 minutes on Amazon, I found ~10 works that seemed comparable at first glance.  Let’s look at why these works might or might not suggest that their publisher would be interested in mine…

• So, You Wanna Be a Comic Book Artist?  How To Break Into Comics!  The Ultimate Guide for Kids (Beyond Words).  I really like this one because I can pitch mine as a complementary work.
• Writers on Comic Scriptwriting (Titans Press).  The purpose is similar, but this is clearly written for a sophisticated and literary adult audience.  Check out the cover.  Unless Titans has also worked on books for younger readers, I should move on.
• Writing for Comics with Peter David (Impact).  This is written for a very similar audience.
• Writing for Animation, Comics and Games (Focal Press).  Definitely not for kids, either, but closer in style than “Writers on Comic Scriptwriting.”
• Kids Write! (Williamson).  This isn’t about comic books specifically, but I don’t think that will be much of a problem.  The audience is younger than mine, though… 7-14 vs. 13-20.
• Alan Moore’s Writing for Comics (Avatar).  Unlike mine, this is in a comic book format.  The audience is older, too.  This isn’t very comparable. 
• Webcomics for Teens (Course Technology PTR).  This is explicitly aimed at my target audience, and the content is similar but complementary.  I’ll make sure that Course Technology is interested in books that aren’t related to technology before submitting, but to be honest I don’t think webcomics are all that technical.

If I can find this many books about a topic this specific (how to write comic books), surely you can find many publishers that handle material like yours.

THE EXCELLENT

• It produces scripts that are generally easier to read and navigate than Microsoft Word.
• Easy to learn.  It took me 10 minutes to figure it out by trial and error.
• It’s extremely good at converting scripts into typeset.  (You can see an example here).  A typeset separates the in-panel text (like dialogue, captions and sound effects) from the text that won’t actually appear in the panel, like your directions to the artist.  That’s useful because it helps you gauge how large the panels will have to be to accommodate the text.
• It’s free!

THE GOOD

• Handles comments notably better than Word.
• It’ll help you keep your comic book documents separate from your other files.
• If you like to fill out index cards with important details about characters or places, it can help keep those details accessible and organized.
• Built-in spellchecker.  Not that important for a professional proofreader, but you might find it helpful.

THE BAD

• It’s not as easy to add dialogue as new pages or panels.
• They should add buttons for New Panel and New Page.
• It can’t save scripts as Word files.  Everybody (like friends and editors) is comfortable with Word.  Right now, if I have a Celtx script that I want to show you, I have to also tell you how to download Celtx and pray that you figure out the software quickly.

One last note. I haven’t had a chance to test its printing capabilities yet.  Given that Celtx can’t produce Word files (as far as I know), its ability to print usable scripts is essential.

I’ve come across a few interesting comic book review sites, but I haven’t had nearly as much success finding sites for people that want to write comic books.  Except for Superhero Nation, the closest thing I’ve found is Twelve Fingers.  For example, I found 10 Writing Tips for Comic Book Writers very informative.  However, TF is hard to navigate.

So, which websites would you recommend?

SLANTED PANEL-EDGES

Fighting Evolution- HAUZER by *UdonCrew on deviantART

Slanting the panels usually makes the scene look more intense and chaotic.  For example, in the above page you can see that the panels are slanted only when the dinosaur attacks.

Here are a few possible situations that lend themselves well to slanted panels.

1. There’s a wild fight scene or action sequence.  For example, this page uses slanted panels on a chase sequence as well.

2.  The main character learns something startling or disturbing.  “I want a divorce!”  Slanting the edges on that panel will make it stand out in an appropriately jarring way.

3.  The main character of the panel is greatly disoriented.  For example, if he’s drunk, delirious, badly wounded, etc…

INSERT PANELS

Insert panels are panels that are set inside of other panels.  Here are a few reasons you might use an insert panel.

1.  It helps draw the reader’s attention to an important object or character that might otherwise be hard to notice.

2.  You want to bring in something closer than you could “accurately” depict it.  For example, in the above panel, the shot is zoomed in on a naked guy showering.  It’d look creepy if the journalist were actually two or three feet away from him.

3. To make characters look farther apart than they actually are.  The panel border can be used as a barrier between the characters.

4.  To draw the reader’s attention to artistic contrast.  For example, the colors and styles of the journalist and the showering guy above are very different.  Setting the journalist in his own panel helps remind readers that that isn’t accidental; the journalist is supposed to look warmer and more decent.

INSERTED OBJECTS BRIDGING PANELS

Here are a few reasons you might try bridging your panels.

1.  The scene is progressing very quickly, or more quickly than the action/dialogue would suggest.  This is one way of blurring one panel into the next.

2.  Bridging the panels can make them feel very crowded and uncomfortable.  That might be thematically useful if a character is confined or cornered.

3.  To center the reader’s attention.

4.  To create distance.

5.  To suggest a connection that might not otherwise be obvious.  For example, let’s imagine a scene where panel 1 shows a character holding a gun on someone.  The apparent victim asks him why he’s doing this.  Panel 2 shows the gunman shooting the victim.  The bridge might be a photograph of the gunman’s family (if he’s trying to protect them), a smiling shot of a criminal mastermind, an image that represents justice or revenge, etc.

UNUSUALLY TALL PANELS

(Art taken courtesy of Benny Fuentes; please see the original here).

Unusually tall panels are more noteworthy than wide panels because comic book pages are substantially taller than they are wide.

Here are a few reasons you might want to use an extra-tall shot.

1.  You want to emphasize that one character or object is higher or taller than another.  Above, we can see that the figure in black is substantially higher than the soldiers.

2.  To show us a narrow slice of something, usually for frightening or mysterious effect.  For example, you might have a character standing with something enormous looming behind him.  We probably won’t be able to see all of the sinister creature, but that just emphasizes how big he is.

3.  You want to draw the reader’s attention to something that’s narrow and tall, like a building.

1. Superstrength
2. Speed
3. Durability
4. Agility/reflexes
5. Healing/regeneration
6. Supersenses
   1. Sight/hearing/smell/taste/touch
   2. Sensing danger (spider-sense)
   3. Sensing other types of events (dishonesty, murder, etc.)
7. The ability to remove senses (like inflicting blindness, etc.)
8. Longevity/immortality

Forms of Transportation

1. Climbing/wall-crawling
2. Swimming/water-breathing
3. Flight
4. Teleportation

Time-Based Abilities

1. Temporal manipulation (like The Matrix)
2. Time travel
3. Prophecy

Elemental Control/Manipulation

1. Basic elements (fire, electricity, water, earth, wind)
2. Light and/or darkness
3. Gravity
4. Magnetic forces
5. Radiation
6. Energy
7. Sound
8. Nature

Generic Mental Abilities

1. Skills and/or knowledge
   1. Popular categories: science, mechanical, computer/electronics, weapons-handling/military, driving, occult/magical.
2. Super-intelligence
3. Resourcefulness (“I’m never more than a carton of baking soda away from a doomsday device”)

Psychic Abilities

1. Telekinesis (moving objects mentally)
2. Telepathy (reading minds)
3. Mind-to-mind communication
4. Mind-control
5. Possession (total mental control)
6. Memory manipulation (may include creation/alteration/deletion)
7. Mentally generated weaponry
8. Mindblast
9. Ability to locate someone mentally
10. Forcefields

Biological Control

1. Acid/poison
2. Controlling plants and/or animals
3. Animal morphing
4. Ability to take on someone else’s appearance

Miscellaneous

1. Elasticity
2. Self-destruction
3. Self-liquification
4. Gaseous form
5. Growth/shrinking
6. Self-duplication
7. Invisibility
8. Absorbing someone else’s powers
9. Negating someone else’s powers
10. Luck manipulation (good luck for hero and/or bad luck for enemies)
11. “Psychometry”– the ability to learn things about the past or future of an object by touching it
12. Illusions

WAYS TO DISTINGUISH YOUR SUPERHERO’S SUPERPOWERS

1. Your story’s superpowers have some cost to the user.
   1. Fatigue. Your hero’s powers exhaust him.
   2. Equal and opposite reaction. Perhaps your supergenius’s brain will overheat unless he lets his mind cool down after a mental stunt.
   3. Energy. Your hero has a drainable and finite source of power.
   4. Risk to self (or others). Your hero’s powers, once activated, are hard to control and dangerous.
   5. Personality shift. Activating your hero’s powers transforms his personality or mindset, like the Hulk or Catastrophe.
   6. Loss of sanity. Your hero’s transformation makes him considerably less stable, like The Hulk or Niki.
2. Your story’s superpowers have a limited duration or accessibility.
   1. His superpowers only last a certain duration and have to be recharged.
   2. His superpowers can only be accessed after a certain condition is met or at a certain time of day. For example, Captain Marvel has to say Shazaam first.
   3. His superpowers are only accessible after he transforms (like the Hulk or American Dragon).
   4. Superpowers are accessible only through a particular item, usually a magical or technological item (Sailor Moon, power armor).
3. Your superpowers have an unusual origin or source.
   1. Because the hero’s alien or otherwise unhuman (Superman, TMNT)
   2. Because he’s a modified human (Spiderman, cyborgs)
   3. Because he has some artifact (power armor)
4. Your superpowers have unusual limits
   1. Physical. Maybe his electricity shorts out in water or he gets really weak when exposed to Kryptonite.
   2. Time. Hourman’s powers only last (you guessed it) an hour.

If this list helped you, please see our list of superhero writing articles.

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