I'm thinking of writing a comic book.

[facsmth]

Well, during "War Games" (a Batman books cross-over a few years back), the character of Stephanie Brown was viciously murdered by some schlub named "Black Mask." There's atleast one group of feminists out there (www.girl-wonder.org) who are outraged (if not more) than I was.

So I figured I'd get a stack of old Robin issues where Stephanie (aka "Spoiler") appeared and see if I could write in a similiar style. I'm calling the work "Grim Nocturne" for now. With any luck, it'd be my very own "Watchmen" (by Alan Moore) type piece.

[Backward Masking]

Good luck with this endeavor.

For the record, Black Mask only put poor Stephanie Brown in the hospital. Dr. Leslie Thompkins was the one that effectively killed her by denying her treatment (and remember that in comic books, people never stay dead).

[Tallymark]

Sounds like a fun idea, good luck! I'm trying to tackle the comic book field right now myself, except that I'm a horrible masochist, so I'm thinking of writing and drawing my own comic book. ^_^; It is definately going to be a labor of love, if I can ever get it off its feet--I'm in artistic limbo right now over a plot issue. *sighs*

The field of comics is, as I'm sure plenty of other people will tell you, an extremely hard one to break into. But it's still lots of fun. If you don't know much about the business and the technical details, there's an excellent thread a couple of pages back about how to write comics that you should definately check out--it's got sample scripts, stuff on how to try and tempt an artist, and all kinds of know-how.

[Turtle07]

I wish u luck!!!!!! And I'm cheering u on!! I never really did like Batman, but I prefer him over superman. (I swear, he's a blond with black hair. No offense to all those superman fans out there.)

[ChimeraCreative]

I don't know if you check up on this thread anymore facsmth, but I support your endeavors. ^_^ No more Women in Refrigerators! ^_^

I write comic books as a hobby, I have a group of mostly gals I write about. Each more mouthy and sarcastic than the last girl. I don't know if it'll ever be a published work but doesn't it feel good to write strong female characters? ^_^

[FinbarReilly]

I think it would be more interesting to do a "Men in Refrigerators" strip, where the heroine is safe and the men in her life are just so many dead men walking....Off to find an artist...

FR

[Crosshatcher]

Go for it. And if you can't sell the idea to any of the companies you might want to publish it online. Drunkduck.com has a huge assortment of online comics. Some even now getting picked up by publishers.

If you can get your ideas around to some of the comic cons you may get additional info from other creators to help you along.

Good luck and have fun.

[Lucifal]

I'd suggest trying a really tight six-page strip first. The art of a good comic is what you can leave out. A small gesture can portray so much. Rough storyboards are useful and writing the script before you do any drawing can help you to focus on the important aspects.

http://www.murkydepths.com

[wordmonkey]

I'd suggest trying a really tight six-page strip first. The art of a good comic is what you can leave out. A small gesture can portray so much. Rough storyboards are useful and writing the script before you do any drawing can help you to focus on the important aspects.

Excellent suggestion.

If you do eventually chase a writing gig with a comic company they will ask for a sample (it does happen now and then). They don't want a full 22 page issue, they certainly don't want your magnum opus graphic novel that runs at 500 comic pages. Bt if you can send them a selfcontained story with a start, middle and end, that runs to six comic pages, and it's good, that's a very useful sample you have.

I did a five-page Batman sample that I have used several times to get gigs. I still pull it out from time to time and send it to editors or artists I want to work with.

Another bonus is that it's easier to get an artist to work six pages than 22.

[Lucifal]

Another bonus is that it's easier to get an artist to work six pages than 22.

. . . but the hard part is writing a script that does the business in six pages. If anyone has a finished dark speculative fiction strip of that ilk then Murky Depths would be interested.


http://www.murkydepths.com (http://www.murkydepths.com/)

[wordmonkey]

. . . but the hard part is writing a script that does the business in six pages.

Well I did say it had to be good! :D

[Jabs]

I have two good friends in the comic industry. One works at Wizard and the other is an artist/writer at DC. It's not as easy as a lot of folks would think. Stick with it and good luck.