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Headlines
in Poetry: The Art of Writing Comic Books Even
in a business known for capriciousness, movies have adopted comic book-based
properties with an unusual alacrity. Fraught
with spiraling production costs, movie executives are beholden to find not a
single film, but a franchise that will generate a bonanza at the box office as
well as in the equally lucrative ancillary markets. What
the success of the recent slew of superhero films has unveiled to the general
public is the appeal of the nuanced, immensely likable characters that left
comic book readers of the 60s, 70s and 80s apoplectic and devoted.
Going beyond kitsch, characters like Wolverine, Spiderman, and the Hulk
display a wealth of psychological complexity, giving studios what they covet:
characters audiences can identify with. That
has lead to a manic feeding frenzy as producers struggle to trump one another
with the next superhero with fiduciary muscle. In
addition to the acknowledged blockbusters “Spiderman” and “X-Men,” both
creations of the prolific Stan Lee and Marvel Comics, smaller comic book films
have also found a market access. The
film “From Hell,” a take on the crimes of Jack the Ripper, was originally a
comic book, or "graphic novel" as some of the higher end books are
referred to, written by Alan Moore. “Ghostworld”
was created by Daniel Clowes, who also co-wrote the script.
Its successful comic book run gave it clout to circumvent the barriers
that keep new screenwriters from getting the ear of decision makers. The
same can be said of “Road to
Perdition,” which also saw life as a graphic novel and lead to a film starring
one of this generation’s major talents, Tom Hanks.
Would any of these dramatic films have been produced if they’d not
already had exposure as comic books? Is
there a sort of literary Bering Strait joining comic books to the industry that
is still flush with their ongoing romance? In
dissection, how viable is it for someone setting up their stall as a freelance
writer to add comic book writing to their resume?
For a writer seeking to expand his range, would comic books add enough
muscularity to a resume to make learning their requirements a worthwhile effort? WHAT
IS COMIC BOOK WRITING Comic
book writing is serial writing. One
of the more complex forms of writing. Most
serialized characters were propagated by a single visionary; Arthur Conan
Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, Faye Kellerman’s cop Peter Decker, James
Patterson’s Alex Cross, Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan, and on and on.
Some of these characters have been taken up by other writers, to varying
degrees of success. And the fulcrum their success or failure is balanced on is
how comprehensively a writer understands what made the character work. WHAT
ARE THEY LOOKING FOR? Every
freelancer is faced with that question when soliciting a magazine for work. Editors want you to speak in the magazine’s voice, while at
the same time adding your own intonations. That’s the push-pull of getting a gig – too much of one or
the other leads to rejections. A
graduate of Wesleyan in Connecticut, Steve Englehart had his first exposure to
comics when a friend shoved a copy of Spider-man in front of him.
He started by taking trips down to nearby New York where the comics were
produced and after a stint as an artist’s assistant, landed a staff job at
Marvel Comics. Originally he had
wanted to be an artist, but discovered that, in his words, he could live inside
stories, and describe what he saw there better as a writer. He
describes comic book writing as “a specialized ability.
Most writers coming from other genres can have trouble adapting to
comics.” The best description he
ever heard was that comic writing is like “newspaper headlines in poetry. You have a limited amount of space and you have to tell the
story, develop the characters, and establish mood, without sounding limited.
The wild card is talent. And
if you can do it all, you could have a job tomorrow.” Englehart
wrote too many titles to list comfortably.
Spiderman, Iron Man, Batman, Captain America – the latter most
featuring some of his best work in character development and plotting.
Englehart created “Night Man” for Ultraverse Comics and was one of
the writers on the TV show. In
addition, he has written for numerous animated superhero shows which have culled
storylines from his run on those books. His
approach in developing a character, as he described it, was to take the
character exactly as he was when he got him and then move him, logically and
dramatically to the new approach, so the reader could see him grow.
Some writers would take the approach of changing a character immediately
to announce their arrival as the new talent.
And to Englehart, that was more about the writer than the character.
“A writer must write characters people like to read.” FREQUENTLY
MADE MISTAKES Most
novices tend to underestimate the level of writing necessary for a good comic
book, ranking it somewhere between a fairy tale and a parable.
The industry sweats out those submissions like a minor virus.
A good comic book is an amalgam of science fiction (the book kind, not
the diluted movie versions), an intriguing action plot, and a dose of drama,
fused into a synergy of words and pictures.
At its best, comic books can have an impact evocative of a well-produced
film. Marv Wolfman was a writer for the industry leader Marvel Comics during their heyday in the 1970s. Wolfman’s credits are expansive, including a long and celebrated run on the iconic Spiderman, and an even more celebrated stint on a noir book called Tomb of Dracula that earned him numerous industry awards. It was in this book that he created the character “Blade,” who has gone on to two films and will continue with a third released at the end of the summer. The word according to Wolfman is that novice comic writers make several mistakes. “They
try to pack too many actions in one panel.
A new writer will say a man lifts a cup of coffee, drinks it, puts it
down and talks. That’s too many
actions in one panel. Always think
of every panel as an individual photograph.”
The same with loading on too much dialogue.
Comics are a visual as well as literary medium.
“Don’t crowd out the art.” You’ve
also got to respect the field you’re writing for. Steve Englehart pointed out that many people who aren’t
fans see comics as slumming and make that clear in their writing.
“You have to adapt to and believe in what you’re doing,” he
stressed. “‘I’m above this’
crap will never work.” And
please, don’t come in with a boatload of original heroes you’ve created!
You’re a series writer. Any
comic book company would prefer you use their existing character to see how well
you can plot given pre-existing constraints. HOW
DO YOU GET IN? You
don’t see ads in the classifieds beckoning to future comic book writers, and
most of the writer’s marketplace listings neglect this specialized field. So how do you even find the door, let alone insert your foot?
You have to seek them out. “It
can be easier now to enter comics,” according to Wolfman.
“In the 60s and 70s there were only Marvel, DC and Gold Key publishing
comics. If they didn’t want you,
you didn’t make it.” Now there
are a wealth of smaller companies – Dark Horse, which has seen many comics
turned into film, Fantagraphics, Caliber Comics, Harris, etc.
Many have guidelines on their websites for submissions.
A link to all those websites is provided at www.dragonberry.com.
“I
think it’s not impossible at all to get into comics” Wolfman said.
“Especially since editors seeking good writers often look for people
outside the field,” rather than just talents who have made the business a
mainstay. A good current example is
Brad Meltzer, best-selling author of the thrillers The Millionaires, The
Tenth Justice, and Dead Even, who has written a DC comic book
featuring Superman and Batman that debuted in June. Another
inroad is through fanzines. These
are the numerous fan magazines dedicated to and about comic books and all
related materials. Also seeking
submissions for articles, these magazines have become an entry port for more
than one comic writer, including Wolfman, who began his career as a publisher of
fanzines. On
the flipside, Englehart disagrees with the accessibility of comics to new
talent. He says that when he began,
“a writer was expected to make a book sell and turn it in on deadline.
If you could, you kept your job; if not, you were fired.
Today,” he warns, “there are four layers of editors between the
creator and his audience, which stifles creativity, a fact a lot of writers may
have trouble with.” In
other words, it’s like the soft invasion every writer has to launch with every
new field we enter. Knowing your
craft is part of it. And another
part is knowing the game. RESEARCH It
isn’t essential that you be a lifelong, devoted comic book fan to write for
comics. One of the all time best comic artists, John Buscema,
throughout his prolific career expressed irrepressibly his distaste for most of
the characters he drew. But it is
irrefutable that a knowledge of the characters is essential.
After choosing a character, a crash course can be easily and cheaply
obtained. Marvel Comics has put out
collections of the first 100 issues of some of their books under the series
title “The Essential – (Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Hulk, et al).”
They are in volumes of 20 issues each and retail at about $14.95 and are
invaluable in background information gathering.
The volumes are expanding to encompass characters other than the
headliners, an issue of importance I’ll be pursuing later.
And it wouldn’t hurt to pick up an issue or two of a chosen book to get
wind of a characters current situation. “Write
Now” is a fan magazine dedicated to, by, and about comic book writers and the
writing of such, giving intelligent and tested tips on adapting your prose to
the medium. Pick it up.
Also Steve Englehart has available copies of his comic book scripts for
$15 a pop at his website. Well
worth the investment. STRUCTURE In
our conversation Marv Wolfman described a comic book script as being very
similar to a movie script, where, in place of continuous actions and scenes,
“you say Page One, Panel 1, then describe the action of panel one, then add
captions and dialogue.” Englehart
agrees, and adds that writing a synopsis of the story and submitting it to the
artist makes the story more driven by the writer and artist, “whereas a script
submitted with all the action included makes it more writer driven, and allows
the writer to hit all the beats he wants.”
Both methods are acceptable. CHOOSING
A CHARACTER When
composing a submission most writers will go for the names they know: Spiderman,
Superman, Batman. Don’t.
Use a little inductive reasoning. These
are a company’s flagship titles. Logic
would suggest that the best, most established talents are already assigned to
these books. Go in the back door.
Find a character who is less popular, who seems to be lingering in
aimless stories. Show your creative
skills by interjecting a strong storyline.
Keep the dialogue creative and crisp.
This will impress more than layering onto popular characters whose
storylines editors are often reticent to alter.
Why muck with success? Ideas
that sell and working to deadline. That’s
still the golden key. Steve
Englehart’s website is http://www.steveenglehart.com.
Marv
Wolfman’s website is http://www.marvwolfman.com.
Steven Alan Payne has written and directed two plays in Chicago and is readying a new work. A Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist, he’s had three scripts optioned up the yin yang. He’s written several articles, including a slew for e-zines. Currently he’s trying to clear his plate so he can dedicate the time to finishing his first novel. |
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