Why You Have To Think Far and Wide

The competition is fierce enough in other storytelling industries. Novelists, screenwriters, playwrights--all of them are aware of the cutthroat nature of their work.

But there's a big difference between their respective fields and the comics industry. For fiction, film and theater, their opportunities for breaking in are far greater than that of comics. We just need to count how many large and medium-sized comics publishers are currently operating to get a clear picture of how small the needle's eye is for comics creators.

To successfully break in, the comics creator should not limit his opportunities to comics publishers.

Moreover, the comics creator has to strive to be the best storyteller around. Not only that, but to attempt to be a good marketer.

Let's face it, comics publishers can only produce a finite number of titles. A finite number of titles can only accommodate a finite number of creators. There's no plausible reason for any creator to try to submit proposal after proposal in the hope that something bites. (Chris Claremont wrote the Uncanny X-Men for 20 years...that's 20 solid years spent by other people submitting X-Men stories, and failing.) One can try their darndest, of course, but imagine all that time wasted preparing and submitting proposals, when the creator can do his own work and get it published himself.

Since the opportunities for comics creators are small, these creators should aggressively begin carving their own paths. Why spend three, four, five years developing proposals when it would be wiser to spend those years being better writers and better artists? In this amount of time, an aspiring creator can move from neophyte to professional-level greatness without the help of a pat on the back from a big company.

This can only be done by studying, making short comics, studying further, making longer comics, and so on and so forth. To get to the big league, the aspirant has to subject himself to hard training in small deliberate steps, challenging himself every step of the way. He shouldn't do this to bag a gig in Marvel or DC, but to be a great comics creator, period.

So make your mark as a comics creator. Create rich, complex, entertaining, insightful and moving stories, using your own characters. Give them art that rivals, if not trumps, what you see on the shelves. Put together your book, with the best you've got, and seek out your own channel for publication.

If your work is really that good, you will find your audience, you will find your acclaim. And, who knows, maybe those big companies will eventually come knocking on your door.

Maximizing Image

I read a graphic novel recently, Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine, and I was somehow disappointed that the expensive book only featured people talking. The story itself had enough emotional depth to qualify for an arc of character development, but the creator didn't play too much with the visual aspect. Two people talking in a restaurant. Two people talking in a bedroom. Two people walking down the street. People talking.

In short, the story, while readable, didn't quite suit the medium. It would have been more effective as a stage play for an intimate audience than a graphic novel. The images seemed to weigh less than the words--Tomine used a realistic style that, while pleasing to the eye, allowed no room for visual experimentation or styling.

Then, of course, the question: is visual experimentation required? The answer is no, especially if you're doing a story like Shortcomings. The issue is not the way a story is presented, but the medium used to present the story. The actual question should be: is your story the kind that maximizes the potential of the image-text interplay? Or, specifically, are you maximizing the image-text relationship in your work, despite the kind of story you choose to present?

One of the best examples I can cite that maximizes the possibilities of both words and pictures is Blankets. It is a beautiful book, with a visual style that reinforces--even intensifies--the gravity of the words. Despite the story being quiet and introspective, it was very moving. Conceivably, if Craig Thompson had used a more realistic style, the book would have lost a lot of its power.

Another example is Kick-Ass. John Romita Jr.'s rough kinetic, even cartoony, style offers the necessary edginess to Mark Millar's script, effectively taking the story beyond the confines of the violent superhero story into a visceral experience. If Jim Lee had drawn Kick-Ass, the effect would have been different, if not out of sync.

It's not enough that the graphic novelist master the fundamentals of anatomy, perspective and composition. The graphic novelist must have the ability to make the art side flex its own storytelling muscle, while matching the mood and atmosphere relayed by the text. Will a comics page still be interesting--keep a reader on his toes--if the words were taken out? That's the challenge.

The Great Middle Ground

What can the graphic novelist do to increase the value of their stories, not just in the eyes of the comics reader, but also to the average civilian?

The general public has been weaned, even spoiled, by motion pictures. I use motion pictures here because comics have become film's strange bedfellow. And it appears that a number of creators have deemed it necessary to create comics that approximate film.

But comics can never be film. Comics do not have the benefit of physical motion. And the more that comics are attached to film, the lesser its value becomes.

So what can the graphic novelist do to place the medium in its rightful independent place as an incomparable artform, and yet not be too artsy that it alienates the common Joe?

The principle I've always held is this: "Give them what they want, then give them what you want." To be profitable, the graphic novel should think "profitability." Structure a story using the standard genre of film--romantic comedy, sci-fi thriller, buddy cop, etc.--to make the story familiar and seemingly comfortable to read, but offer the left field surprise.

1) While the graphic novel can be made to look like a film, it should have important elements (visual and verbal) that are difficult to translate to film. In effect, offering an audience the experience that only comics can provide.

2) While the graphic novel can have stories that can be imagined as a profitable film, it should have story elements that would make film producers think twice. In short, important story elements that can be depicted freely in an unregulated medium, but would be subject to extreme scrutiny by the film industry.

3) The success of a lot of films is hinged on celebrity--bankable actors with reliable performances--which the graphic novel does not have the benefit of. It is thus required of the graphic novelist to position him or herself as the celebrity, by producing compelling well-written and drawn stories. The graphic novelist has to think and work like a professional novelist, and not just "some person who makes comics."

4) One aspect of film that the graphic novel can freely exploit is the presentation of thought. It is almost impossible to present conscious thought in commercial film, but thought is a mainstay in the arsenal of comics creation. Also note that the presentation of thoughts is widely used in prose novels. The graphic novelist can use thought to enrich a narrative.

5) The graphic novelist should put equal weight the planning of words and pictures. It is not enough to have a great script. The graphic novelist would have to play the role of production designer--taking care to research for the depiction of locations, locales, costumes, props, etc. And this visual research ought to extend to the "performances" of the characters, with each character serving as an "actor." The graphic novelist should provide a wealth of visual and verbal nuance. Doing so would add significantly to the impression of worth in the eyes of the public.

At the end of the day, it's all about worth. If a graphic novel intends to sell, it's supposed to be seen a worthy by the people who flip through it in a bookstore.