The Reader Experience

I recently bought a compilation of Alan Moore's run on WildC.A.T.S. but I had to return it. Ignorant me, I didn't know that a whole bunch of artists contributed to Moore's stint. The back cover of the TPB only mentioned Travis Charest (whose Nowlan-ish art style I adore), and I didn't bother to ask the sales clerk for an open sample to check out the artwork. What did I say about a cover being a promise? *sigh*

Flipping through the pages of that trade made me think about how much art figured into the whole scheme of modern-day industry practices in popular comics storytelling. On one end you've got Charest's hard-edged linework, then on the other end you find Kevin Maguire's deliciously quirky renditions. Those two styles I admire, but in one book seems odd and schizophrenic.

It's like having Ang Lee directing the first half of The Incredible Hulk then passing the baton to Louis Leterrier for the second half--with two sets of actors to boot. Not a good idea.

Like movies and theater, comic books provide an experience which involves the interaction of text and image. And crucial to this experience is consistency. How often have we encountered a comic book series with art teams that change every so often, and end up frustrated? The frustration comes from the sudden shift in an experience we've gotten used to. A title with a set writer and art team provides a unique experience. Change the team, and you change the reader experience. The worst that could happen is a loss in readership.

Comics About Your Expertise

The Japanese have done it well with their manga, in that they have been able to tell all sorts of stories covering all sorts of topics--from personal finance to golf to cooking. Just this year, Daniel Pink and Rob Ten Pas created a career development 'manga' entitled The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need.

Now Daniel Pink isn't a comics writer. He's more of a business and technology scribe, but somehow he decided that creating a graphic novel about career development would be an interesting strategy for the young-uns who can't imagine themselves pouring through volumes of text.

Question is: is this something you can do?

Experts will always mention the power of leverage, that is, maximizing what you know and have to fuel your career growth. When you make the most of your resources, you potentially add more to your leverage, generating more growth for you. That's why you start at elementary school and work your way to college. That's why you start out as a temp before moving up toward managerial levels. Each benefit you gain from what you have now is supposed to prepare you for what you want to do next.

So if you're an expert in something, but want to do comics on the side, why not combine both to get the best of both worlds?

If you know a lot about, say, internet marketing and SEO, why not incorporate that strongly into a fictional comics story? Or why not make a how-to book about your expertise, with a nice underlying story for entertainment purposes?

Since there aren't a lot of books out there that combine knowledge and comics, you could be one of the pioneers. And, you get one foot in two doors--you're a comics creator, and you're an expert in your professional field. If you're not attending a comics convention to promote your comics work, you're doing the seminar route, teaching about your area of professional specialization.

This strategy is akin to a previous post about tying up with education, though it's more focused on your profession.