DC Conspiracy[dots pattern]

9.22.2005

Here's the Thing #10: Teaching Bad Habits by Example

I’ve been slacking with my Here’s the Thing… articles, I know. I just haven’t felt motivated. Con season has gotten me down but with SPX signaling the end of the season for me maybe I’ll get back into it again. This is my cycle, every year come September I hate comics. By October/November I’m fine only to bring the hate back come May/June.

Anyway, I came across a message board the other day and upon reading one post in particular I realized that there were still plenty of souls to save. Here’s what I saw (click it to see it all big):


Now, you can read this and laugh, because it’s funny as hell or you can look at it closely, see everything that’s wrong with it. See if you are doing anything wrong as well, because there’s a lot there besides the obvious problems.

The grammar is the first thing that jumps out. If you want to be a writer you need to always play the role of a writer. You can classify a lack of capital letters as “artsy” but there is no excuse for stripping your sentences of all punctuation marks. Here you are saying how good of a writer you are and yet you aren’t even showing that you’re capable of the basics. It’s sloppy, lazy and honestly, pretty friggin’ stupid.

But even if he doesn’t feel the need to prove that he knows the basic rules of the English language, one could say he might still be an excellent storyteller. Maybe grammar is beneath him, he’s beyond grammar, and he turns it on when he needs it but lets it slide when he deems it unnecessary. But, you see, going by this post alone he’s not much of a storyteller either.

Here’s his story so far: There’s a female.

That’s about it. It could be manga or western. He’s developing a basis. The female might be a hero but he’s not sure. He explicitly states he has compelling and intriguing ideas and so far all we know is that his compelling and intriguing idea is to put a female in his story.

Beyond the whole “no story” thing, this also shows a complete lack of vision. If you are going to create a comic, work with a team, and start a “comic company” you need to know exactly what you want, how you want it and when you want it or else no-one is going to care.

But there’s more. “I’m looking for an extremely talented artist to draw up my comic.” (I had to insert punctuation and fix spelling mistakes – sorry – I couldn’t bring myself to leave it as it was). What’s wrong with that? Anyone?

An extremely talented artist doesn’t want to draw your comic. An extremely talented artist might want to collaborate with you. Give input. Offer suggestions. Make tweaks. Insert sequences. Build the plot with you. Make the layouts. But unless you have the best damn story every written, they’re not going to want to draw your comic. Especially when all they know about your comic is that it has a girl in it.

Also, there is the lack of a proper name. The name he posted under was an obvious handle. You have to be professional in this business, even on message boards. You’re never going to publish a comic under the name BatmanBitches03 so you better start using your own name on message boards. It’s a matter of branding yourself, letting people know who you are – that you’re a person and not some run-of-the-mill comic fan that has this great Spider-Man story.

And, finally, going back to the whole starting his own comic company thing – take it down a notch. Even if that’s your end goal, start it one mini-series at a time. Vision is fine but until you prove you have the chops to pull off a book no-one’s going to believe your “company” vision. And that’s important. People need to have faith in you, especially an artist.

It reminds me of the first “company” I kind of got suckered into working for. I wrote a story for the anthology this guy claimed to be putting together. As time went on the anthology never got finished but instead there were plenty of websites, merchandising plans, flyers and other promotional materials. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the comic community is full of people like this and that I had to set my bar a little higher. Just make a book. A three issue mini-series. Something sensible. Make it well, market it well. If you do that, the rest will fall into place.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Remember to pass by the DC Conspiracy and the Hoarse & Buggy booth at SPX. Table 75 and 80 respectively in the Versailles Ballroom.

Jason at 11:36 PM  |  link to this   

5 Comments

Welcome back, Slacker!

Blogger Jason Copland at 9/23/2005 12:54 AM   

Thanks. And by the way, Jason, I have a story I want to pitch to you. It's not fleshed out yet but I'm pretty sure it will have a bunny.

Blogger Jason at 9/23/2005 8:46 AM   

Sounds great! I'll do it on one condition..... I get no say in the story's development and execution. I want to draw up your comic!

Blogger Jason Copland at 9/23/2005 9:23 AM   

Why would you get input? You're the artist. Do art!

Blogger Jason at 9/23/2005 9:58 AM   

But, you get to ask for changes in the art, right? To make it better. To make it as awesome as your story about a bunny...it is about a bunny, ain't it?

Blogger Jason Copland at 9/23/2005 11:59 AM   

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