Writing Comics?

Format: http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scriptsmart/comicbookfullscreenplay.pdf

It might be worth stopping by a comic shop or bookstore. It's not uncommon for TPB, or collections to have the scripts included as bonus material in the back.

I've actually been playing around with this. I'm really interested in writing a comic and maybe a graphic novel one day. I have some really good story ideas outlined for this.

Comic book outlines/scripts are sort of like screenplays. But they really are however you feel comfortable doing them. There is no exact way.

Usually you do something like this:

Page #
Summary description

Panel 1 (or whatever)
Description of panel and characters in it.

Person 1 (character's name)
Dialogue

Person 2 (character's name)
Dialogue

Panel 2
Description
etc...

Two really good books on the subject are here:

http://www.amazon.com/DC-Comics-Guide-Writing/dp/0823010279/ref=sr_1_2?i...
http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Comics-Graphic-Novels-Peter/dp/B004KAB546/...

Alan Moore wrote a really short book, that doesn't give much instruction. But it does tell a lot about his thought process and I found it really interesting. Here:

http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Moores-Writing-Comics-1/dp/1592910122/ref=sr_...

Another book that is highly recommended (from those above) is Story by Robert McKee. It's about writing movies and screenplays, but it really breaks down the story elements. I'm currently reading it, I think it's really good if not a little overly technical. It's definitely not a light read.

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Substance-Structure-Principles-Screenwriting...

It's also hard to go wrong with "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud. Though it is more about the visuals, he does a good job helping you get your head around the strengths and weakness of working in comics.

I actually had this as one of my text books in a storyboarding class I took.

I don't get why comic writers don't just draw each panel themselves and write what they want said or done in it. Seems like it would be a lot easier way to communicate how you want things to look with the artist and also, keep your eye on how the pacing would look in print, to some degree.

A lot of times in the lower hand corner of their outline they will have a small sketch of how the page panels should be laid out.

It's easier in writing (if you're a shitty artist) to tell what the characters should be looking like:

"Batman is looking slightly over his shoulder with a pissed off look. He's seeing the Joker coming at him. The moon is behind him outlining him."

I couldn't sketch that and get my point across.

SHUT YOUR FACE WHEN YOU'RE TALKING TO ME!!

Trust me it was shut. I used nothing but hand gestures.

Here's a good article by Brian Michael Bendis on his website. It touches on everything. Nothing groundbreaking. But it does have a bunch of Story Scripts that you can download at the bottom of the page.

http://www.jinxworld.com/scripts.html

edit - He also has this on there, which is a pretty good article:

http://www.jinxworld.com/BBFAQWRITING.html

My guess is that a lot of it has to do with the collaborative process and not wanting to stiffle the artists creativity but instead letting the artist interprit the work themselves. I view it as being a similar issue to professional screenwriters by and large ommiting camera angles and actor blocking within their scripts.

Also, I bet that for comics with strenuous deadlines, theirs the issue of how much time it takes to make all those little doodles.

I've always kind of been interested in the way Stan Lee says he would give his artists a basic plot outline, let their imaginations run wild, then write dialogue for the wordless pages. Does anyone know if this was just a Stan Lee thing or if others did that?

It was a Marvel thing. And it's known as a Marvel style script. Or Marvel method. Something like that.

He started writing scripts that way when he was writing just about every Marvel title himself. It saved him time. He would write out an outline like you said (I think later he even just dictated it and then somebody else would type it out).

I HAVE written a graphic novel (technically it was a trilogy), and I wrote it more like a film script, just more descriptive with minor thumbnails here and there (which are more or less tiny, thumbnail sized storyboards). some writers will do a page by page or panel by panel style script. it really depends on how much creative freedom you want the artist to have, and whether or not you have a specific length in mind. the best thing i can recommend is the Batman: Arkham Asylum fifteenth anniversary edition (it also happens to be my favorite comic book of all time, but that's besides the point). It has a fully-annotated script in the back and thumbnails. Worth getting your hands on.
Also, how do you want it published (if you intend to do so)? If you'll be doing the art, then it isn't nescesary to do a really long, drawn-out script. If it'll be a monthly, then page number does come into play.
For the record, my series isn't published, and I don't intend it to be (at least not for a long, long time from now). I don't know anyone who's an artist with the style I want, and while I've drawn the fuck out of the scenes and characters, I'm lazy and don't feel like doing it. I already spent two and a hallf years writing the thing.
Hope that helped a bit.

I hated Arkham Asylum...

I really haven't found anything of Grant Morrison's that I've actually loved.

I have not read The Invisibles - though I think I have a copy on my computer...

My favorite writers - Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, and of course Alan Moore.

Don't know why, but just thought I'd throw that out there. Not enough people here talk about Bendis and Brubaker and I think they're the best writers in comics right now IMO.

Why is that funny?

Cuz I know how badly you want to talk about Brubaker and most likely Bendis now too.

lol eh, I'm a nerd for them and nobody else is on this site apparently.

and that's exactly why I was lqtm

I write my comics using Final Draft, and I pretty much stick to the Screenplay style, except I omit the scene headings, and add a page count. After that, I usually break down everything by panel, usually making each paragraph the description for a single panel (sometimes I label the panels).

The important things to remember is that your artist can't portray motion, so you avoiding having things move in the panel descriptions can be a little tricky. For more advice, I would strongly advise you read Understanding comics as McCloud does a great job breaking down comics as an art form and explaining how they work.

The next question would be about the art and the artist. I do most of my work with a single artist, and we communicate well, so I can be skimpy on panel descriptions and I also like to give him room to play with the scripts. If you're working with someone you don't know that well, you should be more descriptive. If you're drawing the comics yourself, you could pretty much just illustrate right from an outline.

hope that helps.

How do I get my writing samples to DC Comics?
For the past 2yrs this is what I've dreamed of doing. I want to write for DC Comics, but I don't know how to get writing samples to them. How do I go about it?

There's nothing to writing comics Subby. I think you're making it more complicated than it actually is.
1. What shit is happening?
2. Show that shit.
3. Don't make people talk too much.
Don't smother it. The description is in the image.

Wow, kind of forgot about this thread. Thanks for the input though.

How about this: A Batman graphic novel/Elseworlds where it's basically Don Quixote. And Batman is just some old dude longing for the "grand old days" of justice and fairness and sees himself as the Batman we all know and love but in reality he just keeps getting the crap kicked out of him by small potatoes muggers. Robin could be Sancho Panza. I'm thinking about doing it!

Bruce Wayne de la Gotham City

Brian Michael Bendis just signed a deal with Random House to write a book about writing comics. It should be awesome. He's one of the best in the business.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/marvel-comics-writer-random...