Critiquing Comics #058: “Pale Dark”

Pale Dark

A man is kidnapped from his home and taken to a secret facility, where a mysterious pale man tells him he’s in deep trouble for supposedly committing serious crimes. In fact, a fellow prisoner tells him, he — and they — “fit the profile.” For what? Is keeping your audience in the dark, as in Chuck Amadori and Ruvel Abril’s Pale Dark, about the plot the best way to draw them in? Tim and Mulele discuss.

Critiquing Comics #052: “Super Inc, Villians’ Edition”

Super Inc

Listener Aghori Shaivite asked us to look at his comic, Super Inc. Villians’ Edition, which explores the lives of the villians he has created for his superhero comics. Unfortunately, Tim and Mulele have identified a number of problems with the writing…

Critiquing Comics #042: “Zombuu”

ZombuuThe two main components of a comic are, of course, story and art. Your comic needs to be on point with both to work. This week’s comic totally brings one, and largely wings the other. We discuss Zombuu by Curtis “Artzuu” Hamilton.

#287 Jeff Parker interview

Red HulkJeff Parker‘s profile as a writer at Marvel is gradually increasing, due to his work on Agents of Atlas, Hulk, and Thunderbolts. This week we get his take on some of the characters he’s writing and story choices he’s made, as well as his approach to writer’s block, mistakes new writers make, and more. Why do his stories tend to move so quickly? How does a mainstream writer deal with “events” like Fear Itself derailing his story plans? Find out in this episode!

#285 Comics Cooperatives (pt 1)

Comics CooperativesAre you in a comics cooperative? Would you like to be? What are the various things a group might offer its members?

This week we take a look at three different groups of comics creators in the US:

  • Dale Wilson and Vince Moore talk about The Antidote Trust in Los Angeles
  • Natalie Nourigat in Portland, Oregon, describes how Periscope Studio has helped her launch her comics career
  • Curt Gettman explains why he chose Pittsburgh to start Unicorn Mountain, a collective with a number of anthology books under its belt. Their latest is The Black Forest.

#273 Make the reader care about your characters!

More critiques of self-published comics! Tim and Mulele discuss getting the reader involved in your story, and your characters, from the get-go. If the first issue reads like a cliche, don’t expect the reader to come back for issue two.

Also, in case you needed us to tell you this: Show, don’t tell.

Comics under our magnifying glass: “41” #1 by Bob Frantz and Pablo Peppino; “Tape Song” by Banjo; and “Myriad” #1 by Steve Higgins and Nick Main.

#272 Buddy Scalera and the continuum of “Creating Comics”

You’ve probably seen any number of how-to books about writing comics, coloring, etc. Comics industry veteran Buddy Scalera has just published a book that shows how those pieces fit together: “Creating Comics from Start to Finish”. Buddy talks to Tim about his reasons for writing the book, the business side of comics, how looking behind the curtain can increase the magic, and the future of comics.

Then, Tim and guest reviewer Shawn Williams take a close look at Buddy’s book.

#217 Comics scripts analyzed

A recent Comics Reporter article by Ng Suat Tong on “Writing, Collaboration, and Superheroes” (and a rebuttal to it from Chris Allen Online) got us to thinking: Do modern writers give sufficient instruction to artists? How much of what you see on the page came from the writer, and how much from the artist? Are some artists not carrying out the writer’s suggestions, and is that because the artist had a better idea, because the writer’s instructions were impractical, or because the artist is simply, um, not that good?

To explore these questions, Kumar, Mulele, and Tim chose four scripts from the Comicbook Script Archive site, and read them alongside the finished comics that resulted from them: Punisher Max #39, by Garth Ennis and Leandro Fernandez; Y: the Last Man #18, by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra; Daredevil 28, by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev; and (the ringer of the lot) Batman: the Killing Joke, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. Here’s the resulting discussion!

#178 John Paul Catton and “The Flintlocks”

5/4/09 John Paul Catton and “The Flintlocks”

FlintlocksTokyo writer John Paul Catton talks about his experience with Marvel UK in the ‘80s, his current Web comic project with Phill Evans, and why it’s a mistake to make comics scripts imitate TV.

#022 World building and Joseph Campbell

05/08/06 World building and Joseph Campbell

Heros JourneyFLASHBACK! Tim reads some postings from a comics writers’ e-mail list about building a new world for your characters. One poster recommends reading Joseph Campbell‘s books; another poster can’t stand Joseph Campbell. Brandon, our resident Joseph Campbell expert, critiques that poster’s critiques.