Successfully writing comic books...

I say 'successfully', because anyone can make a "comic". If you draw a stick figure... add a word (sound effect, dialogue, etc) no matter how subtle... it is sequential art... it tells a story... more so than a painting or drawing alone... not only is it showing you visuals but it is giving you narration in which way to go... the beautiful thing about a comic is that many interpretations can be achieved. Maybe more so than in film... because it is slowed down to the second (if needed)...but more films are being made like comic books and more comic books being made like films these days... there's something beautifulabout that.


Through big budget blockbusters the mainstream consumer has become accustomed to the value of a story being told in comic form. For some reason, people find books with pictures to be a childish thing, adults should not have pictures in their books. They should be "mature" enough to visualize what is being told in the story... but that's not true... not everyone can be stimulated by words alone... or pictures... they like the two together. Which is what comics marry. For those of us that like to read but are very visual... comics really let you be in the moment of the story... as you read a novel and something horrible happens, you might pause. Feel the explosion, the death of your favorite character and so on... you may even feel it as you continue reading... but comics really show it. And successful comics are showing you the most important part of a story... they are showing what you need to see and sometimes censoring in the best way. I have seen dirtier films and comics that censor just right. You get the idea of what is actually going on... and you are seeing the action take place but the really important things are left to your imagination...


I'm realizing that this journey I'm on as a storyteller... a lover of sequential art... is enabling me to develop a better sense of how to fully express my thoughts and opinions in the way I love most.


I really hope to make comics that people enjoy and possibly relate to. I feel like art's main purpose (other than self expression) is to actually effect an audience... no matter how large or small. Even if the piece is to simply make you feel disgust... if it does it is successfully what it was intended to be.

I have so many stories to tell... for now they are locked in my brain, some of the ideas and thoughts slowly seeping out in random and unexpected places. Eventually, before I die I hope to get as many of them onto paper as possible.

If you have ever wanted to write comics or draw them or both, and don't know where to begin...I highly recommend reading Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art". It is one of my favorite books, and was given to me by a friend many years ago (Thanks Mario!!) It talks about sooo many things that are involved in writing a comic that you might not think about at first. It definitely had a huge

impact on how I looked at storytelling and how my comics changed after... Check it out!!!