Get your Kickstarter Comic Reviewed!

Having run several successful Kickstarter campaigns over the past few years, one thing that always took the most time was getting reviews. Many review sites disregard Kickstarter comics for their lack of exposure to the wider community, the lack of big names attached and the varying degrees of quality produced.

I’m here to change that.

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The Art of Conversation Part 2, representing dialogue in comics.

One of the greatest limitations of dialogue in comics is the lack of space. The general rule of thumb is as follows; up to nine panels a page, with up to fifty words per panel. What you don’t realize until you start writing comics is that fifty words is not a lot. Especially if you are trying to depict a conversation. But you don’t have to feel like you are constantly butting up against an upper word limit. Read on to see some of the ways dialogue can shoulder more narrative weight than just the words written on the page.

Kickstarter and its union controversy. How will that affect indie creators?

Kickstarter has found itself in the news this past week for supposedly union-busting. And while I am all for unions to protect workers’ rights and freedoms, the fact that this is happening at a company that a lot of indie creators like myself rely on for funding is worrying for more than just ethical reasons. Read on to see the possible implications of this scenario and where that leaves us.

The terrifying REAL cost of creating a comic issue

I’m a comic creator. I can’t draw, I can’t colour and I’ve learned the hard way I can’t even be trusted to edit my own work. So if I want to create something and put it in the hands of fans, I’ve got to crawl up a metaphorical mountain where every step can put me in very literal financial danger. This article is a frank financial discussion facing comic creators.

The rise of the Scottish indie comic scene

Scotland has a vast and interesting association with the medium of sequential art. Unbeknownst to many, but it is argued that the first ever comic was published in the Scottish city of Glasgow in 1826 (featured image), preceding the birth of the comic (as we know it today) in the form of Funnies On Parade by nearly a century. Since then, the country is largely ignored in favour of the powerhouses of the United States, and the creative wealth of writers from neighbouring England. But a new era may just be on the horizon.

So come join me on a tour of some of Scotland’s best comic book exports!

Black holes disguised as white lines; the power of the comic gutter

The comic gutter is quintessentially Lovecraftian in nature: it is the world between worlds, the space between spaces, black holes disguised as white lines that will eventually (like the cosmic horrors that inhabited the world of Yog Sothoth) devour the world of the comic book. But where are it’s worshippers, it’s disciples and followers? Fear not, because as high priest of the church of the gutter, I am here to explore the wonderous and terrifying nature of these enigmatic spaces and convert you all.

A Picture is Worth 1000 words – how to write a comic script that your artist can use Part 2

In the previous part, we dissected the comic script to the base components required for each member of the creative team to extract the relevant information to do their part. There were also some panels and script excerpts from a comic I have worked on to exemplify this. But as I stated in the first part, there is no right way to write a comic script. And to prove it, we will delve into the scripts of some of the industry’s biggest names to see what makes them different and why that works for them. So who are we going to be looking at? Read on to find out!

A Picture is Worth 1000 words – how to write a comic script that your artist can use Part 1

If, as the title suggests, a picture was worth 1000 words then every comic script would be the size of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke script (this is a joke you will understand in part 2). But as the writer, and the creative genesis, you need to write each panel so that every person after you (editor, penciller, colourist and letterer) can get what they need from it. Sounds like an oxymoron, but don’t worry. The first part of this article deals with what you can do to make this process as easy and effective as possible. The second part is where we will examine some comic script samples from some of the greats and dissect them to find out what makes them tick.

“lock the universe behind me when I leave.” – Why the return of Sandman does not fill me with joy.

“When the first living thing existed, I was there waiting. When the last living thing dies, my job will be finished. I’ll put the chairs on the tables, turn out the lights and lock the universe behind me when I leave.” says Death, the elder sister of Dream in regards to the grandest cycle of them all. The very nature of all existence as we can comprehend. But in regards to Gaiman’s highly acclaimed Sandman series, Death should’ve closed up properly long ago.