The problem with books like this is almost always that they look like nothing you recognise, have maybe even never seen and probably aren’t what you wanted to do in the first place. This, however, is different in that it offers a complete guide to planning, scripting, drawing and setting out a comic book. The probable truth is that, if you need to be told or taught any of this, you’re probably not going to get far. I suspect you need intuitive flair and that you’ll get your influences from and spark off the sort of things you like, which you probably devour assiduously. Comic writers are usually fans.
Never mind, you can still have a go, and there’s one other thing this book has: authors who are established in the field and who you may actually have heard of, rather than people who are only writing a book because they never quite made it in their chosen field and have time on their hands. Greg Pak writes Batman and Superman for DC Comics and Fred van Lente is the author of Marvel Zombies and Incredible Hercules – both plus a lot more. These are the people you want to listen to.
A big chunk of the book is devoted to producing a putative project called Swordmaids. Yes, I know, it’s not the greatest thing ever floated, but Greg and Fred are going to save that for their award-winning projects, OK? It’s credible, which is all that matters, and it’s about learning by doing, the best way. You’ll follow all the processes from Writing For Pictures through Visual Storytelling and Pitching right up to printing, DIY or online and, finally, finding and keeping your audience.
This is a thorough and thoroughly professional approach by authors who not only know what they’re doing but how and why they’re doing it, and they explain everything clearly and completely. If you want to get into comics, this rocks.
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