What are some things you don't want to see in comics?

Question

I'm making a comic company and I am really tired of seeing steryotypes and other stupid things over and over so I'm trying to avoid them but I can't think of them all. Also you can write what you do want to see.

Answer 1

Personally, I'm ok with almost anything in comic books....after all, nobody's making me buy them. ^_^ But....there are some pet peeves I have.

--If you plan on establishing a character....and that character is clearly and absolutely *unambiguously* a Good Guy (tm), please, for the love of whatever god you believe in, *don't* screw over that character in service of a plot, or worse yet, some "event".

Granted, with a new comic-book company, this really isn't so much of an issue as it would be for one whose characters have been heroes and solid members of the community for *years*, but still....have some level of respect for character please. If you go through the trouble to make it *absolutely clear* that the character is a Good Guy, keep him or her that way. If you plan on having characters *turn* frequently and switch sides, at least have the decency to foreshadow it so we know this isn't just something you're pulling from the southern orifice *ex nihilio*, from out of nowhere.

Honestly. If you want to know why I'm not buying Marvel Comics these days, *this* is why. Between Bendis and Millar and their "events", and their reliance on unexplainable character turns and cheap ways out, it's really turned me off to Marvel Comics in a way that hasn't been so for me in *years* if not *decades*.

--Don't be afraid of the whoopass. Honestly, if characters are going to fight, don't take it off-panel, and don't turn it into a Jim Lee-styled posedown of splash-page after splash-page wasted because *nothing happens*. It may look good in _Wizard_, but don't do it.

Instead, do it like Steranko would. Like Kirby would.

Lay it out, cinematically, arrange it so that there's flow from panel to panel and *lay out* exactly what happens in detail. If it's a fistfight, take cues from your favorite boxing match. If there's kung-fu, take more inspiration from the Bruce Lee films than _Mortal Kombat_. And if it's a team-on-team fracas.....don't be afraid to draw _Braveheart_ in capes and tights. The point is....heroes and villains oppose one another for *reasons*. Even if it's just cops and robbers-styled "crimebusting" like a pulpy, Golden Age comic, the point of it is that the *conflict* is one of the main reasons the comic book is *there* as narrative. So lay it out. Show the conflict. Make it messy and detailed and *glorious* to read and watch. Let the good guys and bad guys hit each other, shoot each other, stab each other, whatever works, and make it look like something worth watching, something coherent with some back-and-forth flow.

--Finally....pacing. Keep it real. Not all comic-book stories need to start at the beginning, but if your story needs to, then don't be afraid to start there. What's important is that you tell the story, in both words *and pictures*, that you want to tell, and that you make it worth telling.

And one way to keep people going is to *not* core-dump and do it all in the first issue. Real people *rarely* tell their whole life stories in one Big Honking Monologue (tm). Things come out slowly, in pieces as needed. Am I saying you should go terse and avoid using lots of words? Not really....

Just keep in mind that the pictures should tell half the story. And also keep in mind that you want to save something for the next issue....and for the one after that....and for next *year's* issue as well.

Look at _Heroes_ on NBC, their first season. Sylar didn't even show up really until *how many* shows into the thing? And how many episodes (issues) did it take for us to get it that Claire (the cheerleader) had HRG for a father? Exactly. The show almost risked going *too slowly* at times, with the slow but *realistic* way in which it let information out.

That is the kicker though....you have to really measure things out. It's not all about having the Best First Issue Ever (tm). That matters, but you also need to think long-term as well. Even if you decide from the get-go that *all* you're doing is Done In One stories, there needs to be that long-term, background pacing going on....like there was with Spider-Man comics back in the 1970s, which were mainly Done In One, but still had the *constants* (Peter Parker's character, his friends and family, the whole Power/Responsibility thing).

So yeah....don't drown us in words. Plan it out. ^_^ Write a cliffhanger or three and give us a reason to wait for the next issue.

I have more things *I would Like* to see, but you can email me for that, I've already babbled on quite enough. Edit: One small thing to clear up an idea...you can substitute *any* major plot point for the "whoopass" idea above. If your comic is about humor, or romance, or even about girlie-girl pinups, don't shy away from your content. Lay it out, plan it out, make it worth reading and looking at.

Thanks for your time! ^_^

Answer 2

DONT WANT TO SEE...

I hate Twenty issue story arcs crossed with 3 other titles
2-the kid who is smarter than superhero
3-A blind character/handicap person who super powers

want to see
Intelligence in writing

Answer 3

I don't want to see bad language or sexual situations.

Answer 4

politics and religion