He's the DJ, I'm the Writer - The Art of Comics Collaboration

 



Michael Lapinski and I frequently stated that, making comics is like being in a band. The writer is essentially the MC, while the artist is the Producer/DJ. The artist, inspired by the writer's concept, characters, and ability to contribute, builds the beat, does the math, and lays out the visuals. While initially at times I felt as if I was competing in a New Yorker cartoon caption contest, I recognized that the sum must be greater, otherwise work in another medium. The solitude of writing is frequently smashed by the ink stained fingers of an artist, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Typically the artist on a comic will go through a series of steps in bringing the writer's vision to life. These are well known: character design, thumbs, pencils, inking, possibly coloring, and lettering. This escalation yields the final product. What is often believed is the writer's word is bible, they have written the genetic code for how the project will develop and it is the artist responsibility to facilitate the narrative gestation. I don't work this way, and I don't believe that this yields the best book.

Each draft that the writer creates is a template for which the artist can and should build off of. On YEGG, the current book I'm creating with Turner Lange, every single draft is a response to the work's evolution. I may shout first, but ultimately I am responding to the echoes. I am not the voice calling out from up high.

A talented artist serves as an editor as much as a world builder. Comics is a fundamentally collaborative medium. While Stan Lee's 'Marvel Method' is often viewed as a kind of quaint hackery in which Stan jacked various artist's storytelling gifts, it is a method that is valuable in 21st century storytelling, especially when new collaborative tools continue to become available.

Great comic creation is call and response, the ability to listen and stay open as much as dictate and make decisions. In my experience and artist who is contributing to the narrative and has a stake in the work (I firmly believe in sharing the "created by" credit) will deliver better work. It is personal, not just a gig. There are very few people who can do both. How many solo-geniuses like J-Dilla are there?

Smashing the Light Bulb - Constructing the Archetypal Narrative

When I was in kindergarden, as a class we built puppets using a light bulb and paper mache'. We would layer the wet news strip around the bulb, and eagerly mix our paints while the paste dried. Once the paste had hardened, the teacher would take a hammer to the light bulb, smashing the interior into a glassy pulp. What was left was a clean hard surface to create and to paint something entirely new. The bulb was necessary to build upon. Archetypes are the bulb.

One of the tools I find most helpful, my lightbulb,  is The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler. It came recommended from a family member and employs mythic structure initially analyzed by one of the true geniuses of the 20th century, Joseph Campbell. If you have read anything about George Lucas' process for writing Star Wars, his name is certainly familiar. Essentially, he traffics in archetypes, and recognizes the timelessness of effective storytelling.

Understanding the value of archetypes allowed me to bypass a major obstacle I had as a writer;  a desperation to be original. I wanted to create stories and characters that people had never seen before and sometimes at the expense of giving a reader something to latch on to that is familiar. What I have come to learn is that nothing is really "original" and true originality comes from combining existing pieces in new ways. Successful story telling is about innovation.  Finding pieces to build a story upon can be very liberating.

As I begin to create my new story Yegg, a crusty-punk revenge story, I had a very clear picture of the character and the world he would inhabit. I had a strong thematic sense of issues I wanted to address. And as I iron out the plot for the story, I will draw upon a book that is over 400 years old, Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, to illuminate my protagonist's path. Then, I'll smash the light.