Text vs. Art

As I've experimented writing my own comic books scripts, I've been very conscious of how what I write on the page is going to translate to a page filled with somebody else's art. There is a strong sense of responsibility knowing the time consuming work you will be passing on to the artist. My script has to give the artist something worthwhile to draw to begin with (not something redundant, not something that is going to be skimmed past by the reader, something that has a place in the story, as well as something that they want to draw), while also ensuring that my writing, which is going to be plastered all over this person's art, isn't going to detract from it.

It's a lot of pressure!

I'm quite jealous of these writers than manage to nail it. It's one thing when it's one person creating the comic form start to finish, who can make all these decisions in unity with only themselves, but when you separate those processes, as most "mainstream" comics do, it's a different creative problem. What is the writer to do?

I don't think most mainstream comics quite get the balance right. At least, not usually. When I come across a new Marvel/DC issue where the art and writing work in tandem, that's always a bit of a "wow" moment.

I've been collecting my thoughts and wrote this article on Medium about some of the differences between comics that get it right and those that don't. Hopefully I've got my point across... there are lots of pictures, ha. Have a look if interested:

I Like When Comics Do This… Part 1: The Pictures Speak For Themselves

But basically I want to hear your opinions. Comics are a bit of a smooshing together or two types of communication, right? Images and text. Can you think of any examples that stood out as "Wow, this comic gets comics right" or "Ugh, this comic just doesn't get it". Part of me thinks it could be hard to notice the first case, because it might be a bit like good camerawork or editing in films — most of the time, it's invisible. But let me know what you think.

Submitted September 04, 2018 at 12:13AM by tom-as-well https://ift.tt/2NMlHS2