Comic Book Scripting!
why won't anyone listen to me
Apparently yesterday was quite the day on Comics Twitter! No, Spiderman didn’t finally murder The Joker. Some comic professionals worked together to create a template for a standardized comic script!
Now, I know what you’re thinking. “But Chip, couldn’t Spiderman easily crush The Joker’s clown neck and save countless thousands from his barely interrupted murder schemes?” Yes, absolutely. You’re also probably wondering, “Is there not already a standardized comics script?” You’d think so, but nope! It’s all down to the individual writer and their suffering editor before they hand it over to the confused artist!
Long-time readers will remember that I tried to create a standardized comic script years ago. It looked something like this:
Nobody used it on account of professional jealousy. Which is fine. I try to give wisdom, but I can’t make people receive wisdom. I can lead Comic Writer Horses to My Wise Water but I can’t make them Knowledge Drink.
Anyway, comics writer Steenz Stewart and editor Camilla Zhang are giving it another better shot with their Standard Comic Script! It’s actually pretty great and a fantastic resource with well-thought out components, giving both the artist and the editor extremely helpful information! Comic writers often get asked what a comic script looks like by writers trying to break into the industry and then those writers see dozens of wildly different examples and get confused and go and make a whole new script that will confuse future writers when they ask them the same question. If you’re starting out, I definitely suggest checking out their template!
ARE YOU GOING TO USE IT
No of course not. I want people to look at my scripts and go “oh shit that’s a ZDARSKY” and then have to untangle my mess like I’m some sort of wild genius.
Speaking of my WILD GENIUS, I talked to Andrew of Forbidden Planet about Daredevil, etc.!
And speaking of DAREDEVIL, ETC., it turns out Funko made a toy—sorry, “collectible physical NFT (Not a Fucking Toy)”— of Marco’s amazing Elektra Daredevil design! Fun!
OOOOO COOL
yeah I guess
Not as cool as comics creator Fábio Moon!!
NICE SEGUE AS ALWAYS
In his recent newsletter he does a nice shout-out to Mangasplaining, with a bit that really jumped out at me:
It’s been a very long time since those words were used to describe me. Thank you, Fábio.
And that’s it! But before I go, a couple of things. One, DON’T FORGET TO GO TO THIS COMMENT THREAD AND GET A CHANCE TO WIN KAPTARA ORIGINAL ART!
You’ll kick yourself if you miss this chance!!!!
Also, for your reading entertainment, I have made a tidy list of Substack recommendations for you to check out.
Among those is Glass Eye Studios. Right now Joanne and Khary have their excellent first chapter up of Sirens of the City. Which is a story about a young runaway with an unwanted pregnancy and some resultant mysterious powers. I highly suggest checking it out! The first chapter is free!
Okay! That’s it for me! Bye!
-Chip
Look man, you can make Spider-Man do whatever you want, but you GOTTA respect the hyphen.
You're unused standardized template had me laughing so hard I forgot what I had planned to post