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Title: The Dc Comics Guide to Writing Comics by Dennis O'Neil ISBN: 0823010279 Publisher: Watson-Guptill Pubns Pub. Date: May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67
Rating: 4
Summary: Nixx Pixx Tixx on Kixx Flixx Chixx
Comment: This book, written by legendary comics writer/editor Dennis O'Neil, is the first in a series of 'how to' books being released by DC comics. The fact that DC recently decided to suspend their policy of accepting unsolicited writing and art submissions seems to contradict the encouragement of these guides, however. Still, the information provided by Mr. O'Neil is valuable nonetheless, in that it collects, in an organized manner, all the basics for a solid foundation in comics writing. Even so, the insights are not anything particularly new, especially if you have any previous writing education. But, it is the organization of these simple facts 'all in one place' and by such a knowledgeable pro like Denny O'Neil that I feel may add a bit of confident relief to any aspiring writer. I would recommend it at least on the grounds of it's technical accuracy and the 'official' tone it carries as being published by an actual giant of a comics publishers such as DC. Please note, however, that although I have read the book, I am completely full of (...).
Rating: 4
Summary: An solid introduction, but it leaves you wanting much more
Comment: "The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics" is author by Dennis O'Neil, who wrote some of the classic Green Lantern and Batman stories (usually drawn by Neal Adams). In this volume O'Neil covers the various methods of writing scripts, procedures for developing a story structure, creating well-rounded characters, and more. Although most of what is covered in here is basic to all forms of writing, O'Neil does keep the focus on how these key concepts apply to the writing of comic books. The book is divided into two parts, with an appendix:
Part One: (1) What are Comics? is answered in terms of a comprehensive vocabulary of comic book terms such as speech balloon, story arc, and inker; (2) A Full-Script Versus Plot-First compares the latter, which is the Marvel method developed by Stan Lee, with the former, the traditional approach for writing film and television scripts, with the strengths and weaknesses of each; (3) Story Structure provides a listing of the basic kinds of structure used in comics, including a detailed look at different examples of "The Hook"; (4) Creating Drama looks at the importance of keeping the action going and offers a key distinction between suspense and surprise; (5) Subplots presents the advantages and inherent dangers of subplotting; (6) Characterization spends as much time talking about dialogue and humor as well as about the hero and other characters; and (7) Script Preparation is about the physical act of writing and producing something that can be turned over to an artist (assuming, for the sake of argument, you are not going to do the whole comic book yourself in the spirit of Dave Sims, the early years).
Part Two starts by covering the rules for different types of comic book stories: (1) Miniseries give you a title with a predetermined number of issues, usually between three and six; (2) Graphic Novels are, for want of a better definition, long fictional narratives (sidestepping graphic novel miniseries like "The Dark Knight Returns"); (3) Maxiseries are essentially longer miniseries, like "The Watchmen" or "Crisis on Infinite Earths"; and (4) Ongoing Series, which are the staple of DC Comics and include titles like "Action Comics" and "Batman" that have been published continuously for over 60 years. Basically the same general rules are applied to all of these forms, with a different balance of consideration. The rest of this unit looks at (5) Story Arcs as ways of doing a miniseries in an ongoing series; (6) The Levitz Paradigm for tracking plots and characters over the course of multiple issues; (7) Megaseries, which is O'Neil's newly coined term for stories that cut across multiple titles for the same characters, such as Batman's "No Man's Land"; (8) Adaptations, which in this case applies not to turning great works of literature into comic books but rather adapting Batman movies back into the comic books that inspired them; (9) Continuity, or rather three types of continuity; and (10) Denouement, which is O'Neil's final pat on the back to his readers.
The Appendix has Mark Evanier's thoughts on "Writing Humor Comics," and a list of suggestions for the Comic Book Writer's Library. Overall, the book is much more descriptive than anything else, which ends up being both its strength and its weakness. Still, O'Neil does try to crystallize his thoughts into specific rules whenever possible. If anything, O'Neil is guilty of trying to cover too much and sacrificing, to some degree, depth for breadth. Throughout "The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics" the best examples are when O'Neil can go into detail (especially if it is regards to a comic we have actually read). The book is illustrated with examples from comics throughout DC's history, but the best examples are rough or finished pages paired up with the pages written up for the artist by the writer. This is where we get our best sense of how comic books are written and produced in the real world.
The companion volume to this work, "The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics," is written by Klaus Janson. There is actually a minimum of overlap between these two volumes, which offer a complimentary approach to the creation of comic books. These two DC volumes are worthy additions to the limited library that every aspiring comic book writer/artist should own, which would include Will Eisner's "Comics and Sequential Art" and "Graphic Storytelling," Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" and "Reinventing Comics," and even John Buscema's "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way."
Rating: 3
Summary: Not What I expected
Comment: Although the book covers the various methods (2) of writing scripts, procedures for developing a story structure and creating well-rounded characters. It is not thorough enough to help the reader make solid decisions. Basically, this book gets you off to a good start. However, you will need to suppliment this book with more material that goes in depth. For ex: When the book discuss the methods of writing scripts, it does not introduce a method at all. Instead, the book shows 2 examples of previously written scripts. Thus, introducing the reader to the idea of writing a script, but you'll need to get a book that goes deeper into script writing to be successful. Overall, it was good reading and introduces the basics.
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Title: The Dc Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics by Klaus Janson ISBN: 0823010287 Publisher: Watson-Guptill Pubns Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Writer's Guide to the Business of Comics by Lurene Haines ISBN: 0823058778 Publisher: Watson-Guptill Pubns Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: How to Self-Publish Your Own Comic Book: The Complete Resource Guide to the Business, Production, Distribution, Marketing and Promotion of Comic Books by Tony C. Caputo ISBN: 0823024555 Publisher: Watson-Guptill Pubns Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Panel One: Comic Book Scripts by Top Writers by Neil Gaiman, Kevin Smith, Kurt Busiek, Jeff Smith, Greg Rucka, Nat Gertler, Dwayne McDuffie, Trina Robbins, Marv Wolfman, Steve Lieber ISBN: 0971633800 Publisher: About Comics, LLC Pub. Date: 08 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Graphic Storytelling by Will Eisner ISBN: 0961472820 Publisher: Poorhouse Press Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $22.99 |
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