Many comic writers these days say that they’re fans of superhero
characters they work with. And that’s one of the problems within the industry
today. Thanks to fans writing the comics readers are getting books that read
like glorified fanfiction pieces, not well-written stories from a professional
publisher.
In many cases a comic fan who becomes a comic book writer at a
place like Marvel or DC often approaches a character from a very emotional
perspective, not an objective one like a professional writer does. Yes a comic
fan is passionate about the character they’re writing but they’re often so
biased towards one or two characters that they don’t see how their love of
their favorite character shows how little professionalism they have in their
craft. Because they’re so emotionally attached to a character fan writers often
make emotional decisions that do more harm to a character and their history
long term than good.
When a comic fan writes stories from their emotions they often
focus on singular aspects of a character and don’t approach character in a way
where they get a balanced picture of them. Yes, they’ve read a series of issues
or even a creator’s entire run. And from those issues they have some semblance
of a character’s story and a mission, but oftentimes their vision of a
character is often flat and one-dimensional.
Because some fans approach their favorite characters with their
emotions and they don’t have a balanced picture of them, it often leads to them
writing stories that are usually unbalanced and uneven. Readers get action
presented from a slanted and biased perspective that always makes the hero out
to be either virtually infallible and unbeatable like Batman has been in recent
years or some poor put upon victim who life just beats up on for absolutely no
reason like Spider-Man or Daredevil have been in some runs over the years. In
some cases like Wonder Woman the character literally gets lost because a writer
is so busy projecting their idea of who they are onto them instead of letting
them be who they are.
In many cases when fans become writers, comic book heroes go
from characters with their own personality and “voice” to Mary Sues and Gary
Stus, manifestations of the fan in comic form and a soapbox to present their
own views and opinions. And instead of having their own adventures, the hero
starts living the life of the writer, not having a life of their own.
Thanks to this biased perspective characters that get developed
in that distort them. And as the picture of who they are gets distorted, their
message and their mission get lost. For example instead of Batman taking his
oath to protect to Gotham City objectively, we get Batman prepping to take on
bad guys 24/7.
That’s not what the character was meant to be. Yes, Batman is
driven to fight crime and will push himself beyond human limits to escape
perilous situations and stop the bad guys or protect people. But he has time
for a life outside of the Dark Knight to be Bruce Wayne and run Wayne
Enterprises or spend time with Dick Grayson or mentoring Tim Drake.
But in comics today, the Batman character has become as obsessed
as his rogues gallery. And this obsession with crime is turning him into a
caricature of himself. These days Batman practically eats and sleeps in the
Batcave, and has no time to be Bruce Wayne or even do work at Wayne Enterprises
or spend time with Dick Grayson, Tim Drake or anyone else outside of the
costume. Everything is about him being Batman all the time. While that model
may work in a fanfiction piece, but it sure doesn’t make for great comic
storytelling in a well-crafted comic where stories need to be balanced.
Thanks to this kind of singular focus on a favorite character,
supporting characters who were essential to a character’s history and their
story paradigm oftentimes get lost in the shuffle.
Worse, they often get discarded and replaced with other
characters who the writer feels more comfortable working with like Damian
Wayne. Because previous supporting characters like Tim Drake have things like
“personalities” and “voices” the writer hasn’t figure out what to do with, they
often discard them like trash for their new so-called “better” ones they prefer
working with.
And in most cases when these new supporting characters are put
into a character’s story they aren’t a good fit. Because they aren’t grown
organically from the roots of a characters’ history, and because the writer has
no idea on how to write an effective backstory for them, they just feel forced.
Usually they’re just shoehorned in through some convoluted retroactive
continuity or some dysfunctional plot. Yes, the writer likes them, but readers
are split on them because they haven’t been introduced to readers in an organic
manner. And because they haven’t
been introduced organically readers have a hard time connecting with them and
relating to them.
Because many comic fans who become writers see the character
from the lens of a fan and not a creator’s objective viewpoint they don’t see
how everything in a characters’ world works together comprehensively. In the
bigger picture of the characters’ world are the mechanics behind the story and
all those elements work together to help a writer tell a well-crafted story. A
hero not only needs his rogues, but a strong supporting cast for the main
character to make his or her story paradigm work effectively.
To truly understand a character one has to do more than read
some of the comics from a creative team’s run or a few creative team’s runs.
They have to read the interviews with the creators, and study the history of
the time the character was created. In some cases if possible a creator has to
sit down with the creator and find out what motivated them to create that
character. From these points and counterpoints can a creator get a balanced
picture of the character their mission, their supporting cast, and their
“voice” before they start putting down ideas for their run of stories on said
character.
When a writer like myself does the research on the creators and
their motivations they start to see that the original creators just don’t make
characters into unbeatable infallible characters or perpetual victims. They
understand story models established initially by the creators and use them to
make them and the mission established in the first issue of their comic
relatable to readers today just like it was relatable to readers of previous
generations yesterday.
A professional writer has to approach any character they write
with passion and heart. But they also have to remain professional and objective
when they tell stories with them. An objective writer will work with a
characther’s strengths and weaknesses to give readers the best possible reading
experience. And they’ll give the reader a lesson in that story that not only
makes the character grow, but gives the reader something to grow from.
What do you think about the new movie dope?
ReplyDeleteGary Groth said that the US comics industry didn't get heavily dominated by fans turned professionals until the 1970s, which also happened when the CCA was beginning to decline in influence and around the start of the Direct Market.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Gary was right. And we now see the long term damage fans turned pros have had on the industry and the craft.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading a few of your old post, I would like to apologize for the way you had to grow up. God loves you and everybody else....despite the wickedness alot of us had to experience and witness, but it made us the strong people we are.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that fans as comic book writers can be bad thing but it's wrong for them to choose the characters they want to write? Stop imposing your views like as though they are fact. Even your beloved Christopher Priest likes Damian Wayne
ReplyDelete