Support Shawn's writng with a donation
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Friday, December 14, 2018
Are Novelists Better At Storytelling than Comic Book Writers?
Some people say
that writing novels is better than writing comic books. That being a novelist
is better than being a comic book writer.
I’m a novelist. And
I’m a screenwriter. And I’m also a blogger. And over the last 25 years as I’ve written
and published over eight novels, six nonfiction books, two screenplays, scripts
for two seasons of a TV series, three series of novelettes and hundreds of
articles I always held out hope that one day I’d finally get the opportunity to
write a comic book.
I never thought it
was a step down writing comics like some elitists in the literary crowd believe
them to be. I never thought that novels were better than comic books. For me, comics, novels, and movies were
all the same thing: stories.
As I see one medium
isn’t better than another. It’s how a writer tells a story in that medium that
makes it great. A great writer can use the same storytelling approaches in
comic books that they use in a novel. And they can utilize many of the great
story elements like irony, foreshadowing, symbolism and in a comic book the
same way they do when they’re writing a novel. It’s the skill of the writer
that makes the story great, not the medium they tell that story in.
A bad novelist like
E.L. James can give us the Fifty Shades books. While a great comic writer like
Alan Moore can give us Watchmen.
When I was four
years old, my brother’s comic books were my gateway to reading. And as I got
older they were my motivation to start writing. The main reason why I started
writing when I was nine because I couldn’t draw the pictures in comic books. So
I made the pictures with words. And as I learned how to translate the pictures
I imagined in my head into words on a page I always wondered what they’d look
like on the page of a comic book.
When I couldn’t
break into the comic book industry in my twenties I spent over two decades
refining my craft writing novels, screenplays and blogs working towards the
goal of writing comics one day. The way I see it writing novels, nonfiction,
screenplays and blogs over the last 25 years doesn’t make me a better writer
than a comic book writer. It doesn’t put me in higher position than a comic
book writer. It’s just how I learned the craft of storytelling.
What most people
don’t know is most of my characters like Isis, John Haynes and E’steem were
originally supposed to be comic book characters. But because I couldn’t get
work in the industry I wound up turning them into characters in novels instead.
Over the last four
years I got a chance to see what my words would look like as pictures in a
comic book on all the covers that Bill Walko designed for the Isis series and
the covers Mike Williams designed for The Legendary Mad Matilda and JohnHaynes: A Conversation With Death. The story for those covers came from the words
I wrote (and crappy drawings) I drew. And those stories got comic fans and
everyday people paying attention to my stories and buying my work.
Seeing the stories
being told on Bill and Mike’s covers showed me that I could use all the skills
I learned from working on novels and screenplays to tell a story in the comic
book medium. And I believe could be part of a team that told a great story in a
comic book if given the chance. As I was writing Isis: All That Glitters
novelette I took everything I learned from screenwriting and writing novels and
started working on my first comic script. And with the Isis: All That Glitters
Graphic novel I wanted to give readers a comic that was like an Isis series
book come to life in pictures. I studied everything I could about comics as I
worked on that script so that it could be as well crafted as one of my Isis
series books.
What I’m working
towards now with the upcoming Isis indiegogo is the opportunity to finally see
how one of my stories would be told from comic panel to comic panel. With the reimagining of the oldschool
bank robber comic book story in Isis: All That Glitters I want to give readers
the action-packed all-ages comic book I used to read when I used to go to the
grocery store in Junior High and the newsstand at Times Square when I was 14.
The kind of comic that turned me into a lifeflong comic fan. And the kind of
comic I hope will make readers longtime Isis fans.
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Isis: All That Glitters and E’steem Goddess of? Covers by Bill Walko
Last week I got the
final cover art for Isis: All That Glitters And E’steem Goddess of? from Bill Walko and they look AWESOME!
Bill did an AMAZING
job on both these covers. The action on the Isis: All That Glitters cover is
just like I imagined it in my head when I wrote the confrontation between Isis
and Golden Shine in the first chapter. The evil grin on Golden Shine’s face has
me worried for the goddess next door! How’s she gonna get out of this one?
I love all the
little details in this picture that tell the story, from the broken silver safe
to the contrasting gold walls and the sparkling floor to the worried people
looking out the window. The scared little girl and her mom and the people
recording the upcoming carnage tell a compelling story in a single image that
screams BUY ME to the customer. And you definitely want to buy this one because
it’s an updated take on the old superhero vs. bank robbers story!
All I can say about
the E’steem Goddess Of? cover is that it’s a MASTERPIECE. This one reminds me
of the old 1970s Marvel Comics I used to read in my brother’s comic collection.
There’s a great
story in this picture. The Island of Solitude looks serene, but the action between
E’steem and Avarisk The Tormentor is intense! With this cover Bill took an idea
I imagined and took it to another level!
You literally feel like you’re on
vacation in the South Pacific looking at this cover. The bikini clad E’steem
looks like an animated version of Salli Richardson Whitfield (the actress who
inspired E’steem) and Avarisk, The Tormentor’s costume POPS off the page like
an oldschool Marvel super-villian. This cover screams BUY ME to the reader and tells
them come back for the next book and the back issues too!
Looking at Bill’s
work on both these covers has me anticipating what his work would look like in
the pages of an Isis Graphic novel. Bill tells a great story with pictures and
his images are so dynamic it’s like they’re animated! I would love to see what
he does with 62 pages of a comic book! I’m hoping everyone donates to the
upcoming indiegogo for the Isis graphic novel next year, because the comic I want
to share with you is going to be a CLASSIC!
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Crunching The Numbers On The Isis Graphic Novel Indiegogo
Coming in 2019! |
I definitely want
to hire Bill Walko to do the art for the Isis graphic novel. Bill has done an
AMAZING job on all the Isis and E’steem series covers and people just love his
work. His art is bold, dynamic and puts a smile on readers’ faces. I believe if
we work together on this project we can tell a great story that showcases my
writing and his art.
To comission Bill it works out to about $9300.
After Bill does the
art, I also have to hire a colorist to color Bill’s work. Most colorists charge
about $100 a page. That’s another $6200.
In addition to I
have to hire a letterer to do the special effects and the word ballons. That’s
about $50 a page. That’s about $3100.
Then I have to hire
a proofreader to look the finished files over. Their rates can be anywhere from
$10-100 an hour depending on who I hire.
Once I’ve hired the
creative team and they’ve finished their work, I have to get the books printed
and shipped to all the donors. So that’s another couple of thousand dollars. More
if international buyers who have read my work in places like the UK and Germany
pick up the book.
Crunching the
numbers I’m going to need to raise about $30,000 to publish the first Isis
graphic novel on indiegogo. If I can raise more than $30k, I’d love to set up some stretch goals like a variant cover or
a couple of posters and prints. I’d love to offer a Josh Howard variant cover
or a couple of prints with the book, he’s an artist I’ve been eager to work
with for YEARS!
It’s been a
challenge laying the foundation for the Isis graphic novel and I’m learning a
lot as I go. Writing and publishing Comics is completely different than novels,
screenplays or nonfiction. I’ve always wanted to work in comics ever since I
was nine years old, and people say my Isis series stories read just like comic
books. I’d love to finally see one
of my stories turned into a comic book by one of my favorite artists.
I’m hoping to
launch the Isis graphic novel indiegogo in 2019. And I’m hoping it’s as
successful as Josh Howard’s T-Bird & Throttle, Ethan Van Sciver’s Cyberfrog
or Richard C. Meyer and John Mailin’s Jawbreakers: Lost Souls.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)