Letters to LITF #8

LOL!

Wear the title proudly, John! I know I do! ;D

Well I was going to be a proud lackey, but now I am digging the pawn tag. Kinda sounds like Checkmate which is pretty close to Suicide Squad. I'm liking that!
Wait where is Checkmate in the DC2?

So is Ellen the boss of the Batman books or just her own boss?

I prefer to think of you as my underlings, actually.

Well, thanks! I have thought about it, actually, but there are a few things I need to work on first.

1) In LITF each chapter was exactly as long as it had to be. That meant anywhere from about 5 pages in Times New Roman 12-pt (Chapter one) to a whopping 28 (Chapter 7, aka 'the chapter that ate Tokyo'). Comic books are 22 pages exclusive of ads, promos, etc. That's 22 pages of text and art, but mostly art. Each installment has to fit that. Your final panel on page 22 had better be either your cliffhanger or 'the end' because you can't get "one more panel, just this once..." I'd need to do some research, but I suspect that if all the text in an average comic was typed out, you'd have between 2 and 6 pages double spaced.

2) I need to get comfortable with script format. That's how comics are generally written.

3) I need to know how to instruct an artist to illustrate my vision. All well and good if it's "Dick is seated in front of Akins desk. Akins looks like smoke is about to come out of his ears. Put some photos on the walls, maybe an officer in full police dress. Hardwood floor. Telephone on desk." I don't know if I could give a blow by blow of an action sequence. And I don't know if "Robin and Black Mask slug it out. Take 3 panels, show Robin getting a good punch in but let Black Mask gain the upper hand" is really good enough.

The other thing is, going by the DC website it looks like they encourage aspiring artists but don't want to take a chance on an unknown writer. In a way it makes sense: if you can draw Superman this week, barring a medical condition, odds are you can draw him next week, next month and next year. On the other hand, if you can write a good story... they're taking a chance that when it's done, you'll have more ideas for your next arc.

Traditionally, comic writers cut their teeth with small press independent comics and then submit their portfolios. Problem: right now I'm interested in the Bat-verse. Period. I can't write that for an indie mag.

Still, if I can work on the 3 points I mentioned above, I might feel I have a strong case and pitch an idea or two to DC anyhow. But until I can really write to spec, it's probably not a good idea.

Thanks again!