About Jeffery Stevenson
Location: Austin, TX
Occupation: Database Consultant/Writer
Bio: Pop Syndicate's Creative Adviser is also the writer and letterer of the long-running twice weekly webcomic, Brat-halla (following the Norse gods during their elementary school days), which ran for a few years at Kevin Smith's MoviePoopShoot.com (and later, QuickStopEntertainment.com) and is currently hosted over at Graphic Smash. He was also the hired wordslinger for Jim Valentino's Task Force 1 from Shadowline/Image Comics.
To keep up with the rest of Jeff's insanity, feel free to check out his personal blog at Dark-n-Dam'd.
Posts: 36
More from this author
A question about comic book writing and artwork...
If all I want to do is write comic books and not draw them, why does everyone tell me I need an artist to show what I can do as a writer?
Francois-Marie Arouet V., Paris, TX
Dear Francois-Marie,
That's totally a myth! And to prove it, I'vedrugged dragged Mythbusters supreme, Adam and Jamie, over to the Creative Adviser's editorial cubicle of despair to shed some light on this subject.
...
Uhh... Adam? Jamie?
"Huh-za-what?"
You're on.
"On...what?"
The air.
"Oh, right. On the air.
"So Jamie, it looks like we're gonna have a lot of fun with this myth tonight."
"Are we rigging another remote-controlled car?"
"No."
"Do we get to put Buster in compromising positions before flinging him to his doom?"
"We've never done that."
"Oh... that was just me then. Okay, do we at least get to blow stuff up, Adam."
"Maybe. What we've got is a myth dealing with comic books."
"Comics? As in Spider-man, Batman, and Howard the Duck?"
"Yes to the comics, but no to the rest. Especially no to the duck. This myth actually deals with the industry itself... does an aspiring writer need artwork with his writing to get discovered in the comic industry?"
"Ah. I'll go get the explosives."
"Come on, Jamie, let's just get through this one first.
"Then we'll blow things up."
"Okay, so where do we start? I take it we'll need some writing to work with."
"And a good artist. We'll also need some editors to evaluate everything. I'll go ahead and contact the comic companies to see if we can get a few editors to judge everything and maybe get some artist recommendations."
"I'll find us a script from an aspiring writer."
[Jamie... at the comic shop.]
"So, I followed a few leads, and they all pointed to the local comic shop. There are maybe a half dozen or so people here, I hope I can find a writer.
"Excuse me, are you a comic book writer?"
"Yep, it's always been a dream of mine."
"Hey, I'm a writer too."
"And me. I've been writing comics for three months now."
"Yeah? Well, I've been writing them for six months, and I even have a story being considered for publication in an anthology."
"Okay, so five of you are writers?"
"Yep. And John over there is a colorist if you're looking for some freelance color work."
"Okaaay. Would it be possible to get one of you to write a script for a segment of our show?"
"Here ya go."
"Uhh... you carry a script with you?"
"Hey, never know who you'll meet, right? And since I've been perfecting this script for nearly a year now, I want to make sure I can strike when the time is right."
"Ultimate Clone Fighter: A Secret War of Identity Crisis Event. Well, sounds like a... winner (I guess)."
[Back at the ranch.]
"So, Jamie, how did it go with finding a writer?"
"Found one. And I already have a script."
"That was fast."
"I know."
"Well, I wrangled up an art team with some of the hottest talents working for Marvel and DC. Turns out we needed an inker, a colorist, and a letterer to get an actual comic done. It's almost like making a small low budget movie. Luckily, the helpful folks over at Wizard magazine hooked me up with some of the hottest talent currently in comics. I'll get them the script to get started on it.
"And we also have editors from Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Image Comics."
"Image Comics has editors?"
"A few."
"Okay then, let's get to work."
[57 days later when the comic pages are complete.]
"Okay, we have our editors broken up into two groups with one editor from each company in each group. The first group will read through the script itself and judge their opinions on just that. The second group will look through the completed artwork."
"And don't forget, Adam, we're going to isolate the editors so they can't accidentally influence the opinions of each other."
"Sounds good. Let's get started."
Marvel editor. Script only.
"What the hell is this crap? Is this from the new big event over at our Distinguished Competition?"
DC editor. Script only.
"Figures. Gotta be Marvel's new hyper-crossover event to break the internet in half. Writing's as bland and uninspired as I'd expect from them. Not even good enough to break a limp noodle in half."
Dark Horse editor. Script only.
"I'm sure if this writer applied himself and worked on refining the basics, this script could eventually rise up to being merely bad."
Image Comics editor. Script only.
"Well, I managed to stomach 5 pages. Do I have to read the rest?"
Different Marvel editor. Completed comic.
"The art's not bad. I'd maybe give this guy a shot at a fill-in issue or something to test his sequential chops. I'd definitely have to see what he could do with a real story first. It doesn't help that most of the artwork's covered by dialogue. If it was good dialogue, that's one thing, but I've read better dialogue scratched onto the dividers in bathroom stalls."
Different DC editor. Completed comic.
"The art's not bad. I'd maybe give this guy a shot at a fill-in issue or something to test his sequential chops. He'd have a better shot without horrible story crapping up his artwork so much. And that dialogue? I have LPs I can play backwards and get more understandable dialogue than that."
Different Dark Horse editor. Completed comic.
"The art's not bad. I'd maybe give this guy a shot at a fill-in issue or something to test his sequential chops. The story itself... well, it definitely suffers from a lack of thought. And skill. And grammar. And structure. And clarity. It definitely wasn't lacking in the typo department though."
Different Image Comics editor. Completed comic.
"The art's not bad. If it was great artwork, I might consider this... they'd have to clean up the story first. I didn't really get through all of it, but what I saw of the first five pages showed some potential for a decent story. But you never know. Like I said, if the artwork was by a pro, I'd consider it."
[Back to Adam and Jamie.]
"And there you have it, Jamie. Think we can consider this myth officially busted."
"Oh yeah. Looks like a bad script by itself or a bad script with art won't help get you into the comic industry. Definitely busted.
"Now... can we get to the part where we have all the editors in a remote-controlled limo with a trunk full of explosives?"
Francois-Marie Arouet V., Paris, TX
Dear Francois-Marie,
That's totally a myth! And to prove it, I've
...
Uhh... Adam? Jamie?
"Huh-za-what?"
You're on.
"On...what?"
The air.
"Oh, right. On the air.
"So Jamie, it looks like we're gonna have a lot of fun with this myth tonight."
"Are we rigging another remote-controlled car?"
"No."
"Do we get to put Buster in compromising positions before flinging him to his doom?""We've never done that."
"Oh... that was just me then. Okay, do we at least get to blow stuff up, Adam."
"Maybe. What we've got is a myth dealing with comic books."
"Comics? As in Spider-man, Batman, and Howard the Duck?"
"Yes to the comics, but no to the rest. Especially no to the duck. This myth actually deals with the industry itself... does an aspiring writer need artwork with his writing to get discovered in the comic industry?"
"Ah. I'll go get the explosives."
"Come on, Jamie, let's just get through this one first.
"Then we'll blow things up."
"Okay, so where do we start? I take it we'll need some writing to work with."
"And a good artist. We'll also need some editors to evaluate everything. I'll go ahead and contact the comic companies to see if we can get a few editors to judge everything and maybe get some artist recommendations."
"I'll find us a script from an aspiring writer."
[Jamie... at the comic shop.]
"So, I followed a few leads, and they all pointed to the local comic shop. There are maybe a half dozen or so people here, I hope I can find a writer.
"Excuse me, are you a comic book writer?"
"Yep, it's always been a dream of mine."
"Hey, I'm a writer too."
"And me. I've been writing comics for three months now."
"Yeah? Well, I've been writing them for six months, and I even have a story being considered for publication in an anthology."
"Okay, so five of you are writers?"
"Yep. And John over there is a colorist if you're looking for some freelance color work."
"Okaaay. Would it be possible to get one of you to write a script for a segment of our show?"
"Here ya go."
"Uhh... you carry a script with you?"
"Hey, never know who you'll meet, right? And since I've been perfecting this script for nearly a year now, I want to make sure I can strike when the time is right."
"Ultimate Clone Fighter: A Secret War of Identity Crisis Event. Well, sounds like a... winner (I guess)."
[Back at the ranch.]
"So, Jamie, how did it go with finding a writer?"
"Found one. And I already have a script."
"That was fast."
"I know."
"Well, I wrangled up an art team with some of the hottest talents working for Marvel and DC. Turns out we needed an inker, a colorist, and a letterer to get an actual comic done. It's almost like making a small low budget movie. Luckily, the helpful folks over at Wizard magazine hooked me up with some of the hottest talent currently in comics. I'll get them the script to get started on it."And we also have editors from Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Image Comics."
"Image Comics has editors?"
"A few."
"Okay then, let's get to work."
[57 days later when the comic pages are complete.]
"Okay, we have our editors broken up into two groups with one editor from each company in each group. The first group will read through the script itself and judge their opinions on just that. The second group will look through the completed artwork."
"And don't forget, Adam, we're going to isolate the editors so they can't accidentally influence the opinions of each other."
"Sounds good. Let's get started."
Marvel editor. Script only.
"What the hell is this crap? Is this from the new big event over at our Distinguished Competition?"
DC editor. Script only.
"Figures. Gotta be Marvel's new hyper-crossover event to break the internet in half. Writing's as bland and uninspired as I'd expect from them. Not even good enough to break a limp noodle in half."
Dark Horse editor. Script only.
"I'm sure if this writer applied himself and worked on refining the basics, this script could eventually rise up to being merely bad."
Image Comics editor. Script only.
"Well, I managed to stomach 5 pages. Do I have to read the rest?"
Different Marvel editor. Completed comic.
"The art's not bad. I'd maybe give this guy a shot at a fill-in issue or something to test his sequential chops. I'd definitely have to see what he could do with a real story first. It doesn't help that most of the artwork's covered by dialogue. If it was good dialogue, that's one thing, but I've read better dialogue scratched onto the dividers in bathroom stalls."
Different DC editor. Completed comic.
"The art's not bad. I'd maybe give this guy a shot at a fill-in issue or something to test his sequential chops. He'd have a better shot without horrible story crapping up his artwork so much. And that dialogue? I have LPs I can play backwards and get more understandable dialogue than that."
Different Dark Horse editor. Completed comic.
"The art's not bad. I'd maybe give this guy a shot at a fill-in issue or something to test his sequential chops. The story itself... well, it definitely suffers from a lack of thought. And skill. And grammar. And structure. And clarity. It definitely wasn't lacking in the typo department though."
Different Image Comics editor. Completed comic."The art's not bad. If it was great artwork, I might consider this... they'd have to clean up the story first. I didn't really get through all of it, but what I saw of the first five pages showed some potential for a decent story. But you never know. Like I said, if the artwork was by a pro, I'd consider it."
[Back to Adam and Jamie.]
"And there you have it, Jamie. Think we can consider this myth officially busted."
"Oh yeah. Looks like a bad script by itself or a bad script with art won't help get you into the comic industry. Definitely busted.
"Now... can we get to the part where we have all the editors in a remote-controlled limo with a trunk full of explosives?"
####
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All material in The Creative Adviser is fictitious and intended solely for the purpose of entertainment. Names are fabricated and any similarity to real people or places is purely coincidental except in those cases where public figures are being satirized.
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I love the Mythbusters...this was a great column...they just know everything.
Mythbuster makes me happy. Very funny column.
When I grow up, I wanna be a Mythbuster. My mom told me with my natural skills, Buster should be worrying about his job security.