I'm creating a comic book, and I have some great ideas, but how do I make it special?

Question

I've been toying around with idea of creating a comic book for the past couple years and I've finally started the brunt of the work. I think its a great scenario, but what makes an idea stand out? Is it the characters, the conflict, the personal battle? What attracts you to your favorite comic books?

Answer 1

it really depends on what kind of an audience your trying to attract

personally i like a romantic story with a lot of supernarutal things happening. I like it when they get sucked back in time or into another world because when they are there anything can happen. I like to read parts where the girl saves the guy she loves and stuff like that. It needs danger and drama but comedy too, but then again im a 14 year old girl who is obsessed with anime and manga. If thats the type of crowd you want to attract  then use that.

if you want a male audence stick more to the action and fighting and crazy machines and stuff. guys arent into all that lovey dovey stuff.

one thing you can bet on is that comedy is key. Everyone likes a comedy.

i hope this helps.

Answer 2

read some comicbooks and then decide or go with your opinion

Answer 3

put the setting in mexico

Answer 4

When all is said and done, a great comic book is a great story. Therefore you should aspire to not write a special comic book, but instead a special work of literature.

What special is, can only be definded through the prism of your own life experiences. You must find a way to refract your emotions, your logic, and your fascination with certain ideas into a story that others will find of interest.

Coincedentaly, art is really the least important element if the writing is powerful enough. A well written story with "bad art"will be remembered  long after a well drawn story with "bad writing".

Personaly, I'm a fan of interesting character dynamics. I like witty dialogue, I like psychological motivation, and I like "arcs" within the development of a character.

Answer 5

Probably the plot, or story line.

I would say, also they way you draw.

And there has to be cliff hangers too. :)

Also I would say there has to be interesting parts, that make you not want to put the book down and say this is boring, despite the fact that hes a good artist.

Answer 6

i like comic book or more like manga to have pictures that can make one reading it cry or even laugh...

i love a great drawing of a couple and great friendship

brutal fights and having to get revenge are also veryy good

Answer 7

Good word of mouth and an author whose work I've enjoyed before are what have led me to 95% of the comics I read. I realize that doesn't help you much, but that's how I go about it.

Your artwork needs to be attractive and clear, and your ideas need to be intriguing and smart. Look at some of the different independent comics which have been huge successes: In the 80s, it was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cerebus (a sword wielding advark) and MAUS (a biography of a holocaust survivor where all the characters are animals.)

In the 90s, it was Hellboy (A demon raised by humans who hunts monsters and drinks beer) Powers (a police comic about cops who investigate superhero murders) and the entire Vertigo line

In the last couple of years, books like Mouse Guard (swords and sorcery with mice), Atomic Robo (essentially Hellboy but a robot), Invincible (a likable teenage superhero in the spirit of Peter Parker but not held down by the conventions of the Marvel Universe), and The Walking Dead (an ongoing Zombie story) which have come out of nowhere and been big hits. Look at what went into coming up with these ideas at the times when there was nothing else like them that made them successes.

At the moment, I've recently realized in 16 years of reading comics I don't recall a single title which dealt with time travel. Oh sure, lots of series bring in time travel for a story or two, but an entire series revolving around it has never been done. That's an opening for you.

Answer 8

hi richard here

well i know how u feel me my sister and her husband all have good ideas but we had the same problems up utell about 1 mouth ago we all found the anser to that problem and it is simpol it is what part of you! you put into it (exsampul) i am working on a horror so of courxe itll be the tipical blood guts thing WRONG not just that u gata take it to the next level make the comic play with your mind and add in so cool devices un forgetabul people and things that people are afrad of like some are afrade of hight's so make something on that and make it so the people fell like the main charictor i guse what im trying to say is

think of how other people would relat to that charictor the plot and aloso put some twists that no one will exspect

i know that was long but i hope it really helped u

here is my e-mail incase u need some help with the comic

[e-mail]

richard

Answer 9

Best advice is to do research on it first.

Know your material and target audience by reading what's out there and decide how you wanna change it up.

Artwork, story and characters are ALL VERY IMPORTANT.

It also depends on what type of stories you like and the genre.

Is it more action/ adventure, sci-fi, comedy, drama or mystery and suspense?

You might also wanna think about what's the point of the story? Does it have a point, or is it just a series of adventures?

Looking over what's out there might give you a better idea of which direction you wanna go in.

Batman and Superman comic books are more like an anthology. You can take a single story and make a movie and it won't really change the history much.

X-Men and books from Marvel are SO much like a soap opera. If you try to take a single story and make a movie out of it now you just destroyed and changed the history all the way around.

Which explains the humongous piece of cinematic fecal matter that became X-Men 3.