Write Now! #15 by TwoMorrows Publishing

INSIDE: SCRIPT AND PENCIL ART FROM 52!

695

In the USA

M AG A ZI N E

DeMATTEIS & PLOOG ON ABADAZAD AND DISNEY Spring 2007

WAID • RUCKA MORRISON JOHNS • GIFFEN BENNETT DiDIO SIGLAIN

82658 27765

CREATING COMICS STEP-BYSTEP SPIDER-MAN: BACK IN BLACK

M AG A Z I N E Issue #15

Spring 2007

Read Now! Message from the Editor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2 BEHIND THE SCENES OF 52 The Dan DiDio Interview DC’s top editorial honcho talks about 52 and Countdown . . . . . . .page 3 The Michael Siglain Interview The 52 story, from the editorial hot seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 11 52 Nuts & Bolts: Scripts by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid. Layouts by Keith Giffen. Script to Pencils to Finished Comic: 52 #38 Pages from “Breathless,” featuring the death of the Question. Art by Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 7 Script to Pencils to Finished Comic: 52 #24 Pages from “Just Imagine.” Art by Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 15 THE WORLD OF ABADAZAD The J.M. DeMatteis Interview The writer/co-creator reveals the saga of the series . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21 The Mike Ploog Interview The artist/co-creator on creating the series’ look and feel . . . . . . . page 30 ABADAZAD Nuts & Bolts: Script to Pencils to Finished Comics Pages: ABADAZAD, book 2 Pages from THE DREAM THIEF, by DeMatteis and Ploog . . . . . .page 33 Yours, Mine and Ours: Writing the Company-Owned or Franchised Character by John Ostrander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 51 Creating Blockbuster Worlds by Jeff Gomez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 57 Writing Educational Graphic Novels by Eric Fein . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 65 Feedback: Letters from Write Now!’s Readers

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 69

FREE Preview of Rough Stuff #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 70 Nuts & Bolts Department Script to Pencils to Finished Comic: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #539, Pages from “Back in Black,” by J.M. Straczynski & Ron Garney . . . .page 37 Creating Comics Step by Step (Part 1 of 3) by Steven Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 41

Conceived by DANNY FINGEROTH Editor-In-Chief Managing Editor ERIC FEIN Cover art by MIKE PLOOG Colored by NICK BELL Designers RICH FOWLKS, DAVID GREENAWALT, and MICHAEL KRONENBERG Transcriber STEVEN TICE Circulation Director BOB BRODSKY, COOKIESOUP PERIODICAL DISTRIBUTION, LLC Publisher JOHN MORROW

Special Thanks To: AXEL ALONSO NICK BELL ALSION BLAIRE KIA CROSS DAN DiDIO J.M. DeMATTEIS RICH FOWLKS JEFF GOMEZ STEVEN GRANT DAVID GREENAWALT CHRIS IRVING DANIEL KETCHUM MICHAEL KRONENBERG JIM McCANN JOHN OSTRANDER MIKE PLOOG CHRIS POWELL BEN REILLY ALEX SEGURA MICHAEL SIGLAIN VARDA STEINHARDT STEVEN TICE JENNIFER ZATORSKI DAVID ZEICHNER

Danny Fingeroth’s Write Now! is published 4 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Fax: (919) 449-0327. Danny Fingeroth, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Write Now! E-mail address: WriteNowDF@aol.com. Single issues: $8 Postpaid in the US ($10 Canada, $11 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $20 US ($40 Canada, $44 elsewhere). Order online at: www.twomorrows.com or e-mail to: twomorrow@aol.com All characters are TM & © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © the respective authors. Editorial package is ©2007 Danny Fingeroth and TwoMorrows Publishing. All rights reserved. Write Now! is a shared trademark of Danny Fingeroth and TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 1555-502X

WRITE NOW | 1

READ Now ! Message from Danny Fingeroth, Editor-in-Chief W

elcome to another jam-packed-with-writerlyadvice issue of Write Now! We’ve got so many cool things this issue, I don’t know where to start except at the beginning. First up we managed to wrangle interviews out of DC VP/Executive Editor Dan DiDio and editor Michael Siglain about the agony and ecstasy of putting together the weekly comic book 52! They even drop some hints about DC’s next weekly spectacular, Countdown. And wait till you see the cool layouts by Keith Giffen and pencil artwork by Phil Jimenez and Joe Bennett they gave us for two sensational Nuts & Bolts sections Next up we take you deep into the heart of one of the coolest new fantasy series of the 21st century—Abadazad! We speak in-depth with creator and writer J.M. DeMatteis about the origins of this series for smart kids of all ages and what it’s like writing books that feature prose and comic book sequences combined in a daring new manner. And of course no look at Abadazad would be complete without hearing from its artist, Mike Ploog. Mike speaks about his introduction to Abadazad and the joys of bringing it to life visually—and he’s brought along a gaggle of artwork for all of our readers to drool over in a Nuts & Bolts section of its own. Wait’ll you see his astonishing pencil work! And speaking of Nuts & Bolts, we’ve got an amazing one for you featuring pages from Amazing Spider-Man #539’s “Back In Black” storyline. In the wake of Civil War—not to mention Straczynski’s script and Ron Garney’s pencils are our—and their—special treat for WN’s readers! Next up is a quartet of how-to articles. • Steven Grant kicks off the first in a three-part series about “Creating Comics Step by Step.” • John Ostrander is back to share his thoughts about the pros and cons of writing company owned characters as opposed to writing your own. • Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, explains what Trans-Media Storytelling is, and why it’s so important for comic book writers to be good at it. • Write Now’s very own Managing Editor Eric Fein uses his experience as a writer of comics and educational books to explain the ins-and-outs of writing educational graphic novels for the school and library markets.

2 | WRITE NOW

(Maybe not as sexy as Spidey in black…but it might help pay your bills one day!) And what about next issue? Write Now! #16 is going to hit the stands amidst the furor that is Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer! To celebrate the movie hitting silver (get it?) screens across the country, we’ve got ourselves a Silver Surfer painted cover by Mike Zeck and Phil Zimelman! And there’s more more solid silver: a roundtable feature focusing on the Surfer and some of the greatest writers to ever script his star-spanning adventures, including Stan Lee, Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin, George Perez, and J.M. DeMatteis! Plus we’ve got an in-depth interview with the one and only Todd McFarlane that you won’t want to miss as he discusses writing comics (and drawing them—he does that, too), Spawn, Image Comics, McFarlane Toys, and much, much more. And for all of you Star Trek fans we’ll be running the second part of a Star Trek writers’ roundtable that kicks off in our sibling TwoMorrows publication, Back Issue #23. It features Peter David, Mike W. Barr, Michael Jan Friedman and many others and is not to be missed. Still want more? Next issue’s got it: • Nuts & Bolts sections featuring script and pencil art from Brian Bendis and Frank Cho’s Mighty Avengers and Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli’s Avengers: The Initiative. • An interview with media-guru-turned-comics-writer Douglas Rushkoff about his and Liam Sharp’s Testament graphic novels. • A sneak preview of Mike Manley’s Draw #14! It’s all coming at ya next issue! Don’t miss it. And now...enjoy the current one! Write away!

Danny Fingeroth

SUPER-SAGA ORIGINS:

DAN DiDIO TALKS 52…AND COUNTDOWN

Interview conducted by Danny Fingeroth via telephone 3-23-07 Transcribed by Steven Tice Copy-edited by Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth and Dan DiDio

s VP-Executive Editor, DC Universe, Dan DiDio has been responsible for implementing sweeping changes to DC’s heroes—reinvigorating old favorites and introducing new ones—and guiding such bestselling series as Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, and the upcoming Countdown.

Before joining DC, DiDio was with the computer animation company Mainframe Entertainment where he served as freelance story editor and scriptwriter for the series Reboot and War Planets. Later he became its Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs, overseeing the development, distribution, marketing, and promotion as well as merchandising and licensing of all Mainframe’s television properties. Among the projects he developed there were Beast Machines and Jill Thompson’s Scary Godmother. He began his television career in 1981 at CBS, where he worked at a variety of positions before moving to Capital Cities/ABC in 1985. At ABC, DiDio served as Public Relations Manager for the three New York-based Daytime Dramas, then moved to Los Angeles to become Executive Director of Children’s Programming. There, he was responsible for Saturday morning programs and After School Specials, serving as Program Executive on such series as Madeline, Dumb and Dumber, and Reboot. Dan was able to take some time from his astonishingly busy schedule and talk to us about DC’s hottest series, 52, and its sure-to-be as or more popular sequel, Countdown. [For those of you who’ve been out of touch, 52 is a formidable undertaking, a weekly DC comic series designed to come out for exactly a year. Its writers are Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid. J.G. Jones does the covers, Keith Giffen does the thumbnail layouts for every issue, and a host of pencilers and inkers including Chris Batista, Joe Bennett, Pat Olliffe, Drew Geraci, and Rodney Ramos bring the story to life.] —DF DANNY FINGEROTH: Where did the idea for doing something like 52 come from? DAN DiDIO: What happened was that, when we leapt

forward one year in continuity in the DC Universe coming out of Infinite Crisis, we were planning to do a series of annuals that filled in the missing year for a number of the books. And then we brought the proposal with the annuals to [DC President [Photo: Frances Roberts for The New York Times] [© 2007 The New York Times Company] and Publisher] Paul Levitz. Paul, rather than approving the annuals, made a suggestion: “Wouldn’t it be interesting if we did something like the TV show 24 and filled in the missing year over 52 weeks of comics?” So he put that challenge in front of me, and the guys in the room with me presenting the annuals plan—Geoff Johns and Greg Rucka. We promptly closed up our easel, and said, “We’ll get back to you.” And that’s pretty much how 52 was born. DF: That’s pretty wild. Were you one of the guys plotting the series? DD: I was initially in on plotting sessions, but I also was one of the people who helped establish the production methodology. I remembered how we built animated series on a weekly basis when I was at Mainframe. And I started to figure out ways that we would be able to produce a book on a regular weekly turnaround and bring some level of consistency and continuity from issue to issue. But what we always wanted to do, and we always intended to do, was to tell a 52-part story. That was the plan right from the outset. DF: That’s a highly ambitious goal. How much of the story is planned out in advance? Did you plan out in broad strikes the contents of all 52 issues, or were you sort of making it up as you went along? DAN DiDIO | 3

Page 20 ONE: in the MARK SHAPE that’s been dragged The big panel, revealing the QUESTION . snow, mixed and marred by Vic’s blood weepi MONTOYA holds VIC in her arms,

ng silently.

The last of the storm is ending. The storm has ended. 1 VIC/smallest:

…like a butterfly….

TWO: revealed by beyond them, in the background, now MONTOYA and VIC in the snow, and the SUNLIGHT and the AT, PARB A NAND of NERY the end of the storm, the GREE WARMTH. g his way towar RICHARD DRAGON in the EBG, makin

ds them.

On page 20, the final page of the issue, you can see that Bennett made panel one smaller than did Keith. This helps add power to the second panel reveal of Nanda Parbat, the mystical city in the mountains of Tibet, where Renee Montoya’s future awaits.

NO COPY.

Note how, in panel one of the script, the writers call for a question mark shaped trail in the snow—a subtle visual reference to the fact that this story focuses on the Question. Sometimes a touch like that is added by the artist, but in this case the writers specifically asked for it.

THE END 10 | WRITE NOW

Editing 52, 24/7:

THE MICHAEL SIGLAIN INTERVIEW

Conducted by Danny Fingeroth via telephone 3-23-07 Transcribed by Steven Tice Copy-edited by Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth and Michael Siglain

ichael Siglain started his DC Comics career in the company’s Multimedia Department as an Associate Producer. He oversaw the creation of online webisodes, videogames and even audio adaptations. He next moved into Editorial Administration and then finally DCU editorial, handling titles including Jonah Hex and Firestorm. When original 52 editor Stephen Wacker left DC, Michael was tapped to take the reigns of the sprawling weekly series and the rest is history. —DF

DANNY FINGEROTH: Things are getting down to the wire for you with the last few issue of 52, Michael. When does the last issue come out? MICHAEL SIGLAIN: May 2nd. Oddly enough, that’s 5/2. DF: That’s weird. MS: And it wasn’t planned that way. It just worked out that way and everyone kind of took a step back and went, “Ooh.”

it’s such a roller coaster ride now that I think people are still going to dig it, and I think everyone’s going to be extremely satisfied with how it ends. DF: Now, if somebody just starts reading the book in the middle of the series, how would they get caught up on what’s gone before? MS: We try to do little recaps here and there through dialogue, though, to be honest, it’s a little bit difficult to just to walk in after 46 weeks. If you’re just going to come in with, say, Week 27, yeah, you’re going to be a little confused, because it’s like joining a serial TV show halfway through the season, and you catch the last 15 minutes of an episode and you’re saying, “Well, wait a minute. I don’t quite get it.” There’s going to be a little bit of that if you just come in midway, because this is such a unique project. But if you stick with it, after two or three weeks, you’re in the groove and you get it, and then it makes what you’re reading more enjoyable.

DF: You came into 52 in the middle. What was that like? DF: Is there an official website that MS: It was crazy. It was exciting recaps the storyline? and thrilling and unbelievable all at MS: The DC site recaps in a way, the same time. Steve Wacker had because they show all of Keith just left, and he did a phenomenal Giffen’s breakdowns, and there are job on the book, he was truly usually articles and little goodies amazing. He kept everything on the site that will let the readers together and it was running nice in on what happened the previous and smoothly, and everyone was week or weeks. happy and working and good to 52 focuses on how the DC Universe copes for a go. Then Steve left, and it was a bit year without Superman, Batman, and Wonder DF: But there’s no one thing that a shock to the system, but when Woman. Here’s the cover to issue #1, which says, “Here’s the story from the the smoke cleared I found myself kicked the series off a year ago. Cover art by beginning to the current issue”? with a battlefield promotion. It was J.G. Jones. MS: No, we’re not doing that, [© 2007 DC Comics] amazing. It’s such a monster of a because we want you to keep project, and also an incredible one. I think we’ve done a reading and keep buying, and not just say, “All right, here good job with it. Hopefully, none of the readers noticed is the whole story for you. ” any bumps along the way, and everyone kept reading it and saying, “Wow, you know what? This is still great. I’m DF: That’s a wise commercial point. Now, how much still digging it.” input do you have with the writers? I just spoke to Dan DiDio, and he was telling me that the whole storyline DF: The sales seem to indicate that. was more or less mapped out from the beginning in MS: The sales indicate that, which is very nice, and we’re broad strokes, but with room for improvisation. So do all thrilled that it’s doing the numbers that it’s continuing you personally have any input into the stories, or are the to do, which is excellent. I mean, we’re 46 weeks in, and writers mostly filling out what was the original plan? we’re still selling pretty nicely. And the story’s going in a MS: It’s a little bit of both, really. It all started from an great direction. Everything is building and building, and

MICHAEL SIGLAIN | 11

PAGE FIVE TAIN HING SHOT, THE OLD JLA MOUN PANEL ONE: LONG ESTABLIS Y) E, WE CAN SEE J’ONN (TIN ANGL THIS FROM . TERS HEADQUAR FAR SIDE NG HEAT VISION ONTO THE FIRI AIR, MIDIN RING HOVE BUT FROM SEVERAL YARDS AWAY, OF THE BARREN-ROCK MOUNTAIN END OF WHAT HE’S DOING UNTIL THE WE WON’T BE ABLE TO SEE THE SEQUENCE. 1 CAPTION:

“Where IS J’Onn?”

2 DATESTAMP:

WEEK 24, Day 2

2A CAPTION

Headquarters. Original Justice League

2B CAPTION

RHODE ISLAND.

PANEL TWO: OFF.

NG TIGHTER ON J’ONN, PROJECTI

HIS HEAT VISION

3 J’ONN:

nmeer himself My friend, I pray to H’ro . that you will UNDERSTAND..

4 J’ONN:

...and FORGIVE me.

“My major role as editor is, first and foremost, to make sure that the writers’ vision comes through on a weekly basis. It’s my job to get their story into the hands of the readers, and that involves working with the writers, artists, colorists, and all of the various production people at DC, who are the real unsung heroes of this project. Creatively, I throw in my two cents when I talk to the writers, but only to enhance the story or help them in their writing.”

INTO STS HIS SUPER-STRONG FIST WE PANEL THREE: J’ONN THRU SPLINTERS OF ROCK FLYING. ING SEND E, FSID CLIF Y THE ROCK S IN G, HEAT-VISION-CARVED LINE OKIN L-SM STIL SOME SEE CAN CLOSE N, WE NEED TO STAY FAIRLY THE CLIFFSIDE, TOO. AGAI PICTURE FOR THE END. TO HIM AND SAVE THE BIG you. Perhaps had I heard what happened to 5 J’ONN: en before it was I intervened...had we spok too LATE... 6 J’ONN:

d we? Not really. ...but we couldn’t, coul we saw in each It had come to where all al FAILURE. other was the pain of mutu

BLUE BEETLE (TED) IN THE PANEL FOUR: FLASHBACK TO OFF BY J’ONN WHILE J’ONN HED BRUS G BEIN WATCHTOWER, TOR WOMB. MONI THE IN LAYS DISP STUDIES ignoring TED. “We were BOTH guilty of 7 CAPTION: 8 CAPTION:

various CRISES “We were too busy with our for assistance... s plea his ZE RITI PRIO to ANY of us what but he knew better than DANGER we were in.”

Thanks, Mike. See, folks? There’s nothing to it. All the 52 crew has to do is achieve the impossible—52 weeks in a row!

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THE END

Comics Aren’t Just Not for Kids Anymore!

THE J.M. D E MATTEIS INTERVIEW

Conducted via email by Danny Fingeroth March 19, 2007

M. DeMatteis is one of the most inventive and sought after writers in the comic book industry. During the course of his career he has written groundbreaking stories for Marvel (Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt), for Epic (Moonshadow), and for DC Comics/Paradox Press (Brooklyn Dreams). He also teamed with writer Keith Giffen and artist Kevin Maguire to relaunch the Justice League that skyrocketed DC’s heroes to new heights of greatness and humor. More recently, he is the co-writer, along with Keith Giffen, of Hero Squared and Planetary Brigade (both published by Boom! Studios). J.M. is also active in Hollywood. He has scripted episodes of Justice League Unlimited and the Legion of SuperHeroes among others and also has several live action scripts in development. Most of J.M.’s time these days is taken up with his wonderful creation Abadazad, first published in comic book form by CrossGen and now being released by Disney’s Hyperion Books For Children as a series of novels featuring comic book sequences. It is our great honor to speak with J.M. about the creation of Abadazad and his vision for its future. —DF DANNY FINGEROTH: What the heck is Abadazad, anyway, J.M.? J.M. DeMATTEIS: The Abadazad saga is a long one, but I think it’s one that illustrates what it’s like out here in the freelance trenches—and this is a magazine about the writing life—so here goes: Back in the mid-1980’s I had an idea for a story called “Silver Shoes.” It was about a little girl, living with her abusive father, who’s befriended by an old woman named Dorothy. Not just any Dorothy: this old lady claims to be Dorothy Gale, from L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz. After Dorothy passes away, the girl finds a gift the old woman has left behind for her: a pair of silver shoes that the girl uses to escape her father and live happily ever after in Oz. I never did much with the idea. Just filed it away.

In the mid-’90s I started toying with a story about a mother who discovers that her abducted son has been taken to a magical world that—she’d assumed— only existed in books. I folded in the “Silver Shoes” concept, named the world Abadazad—and began developing it as a movie treatment; but the more I worked to flesh out Abadazad, the more I was con-

vinced it should be a comic book. As a parent, I found the lack of smart, literate kid-friendly comic books to be extremely frustrating. By this time I’d begun weaving Abadazad into my daughter’s bedtime stories—and I was becoming obsessed with the idea of creating a comic book that I could share with her. With the story’s protagonist changed to an emotionally-wounded fourteen year old girl named Kate Jameson, I went out into the marketplace, filled with hope and enthusiasm: Unfortunately, nobody wanted it. Well, there were a few people—Joey Cavalieri and Shelly Bond at DC, Philip Simon at Dark Horse—who “got” Abadazad, but they weren’t the ones who made the Big Decisions. Doors slammed in my face wherever I went. In 2003, I decided to give it a last shot with CrossGen. I didn’t know all that much about them, but J.M. DeMATTEIS | 21

Visualizing Abadazad:

THE MIKE PLOOG INTERVIEW

Conducted via email by Danny Fingeroth on March 19, 2007

ike Ploog shot to comic book stardom when, after a stint working for comics legend Will Eisner, he went to work at Marvel Comics in the 1970s. There he co-created—and drew the first adventures of—two of Marvel’s most popular horror characters—Ghost Rider and Werewolf by Night. He also drew the first several issues of Marvel’s Monster of Frankenstein series and stories for Kull the Destroyer, Planet of the Apes, and Man-Thing, among others. Mike has also done pre and post-production work for dozens of Hollywood movies including Ghostbusters, The Dark Crystal, Shrek, and the animated features Titan A. E., Wizards, and The Lord of the Rings. He also illustrated the children’s book L. Frank Baum’s the Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. Write Now! is pleased to have this opportunity to speak with Mr. P about Abadazad and more! —DF

DANNY FINGEROTH: In 50 words or less, Mike, what’s the most important creative lesson you learned when you worked for Will Eisner? MIKE PLOOG: I don’t know if it was a creative lesson, but when I applied for my first passport I came to the question “occupation”. I thought a long time, am I an artist? An illustrator? Then I remembered what Will told me, “Stop trying to be Andrew Wyeth, damn it! Always do what you’re best at, and you are a cartoonist”. DF: You were in the Marines for ten years. What made you decide to not make a career of it? MP: When I was in my late teens and early twenties, the Marine Corps was a good education. It gave me confidence and I learned to respect myself. But I stayed too long. With my newfound confidence came the desire for my own identity. Weekly haircuts, shaving every morning and that uniform! I hated that uniform. Once you put on that uniform, you were one of thousands, and I felt lost in the crowd. But I must say, when I hear the Marine Corps hymn, I still get a feeling of pride. DF: Was it strange being a military guy at Marvel in the ’70s when most of the others were hippie-types? MP: Yeah, I had a hard time forgetting I was no longer a sergeant. In the ’70s I had a wonderful sense of freedom. DF: How did you get involved with Abadazad? MP: [CrossGen Comics publisher] Mark Alessi called me. He must have known Abadazad was a subject that I would be interested in. I had done several books aimed at the younger audience. 30 | WRITE NOW

DF: You and J.M. seem to have clicked immediately. What’s the connection/bond between the two of you? MP: The tie that bonds J.M. and me, I think, is the wonderful opportunity of being able to use our imaginations, and to continually return to our childhood. DF: Can you describe the working process you and J.M. have on Abadazad? Do you contribute story or character or dialogue ideas? What if you want to change something in a script? MP: J.M. is easy to work with. He lives in the stories he writes. When you live in a story as opposed to just writing about it, you see all the details and you feel all the emotions. J.M. is a word master. He knows how to take you to his imaginary land and make you believe in it. DF: What was the process for designing the characters? Did J.M. give you detailed descriptions, or did you talk them out? MP: From the very beginning, our imaginations blended together. I’ve always felt that J.M. saw the designs long before I ever put pencil to paper... [PLOOG interview continues on page 32.]

Meet some of the amazing beings of Abadazad as visualized by Mike: Lanky Man (top left), Mary Annette (top right), the Burping Dragon (lower left), and Phogg Wubbtales. [© 2007 by Disney Enterprises, Inc.]

MIKE PLOOG | 31

Here, J.M. gives protagonist Kate (and the readers) what she wants—to find her brother—even if it is only in a dream. Of course, in Abadazad, the border between dreams and reality is, intentionally, not always clear. Notice how J.M. uses a floating balloon in the last panel to act as a transitional device to the next page. [© 2007 by Disney Enterprises, Inc.]

34 | WRITE NOW

Meet the main villain of the piece, the Lanky Man, and his boys. Ploog manages to make them look humorous, yet menacing, at the same time. And DeMatteis is clearly having fun inventing concepts like “the phantasulator.” [© 2007 by Disney Enterprises, Inc.]

ABADAZAD NUTS & BOLTS | 35

The last page “reveal” serves two purposes: It’s a big, dramatic visual of Spider-Man in his black suit, which he had once sworn to never put on again! Plus, his narration caption tells us he’s ready to kill, which 99% of readers know is not his M.O. It leaves us eager to know not just what will happen to May, but what the distraught Peter might do. [© 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

THE END 40 | WRITE NOW

CREATING COMICS STEP BY STEP

STEPS 1-3:

teven Grant has a long and successful career as a comic book writer. He, along with Mike Zeck, brought the Punisher to new heights of popularity with their groundbreaking limited series. Steven has also scripted stories featuring Spider-Man, Batman, and even Robocop. He is also the creator of the popular independent comic book series, Whisper. Steven has a weekly column, Permanent Damage, on ComicBookResources.com. In “Creating Comics Step By Step,” which first ran on Permanent Damage, he explores the process of how writers craft their stories. Steven has taken many agreed upon approaches of professional writers and presents them in an easy to understand and fun way. There are nine essays for this series. We’re proud to present the first three here, with the others scheduled to appear in the next two issues of Write Now! So Steven’s Whisper series ran for grab a highlighter for the important points 37 issues at First Comics, an Steven makes (guess you’ll have to buy a impressive run for an independent second copy of this mag!) and enjoy title. Cover art by Steve Epting. Mr. G’s Master Class in creating comics! [© 2007 Steven Grant.] —DF

Step 1: THE IDEA The idea is both the most under- and overrated part of the creative process. Ideas can be as elaborate as “a man works in an insurance office believing he exists in 20th century America only to discover he really lives in a future where machines have conquered the human race and control them through the use of virtual reality while a number of humans have escaped to become hi-tech freedom fighters and theorize the insurance salesman is a prophesied hero come to free mankind when he exhibits unexpected powers” (The Matrix) or “Thor fights the Hulk and we finally find out which is stronger” (what Erik Larsen originally wedged his way into Marvel with). Or even simpler: “a girl with big breasts who beats people up” has probably launched more comics, certainly in the last fifteen years, than any other. Though not a good idea, it’s still an idea. “Zombies destroy civilization” is a very simple idea, albeit not an original one, but that hasn’t stopped it from underlying two very good recent properties, Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead and Danny Boyle’s horror film 28 Days Later.

There are all different sorts of ideas. There are the Grant Morrison/Warren Ellis “mad ideas” spat out machine gun fast. There are terribly simple, down to earth ideas, like the “adolescents trying to figure out how to be adolescents in a pressure cooker society” core of Miki Iahara’s Hot Gimmick, which is nonetheless one of the best mangas ever done. There are ideas no one else could ever have thought of and ideas someone else should have thought of but didn’t. It doesn’t really matter whether the idea is simple or elaborate, original or derivative. It doesn’t matter what the project is. All projects begin with an idea. That’s principle #1.

STEVEN GRANT | 41

Let’s see... what does he want? The characteristics necessary for his job – secrecy, duplicity, manipulation – would run contrary to stable relationships, so he’d probably want two things: a paycheck and a life (though he’d likely tell himself that’s unimportant to him) and whichever he chooses makes the other more difficult to get. At least at first, those are probably the twin poles of his world, and he wouldn’t be concerned with higher issues; he’s venal but he’s venial. In the course of the story, he’ll come to learn how important the higher issues, not to mention the consequences of his actions, are. What’s he willing to do to get what he wants? In the short run, deceive and use others; in the long run, deceive himself. What’s he afraid of? That what he has is all he’ll ever have, and that the dark underbelly of life, not the shiny surface, will turn out to be the implacable reality, for him and for the world.

where power is a cheap resource. But it’s a tainted world, though those in it don’t know it yet. It’s a world where whoever controls the power supply – it would almost certainly be corporate in nature, though whether it’s “evil” per se is a question that doesn’t yet need to be answered – has enormous influence and possibly control. And jealousy. Given the nature of the power source, it would almost certainly be a closely-guarded corporate secret; the corporation’s power, again in many senses of the word, would depend on nobody else being able to tap and distribute that power. Which gives us a central character: an industrial spy. His line of work wouldn’t prep him to kill or other things political spies might do, but he’d need a flexible moral sense in order to do the job. Like his world, he’d be pretty on the outside but tainted. Old enough to be experienced but still young enough to face the physical challenges the work might pose, which would also require a decent fitness level: mid-30s. Personable, something of a chameleon, able to take on whatever characteristics allow him to blend in and avoid discovery. 50 | WRITE NOW

And what makes him the central character is this: he’ll be the one to reveal the corporation’s secret to the world, because he’s uniquely situated to discover it. Where exactly in the story he does this, that’s where further development comes in.

Next Issue: Steven explains the importance of plotting, characters and characterization, and setting, in Steps 4-6 of “Creating Comics Step by Step.” Don’t miss it!

Steven Grant has been a professional writer since the 1970s. He has written for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, First, Avatar, and a host of other publishers. At Marvel, he helped popularize the Punisher with his collaborations with Mike Zeck on The Punisher limited series and graphic novel. He co-created the popular independent comic series Whisper (Capital/First) and Badlands (Dark Horse). His weekly column about comics, pop culture, and politics, Permanent Damage, can be found at: cbr.cc.

THE END

Yours, mine, and Ours

WRITING THE COMPANY-OWNED OR FRANCHISED CHARACTER

(as opposed to writing your own) By John Ostrander

ohn Ostrander has been writing comics for twenty years. His many published works include: GrimJack, Legends, Firestorm, Suicide Squad (with his late wife, Kimberly Yale), Hawkworld, Wasteland, The Spectre, Martian Manhunter, The Kents, Star Wars, Batman: Gotham Nights, and many others. He’s currently working on Star Wars: Legacy and a Suicide Squad miniseries for DC, as well as part of DC’s World War 3 Event. Born and raised in Chicago, John was in professional theater for a number of years as an actor, playwright, director, and occasional producer before becoming a full-time writer in comics. He’s also been a teacher at both the Joe Kubert School and, co-teaching with Dennis O’Neil, at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. John is a regular contributor to Write Now! and we’re glad to have him back this issue to share his thoughts about this important topic for comics creators. —DF What sort of writer do you want to be?

I’m taking as a given that you want to be the good writer – the best that you can be. If you’re reading this magazine, I’m assuming that you want to be a professional writer and that you would like to be paid for your work or even make a living at this. What are your goals? Do you want to write Batman? The X-Men? Star Wars? (We’ll call these company-owned or franchise.) Or is your goal to create your own characters, your own universe? (Creator owned.) Maybe a little of both? I’ve done both—such as The Spectre for DC Comics and Star Wars for Dark Horse as well as my own creation, GrimJack—and there is a value to each. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and we’re going to explore them here. To start with, however, we should be clear that the rules of good writing apply to both. In terms of my basic approach to writing, that doesn’t change. I put the same amount of effort and craft into everything I do; to do otherwise would be to short-change the reader.

Intellectual Properties To understand some of the differences between creator-owned and franchise properties, you need to first understand the concept of intellectual properties. I must confess my own bias here; part of me hates that label. I see it as an attempt to make artistic expression into widgets for exploitation by the business community. From that point-of-view, our work is not relevant as a means of self-expression or exploration of the human condition; instead, it is a commodity to be traded like any other widget. That said, you need to know what is meant by the term before you sign away or give away any rights you might have in it. One other caveat – I’m a professional writer, not a lawyer—nor is the editor or publisher of this magazine. I’ll give you my best understanding of this issue, but it is solely from the perspective of a working author. There are several different definitions of the concept of intellectual property depending on which dictionary you consult. Most basically, it is a thought or an intangible idea or information that has been given a physical form. In an earlier article I said a writer writes. Until you put something down on paper, it’s simply an idea and everybody has ideas. What the creator does is incarnate it — give it a physical, tangible form. It may or may not be “art,” it may be good or bad, but it is now an intellectual property and, as such, has potential monetary value in the marketplace. Is it only the finished product that is an intellectual property? No. You may have notes, you may have initial sketches, you may have a few themes written down and someone can come along and develop them further or finish them for you and—voila!—we have intellectual property. That’s one of the reasons that you also don’t go telling your ideas all over the place — someone could take one and create their own work, which becomes their intellectual property. You cannot legally protect an idea but you can legally protect an intellectual property. It’s one of the reasons I never read fan fiction; if that is my known policy, JOHN OSTRANDER | 51