The Worst Comic Writer And Artist Practices
@arthurchappell (45002)
Preston, England
July 14, 2019 3:52pm CST
My regular readers can’t really miss my fascination for comics and graphic novels. I love them, but there are some styles of writing and common problems that can ruin an otherwise excellent comic book or series.
1/. Too many crossover plots. Stories starting in one comic finish in another, weeks or months later. This is where a plot started in a Spiderman comic is wrapped up in a Fantastic Four Comic. Fans are expected to buy the other series too.
2/. Characters and situations are set up only for use in future adventures. Their panels have zero relevance to the current story arc.
3/. Deux Ex-Machina – A simple button brings everyone back to life, resets a time line or it was all just a dream.
4/. There is little real plot or story – characters chase each other or have a big fight lasting twelve pages. The hero wins. The characters insult each other a lot.
5/. Speech bubbles bury the art so you can’t see what is going on.
6/. Speech bubbles are drawn very small or in awkward font shapes or in a colour very close to the background on which they are superimposed, rendering the text awkward or even impossible to read.
7/. So much text that it feel more like reading an actual novel.
8/. A huge ensemble cast giving each character too little to do.
9/. Characters talk a foreign language which is not translated for the reader.
10/. Non-Linear panels. Comics are traditionally written in multiple panels, read one by one, left to right, top to bottom (right to left in Japanese Manga), but some modern comics jumble up panels and scatter dialogue over the page, even doing away with panel separators entirely.
11/. Too much digitized art – Give me hand-drawn comics any time.
12/. Too many obscure references to much earlier comics and adventures, which is not good for new or occasional readers.
13/. Too many ads and plugs for other comics and publications so a thirty page comic ends up with as few as twelve pages of actual story.
14/. Too many reboots and flashbacks to older stories and origin stories. This is often just padding.
15/. When a comic gets a movie presentation, redrawing characters to look more like the actors playing them on screen.
16/. Seemingly dead characters returning without explanations for their survival.
17/. Christmas specials where characters meet Santa or deliver a Christmas message.
18/. Cliffhangers left unresolved
Arthur Chappell
7 people like this
7 responses
@xander6464 (40916)
• Wapello, Iowa
17 Jul 19
I also object to the price. Comics used to be 12 cents and I know everything goes up but $4 for a comic book and sometimes more is more than inflation would account for.
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
17 Jul 19
@xander6464 yes, it can be cheaper to buy a book so over-priced comics are bad for the industry
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
18 Jul 19
@dgobucks226 vaguely remember seeing issues of People Magazine
2 people like this
@dgobucks226 (34445)
•
18 Jul 19
Wow, that is pricey! I read comics as a kid but $4 a copy is up there. Probably the same price of a People magazine isn't it?
Although the comic probably is better reading...
2 people like this
@Nakitakona (56302)
• Philippines
15 Jul 19
I never thought that there are loopholes in the comic magazines illustrations or drawings. Thanks for these critiques. Now I know them.
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
15 Jul 19
@Nakitakona there are probably more - these are the ones that spring to mind for me - another is so called graphic novel that are really just a collection of individual comics, especially if they are not in sequence or directly connected to one another.
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
15 Jul 19
@Nakitakona I can be over-analytical
2 people like this
@Nakitakona (56302)
• Philippines
15 Jul 19
@arthurchappell You're too meticulous kind of a critique. I admire you for that.
2 people like this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
15 Jul 19
yea,but i bet the guy who figured out how to bring back jean grey got a bonus
(yea,she really was in a pod at the bottom of the sea.really! :D)
but i agree about the crossovers.at one point marvel really got ridiculous about it.
the only time i really liked it was when they had dc/marvel crossovers.
2 people like this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
15 Jul 19
@arthurchappell oh yea.i thought it was hell weak.it was like really?
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
15 Jul 19
@scarlet_woman after such a great build up too
2 people like this
@psanasangma (6010)
• India
15 Jul 19
Seems you are avid readers, you have find out where are common and left behind for another stories in the book
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
15 Jul 19
@JudyEv oh yes, some can be done very well
2 people like this
@LindaOHio (157726)
• United States
14 Jul 19
Very interesting. Thanks for posting!
2 people like this
@egdcltd (12060)
•
15 Jul 19
I think it's practically impossible to kill of someone permanently in superhero comic books. Even if one writer does so, a later one will find a way to bring them back. Especially if they're popular.
It's even a trope:
Let's face it — some Big Bads are popular enough that it might be a bad idea to kill them for real. Because of this, even though the good guy usually beats him, the villain always finds a way to come back. It's a specific form of …
1 person likes this
