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Sergio Saavedra
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 9:27am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

I found this interesting.

It is stated that the Marvel method is not commonly used today. That's too bad, it sounds as a very dinamic approach and I guess it lets the artist to make an impression.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 9:30am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Full scripts have become the common form. And you are right. Since most writers do not think in pictures, the results are often dull.
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Steve Coates
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 10:20am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I got to "...the geek world is also a small one...".
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Andrew W. Farago
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 12:48pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

With modern communication technology, it seems like the Marvel Method would work really well, since writer and artist could talk through pages and plot points at their convenience, and it would be easier than ever to go through and script a page once you've seen it on your screen.

Modern editors, though, want to approve a full script before sending it off to an artist. I think Mark Waid and Chris Samnee have a much looser, closer to Marvel Method collaboration, but they've been collaborating on monthly comics together for about four years with the same editor, colorist, and letterer.

Writers now (especially on those bi-weekly DC titles) don't necessarily know who's drawing a book when they're writing a script, and leave a lot less to chance.
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 2:22pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Gee, and those celebrity-written comics are so good!

Yeesh!

Kevin Smith says in there that, when working Marvel-method, he couldn't shut up and put too many words on top of the pictures, so then he switched to full script.  Does that make sense to ANYONE?!?  If you can SEE that you're crowding the pictures, you know you need to shut up!

What a surprise--all the talky, drawn-out comics are by writers who don't work the artist-friendly method.  And the readership keeps dwindling.
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Trevor Thompson
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 3:43pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

The Marvel Method works well when the artist actually knows how to tell a story. I'm not sure many do these days. Full script works if you don't trust the artist to deliver what you want on the page but if the writer can't think in pictures then it all falls apart. I guess I'm saying both are really good methods but relies upon either the writer knowing what they're doing or the artist. I think full script probably might be better for new artists and writers as the artist can always ignore something that doesn't work on page which the writer has jotted down.
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Andrew W. Farago
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 4:58pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Full script works if you don't trust the artist to deliver what you want on the page but if the writer can't think in pictures then it all falls apart.

I don't think it's a matter of trust as much as you often don't know who's going to be drawing any given issue. Half of DC's titles are produced biweekly right now, so for the most part, the writer doesn't know if he'll be working with the same artist for three consecutive issues or if he's going to have six artists splitting up pages as they hit the editor's inbox. Marvel's recent Secret Empire had two or three artists working on each issue of the weekly-to-biweekly miniseries.

Ironically, if you want Marvel Method books in the current system, you've got to look at creator-owned comics.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Kevin Smith says in there that, when working Marvel-method, he couldn't shut up and put too many words on top of the pictures, so then he switched to full script. Does that make sense to ANYONE?!? If you can SEE that you're crowding the pictures, you know you need to shut up!

•••

Over the decades, I have many times told wannabe artists that their job is to make the scipter redundant. Working Marvel Method they should put EVERYTHING in the pictures.

Unfortunately, this causes some scripters to overcompensate, and fill the panels with words they don't need.

It should be noted, too, that full script holds no guarantees. Just because a writer describes a scene, doesn't mean the artist will draw it -- especially if the writer can't think in pictures.

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Stephen Churay
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Greg Capullo, who I think is a really good
storyteller, once told about a writer, who
not only gave him full script, but gave
him "camera" angles as well (bird's eye,
worm's eye, Close up, etc.) Capullo intentionally gave the writer the opposite
shot the writer asked for, just to break
him.

Apparently, Capullo does not appreciate
being told how to set up a page by a
writer. Can't say I blame him.
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 7:55pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Professionally speaking, that's awful what Capullo did.

Speaking as an artist, BRAVO!!!
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 12 September 2017 at 8:02pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

So, it seems very possible today that you could buy a book written full script by a writer who doesn't know how to think in pictures and then drawn by an artist nobody trusts to tell the story.  Sounds great.
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Bill Collins
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Posted: 13 September 2017 at 12:17am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Is the mistrust a response to the `Splash page` fad from
the 90`s/00`s?
I think that a lot of the current writers have lofty
ideas,thinking they`re writing a great novel,not a 22
page comic book!
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