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George Peter Gatsis
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 September 2004
Posts: 2128
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 9:21am | IP Logged | 1
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everyone is a writer... period.
BUT, very few are story tellers... and good ones at that.
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David Whiteley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 2748
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 9:28am | IP Logged | 2
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Yes.
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Emery Calame
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5773
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 9:48am | IP Logged | 3
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Some fairly bad writers are also very good writers. Just look at the Harry Potter books for an example of what I mean.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133555
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 10:09am | IP Logged | 4
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Artists can do amazing things-- but if there's no story, there isn't going to be a comic book.*** That is something of an oversimplification. First, we're talking about comic books, and minus the pictures, what you have is not a comic book. It is the pictures that make a comic book a comic book, not the stories. Second, there are many writers who like to perpetuate the myth that it is they, and only they, who must "face the blank page". This is not true when the books are done "Marvel Style" (plot, pencils, script), and it is not entirely true when they are done full script. In the case of the "Marvel Style" books, the artist is most often an equal partner in the transferring of the story to the page. Sometimes s/he is more than equal, especially if the writer is working with a talented artist who can be trusted to do the most important part of the work (as when I worked with John Romita Jr., for instance). Even when the books are done full script, the artist still has a sizeable task in translating the writer's panel descriptions into pictures. I have made the point many times that very few writers really think in pictures. Bottom line -- weigh the contributions. Assuming both present a story, which would you rather read? A comic without pictures, or a comic without words?
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Fred J Chamberlain
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 August 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4044
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 10:18am | IP Logged | 5
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>everyone is a writer... period.
>BUT, very few are story tellers... and good ones at that.
.... is there an echo in here?
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Martin Redmond
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 June 2006
Posts: 3882
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 10:26am | IP Logged | 6
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Regardless of the artist, the overall plot should be good and the dialogue interesting to read. Unless I am mistaken, Marvel style still requires the writer to dictate what events happen in a comic. So maybe the writer doesn't "illustrate" but the writer can call for how a scene will be played out. Also, the same writer with different artists often produces very similar stories. The ones that are really good, it doesn't really matter which artist draws their comics.
I don't really care if a writer is a real writer or not as long as it's entertaining to read.
Edited by Martin Redmond on 03 February 2007 at 10:30am
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Stéphane Garrelie
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 August 2005
Location: France
Posts: 4226
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 10:30am | IP Logged | 7
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Comic without picture/comic without words.
Comic without pictures is a nonsense, but even if a comic can work without words, it isn't a comicbook without a story.
Even a silent issue needs a story.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133555
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 10:33am | IP Logged | 8
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Unless I am mistaken, Marvel style still requires the writer to dictate what events happen in a comic.*** You are mistaken -- at least partly. Sometimes the writer operates in a vacuum, writing his plot without any contact with the artist. Sometimes without even knowing who the artist is going to be!* In many instances, however, the writer and artist work together in concocting the plot. Chris and I used to do what we called "phone plots" on UNCANNY. We'd talk for hours on the phone, hammering out details, while I made notes. Then I'd call the editor and tell him what we had planned. Then I'd draw it, and Chris would dialog it. And let us not forget the legendary (and probably apocryphal) 4 word "plot" Stan is supposed to have given Jack for the first Galactus story: "Have them fight God."
* He was working full script, but Denny O'Neil wrote that o-so-significant issue of GREEN LANTERN fully expecting that Gil Kane would pencil it. Neal Adams was as much a surprise to him as to everybody else!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 10:34am | IP Logged | 9
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Even a silent issue needs a story.
***
Correct!
Which brings us to the times when fans have
informed me that I did not actually "write" the silent
stories I have done!
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Darragh Greene
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 March 2005
Location: Ireland
Posts: 1812
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 10:36am | IP Logged | 10
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Roland Barthes once said, 'Literature is what gets taught'. Comics are
turning up on English Literature and Cultural Studies courses more and
more in recent years, so by virtue of being taught at university, have they
been elevated by the academy to the status of literature?
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Al Cook
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Posts: 12736
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 10:58am | IP Logged | 11
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Anyone who gets paid to write is a "real" writer. Regardless of medium.
Also, regardless of medium, not every "real" writer is a good writer.
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Kurt Anderson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 November 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 2035
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| Posted: 03 February 2007 at 11:42am | IP Logged | 12
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QUOTE:
| * He was working full script, but Denny O'Neil wrote that o-so-significant issue of GREEN LANTERN fully expecting that Gil Kane would pencil it. Neal Adams was as much a surprise to him as to everybody else! |
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I did not know that.
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