Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login
The John Byrne Forum
Byrne Robotics > The John Byrne Forum << Prev Page of 6 Next >>
Topic: Can comics writers be considered "real writers"? (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
Author
Message
Francesco Vanagolli
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 03 June 2005
Location: Italy
Posts: 3130
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 11:45am | IP Logged | 1  

Comics are a form of literature, so my answer to the thread's title/question is YES.

I often think that there is a wrong idea in many persons about comics: they're stupid and everyone can write them. When these "everyone" are from tv or "real literature", it seems that they will give dignity to the comics, at last. Wrong. These guys never understood that a comic book writer (a good one) must be a good narrator. Like Stan Lee, JB, Roger Stern, Chris Claremont and many others.

Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 
Kurt Anderson
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 18 November 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 2035
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 11:47am | IP Logged | 2  

Some will create degrees of respectablility for any artistic endeavor.

 

 

Back to Top profile | search
 
Kurt Anderson
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 18 November 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 2035
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 11:52am | IP Logged | 3  


 QUOTE:
Anyone who gets paid to write is a "real" writer. Regardless of medium.

But I wouldn't say that payment is a required brand of authenticity.

Artists are artists prior to their discovery and the sale of their work.

Back to Top profile | search
 
Valerie Finnigan
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 27 March 2006
Posts: 838
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 12:13pm | IP Logged | 4  


 QUOTE:
Assuming both present a story, which would you rather read? A comic without pictures, or a comic without words?


A comic without pictures is not a comic. On the other hand, after "reading" Uncanny 401, if I had to choose between words or pictures, I'd rather have just words.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Al Cook
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 21 December 2004
Posts: 12736
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 1:37pm | IP Logged | 5  

Kurt A., quoting & responding to me:

"Anyone who gets paid to write is a "real" writer. Regardless of medium."

But I wouldn't say that payment is a required brand of authenticity.

Artists are artists prior to their discovery and the sale of their work.

---

Kurt;

I was working from the assumption that the word "real" in the original
post was meant to be read as "professional".

If I write, I am a writer in the most literal sense. If I write, and have not
been published, I am an "aspiring writer", even though in that most literal
sense I am still a writer. But then, I'm also a breather, speaker, sleeper,
eater, defecator. Not exactly "real" jobs. But once I've been paid for my
writing, I can claim that I am a Writer.

Where I see the real problem is that payment is not a required brand of
quality!
Back to Top profile | search
 
Ray Brady
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3740
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 3:31pm | IP Logged | 6  

"Take any "great" writer, Hemingway, Homer, Miller ( of the crucible not Civil War) or even mass market/mediocre ones , Dan Brown, CLive Cussler,etc and one common themes to all is thier abillity, and neeed to be able to create vivid images using only words."
-----
How does Arthur Miller fit in here? The Crucible is not intended to be read; it's intended to be performed. The "vivid images" are not provided by the words alone, but also by the actors, sets, lighting, etc.

Reading the script of a play is the equivalent of reading the script a comic book writer provides to his penciller.
Back to Top profile | search | www
 
Martin Redmond
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 27 June 2006
Posts: 3882
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 5:04pm | IP Logged | 7  

I thought an artist got ploting credit whenever they drew the whole comic from only one vague command.

Back to Top profile | search
 
J.C. Alexander
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 07 August 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 183
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 5:57pm | IP Logged | 8  

Correct!

Which brings us to the times when fans have
informed me that I did not actually "write" the silent
stories I have done!

***

Waitaminit...what silent stories? I consider myself a JB afficiando and I can't think of one silent story.

Back to Top profile | search
 
Aaron Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 06 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 10461
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | 9  

There was a silent Batman issue, I think. The first part of "Many Deaths of the Batman" if memory serves.
Back to Top profile | search | www e-mail
 
Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17700
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 6:42pm | IP Logged | 10  

Yes.
Back to Top profile | search | www
 
Dan Bowen
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 14 August 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 953
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 6:52pm | IP Logged | 11  

J.C. Alexander: Different medium. Period

I'll go with that.

Back to Top profile | search
 
Dan Bowen
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 14 August 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 953
Posted: 03 February 2007 at 6:56pm | IP Logged | 12  

Darragh Greene: "Roland Barthes once said, 'Literature is what gets taught'. Comics are turning up on English Literature and Cultural Studies courses moreand
more in recent years, so by virtue of being taught at university, have they
been elevated by the academy to the status of literature?

But what gets pushed aside or dispensed with, Darragh?  And is that a good thing?

Back to Top profile | search
 

<< Prev Page of 6 Next >>
  Post ReplyPost New Topic
Printable version Printable version

Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login