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AMA — Transitioning from a comic strip to a comic book
🕑 Added 2022-10-09 15:00:05 +0000 UTCQ.: I actually want to know how you feel the transition from 3 panel to 6 panel is going. Has it given you the greater freedom with writing you hoped for? Does it make establishing a theme more or less difficult? Does it make some characters better or worse options for the new length, and if yes with whom?
A.: That’s a great question!
First, a little back story. Evil Inc started out as a comic strip — usually four panels in length. This was because Internet publishing in the early 00s was ad-supported. (We called it free, but that was marketing language.) Under an ad-revenue business model, frequent updates were strongly rewarded. Therefore, posting a new comic every day generated a volume of pageviews that translated into a pretty good income.
I found myself at a crossroads when ad-blocking software threw the entire system into a tailspin. As many of us shifted to crowdfunding — like Patreon and Kickstarter — the need for daily updates diminished. And at that same time, social-media was changing the way my readers consumed content.
I reasoned that I could do a lot better keeping my readers’ attention in this new landscape if I took longer story swings. After all, telling a story four panels at a time is a herculean task. Newspaper cartoonists were able to do it because they had a captive audience. Today’s readers are the polar opposite of that.
So I reimagined Evil Inc as a graphic novel. I started thinking my story in terms of 22-page chapters. This had less to do with the length of a mainstream “floppy” comic book, and more to do with the number of minutes in a TV sitcom. I converted minutes to pages, and I started writing my stories like the episodes of a TV series. I incorporated an A-B story structure, and started thinking in terms of narrative archetypes like the Hero’s Journey. This brought an immediate focus to my writing. My comic-strip stories rambled and wandered pretty drastically. Writing with a beginning-middle-end structure to each chapter brought an end to that.
Today, I write each page as an entire unit, and I release it on the Web a half-page at a time. The typical half-page is about seven panels. That means I’ve only really added about three panels. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it makes a big difference. That's almost an entire second strip that's entirely devoted to the story. Instead of trying to sneak a story beat into five very short pieces, I have two big swings that fit together as one. If I'm careful about including an entry point into each half, I've got a shot at retaining people who are discovering my on the Web. And when the page gets put together for the book, it reads cohesively.
I think you’re going to see that in the next couple of Evil Inc books. I decided against publishing a new book over the past two years because I decided the risk was too great. The Covid pandemic has caused ripple effects in printing and shipping that — honestly — are still causing problems to this day. I’m hoping to launch a Kickstarter in the early past of next year, and I already have that book laid out. I’ve read through it a few times now, and I think this is where I really found my rhythm as a writer. I’m super proud of the book. I'm very excited to get it into your hands when the time is right.
Comments
Brian
Thanks Brad, nice to know the decision is working out.
Brad Guigar
Great question! Stay ‘tooned!
Brad Guigar
I may have had her name at one time — I probably included it in the blog post. But that was at least one of two website redesigns ago. At this point, it’s lost to the sands of time 😃
W. Scott Meeks
Great answer, but what I really want is to know more about the hottie in the picture above
Dave Lerner
Here's one: Do you find it easier and faster to draw in a more cartoony style (such as Cape Carnival or Best Jobs in Comics) than in your regular Evil Inc. style? Are they two different but equally challenging styles? Or are they effectively practically the same for you? Thank you
