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Comic Artists as Storytellers

NO FLY ZONE: Comic Artists as Storytellers
© Mania

Greetings, Maniacs, and welcome to another week of The No-Fly Zone. Once in a while, we like to get into the mechanics of comics and explore how they work. This time, we’re hear to give due credit to artists. That seems painfully obvious in a visual medium, but there’s a bit more to it.

The collaboration between a comic writer and penciller—and by proxy, the inker and colorer—has always challenged the traditional idea of authorship. Here’s where you say, “Oh shit, it’s one of those columns again. Can’t we just crack gay jokes about superheroes for 1000 words?” We’ll try to keep it light and breezy, so check this out: when you think about a book by a novelist, you assume he or she wrote every word. It’s not co-authored or ghost-written. It’s been edited, hopefully, so it’s not 100% him, but still. Similarly, a lot of comic fans follow writers. They buy everything by Grant Morrison or Garth Ennis (at least we do) and see the comic as being authored by them. But, it’s a little different here, and it annoys the hell out of a lot of artists. Back in the dark days of the 1990s, hot artists moved comics (mostly because they drew boobs). Writers only mattered to people reading Vertigo books and independent stuff. But, the pendulum has swung in the other direction. Now, Brian Michael Bendis could sell Avenger Babies if he wrote it. Guys like him and Mark Millar sell comics, and their fans worry a bit less about the artists involved. But, a comic book, by its very nature, can’t just be by the writer—unless you’re Frank Miller or Dave Lapham, but the do-it-all guys are pretty rare.

Artists are integral to a comic’s story. That seems so obvious that it’s stupid, but it’s true in ways you probably haven’t considered. There are a couple of different methods the industry has traditionally used. In the first, the writer bangs out a script—with or without the input of an artist. It depends on if the two are collaborating or if the artist is a hired gun. In the second, the artist works from a plot. We’ll get to that shortly. With a script, the writer passes the document on to his art team, who pencil, ink, and color the comic. But, the script is just a blueprint for a comic that hasn’t happened yet. It’s just a skeleton. Like it or not, the story falls into the artist’s hands. Every single aspect of the script—no matter how specific—is subject to some degree of interpretation. No two artists can visualize a script in the same way, which means that each comic is a result of collaboration and not sole authorship. The inker and colorist, no matter how carefully guided, can’t help but put their individual touch on a work. Such is the nature of art. People aren’t machines.

Again, this may seem stupidly obvious, but any comic artists reading this are probably thrusting their fists in the air, shouting “Preach on!” In an era that has reemphasized writers, many comic artists feel like they’re expected to act like, as blogger John Seavey called them, Art-Bots (scroll down). This is probably not as much of a problem with major publishers, but some independent writers are guilty of this. They give super-detailed scripts to their artists. They want a personal vision ripped from their minds and copied on to the page. They don’t want interpretation, even when they can’t help but leave room for some. They see artists as cameras responsible for communicating their imagination. There’s a joke among some artists that comic writers just wish they could draw or some such, and it shows with this kind of behavior. But, it’s just not realistic to expect a silver bullet from mind to page. Comic artists are inescapably part of the storytelling process.

We said there were a couple of ways writers have traditionally collaborated with artists. The first is by simply handing in a script. With the second, the artist works from a plot—usually just a few paragraphs that summarize the story. Marvel worked this way for years. In fact, it was one of the sources of animosity between Jack Kirby and Stan Lee for years. In short, Kirby felt he and Lee had co-plotted a lot of work together by talking out the stories. Kirby would draw the issue from the plot and then Lee would script the dialogue. But, Lee usually got the writing credit. This gets back to the inescapably collaborative nature of comics. The artist can’t help but act as a co-author. And, when the artist works from a plot, he or she becomes even more integral to the story. Now, the artist assumes responsibility for character positioning, panel layouts, and innumerable other details. Over at his blog Mightygodking.com, Justin Zyduck points highlights The Dark Phoenix Saga in suggesting that artists be given more input in the storytelling process. Zyduck credits Byrne with allowing Jean Grey to kill five billion aliens as her eponymous alter ego. Claremont agreed, and it lent the story a great deal of dramatic weight. Jean became a truly frightening creature, justifying her eventual demise.

The Claremont-Byrne situation is a really shining example, but the collaboration between artist and writer is inherent, no matter how specific a script may be. It’s really up to fans to realize that no comic story is told by the writer alone. It’s up to writers to allow artists room to interpret their story—perhaps even contribute—and assess the final work as a whole, based on its quality, not its adherence to the minutiae of the writer’s vision. Each story is a distinct instance of a writer and artist (or artists, again) playing off of one another. While fans should, by all means, buy from stuff by individual creators they like, they should pay for stellar creative teams. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon turned out amazing work in Hellblazer. They duplicated their success with Preacher, and then had a few years of fun in Punisher. Claremont and Byrne are, of course, a classic example, and there are others. In short, if you write comics, encourage input from your artists. If you’re a fan, remember how integral artists are in a visual medium, however much we may glorify writers. Collaboration is the key.

You are now exiting The No-Fly Zone.

Kurt Amacker is the writer of The No-Fly Zone, Mania’s weekly alternative comics column. He is also the author of the comic miniseries Dead Souls, published by Seraphemera Books. Dead Souls is available from the Seraphemera Books website, Amazon.com, and at comic shops everywhere. He can be reached at kurt_amacker@seraphemera.org.