• Jonathan Hickman… on Writing.

Jonathan Hickman is the writer of the boldly creative new comic books The Nightly News, Pax Romana, & Transhuman, all out through Image Comics. I believe he is doing a lot to “change the face” of comics by pushing people expectations of what a comic could be. His books merge heavy design, prose & screenwriting techniques, as well as exceptional traditional comic book storytelling.

He also writes a great column for iFanboy.com titled Concentric Circles. Here is some of his great writing advice from a recent column:

“I write stories that I want to read. If at any point in the ‘writing process’ I mentally check out of a story I throw it away and start over. Accept that it’s shit and move on.”

“Here are a couple of other tips that we in the hack writer cabal find useful:
1. Keep it simple.
2. Don’t telegraph. A good story doesn’t turn, it unfolds.
3. Always have a theme.
4. Action should explode – think of this like a Pixies song – soft, soft, loud.
5. When a character becomes interesting, kill them.”

“It also helps to not have an ego about yourself or your work. Remember, it’s just a single story that you drew from what you believe to be an endless well of ideas existing inside of you. Not everyone is going to like your story because it’s not for everyone. Create. Move on.”

You can read the rest of Jonathan’s column at iFanboy here: Concentric Circles

Or you can find out more about his books here: pronea.com

• Freedom Isn’t Free (it costs a buck o’ five).

I don’t talk politics too often, mainly because I don’t feel I’m educated enough to really engage in the conversation. Also, because it’s a subject that is so explosive, and like Religion, people like to judge you as a person and view you through a certain lense based only on the fact of your affiliation.

However, I feel like I have something to say, and I’d like to share.

I was flipping channels the other night and ran across a quick interview with Bill Maher and, who I believe was, the Governor of Pennsylvania.

Maher asked the Governor, something like “if America is made up of ‘good’ people, why is our rate of violence and crime so high?”

The Governor gave some answer about our youth needing to be better educated or something along those lines, which is all well and good, and I agree with him, but I don’t think that is the answer to Maher’s question.

And I hear this kind of question/argument a lot. And I feel like there is a fundamental reason why America has so much crime:

We are free.

We are free to say what we want to say, to share our opinions, to worship who we want or to not worship at all. We are free to speak out against our leaders. We are free to carry guns. We are free to protect our property. We are free to be private. We are free to live lives of freedom.

Freedom gives us power. And with power (as Uncle Ben is fond of saying) comes great responsibility.

The unfortunate part of that equation is people are not always responsible. I’d go as far as saying people are not even ‘good’. The majority of people I encounter look out for themselves first. There is a natural survival of the fittest attitude among every human being. This leads to us, quite often, to being not so responsible for the betterment of society.

So, our choice is to either live in a place of dangerous freedom or safe slavery.

If we want to live in a safe place, where we will never feel threatened or endangered, then we have to lose our freedoms. The government could tap all our phones, be free to view all our correspondence, be free to enter our homes, take away our right to carry guns, and the country would become a safe place. But I don’t want to live in that place.

I love the freedoms we have as Americans. I don’t own a gun and never will. But I feel everyone should have a right to one (that right can be taken away, however). We should have the right to protect ourselves. And we could take away all the guns and we would be safe, but we’d have to sacrifice our freedoms.

To bring it back to comics, this was explored interestingly in the recent Marvel Comics crossover, Civil War.

For those of you who aren’t aware of the story, what happened was a super hero group, chasing after a bad guy ended up inadvertently blowing up a school full of children. The government then introduced the Super Hero Registration Act, where all super powered people had to register with the government and become government sanctioned agents or become outlaws and be hunted down and imprisoned. A brilliant story.

This, of course split the Marvel universe in two over this very same issue: What is more important – safety or freedom? Captain America led up the freedom side and Iron Man led up the safety side.

What’s interesting is that the majority of readers seemed to side with Captain America in the comics… but I’ve heard from many who said if it was real life, they would side with Iron Man. I wonder if this has something to do with comics existing in an idealistic world, free of the realities we face every day.

To be honest, I didn’t feel like the execution of the story did the concept justice, but it was a fantastic concept. And I think it’s a question that everyone should answer for themselves, as each year we edge closer to more and more of our freedoms being taken away:

What is more important to you? Freedom or safety?

• The Future of Comic Book Stores is… Borders?

“ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 14, 2008—After more than 18 months of development and testing, Borders will unveil the first of its highly anticipated new concept stores when grand opening festivities kick off Feb. 22 at its new store on Lohr Rd. in Ann Arbor, Mich., the company’s hometown. The 28,900-square-foot concept store—the first of 14 the company expects to open nationwide this year—represents a significant enhancement over existing Borders stores inside and out and fulfills the company’s mission to be a headquarters for knowledge and entertainment.”

“…we’ve put a strong focus on popular categories—including Travel, Cooking, Wellness, Graphic Novels and Children’s—by incorporating digital options and the online world, making these sections of the store interactive destinations where customers can not only shop our vast selection of books, but also take advantage of computer kiosks featuring recommendations from our expert buyers, related video content including interviews with experts and authors, and much more.”

“Borders, a long-time leader in the Graphic Novels market, has created a Graphic Novels Destination offering fans of this unique category an extensive inventory of Manga, Superhero and other Graphic Novels, as well as Anime DVDs, comic books and licensed collectible items.

Titles & Merchandise

• The Graphic Novels Destination in the concept store is instantly recognizable by images of licensed artwork such as that of Naruto™, Wonder Woman™ and Sandman™ on lighted drums suspended from the ceiling. Borders created these colorful drums to appeal to the visual nature of fans of Graphic Novels.
• The Destination contains thousands of titles as well as a large selection of comic books, how-to-draw books, magazines and DVDs. The breath and depth of the selection is larger than that offered by a typical Borders superstore.
• In addition to an extensive inventory of titles, the Destination also features a number of non-book items such as collectible figurines and plush toys to round out the offerings provided exclusively for Graphic Novels enthusiasts. Customers can also purchase software to create their own comic books.“

Okay, so what does this mean to the future of comic books?

Border’s already carries a great selection of graphic novels, and it has proven to be one of their best-selling and fastest growing areas. In these new concept stores, Graphic Novels is singled out as one of 5 “featured destinations” in the store.

This is a HUGE step forward in recognizing Graphic Novels as a widely accepted form of pop art. I really believe that these are the steps that will bring in new readers to the comic book industry – a friendly, neutral environment where the average consumer can investigate the world of graphic novels without feeling like they are showing up at the party uninvited (as, unfortunately, many still feel when going into a comic book store).

In addition to these feature destinations, there will be a significant area called the “community room” where they will host signings and discussions. These community room events can also be broadcast to be viewed live via webcast. Comic book creators and publishers need to jump all over this and really embrace the opportunity we’ve been given here to embrace the brand that Border’s is building around Graphic Novels.

It’s also great that these stores seem to embrace Superhero, Manga, & Art comics equally… which is greatly lacking in traditional comic book stores. I believe that one day, Superhero books will no longer be the lead sellers in comics.

Is this the end of traditional comic book stores?

No. Border’s still has a very limited selection of monthly titles. And I don’t see that ever changing. There is more of a profit margin on the graphic novels and less inventory to keep up with on a weekly basis.

What Border’s does offer is a window into the comic book industry. Consumers who wouldn’t normally buy a comic can find a graphic novel that interests them at a Border’s store. If they like what they read, hopefully the rest of the comic book industry will be open enough to learn to provide that window into our world.

I’m sure that Border’s is not interested in sending its customers to traditional comic stores, but hopefully it will at least be open to the online comics community through their interactive stations.

And maybe, the comics community can make a specific underground effort to expand the universe by embracing the community that these Border’s stores can provide.

At the same time, I hope this provides a challenge for traditional stores to be competitive with these Border’s stores – to provide the same kind of neutral environment where customers can browse and read and hang out without feeling threatened.

• A Writer’s Advice for Comic Book Artists

I’m not an artist. As a kid I wanted to be, but either a) didn’t have the talent for it or b) didn’t put the time needed to hone my craft. Most likely, it was both. So, I have no advice on how to be a better artist.

However, in searching for someone to collaborate with for Strongsville, I probably looked at the artwork of a hundred different artists of varrying levels of talent. I’m not an expert judge of artistry or anything… I just know what I wanted for this project, so that’s what I looked for.

In looking at these artists, I ran into certain key things that might be beneficial for an up and coming artist:

1) Go to school.

I’m not an advocate of college. I know that sounds weird, but I’m a graphic designer and I’m a writer. I haven’t gone to college for either of these things, yet I’ve found a good bit of success in both. I’m able to make a living what I’m doing. And I think too much emphasis is put on school these days.

However, overwhelmingly, the best artists I ran across all went to college for their art. I’m not sure if this is from the teaching or if it’s just from the fact that you are immersed in that world every single day for 4 years…

There are schools that offer sequential art degrees such as Savannah College of Art & Design and there are technical schools which offer sequential programs such as Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. Do your research, find what fits best for you and take the leap.

As far as what to do when you have to tell your parents that you’re going to be a comic book artist instead of a doctor? Can’t help you there.

2) Learn to Market Yourself.

A) Create an online portfolio. You can create your own web page for this, create a blog, or host it on Deviantart. But it’s a must. No one is going to hire you if they can’t see your work. Also, with your work in front of other people, it forces you to be better… you can get instant feedback.

B) Post your best, most recent work. I ran across so many portfolios of crappy work only later to realize that the artist posting the work was fantastic, but they had stuff up from 3 years ago on their portfolio. First impressions are everything.

C) Make sure that it has your contact info: email and/or phone number, so that people can get in touch with you. It was frustrating to find a great artist and have no way to get in touch with them.

D) Don’t be afraid to show your personality in your portfolio pages. Put up a bio. Tell people about yourselves. I know that in looking for an artist, I was looking not just for someone capable skill-wise, but for a personality that would be fun to work with. Your personality can be a big selling point.