Broken Frontier

Start your creative engines… Welcome to Ignition! In this regular feature I will be sharing tips from my life as a journalist, columnist and semi-professional comic book writer. From time to time I will be joined by professional artists, writers and publishers, from within the comics industry and the wider entertainment world, who will share some short, sharp nuggets of advice – all for your benefit!

Write Here Right Now

Are you itching to write, but don’t know where to start? Well, if you are keen on writing a superhero, sci-fi or action/ adventure comic one of the best places to search for inspiration is the newspaper! I am writing this column on Saturday 23 June. Here are some of the international news headlines from the last week (taken from the BBC):

Volunteers sought for Mars test
Robot sub explores giant canyon
Lake disappears suddenly in Chile

In those three headlines I can ‘smell’ a handful of potential sci-fi comic book stories – can you? Share your ideas in The Story Factory forum.

Art Attack!

Right now you are either thinking one of two things: who is this writer chump to tell me a thing or two about art? Or … I thought this was a column about writing comics!

Although I am a writer I have worked with a few artists, including one of the key players from the early days of Image. While I am no expert on comic art, I feel I have some tips to share. As for The Story Factory being a column about writing, well its focus has been mainly on script monkeys, but after recently turning 40 (the column, not me!) perhaps it is time for a change?

So, an art tip … ah … I am sort of stuck for one right now … How about a No Art Tip kind of like Stan Lee’s famous No-Prize? Doesn’t work for you? Well maybe this does: if you are a newbie artist keen to get into the comics industry, one of the best ways to sharpen your command of comic art basics may be to read this book – How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way.

MesSAGE

"I think the best advice I could give anyone in terms of breaking into the industry is DO AN INDEPENDENT COMIC BOOK. It’s not easy, but it’s not brain surgery either. Whether you’re a writer or an artist, if you want to show an editor what you can do, what better way than to show him a comic that you’ve done in his hands. Let him, or her, see that you understand and can operate in the medium in which your talents are going to be displayed."

- Kevin Grevioux (New Warriors, Hammer Kid, Underworld) (http://www.kevingrevioux.net)

Classifieds

One of the best places to search for comic jobs on the internet is the Digital Webbing site. Search there for art, writing, lettering and submission opportunities… Tell ‘em I sent ya!

Web Shooters

Love Superheroes? Enjoy creating your own? Get a thrill writing the stories of existing heavyweights like Spider-Man, Savage Dragon and Superman? Want to create your own caped crusaders? Ever wonder why all the coolest superheroes have names starting with the letter ‘S’? One of the coolest places on the web to chat about these paragons of power is The Cape Symposium.

The site is a forum featuring in-depth discussion on just about everything to do with superheroes, it is not fast-paced, often months pass between posts, but the discussion is intelligent and well worth checking out!

The Arcanum

The Oxford Dictionary offers the following definition for the word ‘arcanum’:

noun (pl. arcana) a hidden thing; a mystery or profound secret. ORIGIN Latin, from arca ‘chest’.

As such, I feel it is fitting to launch The Arcanum with reference to one of the greatest and most mystically magnificent writers in comics today – Mr Alan Moore. Here is a link to an interesting You Tube documentary on the man himself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opAcRSvxbB8&search=alan%20moore 

Spark plug>in

Ignition! is all about helping you to be the best creator you can be. If you have any ideas on topics to be covered in future editions, leave feedback in The Story Factory forum.

Next: On the road again.