#comics help

[moss--and--bones]

Here's a reasonably detailed map of Coast City from the Atlas of the DC Universe (1990) if anyone needs it for fic writing purposes.

[techmomma]

Speech Bubble/Word Balloon tips

Before I begin, remember: you are writing a comic! The emphasis is on visual storytelling, not literary storytelling. If you are trying to use your speech bubbles to carry your story, that is going to somewhat defeat the purpose of the comic. As a general rule, you want to keep the amount of text and dialogue on a page to a minimum. Lettering and artwork should complement each other!

Number of words

Standard DC comics typically have a guideline of about 35 words per page. That is:

Thirty five words is going to look like this, plus or minus a few. It doesn’t feel like a lot, but it’s typically enough to get a back-and-forth between two or three characters.

Word balloons with 20-25 words are gonna be a li’l big. For webcomics, honestly, I’d keep the words per page to about what you can get away with in a tweet (280 characters). Exposition can get a little lengthier, but again, emphasis on visual storytelling! Try to incorporate lengthy expositions into the visuals of the comic. Or find other ways to explain whatever you’re trying to explain. Get creative!

Formatting

Word balloons can come in a lot of different forms and you can make them unique to your story! Jagged edges, no edges, airbrushed, hard edges, you name it. But if you’re just starting out and haven’t gotten a feel for word balloons yet, here are some easy guidelines.

Whether working digitally or traditionally, getting your words down first is going to be tremendously helpful. It is much easier to configure the word balloon around the text than the text around the word balloon! 

Remember that, for western readers, we read left to right, then up to down. Arrange your bubbles accordingly! The first one to be read should be left and above the others, then so on and so forth.

Keep bubbles to about two sentences max. 

Your character can only emote once per panel; word bubbles should reflect that! Don’t try to smush two different emotions into one speech bubble.

Format text typically into a diamond shape. (Don’t extend middles too far out!)

But...

Sometimes this really is unavoidable though, so don’t worry if you break the rule. Just do your best!

Ideally, you want about a letter’s width of space between the edge of the font and the edge of the speech bubble (whether you use ellipsoids or squircles, like me).

But wide spaces can convey some neat emotions, like loneliness or sadness or forlorn or characters talking to themselves.

Should the tail go in the “corner” or center of the bubble? Good question! This is debated pretty frequently in webcomics, but typically, so long as you use the center or corner closest to the character and the tail is pointing to their mouth, you should be fine.

But hey, speaking of that tail, how long to make it? About halfway between the bubble and the character’s mouth!

Try not to overlap tails, it usually confuses the readers--but that can be used to effect! Such as say, confusing conversations.

Curved or straight tails? Up to you! It can be a stylistic choice, though if you use both, readers will typically feel straight tails are more direct while curved tails are more casual.

DON’T COVER CHARACTERS WITH WORD BUBBLES OR TAILS. Unless being used to effect, such as say, a word bubble overlapping a character that is being spoken over (probably rudely). Usually overlapping word balloons will get the same effect though.

Thumbnails will help you figure out word balloon placement! Use the two-thirds rule, you will almost always have the space to put word balloons in a pleasing composition.

There is still so much to formatting word balloons. Fuck. But this will help you get started. Try to think of word balloons like musical notation! Big balloons for big beats, small balloons for small beats, little interruptions with interludes, pauses, etc.

Text

TEXT. What fonts do you pick? How large? Italicized? Bold? Holy shit.

Number one, pick a font that is either free-to-use-commercially or that you have bought the license to. If it came pre-installed on your computer, you’re typically fine, as you bought the rights when you bought the OS. But check to make sure! AND DON’T ASSUME IT’S FREE-TO-USE-COMMERCIALLY IF YOU GOT THE FONT FROM DAFONT.COM. This website has been stealing fonts from creators and saying they’re free-to-use for years.

But moreso, what kinds of fonts to use. This will depend on your comic, of course, but typically, whether hand-lettering or using digital font, you want the most basic shit possible. Don’t go for Old English fonts, don’t go for cursive (barely anyone can read it anyway now), try to avoid Fancy fonts even if your character IS fancy (this can be ignored if the character is a one-off and you REALLY WANT TO EMPHASIZE HOW FANCY). 

What sorts of fonts to use? Most often for comics, you want a sans-serif font. That is, fonts without serifs. What are serifs?

The little calligraphic strokes sometimes put at the ends. Sans-serif fonts typically have very uniform line widths that are easy to read. 

If you want to make your comics easier for those who have a hard time reading, such as the visually-impaired or dyslexic, choose fonts similar to those that have been found easier to read, such as  Dyslexie, Open Dyslexic, and Comic Sans! Yes, that comic sans. Other fonts that have been found easier to read are Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, and Trebuchet. If you hand-draw your own font, try to emulate those.

For your comic, once you pick a font, try to keep it the same size throughout the comic. 

As tempting as it is to choose different fonts for each character, many readers can find this distracting. Try to avoid this, but if you are dead-set on it, pick different fonts that feel similar to each other or won’t interrupt the flow of reading. 

Phew, that’s a lot of shit..

All that said, if you have any questions or want further clarification, please feel free to drop an ask in my inbox! And always, remember that all rules have exceptions! But you gotta learn the rules to know how to break them, first.

[scandalsavagefanfic]

This is going to be a sort of out there question, but do you happen to know which issue Earth-3 comes into play? I recently got an Owlman Funko Pop and really want to read the comics with his character, but all my research leads me to Justice League issue #23 (2013), yet when I search for the issue individually I can only find one from 2019? I am so confused about where his and the Crime Syndicates storyline actually starts.

This is a great question! I love these kinds of questions! I had so much trouble finding comics back in the day so I love getting the chance to help others find things :D

Also, thank you for letting me know there was an Owlman pop!

If Owlman shows up in a 2019 book I haven’t seen or heard about. Last I saw he got popped by “an unknown character” (with huge, obvious air-quotes because it was Dr. Manhattan) at the end of Darkseid War and that was… oof, uh, 2016 I think…?

So, I’m just going to stick with post-crisis if you don’t mind, because pre-Crisis is a whole different beast and most of it has little to no bearing on modern DC.

And before we get started, just know, that unlike a lot of fic that has an evil Bruce Wayne as Owlman, the actual comics Owlman is almost always Thomas Wayne, Jr., the Earth 3′s Bruce Wayne’s older brother who is often responsible for the death of his parents and/or brother.

In Owlman and the Crime Syndicate’s first post-Crisis appearance, they were considered Earth 2. It was a series in the 90′s written by Grant Morrison and collected as JLA: Earth 2 [Digital; if you want the Print version you’ll probably have to find it on eBay].

A version of them show up in Countdown [Digital] but the names behind the masks are kind of up in the air (I’ve seen it suggested that this Owlman is a version of Jason Todd but I can’t find any evidence of that in the series or tie-ins).

Then they show up in Trinity [Digital]. Which is just generally a fun series and I recommend it, but their first arc is issues 9-16…I know they’re in it more, I can dig that up for you if you want but I’ll have to do it when I get home (let me know :)

Finally, we get to post-Flashpoint and the New 52. The Crime Syndicate are the main antagonists for the Forever Evil crossover event,responsible for bringing us Spyral agent Dick Grayson. Here are links to the Forever Evil main series [Digital; Print], and it’s New 52 Justice League counterparts [DIGITAL: Vol. 4, Vol. 5, Vol. 6; PRINT: Vol. 4, Vol. 5, Vol. 6].

((((NOTE: The Justice League #23 you mentioned is from the Trinity War crossover story line that comes before Forever Evil. It’s a mess. I can’t recommend it [but here’s the Digital link anyway]. That’s technically when the Crime Syndacate come to the main continuity. All you need to know is that there’s this character called Pandora who was originally supposed to be a big deal but they couldn’t make anyone care about her, and she has this box (Pandora’s Box) which lets evil into the world. Turns out it’s a portal to the evil Earth 3 and when it’s opened by Earth 3′s Alfred and Atomica (disguised as a member of one of the many JL teams running around at the time, but not the main one), it allows the Crime Syndicate in…))))

And they play an important role in Justice League: Darkseid War which is Volumes 7 and 8 immediately following the Forever Evil storyline but for efficiency, here’s the link to the DC Essentials edition that collects it all [Digital; Print] or the omnibus if you’re feeling completionist [Print]. The omnibus includes all the one-shots and extra stuff that you don’t really need… I only buy omnibuses of my absolute favorites. Like Super Sons ;) 

And I think that’s it for now. They also show up in Convergence but I’m not sure you want to jump down that rabbit hole.

If I missed anything I’m sure someone will set me straight. But these are their major/important appearances :D

Thank you for asking!!!

[canarysnart]

okay so i’m thinking about reading daisy johnson/quake related comics.. where should i start?? does anyone has some tips? and if anyone know where i can find comics to read online/download would be amazing too!

[core-augur]

Alright, I cave. I'm back on my bs again.

Where can I find a list/read order of the good/essential comics for Dr. Strange, Loki, and Cloak + Dagger? I really want to see more of these characters.

[comicsbyedlc]

A Quick Guide to Facial Expressions, by Tracy J Butler

I found this artist's advice years ago, but I think it rocks still! Yes, most of the examples she shows are cat people, but the page shows how important acting and conveying emotion are in comics and animation. To emphasize this point, see this woman's different reactions to a grilled cheese sandwich.

The link below leads to this guide. I strongly agree with her on emoticon expressions. They don't mix with realistic art styles.

Lackadaisy Expressions

The Official Webcomic by Tracy J Butler

[animenotaizai]

Random questions for those who use Webtoon!

Do you know if it is allowed by Webtoon to publish one of your comic in multiple languages?

(and thus, do I do it by changing the website's language, since the different languages versions of Webtoon seems to be like different "saves" or "accounts"?)