If you want to write comics well, you’ve got to comprehend this concept…
Comics are a Highlight Reel of a narrative…
NOT the complete narrative.
Full stop.
I get an insane amount of pushback from folks when I tell them this. Hopefully, this article will help illustrate why this is fact, not opinion.
Let’s jump right into with a somewhat random page from Image’s Outcast. For this lesson we don’t really need context, we’re going to look at the example purely at face value. So let’s take a look at this single page scene…
- Establishing shot of a diner.
- Kid watching old guy eat.
- Old guy pats his mouth, asks for the check, tips his hat…
- then heads toward the door.
Why didn’t we see the old guy open the door and enter the diner?
Heck, why didn’t we see the old guy get out of his car in the establishing shot?
Double heck, why didn’t we see the old guy drive up to the diner?
What the hell did the guy just eat? Why didn’t we see him struggle to choose that item from the menu?
Why didn’t we see the waitress waiting on him?
I see a ketchup bottle on the table, but I’m guessing it wasn’t there when he sat down and he had to ask one of the other diners nearby to pass it to him–why didn’t we see that?
The guy also probably checked his cell phone and tried to light up a cigarette but was asked not to.
Why didn’t we see ANY of that in this scene?
The answer is absurdly simple, yet absolutely critical to understand when writing comics.
Comics are a highlight reel of captured moments from a much, much larger narrative.
All those “missing” moments I just listed, weren’t presented in the scene, because they are shit boring moments of the narrative.
Or if you want to get narratively technical, those moments have NO NARRATIVE DRIVE and don’t add anything to the story.
Said even another way,
all those moments I mentioned weren’t engaging enough to make the highlight reel that is, this scene.
The “better” the clips you highlight in your reel, the better your comic.
Again, full stop.
A bit ironically, most folks “get it” when explained like I just laid it out above… however, newer comic writers usually turn off their brains for the rest of the comic, thinking for some reason, the highlight reel perspective only applies at the individual scene level. In fact, choosing only the best moments for the highlight reel, that is your comic narrative, is fractal in nature. It applies to comic narrative at every level… the act, sequence, scene, page, and even, the individual panel.
Outcast’s old guy character doesn’t pop up until a few scenes later in the issue.
Here’s the first page of that scene;
Again, I ask why didn’t we see him in the car right when he pulled up?
Why do we see him with his keys in his hand, AND not searching for the keys in his deep pocket?
Why do we see him open the door, but not take the time to close it behind him.
He takes a lit candelabrum down the stairs with him, but why didn’t we see him pull forth a box of matches and light each individual candle?
All of these things I just mentioned in this second part, must have taken place in the “complete” narrative of this story…
The old dude’s car didn’t teleport from the diner to the lodge. The keys didn’t just materialize in his hand.
you get what I’m saying…
Hopefully, these examples make it click for everyone that comics are about an EXTREMELY DELIBERATE choice of what the reader sees.
Now let’s roll it back a second and realize we can (and should) also be asking whenever we write a scene;
Why is the old guy standing outside the front entrance of the building?
Why am I taking a panel to show him putting his hat on?
Why put him in front of the door staring at the key?
Why showcase him standing in the threshold, etc… etc… etc…
At any given moment, anywhere in comic writing… you should have a very specific reason(s) for doing what you’re doing.
In other words, we must assume the scene of the old guy eating in the diner is somehow critical to the story.
That focusing on the character patting his mouth clean and putting his hat on, are somehow dramatically relevant…
Of course, this is the entire concept of compression and decompression in narrative… and the art of story telling, applying the fundamentals of scene selection and story weave at a core level.
If you find yourself just throwing up panels strictly for the sake of continuity, trying to get from point A-B, because you don’t have anything more relevant to say, at best you’re writing inefficiently at worst… you’re in trouble.
Here’s the big take-away folks.
In each of the Outcast scenes above, I’ve listed a bunch of boring moments that took place in the “actual complete narrative.”
These moments were not worthy of the highlight reel, so they were tossed.
You’ve got to do the same thing everywhere in your comic. THROW OUT THE BORING STUFF. That’s right, entire scenes that aren’t worthy–throw that shit, right, out the window.
Don’t get locked in and dragged down by the minutiae of sequential plot expression.
Highlights on full blast, even if presented a bit disjointed, will always create a superior reading experience, over storytelling embedded with poor sequential plot expression.
This is why so many modern comics suck; completely sacrificing narrative drive and actual story, for elements that frame the story experience, like mood, tone, character design, dialogue, etc.
Never sacrifice story for the way the story is told.
I’ve written extensively on how talking heads break the synergy of comics. Comics where a lot of things are said, but nobody’s actually doing anything. Complete snooze!
If you scroll back up and look again at the two scenes; 1-old guy leaving diner, 2-old guy entering lodge.
I pointed out the missing moments from each scene, presenting the two scenes as if they were themselves, highlights in the larger narrative… but fact is;
I 100% guarantee you, I could rip both those pages out of the comic, have you read the comic and not lose anything of the narrative.
No one.
Not one soul on Earth, would read that comic with those pages missing and say, “Man that issue was good, but I think there should have been a scene with old guy leaving a diner… and maybe a scene of old guy entering the lodge.”
I’m not shitting on Kirkman’s writing here, but without context (probably with it too though), both of those scenes are definitely not highlight scenes. I mean the reality is, nobody did anything in those two pages. And the manner nothing was done, was boring as all hell. Nothing dramatic. Nothing exciting. Nothing intense. Nothing emotional. Nothing… memorable.
Shit, I forgot what happened in those scenes already, and I’m not even done writing the article!
Every scene, whether it’s an action chase or fight scene, a dramatic intimate moment, or a decompressed scene of the protagonist taking off their socks–needs to be the best of the best in the book.
And if you can write a scene of your protagonist taking off their socks, that’s one of the best scenes in the story, then my friend, your time needing this website has just about come to an end. A fact that brings a tear of joy to my eye. ▪
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Nick Macari is a full-time freelance story consultant, developmental editor and writer, working primarily in the independent gaming and comic markets. His first published comic appeared on shelves via Diamond in the late 90’s. Today you can find his comic work on comixology, Amazon, and in select stores around the U.S.