Attention comic artists to be.... *DELETED*

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I feel like I need to speak up about the "artists are better than writers because etc. etc....".

Do comics work without artists? Of course not. Do comics work without writers? Of course not. I don't think that making a broad, general statement that artists are superior to writers, in the comics field, is very valid. Most of the great characters in comics were created by writers, not artists. On the flip side, the one time a bunch of "superstar artists" got together and came up with some original content, the result was the Image line. Love or hate the Image line, it's tough to argue that anything the founding members did was anything other than shallow imitations of characters and stories from the companies they left.

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As a writer, I'm a champion of writers. But regarding the comic book medium, the artist does have a greater degree of difficulty, which is what I think Sin Stalker meant. Marvel and DC tend to agree, because the artist gets a larger portion of the money, a 60-40 split as I recall.

I'm okay with that, because the artist's job *is* tougher than the writer's.

True but you are just looking at the top writers vs not the best artists.

Those writers are also doing other non-comic book stuff too.

I was thinking more along the lines of equal level guys, but yeah, there are great writers out there who are what really makes the comics great.

I am glad you mentioned sandman. If you read the first trade paperback, ther eis an intro from the guy who hired him. It was about how Neil had great ideas but the main thing holding him back from giving him a job at one time was if he had the ability to pull it off.

Everyone here has great ideas, writers and artists. The thing that makes a person a great writer is if they are able to take a good or great idea and pull it off.
Now when it comes to comic books, alot of the time, not always but alot, the writers will make either a detailed script or a quick script depending on the situation. (Stan Lee would do alot of quick scripts that didnt break down the frames cuz he was working on so many different titles, it was up to the artists to fill in alot of the writing and do alot of the "pulling off")
Artists do more with the writering than most realize, not just the framing and whatnot. Thats why writers and artists have to work together. Idealy writers and artists should be doing there combined work and not just one of the party's ideas.

Thats why a pure writer is fine but artists (good comic book artists) are good writers in there own write and could fucntion without the pure writer partner.

Sure you have artists who write something and it sucks. But then again you have writers who do something and it sucks, so to make a fare comparision, we should look at the stuff that is equal.

Didnt frank miller write and draw some of his comics? I thought Sin City was one he drew himself.
If thats the case then thats a good example of kind of what I ment.

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I feel like I need to speak up about the "artists are better than writers because etc. etc....".

Do comics work without artists? Of course not. Do comics work without writers? Of course not. I don't think that making a broad, general statement that artists are superior to writers, in the comics field, is very valid. Most of the great characters in comics were created by writers, not artists. On the flip side, the one time a bunch of "superstar artists" got together and came up with some original content, the result was the Image line. Love or hate the Image line, it's tough to argue that anything the founding members did was anything other than shallow imitations of characters and stories from the companies they left.

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As a writer, I'm a champion of writers. But regarding the comic book medium, the artist does have a greater degree of difficulty, which is what I think Sin Stalker meant. Marvel and DC tend to agree, because the artist gets a larger portion of the money, a 60-40 split as I recall.

I'm okay with that, because the artist's job *is* tougher than the writer's.

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LOL thank you for pointing that out. In two sentences you explain what I was trying.

Its funny how I want to be and consider myself a writer and yet I am bad with words when I talk normally. Hense why I will never be a book writer but visual is another story...

P.S. pun not intended.

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hmm ya know...


I've seen a comic with no words but letting the pictures tell the story. But i can't say that i've seen a comic released with no art..


Just saying.

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Actually... I can argue this.

Marjane Satrapi did a graphic novel that has very, very simple pictures, the kind of pictures your kid sister could draw. Not very impressive by themselves. I personally would not read the book just on the pictures, basically. However, the writing is really interesting and engaging. Turns out it's a really popular book and got turned into an animated movie. Even though the pictures are really something your kid sister could draw.


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I'm going to poke this one because Marjane Satrapi is an accomplished French Cartoonist. The pictures may appear simple, however, as far as I'm concerned, it is much harder to draw simple cartoons and make them look as elegant as Satrapi did. Yes, the writing was engaging, but the artwork was just as engaging as her words. I'd also note that Will Eisner's work was fairly simple in design, but brilliant, as was Art Speigelman and his work with Maus, the first graphic novel to grab the attention of the public and say, "Comics are a VALID format of storytelling and aren't just for kids."

When I went to school to learn animation and story, we weren't told "Okay guys, let's draw like your little sister would draw!" We learned the foundational skills of anatomy and design to be able to simplify the form into something that Eisner, Speigelman, and Satrapi did. We broke down movies like Citizen Kane and simple written tales like Aesop's Fables to understand how story worked. It's something your kid sister wouldn't be able to do, even though it may look to the untrained eye as such. The reason Persepolis was designed as it was is because the main character was a child, and you grew up with her as you read the book.

I'd like to suggest you read Blankets sometime by Craig Thompson or Goodbye Chunky Rice. Again, a beautiful simple, elegant style that is hard to mimic and even harder to perfect.

As far as Persepolis is concerned, it would have made an interesting book, but Marjane meant to put words and pictures together because it's a marriage between the two that created a powerful story that took the world by storm.

Lastly, I would also like to point out that a story need not be written. Writing is not storytelling inherently. Storytelling is defined by all the senses.