The One Question Comics Editors Should Always Be Asking
Not Asking It Kills A Comic's Potential Success
Comics Editors play a crucial role in a comic’s success. They are the overseer of the story from initial concept to finished product. Editors interact with the entire creative team to ensure everyone is on the same page (literally and figuratively). And the comic that gets in your hands when you step into the Local Comic Shop (LCS) is approved by the Editor to go to print.
Through every step of the creation process, there is one question the Editor should continually be asking themselves whenever a story is written or an artistic choice is made.
But before we talk about it, please subscribe to this newsletter using the buttons above and below. It’s completely FREE, and subscribers will be eligible for really cool perks that are in the works. Subscribe NOW before reading on. Thank you!
Now, on to the big question, which is…
Who Is This For?
Comics don’t just happen. There’s a process.
Typically, a writer will pitch a story concept, and it gets approved by the Editor and Publisher. The Editor will then assemble a team of Pencilers, Inkers, Colorists, Letterers, and perhaps a separate Cover Artist with strengths that best fit the creative style of the story. The Editor then manages all of the team members to write and draw up to acceptable standards of quality and to ensure the story turns out to match the approved pitch.
Here’s another take on the Comics Editor role from careermatch.com:
Comic Book Editors meet with the Writer at the beginning of production to discuss the story concept. If you’re a Comic Book Editor working with existing characters with a long history, you discuss the things that character can and cannot do. Allowing your Writers to take liberties, such as giving an old character new powers, will get you in trouble with diehard fans, so you work hard to maintain continuity. After this meeting, you set a schedule for production.
Once the Writer turns in a script, you meet with the Illustrator and discuss how the comic book should look and feel. You may provide examples of previous issues, or you may ask to see sketches from the Illustrator as work progresses.
Once the illustrations are complete, you send the document to the Colorist for a pop of red and blue, and then you ask the Letterer to put dialogue from the script into the dialogue balloons.
After each step is complete, you perform a quick quality check to make sure the story makes sense, looks good, reads well, and has no grammatical errors. Any mistake you find must be corrected…
The careermatch.com article alludes to a critical point in that first paragraph about “diehard fans,” but the one question goes beyond just existing fans; it applies for new fans as well. The story concept pitched by a Writer, presumably, is the best creative idea the Writer can offer, but ultimately, comics are a commercial business. In other words, the comic has to be something people WANT to buy.
Emotions Sell Comics, Not Gimmicks
Without going too far off track, a customer always makes a purchase based on EMOTION first… and then they rationalize the purchase decision. So, there has to be something emotionally triggering about the comic that entices them to buy.
Is it a scary story? Does it have exciting battles? Are there romantic relationships? Do the bad guys and good guys have dramatic face offs? Get the picture? There has to be an emotional hook that gets the customer to spend money.
Once you understand the primary (and sometimes secondary) emotions that get a customer to buy the comic, an Editor can nudge the story to amplify those emotions for exactly the audience they’re going after. This all leads back to the original question: “Who Is This For?”
Let’s look at an example:
Suppose you’re an Editor, and a Writer comes to you with a pitch about a supernatural superhero. The main character battles demons form Hell and powerful enemies from other dimensions. It’s a magic-based comic (wonder/whimsy) that strongly emphasizes monsters, possessions, and death (horror). The key emotional beats of the story are customers who like scary stories with elements of wonder.
There’s scores of demographic research that provide information about the types of individuals who like comics in those categories. Research that includes everything from age ranges, gender, what states they live in, and so on. It then falls on the Editor to do the research to match the content of the comic with the broadest matching audience.
Pulling that example a little bit further, does the horror-loving audience like more gore and shock than slow burn tension? Do those elements of whimsy and wonder more closely align with audiences that tend to like high fantasy or low fantasy? How many panels or pages can you go before something creepy slithers on to the page? All these factors come into play.
Editors Are Team Coaches, Too
Once the vision of the comic is set and all creative folks are moving forward, it’s also up to the Editor to proof every member’s contribution to ensure the work stays on track. As would any other coach, Editors need to encourage their team member to do their best in their respective roles and enforce discipline when their team members don’t follow the plays.
Going back to the example above, if the Writer turns in a script that’s too comedic, it’s the Editors job to send it back for revisions. This is where name recognition and ego of creative team members can become a barrier to the comics success. Without a little backbone and the authority to back it up, a horror comic featuring a superhero with magical powers is cracking jokes and throwing off the entire tone of the back. The art won’t match, and the coloring sets a conflicting mood in every panel. An Editor that doesn’t push back on submitted work, always with that main question in mind (“Who is this for?”), runs the risk of turning out a bad comic.
When egos and agendas of the creative team get in the way, sometimes an Editor needs to make that hard choice of pulling somebody off a book. It’s not fun, and it’s definitely not easy. But every hard choice must be done in service of the fundamental question: “Who is this for?” The answer is first, foremost, and always: “The Customer.” Not the writer, not the colorist, not anyone associated with the team. At the end of the process, it must be crystal clear in every team member’s mind that this book is for the Customer.
Conclusion
Editors are vital to the success of the book. They select the best creative team members to bring the pitch to life. They keep the players on track, and they push back when a team members work either isn’t up to snuff or doesn’t match the vision. At every step of the process, an Editor that obsessively asks and makes decisions according to that one question: “Who is this for? The Customer”, will make the best comic possible. Every. Single. Time.
Thanks so much for your time. I hope this was an interesting article for you.
If you haven’t yet, please click on the subscribe button to receive notices of new articles and be first in line for cool stuff for members only. It’s 100% FREE!
Also, subscribe to the Comical Opinions YouTube channel where I post a mini opinion every day. The most engaging video of the week gets turned into a newsletter just like this one.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a Great Day!