Discovering Comics

Your Origin Story

What book(s) are atop your pile now, and which comics built its foundation?

Hey Comics People,

I’m in a reading mood. Probably because I’ve written a fair bit lately. Scripting comics is my personal making itch, if you didn’t know. It’s the creative activity I most enjoy. Or rather, it’s what I most enjoy having done…

In practice, the process of scripting a comic can be maddening. Often exhilarating. But maddening too, and for a number of reasons. Here’s a big one:

Ideas are cheap. They can require effort and inspiration, sure. This doesn’t change the fact that there are countless scripting decisions that could work for a tale, or might feel right. Making peace with just one choice is often the trick. The full collection of those settled decisions is what becomes your voice as a writer. Find your way to that finality can be a war. But once the ships are docked I always step back onto dry land feeling satisfied. An itch done been scratched.

In any creative journey, it takes initiative to get started and a steady thrust of willpower to hold that momentum through to the end. I’m proud of anyone that can activate that gear and get it done, including myself.

Of course, that damn itch will come back. In my case, I’ll find some flaws to fix, some new avenues to explore. Shoot. Probably’ll happen before you get the chance to read these words. But hey, here’s a quiet moment. I’ll take it. Hope you take one for yourself too.

These next few days, when I find a few beats, I’m excited to simply read and absorb. When pursued by an itch, it can feel like a compulsion to answer some pressing questions. Once scratched though, sometimes we get to just enter a curiosity groove. This can be where we flip our script (or whatever) and shift our focus on questions, rather than the pursuit of ironing out our answers.

Sometimes we’ve just gotta admit, yet again, that there are too many worlds we’ve yet to explore, least of all in all these comic book pages. There’s always more to learn, more to appreciate. Heck, I don’t know nearly enough about the people who share this love for enjoying comics and the comic making process…

I’m looking for more inspiration and shared appreciation on my pile, books new and old. So, if you’ve got a moment to spare, tell me:

How did you discover comics?

And what are some of your recent favorites?

NOTE: Comics on display are not-so-hot-off-the-press.

We’ll talk again soon. I’m brainstorming a few MAKING comics posts for the weeks ahead. But for now, I just hope all are enjoying the sturdy solace found in reading, absorbing and sharing the love for our pastime. I also hope we get the opportunity to chat about it soon. Because chatting with a few of y’all at C2E2 recently was a wonderful treat for this comics person. Truly.

Oh, and if you’re more creatively inclined at this moment in time?

For those of you in the thick of it, I wish you a steady and enjoyable downstream flow while you are—-