Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, HRL

7-Step Recipe For Creating A Comic Book World From Scratch

Published Sun, 11 Jun 2017 15:00:15 -0500

Michael Bloom writes:

Have you ever wondered what it takes to actually create the backdrop for a comic book story?

Have you ever wanted to try making a comic book universe yourself?

My name is Michael Bloom, and I want to teach you exactly how turn your comic world dreams into reality.

I'm an independent comic book creator, and I've spent the last decade and a half creating the world of my debut graphic novel, Italiano – a mobster book inspired by The Sopranos and Adult Swim, packed with brutal action, bold artwork, hilarious characters, and foul language.

It took me 15 years to build the Italiano universe before finally launching it on Kickstarter, but if you follow my 7-step recipe for creating a comic book world, you'll be there in no time!

Step 1: Choose Your Genre

Now, don't worry about finding something no one has done, because it's all been done before. Just pick something that you love, that you're passionate about, that you can't stop thinking about creating.

I'm part Italian and I love mobster movies, so I chose mobster as the genre for my world. Sure, the mobster genre has been done a million times, but that's okay — I'll show you how to make it your own in the next step.

Step 2: Make It Different

Here's where you set yourself apart. Rack your brain for a delivery method that pushes the boundaries. What will make your book different than the rest? An effective way to do this is to leverage your own interests. Create something you want to read.

The best books are made by creators that made them to scratch their own itch, and the worst books are made by creators trying to please a make-believe audience or chase a trend.

What I set out to do was to make the book I wanted to read! I thought it would be great to create this overly violent, foul-mouthed mobster book, but contrast it with hilarious characters, crude humor, and a very in-your-face art style. This would set it apart from the rest.

Step 3: Create Your Setting

Now it's time to create your backdrop — where are these shenanigans going to take place? For Italiano, it's Capitol City, a sprawling goliath of an island that has many of the characteristics of the USA.

I divided the city into four territories, and then gave them all a personality. North Point is an industrial, hardened port town, the East Coast has a New York feel, the West Side has a California/Vegas vibe, and the Dirty South is the land of swamps and hillbillies.

Then I went a lot deeper. I divided each territory into six distinct regions, giving them all a unique feel and even drawing them up for a visual reference. This really helped me get a grasp on what I was working with, which made it much easier to write the story.

I created lands like the Tops, a rooftop slum buried in the heart of the East Coast; Bucktooth Swamp, a gator-infested wetland on the southern tip of the Dirty South; and Casino Row, my version of the Vegas strip. Creating vivid, clearly defined territories gave me loads of inspiration to pull from while writing scenes throughout the series.

Step 4: Fill It With Characters

After the scene is set, we need to fill it with some memorable characters. I believe that this is the most important ingredient in the whole recipe. You can write an amazing script, but if the actors suck, the movie is a flop. On the other hand, an average script, if cast right, becomes a huge hit! It's because people connect with actors — they're the ones who are actually telling your story, after all.

Character design is my absolute favorite part of the whole creative process, so I always go all in on this step. After creating over 200 characters for the world of Italiano, I have a good grasp on what works — so here's how I did it:

I started by creating four distinct family bosses: Beeno Biggs, a hard-nosed, murderous immigrant that rules North Point; Mario Italiano, a traditional Italian gangster and Don of the East Coast; Stinky Joe Elbo, an inbred southern lunatic and Dirty South boss; and Jesse the Peach, West Side tycoon and big business rockstar. Then I went wild, filling the city with craziness!

Here are the essential ingredients to a memorable character:

A Cool Name: A name goes a long way, and it's a great first step in building a memorable character. You can also draw a lot of inspiration from a good name. Costa Rico, Freddie the four-eyed freak show, Fiji Portobello, and Pauly Pimento are some of my faves.
Something Distinct: I always make sure every character I create has something distinct about them. It could be something badass, something creepy, or something funny — the best ones will check off at least two of these boxes.
Clothing: What do they wear? You can add a lot of flavor here, too. A lot of my characters are suit-wearing gangsters, but they all have a different look and feel, and most have a standout accessory.
Personality: You have to get into the head of your characters to bring them to life! How do they talk, how do they act? Picture all this in your head. When I'm writing dialogue for Felix Four Time, a slick-looking earner for the Peach family who slurs his speech so bad he has to say things four times before you understand him, I'm literally slurring my speech to make it come out authentic. This adds a layer to the character that otherwise wouldn't be there.
Origin Story: Where did this character come from, what are his/her aspirations, what is their role in your book?

Step 5: Write Your Story

A lot of people may start here, but personally, I think it's a lot easier once the first four pieces are in play. If I already have the setting and the characters to draw inspiration from, in many cases the story tends to start writing itself.

So how do you go about starting this process? Well, this is what I did:

I took my five main characters, the four family bosses, and the mayor, and I wrote a story arc for each of them. I decided where they would start, what major events would take place in their story, and ultimately where they would be at the end of the series.

I then took those five story arcs and wove them together like a web. From there, it was easy to create four-issue story arcs using this main timeline. This also left me the flexibility to play around and have fun as I got into more detail issue by issue.

Step 6: Mix It All Together

Now mix it all together to create your masterpiece! If you've done a good job measuring in the prior steps, this is where all the magic happens. My list of ingredients was obnoxious, but it really came together well.

I started with the mobster theme, added an eye-scorching art style, turned the action and violence up to 11, went off the deep end with crazy characters, gave them cool names and a ton of personality, built in a hilarious backstory with a pinch of dark comedy, used the dialogue to really give the reader a feel for the characters, cranked up the foul language and crude humor, slapped on a bright and shiny coat of paint, set it all in a virtual ecosystem of mayhem, and BOOM: you have Italiano. A mashup of all the things I love, a sensory overload of entertainment — a one-of-a-kind creation.

Step 7: Release It To The World

It is now time to release your beast on hordes of helpless victims, watching it devour them with its awesomeness! Well, it's actually not quite that easy, but it's easier than it used to be.

Many creators go the traditional route of using an established publisher, but there are also many great ways to release a comic yourself. You can use Kickstarter or IndieGogo, sell it on your website, or even go digital and get it on Comixology or Amazon. Or, just go old-school and hand-sell it out of your trunk.

No matter what you do, it's all about getting your work in front of potential fans, and you should start this as soon as you have something to show. Put your work on social media — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, wherever your audience might be.

Start connecting with other artists, and learn how they did it. Build yourself a landing page and start collecting emails. You can never start too early!

Now, I must admit, I did this all wrong. I hid under a rock for 15 years, tirelessly creating my world and keeping it out of site. When I was happy with the nearly finished product, I emerged from my dungeon, only to be staring at emptiness. But if this is you, don't worry — not all hope is lost!

I kicked it into high gear, created a landing page using instapage.com, started posting my work on social media three times a day, printed off some flyers and handed them out at cons, built up my social media following and friends list, started with an email list that contained 80 people that I knew personally, and fearlessly reached out to fellow creators and asked for their help spreading the word.

See, if you really have something good, and people like it, they will get behind you. I have been blown away by the sense of community and the quality of people I've met in the world of comics. So get yourself out there, It's not so scary!

Bleeding Cool readers only:

Italiano is live on Kickstarter right now! As a special incentive to you as a Bleeding Cool reader, I have created some discounted packages that will run for the next few days. Furthermore, as of this writing, a little over one week into the campaign, we are over 60% funded!

If, with your help, we can get to 100% funded by Friday, June 16th, I will make Rich Johnston, editor-in-chief of Bleeding Cool, into his very own character in Italiano and feature him in this first issue! So head over to the campaign, grab a discounted book, and let's make Rich a gangster!