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The Writer's Room At New York Comic Con

Published Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:00:23 -0500

Joshua Kopin attended New York Comic Con for Bleeding Cool;

I don't know what kind of dark magic the New York Comic Con folks had to do in order to summon two of comics's venerable wizards and one of its inscrutable immortals to the same table in the A hall, but, whatever it was, I hope they thought it was worth it. I certainly did, although I didn't have to sacrifice anything to complete the spell; any amount of time that I can spend at the feet of Brian K. Vaughn, Jonathan Hickman and Grant Morrison is time well spent.

Although the three spoke of many things in the panel, as often happens when greats gather, they most often spoke about their process. As an example: the first of many questions from the moderator was about scripting, and how far ahead they plan their stories. Hickman said that Manhattan Projects is the first of his books that he's writing week-to-week, and Morrison mentioned that there are five full JLA: Earth 2 scripts, four of which will never be seen by public eyes. While those answers are mostly about writing independent from the often collaborative comics process, Vaughn's response initiated a part of the conversation that the panel kept coming back to. Specifically, the Saga writer spoke about to a particular aspect of their process, saying, unequivocally, that "the comics script is a love letter to the artist."

That's a great sentiment, an important sentiment, isn't it? The comics script is a love letter to the artist. Given that each has gotten to work with some of the best in the business, Morrison with Frank Quitely, Hickman with Dale Eaglesham and Steve Epting, Brian K. Vaughn with Fiona Staples and Pia Guerra, on some of the essential comics of the last twenty years, I think it's safe to say that all three are Romeos, although perhaps in their own way and maybe a little self-servingly. Given how aware all three are about their craft, given how often they returned to the topic over the course of the hour in which they spoke, it seems clear that they know one of the most important of the form's critical maxims: while good writing can only rarely overcome bad art, good art often transforms bad writing into passable work and good writing into great comics.

As the panel moved forward, their adherence to the sentiment that Vaughn expressed became increasingly clear, particularly as they began to talk about the specifics of their scripts. Morrison spoke briefly about he, unlike Alan Moore, is unable to write six pages that describe a room with a chair exactly as he wants an artist to depict it, saying that he likes when the artist "does something unexpected," that he "never asks them to draw" specific "stuff" and that, off all the artists that he works with, he only talks to Frank Quitely about the scripts he's handed over, because Quitely lives close and he can shout. Vaughn suggested that this deference goes even further, laying down his law on pages: no more than twelve balloons, no more than five panels. Morrison, agreeing with the sentiment, added that a five panel construction is a pleasant one, in part because it allows an artist to draw one great panel, a panel that draws the eye and anchors the whole page. When the moderator mentioned Brian Michael Bendis as the exemplar of a different kind of thinking, and Morrison added said that, if you add too many balloons, "it's like you're choking the art."

Although, at this point, Jonathan Hickman mentioned that, sometimes, he just can't resist a great monologue, "two pages of bullshit," Vaughn followed up Morrison's comments, adding that he never says that he needs "less of the artist and more of me." Some questions about autobiographical writing, and about how to break into comics (Vaughn, at this juncture, pointed out that he thinks its much easier to break in as an artist than as a writer, since "people like looking at art, people don't like reading scripts) led to a discussion about how you know you've made it, variously by seeing your first work in a comic shop (Vaughn, on his KaZar annual: "No! Don't buy that! It was a terrible mistake!") and by receiving that first Marvel check with Spider-Man on it (Hickman's wife deposited his before he could see it). Soon, they returned to the topic of collaboration with an artist for the final time. Again, Brian Vaughn: "All of us know that we're nothing without the artist."

Thus spoke The Writer's Room.

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