My Year Getting Back Into Comics

Issue #1 of Jed MacKay’s X-Men came out on July 10th, 2024. A week before that, in anticipation of getting back into this hobby, I had purchased the oversized X-Men #700, the end of the Krakoan age. Since then, I have pulled 76 titles (including miniseries, but excluding one-shots), dropped 41, and managed to reach the end of the run for only 9 titles (so far, and one of which is The Horizon Experiment, a series of five one-shots, the others being miniseries and the last one a cancelled ongoing, NYX (2024)).

TANGENTS INSIDE TANGENTS

For reasons of thoroughness: I subscribed to Marvel Unlimited on August 7th, 2024 after a surprising amount of hemming and hawing, DC Infinite on October 18th, 2024 with much less dawdling, became obsessed with Dan Panosian’s Absolute Wonder Woman incentive cover the moment I saw it on socials during the solicits back in late July? Early July? That one cover – much like how Larry Elmore’s covers for Dragonlance called out to me at the Vancouver Public Library spinner racks when I was ten or eleven (VPL being in Burnaby at the time) – a singular cover, a singular piece of art, was the beginning of the end for me. Panosian’s Absolute Wonder Woman was that once every decade “love at first sight” moment for me. And from that point forward, it was a slow descent into loving the DC universe more than Marvel (as evidenced by my EOW journals), tentatively exploring Green Lantern, Superman, JSA, Justice League, Birds of Prey, New Gods. But not Batman.

Despite multiple attempts – Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Two-Face… reading their “best of the best” runs, Court of Owls, Long Halloween… which I loved, I still can’t see myself pulling that side of the DC universe. I just don’t care for the street level stuff. I’ve realized if I’m going to be in this hobby, I want the absurd and cosmic and exaggerated. For example. I hate Hal Jordan. I think evil Hal Jordan is the best Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan is the smug, privileged, white boy jock that I grew up hating. (Yeah, yeah, his dad died and he grew up blue collar. But who the fuck did he date? I mean, aside from everyone. His long-time love interest is a the daughter of a billionaire and also a superhero. C’mon.)

Anyway, tangent-within-tangent. Green Lantern – the Corps and all the different characters – is an absurd, cosmic premise. They are space cops with rings powered by willpower. They have tiny blue dwarves as their bosses, and those bosses are always conspiring to sabotage them, or usurp them, or replace them.

How fucking absurd is that entire fucking premise.

But this is the one title I just can’t quit and I keep coming back to. Doesn’t matter if it’s Geoff Johns, Ron Marz, Peter Tomasi, David Gibbons, and now Jeremy Adams. If the stories are written well enough, I will be there for the lanterns. End tangent-within-tangent. End tangent on falling in love with DC. End tangent on tracking dates in which I fell into the DC rabbit hole.

Rapid Story Dissection

OK – The real (and original) reason for this journal entry is to point out that from Jason Aaron’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2024) onwards, I started breaking down comics in a small Muji notebook. Literally breakdown the four to six scenes inside a 20-22 page comic. About one sentence for each scene. In doing this exercise, and because of how short a single issue, I was able to dissect hundreds of stories inside the last fourteen months, write about it in my journal, and through the pulling and dropping process, quickly see patterns of what I liked, what I didn’t like, more importantly, why I liked or didn’t liked it… zero in on the elements that I believe made the story work or didn’t work, and over multiple iterations across different titles, writers, and lines… quickly figure out patterns. Patterns of what I believe are story craft errors I simply won’t put up with and again, more importantly, the ability to articulate exactly what those errors are.

Editorial Strategy Matters

There were a few times early in this process where I genuinely wondered if I was disliking stories for the wrong reasons. It’s similar to that one single title during Krakoa where I kept wondering why I disliked it and thinking it was something else until I looked up what others were saying for verification. Yes, that particular title amongst a sea of particularly good titles was not an anomalous thought. People really hated that title. In a similar vein with From the Ashes, I was confused at times and questioning my judgement. Surprisingly enough, I genuinely thought that with a line like the X-Men titles, they’d truly hire great writers for every single title. I cannot fathom why I would think this way now looking back, given there are so many titles and only so many good writers to hire. Some titles are destined to be mediocre or average. Some titles are bets. And some titles simply don’t work out. But also, I’m learning how important the editor is, the person who decides what to greenlight or not. And furthermore, the business strategy behind it. Ultimately, the FtA strategy has been to throw spaghetti at the wall, and business-wise perhaps prudent, but from a consumer-side, utterly devastating for me. I now simply do NOT trust who’s at the helm. I feel like the dictate of, well, just give it a try is a horrible thing to say to fans. I go into cost analysis more below, but seriously. A single issue is anywhere from $6.50 to $8.00 CAD ($3.99 and $4.99 USD respectively). Telling people to just “try it” for that amount of money, especially in this market, given how people are struggling to find jobs, is a surefire way to piss people off when you put out mediocre stories (almost on purpose). So in short, I disagree with the “fill the line with as many titles as possible and see what sticks”. I would prefer an editor carefully vet and choose GREAT writers and artists and put out GREAT titles and stories and have GREAT vision. Alas, that’s not what the X-Men are doing right now. Fine. Not for me.

So Stupid It’s Cool

The other interesting revelation was adapting (as I briefly mentioned above) to the absurdity that is inherent in comics and accepting that that is part of the joy and pleasure of comics. Superhero comics are a genre in and of itself and there are just certain things you accept as cool (and they are cool), but also really stupid. Examples include chainmail bikinis, giant swords the size of the person, vehicles the size of buildings, regular zero-power human beings like Sam Wilson and Bruce Wayne fighting alongside almost invincible beings with enough firepower to level entire cities, in space, or the center of the planet, or leaping across skyscrapers… and being able to actually contribute meaningfully to a battle. I mean c’mon. How is Sam or Bruce not dead from these escapades, or paralyzed from the neck down? And of course, the handwaving and broken logic chains due to an eighty year history, which is practically impossible to keep canon straight or even respect it due to reboots.

I just read Jason Aaron’s Batman: Offworld. It is literally Batman travelling to space to fight a fleet of aliens who commit genocide and enslave other alien races. Batman. A human being. Travelling to space. To fight aliens. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? How utterly absurdly unbelievable is this premise? But that is EXACTLY what makes comic books amazing. It is that inherent absurdity. Premises that don’t even fly in the most imaginative sci-fi and fantasy novels. And when you suspend your disbelief to the nth degree for comics, you get this incredibly stupid fun stories. (This may be the only version of Batman I truly enjoy).

Cost Analysis

So near the end of this one year anniversary of getting back into comics, I also started charting the past 12 months of expenses for this hobby. It’s not a cheap hobby if you pull 30-50 titles like I was at one point. That’s potentially $350 a month!

First off, this is a product you can consume in ten minutes, fifteen or twenty if you really really really took the time to enjoy the art, and that is heavily reliant on an artist that provides the kind of beauty and interesting concepts that would draw you into staring at the art for a longer period of time. Artists like Juan Ferreyra, Joshua Cassara, Evan Cagle, Hayden Sherman, and Juann Cabal play with the panels, add diagrams, maps, breaks up the grid, does all those interesting “extra” things. And then there are also artists that just have incredibily detailed inks and lines that I love… or drawn/painted in a way that makes it transcendent like Ivan Reis, Marco Checchetto, Rafa Sandoval, Xermánico. Point is – while there is transcendent art versus functional art here, even with “beautiful, immersive, captivating” art… a single issue of comic will still only last you fifteen minutes.

This is for a product that costs $3.99 to $5.99 USD, which translates to $6.16 to $9.69 CAD, which at 30-50 pulls can end up being $230-390/month. And when I include the McFarlane toys I started getting into as well…

• JUL: $38.20
• AUG: $257.11
• SEP: $225.03
• OCT: $431.51
• NOV: $288.70
• DEC: $339.16
• JAN: $571.48
• FEB: $203.64
• MAR: $278.90
• APR: $412.72
• MAY: $386.43
• JUN: $467.17
• JUL: $755.43
• AUG: $$418.25

I’ve been meaning to do some really stupid cost analysis for varying story mediums for a few months now. This has no actual bearing on anything aside from curiosity, as in this is purely a stupid nerd exercise, but…

Assumptions that were taken…

I’m guessing the conservative 20 hours of content in a month if you stream, watch one episode a day, or binge eight episodes in a day, regardless… average of 20 hours a month. I’m assuming like most people, you got suckered into subscribing to three, four, maybe five of these services. (I have Netflix, Disney, Prime, Apple, and at one point Criterion). But I’m also going to assume you’re sharing it with your family of four-ish people, so it evens out.

I haven’t played a video game in over twenty years. I mean, yes, I sped run through FFV on my iPhone in 2021 and there were others. So I’m lying through my teeth. But I haven’t seriously played on a regular basis in a long time. But let’s say you buy a triple-A game at $80 and you played through the entire game at 40 hours. Those are the numbers I’m using here. Or you can be my eldest and only play snooty indie games. So now your cost is down to $10-$20 for a game.

A novel is about 300 pages, I can go at a leisurely rate of about forty pages an hour. I mean, I could speed run texts at 60-80 pages an hour that are written in the prosaic prose a la “just-feed-stories-into-my-veins” way that you might get from mass market and a lot of fantasy novels that are easily digestible, but the approximate cost calculations stands.

The film price at $25 is IMAX. I haven’t been to a regular theatre in a while (if I’m going out to see a film, I want it on IMAX since I live near Langley where we have a true IMAX). But even at $15 (is that how much a movie is these days?) That’s still 12.5¢/m.

And then we get to the comic book. Which, granted, is something you get to keep in a bagged, boarded form, which then goes into a box, and at which point, some people (collectors) have the speculative chance of it potentially being worth more than what you paid for it, but in 99% of the time (minus number ones and variants, especially incentivized ones), it will most likely not be worth anything. But really, if we only account for the experiential feel of a story, it’s expensive.

It is four to twenty-five times more expensive than other forms of entertainment.

OK – side note. A board game. I’m just curious now because I bought so many of them 2016-2020. A designer game is about $80-$100. If you play it just ONCE (about 2hrs), we’re talking an expensive hobby at 83¢/m – but you could argue that four players were involved, so it’s more 20¢/m even though three other people didn’t pay for the game. With that said, if you play the game three times (which is idealistic for a collector, because even with favorite games I ended playing five to six times, and that was maybe a list of ten games out of hundreds I bought), regardless, that brings your cost per minute down to 7¢/m… again assuming four players, which is equivalent to a novel.

AGAIN – this exercise looks at entertainment in a narrow and silly lens because if you reduce art to “cost per minute”, you are ignoring the experiential potency and impact of it.

Another way of looking at these mediums comparitively would be the COST of making them.

• A single 20-22 page comic book: $10,000 (Assuming page rate of $100 for writer, $150 for artist, and then a lot of wobbly estimates for inker, colorist, and letterer). Oh, and then a print run. Let’s say 25,000? Is that reasonable? So $35,000? (I am totally making numbers up now).
• A film: $25-$200M
• A novel: two to five years of an author’s life. Let’s say a “living wage” of $50,000/year (provided you don’t live in fucking Vancouver or a metropolitan city). That’s $150,000 approximately?

So now the comparison of expense creates a new layer.

Film is fascinating. This is the most ludicrously expensive form of art in the history of humankind. You are watching something that costs $833,000 per minute of viewing… and you paid 21¢ for it.

I recognize all these numbers are estimates and aren’t accurate, but I have always been someone that is fine with “close enough for comparison” numbers. Also, I’m ignoring actual printing and publication costs, along with marketing costs. I know film doubles the production budget.

The novel is fascinating to me too. Every page you read, which maybe takes you a minute to read, and cost you a nickel, was a whole day of an author pouring their energy into it. Similarly for the comic book, that’s FIVE artisans working for you per page. And a film? A cast and crew of hundreds of people.

I have gone off the rails here.

Actual Story Lessons

OK, so what are some actual story lessons I got after reading 1,164 issues of comics since July 2024 (count based on tracked numbers up to end of August 2025)? Here are the major ones:

OTAA - One Thing After Another

This has got to be the one thing that annoys me the most about bad/lazy/unthoughtful storytelling. OTAA is basically a plot for the plot’s sake. It’s not tied to character, it doesn’t really drive home any CDA, it attempts to have emotional moments but they’re unearned, it relies on a lot of the exonarrative factors that lesser writers rely on (basically fan-service, or worse, what the writer thought would get the fans going). But outside of those factors, some more storycraft specific errors…

• Obstacles, not Conflict - author will add things to get in the way of the PROT going towards their goal, but those inconveniences don’t really tie into the emotional interiority (ARC) nor the theme of the story (CDA). It’s just made up obstacles. Like a video game where you have to fight a lot of minions because… you have to drag out the story somehow.
• Lack of Scene Goal - similar to the above, because you’re just adding plot for the sake of fluffing up your story, the direction of the scene is confusing. But also, the goal is just not clear. What does PROT want and why do they want it? That needs to be clear. You don’t even have to reveal they why until later, but what they want is necessary.
• Has Goal, but Unclear Stakes - That’s the why.
• Stakes That Don’t Matter - That’s the why when the why is stupid, inconsequential, or insufficient to make me care.
• Zero Tension - Probably because stakes weren’t clear nor mattered. The most quiet of plot can be the most tense if the stakes are high enough. The loudest plot can be the most boring (a lot of action films) if I just don’t care if the PROT lives or dies or gets betrayed.
• Why is Character Doing X? - I guess this is similar to lack of scene goal, but it’s a good reframe for checking when something’s wrong or broken. If you’re reading a comic and you have no idea why they’re doing something, and they’re just travelling from one place to another, or beating up bad guys (because bad guys need to be beat up)… it’s just ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER. And you can’t just have the PROT keep saying, “we have to do X, I can’t explain because there’s no time”. Because eventually, you’re just worn out about a PROT who keeps doing stuff without any clear ARC or reason.
• No Cost for Doing/Getting X - A sure sign of OTAA is when nonstop things are happening and the PROT is never hurt, never loses anything, never faces consequences, never has mental, emotional, spiritual part of them break, never sees the cost to their family, relationships, and community, never takes a step back to question, doubt, or wonder if they’re doing the right thing. They just keep doing. Why? Don’t know. But they got to keep on moving. One thing after another.
• No Ticking Timebomb (TTB) - Another sign of OTAA is when there’s no clear urgency. Why must this action be taken and why must it be taken RIGHT NOW, and what happens if PROT doesn’t do it or succeed? What’s the threat? Alternately, you could argue fake TTBs are bad too, but you almost would prefer a fake TTB over no TTB. (Michael Bay’s TMNT comes to mind as a situation where fake TTBs are telegraphed explicitly at the opening of the scene and it’s almost, just almost not worst than not having one… but it’s also arguable).

The Anti-OTAA Equation

PROT needs to get X

• WHY? What’s at stake?
• WHERE is the highest tension?
• WHICH has most emotional opposition (emopposition? ha ha). That is, out of the entire process of them getting X, at what point in the PROCESS of getting X can you show PROT dealing with the MOST emotional pain? This requires careful thought throughout the PROCESS. By PROCESS, I mean the steps that PROT has to take to get X. This could include:
  • Deciding to get X
  • Planning to get X
  • Preparing/Packing to get X
  • Figuring out Logistics to get X
  • Going to get X (travelling)
  • Getting to said place to get X (arriving)
  • Dealing with security/gatekeepers to get X
  • First impression once there to get X
  • Fighting/Overcoming henchfolk, traps, puzzles, mysteries, breakdowns, repairs, betrayals, team conflict, equipment, etc. to get X
  • Fighting (or bypassing/deceiving) mini-boss or Big Bad to get X
• This requires you to know the Character’s Flaw (hence ARC) in order to PICK the most relevant, juiciest, and most potent parts of the PROCESS to drive the story forward while dimming/skimming/skipping the parts of the PROCESS that doens’t do that. Ultimately, it must COST the PROT something.
• More specifically, that emotional opposition (EOPP? EOP?) has to be in conflict with the CDA. It takes away resources for the EXTERNAL PLOT, but it ALSO takes away emotionally for the PROT as it goes against their side of the CDA.

ARCs I Really Liked

ARCs as in the way I use it here (character arc) and not the way comics use it, which is a story arc of X-number of issues (usually 5 or 6).

• PROT has given up after a big failure or tragedy, suffers from PTSD and has escaped into a “smaller life”, but then meets a younger version of themselves that needs leadership and encouragement. They are reminded they can still help
• PROT is faking it in a new life, clinging to the past, but is attacked in a way that forces them to fight back and is reminded of who they used to be. MECH gimmick is a tool they’ve “forgotten” how to use (or stopped using) and in fighting back, they regain mastery over it again.
• PROT has pushed forward after a tragedy/breakup and has found material success but it feels empty inside, misses what they’ve lost. Old life shows up, putting their new identity at risk and muscle memory kicks in. They’re fighting their ghost in a way.
• PROT has a high-risk job of protecting an ALLY, and must do all this in secret while not destroying themselves in the process. ALLY keeps screwing up and PROT needs to keep doing damage control. PROT is tested but their philosophy or values system keeps them sane. ALLY finally learns.
• PROT meets the MAKER of ANTG (robot, beast, monster, golem, etc). ANTG has run amok. MAKER explains their mistake and regrets. MAKER is also dying or on the run or whatever. Has to abandon ANTG. PROT has to make the heroic decision of adopting ANTG. (no arc here, but a good prog to play with)
• PROT is trapped in a world MECH for whatever reason. PROT has a dirty past. Everyone else trapped here also has a dirty past. Everyone is trying to get out. MECH gives you a way to get out through a gamified point system. PROT and other prisoners have different methods of getting the points and they fight over that (do it unethically, do it principally, do it with a lure, do it with tricks, do it with brute force, refuse to do it). ARC is what PROT would give up to get out.
• There’s a large incoming ANTG. PROT and ALLYs have to recruit, plan, figure out how to stop it together. They come up with a crazy plan that might just work. At the last minute, PROT realizes there’s a way to do this without destroying the ANTG (who isn’t so much villainous as a misguided hero who’s grieving).
• TRGT has lost control of their own body (sleep X’ing or one of the seven sins). The horror is in the body betraying you. TRGT is a privileged elite and has stuff to lose. The PROT is a minority specialist and knows wtf is going on with TRGT. Supernatural causes.
• PROT is punishing themeslves for a trajedy in which they believe it was their fault and they somehow findout it’s not their fault. They then come up with a METHOD of revenge that is epic, batshit insane, or unhinged. ANTG who ruined PROT’s life really did.
• PROT and ALLYs are burying someone wherein the consensus of whether they should be honor this person is questionable and the group has taken sides on the entire ritual. The PROT feels responsible for the collateral damage and wants to apologize.
• PROT has been recruited but doesn’t know exactly why they’re there. Not because of imposter syndrome, but not understand why their set of skills fits this organization. They’re giving jobs. Jobs put them in situations where they flashback/hallucinate a past or “what if parallel situation” where they could’ve been.
• USM #12 was an expertly written issue on how to create so much damn tension at a dinner gathering/party. Tension points included: not being dressed right, didn’t bring a gift, brought the wrong gift, someone you invited over but didn’t expect to show up and shows up, someone you never want to see (overbearing parent) shows up, someone you have an unresolved past with shows up, someone keeps calling but you keep ignoring it thinking they want one thing when it’s about something much more important and urgent, well-meaning-but-overbearing person keeps trying to help (judge), someone wants to hit on someone recently broke up/widowed, someone imposes and decide it’s OK and acts like it’s nothing, BIG REVEAL (someone’s pregnant, divorced, propsosed, broke up, sick) and doesn’t want others to know about it, someone’s acting WEIRD (being distant, quiet, being too talkative, being sus), someone offers an olive branch, someone acts vulnerable and confesses, someone makes a non-apology, someone shows you they’re actually worse than they’ve let on, someone reveals their “perfect life” is actually in shambles, someone makes up with someone else, someone screws up the courage to ask someone out. AND ALL OF THIS WAS IN A SINGLE ISSUE. Holy fuck. Hickman is a god.

Transitional Issues

These are “quiet issues” that happen usually in the penultimate or denoument issues of a 5-6 issue story arc.

• Leaving and saying goodbye, or not saying goodbye
• Training new characters, a teaching moment
• One last job and goodbye
• PROT goes to safe house.
• Villain backstory
• A character moment or flashback before momentous death (execution, going to war, going to dangerous situation)
• Team A distracts, Team B stumbles on solution, Team C add reinforcements.

More Notes on Things That Didn’t Work

One particular issue #1 that drove me insane (as in, I thought I was being a jackass for hating it so much) had these particular problems:

• Thought captions was basically exposition and didn’t relate any new info. In some egregious cases, it was STATING what the ARTIST drew. Like WTF. Why even write a comic book if you’re not going to let the art art?
• PROT’s thought captions were so blunt and empty.
• Dialogue was ALSO expository. It’s not additive, it has no subtext, it’s not revealing emotionality on what’s going on in the scene. Literally stating what’s happening to each other.
• Dialogue was also stiff and verbose.
• Characters just did dumb things in order to say more OBVIOUS things in the most INCONVENIENT locations
• Zero stakes. Everything went right except for some minor inconveniences and hurt feelings. The villain ended up being an “interruption” to everything going right. It was dealt with and dispatched so quickly I wondered why they even had a villain in the first place.

I read said issue above a THIRD time before giving it to my used bookstore to break down why narration was so bad in that #1.

• Thinking like the written word, or academic, rule of three. English was “too proper”. Nobody thinks in proper English.
• Stating explicit facts (that we can see on the page) without adding color. Opinions, perspective, context, reminders of backstory, or emotion.
• Exposition. Who are you giving a history lesson to? Why would the POV be restating backstory or history? It needs to be contextualized for the present moment.
• NOTHING’S HAPPENING on the page and the character is just adding more exposition.
• Characters are spewing facts at each other.
• Characters are too earnest with their feelings
• ZERO TENSION - no TTB, no clear conflicts, no drama with consequences
• Conflict appears out of nowhere without prep nor foreshadowing
• Solution was solved without paying a cost
• Solution seemed nonchalant.
• Character takes action without logic (or isn’t explained) and said action makes no sense.

A one-shot that drove me insane due to it being confusing AF had these notes:

• I was new to this world and almost all the heroes on the team looked or felt the same. They had similar powers or they all acted in the same way.
• There were three plot lines and there were no indicators or breaks to let me know a scene had changed. No establishing shot, no color palette changed. This was in HIGH CONTRAST to an issue of USM I was reading where every scene break was EXTREMELY clear.
• I had no idea why plot C was necessary
• I had no idea why plot B was happening
• I didn’t understand anybody’s power levels so I never felt like the characters were threatened. Felt like they could just magick their way out of everything.
• They kept talking about this McGuffin as if it was super important and I had no idea what it was, why it was important, how it played into this particular story, how it affected anyone, how it affected plot, etc. etc. I later learned it was just a canonical object and it was necessary to the plot AT ALL.

Another one-shot that didn’t work out for me.

• Teaser and setup was fine, but then it time shifts to 40 years later and it’s the PROT’s granddaughter’s wedding. There wasn’t enough sympathy built up properly for the PROT-shift.
• When the granddaughter was recruited, I didn’t care, because sympathy wasn’t built, so the horror didn’t work for me. Part of horror is seeing someone relatable get hurt, so that our empathy and mirror neurons fire off. I think that’s what makes horror work. It’s the fear that “it could happen to us too”.
• The granddaughter got clues in the present timeline like seeing her mother and grandmother who are skinny, they both eat a ton but still keep it off, but she’s not fazed nor comments on it. In order for the horror to work, the dread needs to well, dread and creep and slowly, gradually make us aware of the weirdness. Which in retrospect, the writer kinda screwed themselves over by revealing the MECH with the older generation, so when it happens to the granddaughter PROT, there’s no shocking epiphany. Which ultimately leads to the tension not escalating in any meaningful way. This was my biggest problem with the last Captain America. They reveal Harrison Ford is the red hulk IN THE FUCKING TRAILER. So when you “save” that for the final battle scene… you’re like… OK? I knew that already? Why are you making this out to be a big deal?

Yet another one-shot that didn’t work for me

• The SETUP was a “feeling” calling them to the place, which is fine. but then, PROT is fed clues. Find a victim, get hurt by environment, fall into trap, see more victims, attacked by environment again… and then, PROT gets a vision. Next a hedge maze (split the party)… and attacked by the environment again.
• In all those situations above, PROT is passively being railroaded through a haunted house and there’s no ACTIVE INVESTIGATION of the problem so what does this PROT actually do or how do they affect the story? They don’t. Which led me to realizing… none of the clues PROT gets are EARNED. They’re just fed to them and they add them up.
• The most egregious thing that bothered me was that the PROT got the all-important BACKSTORY for the villain (something that happens in all horror stories), but it was totally UNEARNED. There’s no logical flow of clues that PROT figured out. The CLUES themselves did not build on top of another. The PROT didn’t put them together. They’re just one clue after another
• The HAUNTING is usually due to some trauma, sin, hubris, or wrong in horror. It is a bad attempt (METHOD) at trying to make things right but ultimately just causes pain and horror and prolonged trauma. That doesn’t happen here either. The environment is simply lashing out and we don’t know why the FIRST VICTIM did anything wrong.

A number one that made me angry

• Team is introduced by PROT in a “going through files” way, but it’s not shown/dramatized. Character was not revealed via action but through captions.
• There’s a character that’s recruited to the team and everyone hates them, or they were reluctant to join, but they join anyway, and there’s no reason or even a tease/hint as to why they change their mind.
• Villains are comically evil but not in a fun over-the-top way, but in an embarassing trying-to-be serious way.
• Issue #1s that have worked for me in the past had a clear voice (values, beliefs, philosophy). This did not. Action was there for the sake of action and didn’t reveal character. I didn’t understand the stakes. Why are they doing anything? What are they protecting? What happens if they lose?

A series I was really excited for but I had to drop after three issues.

• There’s a lot of dialogue and it feels more expository than declarative (which moves the plot forward). Dialogue needs to attack, recruit, seduce, defend, or something. If dialogue is expositing… there needs to be a really good reason why it’s doing that IN STORY.
• Character was doing something violent and destructive in a conflict wherein violence was outside the scope of the battle. And it didn’t feel like, “this is outside the regular routine and I’m breaking it reluctantly”
• PROT just felt whiny and not resourceful. Character is usually extremely quippy, clever, confident and resourceful. PROT is not looking at all the moves available to them and choosing the best one to use at the best time.
• A lot of the try-fail cycles aren’t “no, but” or even “no, and”. They were just “no” and that’s boring. We had a string of these in the first issue.

A drop that took me a while to process:

From the notebook: Why am I dropping this? Stories are solid, have social commentary. Art is beautiful. Have I succumbed to the bright shiny object syndrom with X? I know I wanted to cut certain pulls because of the high number of subs I have. But there are still reasons beyond that right? I think, it could be because I haven’t CARED about the PROT so far. I never had an emotional moment. No frisson, no sympathy. There also hasn’t been any interesting MECHs. The MECH is straightforward (and built into it years ago). It’s a standin for prejudice (no this isn’t X-Men). Problem is - the MECH isn’t really explored FURTHER. I don’t know how the MECH affects the in-world STAKES further for the characters, for the community. All the things that show up in relationship to the MECH are tropey. WE’ve seen this. Maybe if it dug deeper into the “little things” of daily life? I dunno.

Two drops that were “good, but not great” and me trying to figure out why I wanted to drop them:

• PROT’s voice and character is solid, the story is paced well, but I just. didn’t. care. I don’t know what to say here. PROT sorta has this one friend they abandoned and that story caused emotional turmoil (which is good, but dropping them meant a vacuum for said turmoil?). I guess another thing that’s not working for me is I’m not clear on what they want and what they’re about. WHAT IS THIS STORY SAYING? If they’re a loner who burns people, lean into that, but the interactions and narration is non-existent. Who is this PROT? I don’t know. In the same sense… who is PROT2 (other series I dropped)? There’s no bold confidence (voice) for who they are. They beat up bad guys, saves children, acts like a jerk to their “guy in chair”, and is just this cold hostile being, but their VOICE, their narration, doesn’t give me a sense of what they WANT. They want to change, not embrace violence. OK, fine, but where next? How are they trying?

A series I dropped after it took me a couple of issues to realize that the author was being meta and funny. But once I figured out the sense of humor… I gave up on it.

• I think part of the fun was not grokking it at first, but then I did, and I was like OK, I get it, you’re clever, but that doesn’t necessarily make for a GOOD STORY. The hijinks don’t create enough moemntum, and the POV hasn’t grown or moved. The ARC is stalled out. What does PROT even want? They’re lost, they’re a loser, has no purpose except pining for LOVR. We don’t get their voice/narration. THe POV isn’t strong so I have no emotional investment.

Yet another #1 I dropped VERY QUICKLY this time. By this point in me getting back into this hobby was recognizing how egregiously bad the editorial strategy was on this whole line. It has turned me into an anti-fan more than anything else.

• The narration is so bland and obvious. It has no character. It’s either explaining things or opining on inconsequential things and no emotional impact is felt. It’s just expository info-dump with no flavor nor POV
• The dialogue is godawful. More exposition. Zero subtext.
• Everyone is stating their emotions explicitly or what they’re about to do. They’re telegraphing to who?

From These Mistakes…

• Work INSIDE the drama/NARRATIVE. Don’t feed so much exposition in the captions, dialogue, and whatever that it ends up just feeding information. At the same time, there still needs to be clear CONTEXT and FRAMING. The audience needs to know the purpose or at least the WANT of the PROT in the scene ASAP.
• The WANT, plus the WHY and the dramatization of the HOW. But if possible, not stated explicitly. I need to know the stakes!!!
• VOICE - gives us instant POV into emotional arc and flaws, can reflect on past and backstory (stakes and past), can reflect on present situation (fears).
• YOU HAVE TO PUT THE PROT IN UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATIONS!!! We have to know WHY it’s uncomfortable for them based on their flaw/backstory.
• WE ALSO WANT PROT MAKING DIFFICULT DECISIONS, not easy, obvious ones.
• AUTHOR must create SYMPATHY for the PROT. If we don’t care, we don’t follow. And they don’t need to be likeable. But they need to be relatable.
• CLUES and BACKSTORY needs to be earned. They need to build on top of each other and PROT needs to actively “put it together”
• MECH or SITCH must keep escalating the tension. Show us HOW ELSE it affects the stakes and creates more conflict and problems for the PROT/ALLYs.

Some Random Insights

• Most superhero cmoics have a simple PROG of a FIGHT. Could be a powerful villain, a team, or army. The ARC is in HOW the PROT deals with an internal thing, or HOW the TEAM figures out how to work together, overcome differences, use/leverage each other’s skills in the best way.

These story craft notes take us through the FIRST notebook only, which ends at the end of 2024. That’s a Muji notebook completely filled up with story craft notes and plot breakdowns. I am 3/4 through the second Muji notebook, and it’s a bigger B5 sized one (176 x 250 mm 6.9 x 9.8 in). The first one was a A5 (148 x 210mm / 5.8 x 8.3 in)