APE IN A CAPE: A Hopefully Helpful Thread

APE IN A CAPE: A Hopefully Helpful Thread:

lichtstrom:

gailsimone:

I had a Hollywood friend ask me this morning about how to format a comic book script. That's a big question. I'm going to answer it, and I thought it might be helpful to some of you who are aspiring to write comics yourself (the short answer is, everyone does it differently. The long answer is,…

Thank you SO much, Gail! My question is how much action direction I should give to the artist in the script?

Tricky one!

Okay, there's a lot of variety in the industry. A lot. Some very famous writers will say to the artist, "okay, here's three pages of fight scenes, and the hero wins. Have fun!"

Me, I like to choreograph a fight scene. I want it to be original, to have fresh elements, and I want it to speak to character.  Action is stress, and stress reveals emotion. Think of what Bruce Lee said about fighting, he said to bring EMOTIONAL CONTENT.

So I insist on writing my fight scenes. When I write animation, I always block it out in detail, and then I always get a polite note back saying, "Gail, our storyboard guys know how to do this, you don't have to write every punch."

:)

But they end up USING my notes, because I think I know how to do a fight scene in an entertaining way.

Now, if your artist is a veteran, or if he or she is simply great at fight scenes, it's okay to tell him or her, "Artist, this is how I see the scene, but if you see something more exciting, let's talk about it." Then you tell them what the scene MUST convey, and let them go. Once you have opened that box though, you can't complain if they go a direction you didn't expect.

Eventually, you find out what an artist can do. I would write fight scenes for, say, Nicola Scott, but she knew she had room to make it better if she had an idea.

So it varies. But the more important the emotion in the scene, the more I want to choreograph to get the MAXIMUM impact.

Here's a brutal fight scene excerpt from Birds of Prey to give an example. It's light on setting the scene because all the expository stuff is done with, I want this fast, hard, brutal, and focused.

PAGE SEVENTEEN:

PANEL ONE: Huntress on her back, arching it in pain, teeth clenched and eyes closed. Her face has blood spatter from her nose.

          HUNTRESS CAP: aoh.

          HUNTRESS CAP:  God.

 

PANEL TWO: She moves her head just in time to avoid her face being smashed by Shiva's foot.

PANEL THREE:  She pushes herself to her feet. Some blood has dripped onto her costume.

          HUNTRESS CAP:  Can't…

          HUNTRESS CAP:  …get time to FOCUS.

PANEL FOUR:  Shiva kicks Huntress in the face, rocking her head to once side.

          HUNTRESS:  gugh.

          HUNTRESS CAP:  Can't breathe.

          HUNTRESS CAP:  Too much blood.

PANEL FIVE: Huntress smiles, blood on her teeth, and her face.

          HUNTRESS CAP:  No.

          HUNTRESS CAP:  Not ENOUGH.

          HUNTRESS:  You know what, Shiva?

          HUNTRESS:  You hit like a GIRL.

 

PAGE EIGHTEEN: 

PANEL ONE: Shiva, annoyed, does a spinning elbow smash into Huntress's face.

          HUNTRESS:  ggllgh.

 

PANEL TWO:  White Canary looks on, fascinated. Not comprehending.  Zinda has a bit of a proud smirk on her face. Her friend might die, but she's not going to go down easy.

          WHITE CANARY:  I don't understand. She's not…

          WHITE CANARY: How is she continuing to stand?

          ZINDA:  That woman right there, lady?

          ZINDA:  She doesn't know HOW to stay down.

 

PANEL THREE:  Shiva throws ANOTHER punch to Helena's bruised, battered face, again knocking her head back. But now SHIVA's getting angry and flustered.

          SHIVA:  YIAAAH!

          HUNTRESS CAP:  Stay…

          HUNTRESS CAP:  On your feet, Helena.

 

PANEL FOUR:  Shiva does an uppercut, Helena's eye on one side is swollen shut here.   Shiva's growling, almost.

          SHIVA: TSSS!

          HUNTRESS:  ggg..

 

 

PANEL FIVE:  Huntress, still standing, hands up in fists, but shaky as hell and barely able to hold her head up.  Blood is still on her face, and one eye is mostly shut.

          HUNTRESS: hh.

          HUNTRESS:  How.

PAGE NINETEEN:

 

PANEL ONE:  Shiva's face, FURIOUS.

          HUNTRESS (off-panel):  How'd you like the DRINK, drippypants?

         

PANEL TWO:  Shiva throws a VICIOUS haymaker punch at Helena's face.

          HUNTRESS CAP:  Yeah.

          HUNTRESS CAP:  That should do it.