The Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, hosted the inaugural O! Comic-Con(vention) for the Omaha/Council Bluffs area from May 29-31. I attended all three days, dressed in an Original Series-era Captain Kirk costume. I attended several panels and met different people during this exciting three-day period and will write several posts about my experiences.

This first post includes the notes I took during a Q&A panel with writers Cullen Bunn (Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Spider-Man: Season One, The Sixth Gun), Jai Nitz (The Green Hornet, Dream Thief, The Amazing Spider-Man), and Christopher Sebela (High Crimes, Dead Letters).

The Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, hosted the inaugural O! Comic-Con(vention) for the Omaha/Council Bluffs area from May 29-31. I attended all three days, dressed in an Original Series-era Captain Kirk costume. I attended several panels and met different people during this exciting three-day period and will write several posts about my experiences.

This first post includes the notes I took during a Q&A panel with writers Cullen Bunn (Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Spider-Man: Season One, The Sixth Gun), Jai Nitz (The Green Hornet, Dream Thief, The Amazing Spider-Man), and Christopher Sebela (High Crimes, Dead Letters).

The panel started off with prepared questions prompted by the moderator (note: responses are arranged in the order they were answered at the panel):

Where did your interest in comic book writing come from?

o    Cullen Bunn was inspired by both his father, a natural-born storyteller, and the comic books that Cullen grew up loving.

o    Christopher Sebela struggled with finishing epic-length prose stories but has always thrived on the more episodic nature of comic book writing.

o    Jai Nitz’s father was, like Cullen’s, a natural-born storyteller. Jai was also influenced by his older brother, who read comic books as a kid. Wanting to emulate his older sibling, Jai started reading comics, then began collecting them, and finally decided to write his own comic book stories for a living.

What was your first published piece of work?

o    Jai started out by self-publishing a comic book anthology called Novavolo, which he considers the worst title for a comic book ever.

o    Christopher’s first comic was published through Image Comics (he didn’t mention the name of the piece in question).

o    Cullen’s first comic was a book he drew and wrote in fifth grade called X-Lazer Knights (because “laser” looks cooler when it’s spelled “lazer,” Cullen joked) and was a hit with his classmates. He followed this up with Captain Cosmos, a comic that he and a friend co-created in sixth grade and promoted by taking it to hotel-room conventions. His first professional comic was The Damned.

What have you learned since the start of your career?

o    Cullen studied the scripts of fellow writer Greg Rucka and compared them to the latter’s finished comics, which taught him more about the creative process as a whole. He received a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing, which has helped him examine the differences between comic book and prose writing.

o    Jai explained that due to the lack of the World Wide Web at the start of his career, it required a lot of effort to obtain comic book scripts to study. He said that an important thing he has learned is that “when you write a comic book script, you’re really writing for just three people: yourself, your artist, and your editor.”

o    Christopher said he just makes it up as he goes along. He’s always learning how to write scripts and views writing s being willing to write a terrible first draft and following it up with increasingly better drafts until it’s ready to be shown to another human being.

How much do you tailor your scripts to your artists?

o    Jai didn’t know who he was going to work with at the start of his run on The Green Hornet. They did fifteen issues together and understood each other’s method by the tenth issue.

o    Christopher said that if you know your artist, you can use a form of shorthand. If you’re working with an artist who speaks English as a second language, you have to avoid using idioms that could cause confusion.

o    Cullen thinks that there is no “right style” and writes the same full, detailed scripts for his longtime Sixth Gun partner as he does for a first-time collaborator.

Do you think that comic book creators should use the “Marvel Method” (i.e. the form of comic book creation in which Stan Lee wrote a general plot outline and dialogue and gave it to Jack Kirby, who interpreted it when putting the story onto the page) nowadays?

o    Jai thinks that the “Marvel Method” only works if you have someone as talented as Jack Kirby. Otherwise, it’s antiquated and obsolete.

How much do you think about the other individuals involved in the creative process, such as the editor, the letterer, and the colorist?

o    Christopher said, “I never think of my editor” and also prefers to give the visual artists—the penciler, the colorist, etc.—creative freedom.

o    Cullen tries to be considerate of his other collaborators but rarely caters to them. He acknowledged that certain editors are easier to work with, while others are more adversarial.

o    Jai is colorblind and leaves concerns involving color to other individuals. He used to letter his own work but hasn’t for a while, saying that “[lettering is] easy to learn but hard to master.” Jai admits that editors are valuable for their ability to help a writer maintain consistency and accuracy, but he doesn’t care too much about editorial opinions of his stories and characters.

What advice do you have for other writers here today?

o    Christopher said, “Keep writing until it stops sucking,” recommending that new writers start with shorter pieces (roughly eight-to-ten pages) and build up a portfolio.

o    Jai said that writers have to prove to editors and publishers that they’re serious about the craft and that they are valuable as storytellers.

o    Cullen said, “If you want to do comics, there is nothing standing in your way.” The hardest challenge of writing, which requires both talent and work ethic, is to find an artist.

At this point, the floor opened for questions from the audience.

I got to ask the first question: “Is there any one comic book that really stands out as an inspiration for you?”

o    Jai: Eightball #22 by Daniel Clowes (author of Ghost World); Mephisto and the Empty Box by Jason Hall and Matt Kindt

o    Cullen: Micronauts #7, the tie-in comic book that made him fall in love with comics

o    Christopher: The two-part issue of G.I. Joe that featured Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow; Grant Morrison’s run on Doom Patrol; Charles Burns’ Black Hole

Next, “How long does the conception process take?”

o    Christopher said that it can range from days to years.

o    Cullen said that some ideas take years to come to fruition, and some ideas never pan out. A comic book requires more outlining and preparation than a prose work because the pacing of comics is unique. The outline can change even throughout the scripting process.

o    Jai said that he incorporates pictures into Microsoft Word files on his outlines to provide visual references.

Finally, “How do powers (i.e. the abilities of certain characters) affect the characters in your story?”

o    Christopher: “Powers are just the icing on the cake.”

o    Cullen: “Readers will forgive you for many problems in your script [e.g. inconsistent limits to a character’s abilities] if you can hook them on an emotional level.”

o    Jai: “Powers inform the story, but first readers have to care about the characters.”