Hearing Don talking about the Marvel process is wonderful - I think that Classic Marvel method allows for some great creativity, and naturally a lot of freedom to explore. Great stuff!
I draw comics for a living (for marvel, DC, Oni, Image, boom, Darkhorse etc) and almost every writer I work with has a slightly different approach but they tend to write out movie style scripts with descriptions and emotional intent included. Most jobs are a six issue collection that has been fully written before it gets approved for publication; the profit margins are VERY thin. The “marvel method” hasn’t been standard practice for 30 years. I’ve only worked that way once and it was with a writer I had collaborated with many times before. Artists these days are like the director, actor, DP and designer on any project. It all has to be done in a month and sometimes you don’t even get that. Most of us ink our own stuff. It’s a grind.
Absolutely no help...no storyboards, colour pallet...general style...tone...panel order suggestions... Just a script? That's mind-blowing to be frank. Your imagination must be stupendous.
@@yorkipudd1728pfft most manga is entirely made by the one person. Sometimes they have assistants but their only use is drawing the things the main creator doesn’t have any time to do but that’s only the ones who are big and have more strict deadlines and can afford assistant
@@liammick08 yes. Keep it short, and by the end try and frame it with an environment that requires less effort like a snow storm or fog that lets them relax a bit. By the end of a book the candle is burning low!
I'm a fellow comic writer and I prefer full script over the Marvel style unless it's an artist I've worked with multiple times already. There is a symbiotic relationship between a good writer artist duo where the artist or writer can finish each other's ideas and think similarly. Full script has the most detail to keep consistency. Great interview.
Write a self contained story with a beginning, middle, and end. Don't write a character with the hope/expectation they will have a long series. If the first story sucks, there's no future.
This is how it was done in the old days. One-shots. If it was a hit they might do a series ex. Spidey in Amazing Fantasy (which was going to be cancelled) was a hit so they dropped him in his own title. It’s a method still used in Japan.
Great video. I can see certain advantages to each approach. I think the Marvel Method gives the artist the most latitude to make something look good, and because comics are a visual medium, this puts the emphasis in the right place, imho. If I recall, the Marvel Method arose as a sort of pragmatic solution to the need to get stories drawn up, when Stan or whomever was bogged down and overburdened. I recall reading that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, for example, might discuss an idea, and then Jack would just go off and draw up the whole book, annotating the dialogue/narration blurbs in the margins. Stan would do a pass on diction and any other editorial concerns and then pass it off to the letterer, etc. I think leaving room for the artist to visualize and decide how to stage the story takes advantage of the artist's skills and expertise. Of course, a great writer, like Alan Moore, works completely differently. He drafts these well-written and verbose scripts with very specific scene descriptions and staging and camera moves, according to Dave Gibbons. Gibbons would highlight key sentences and use those to guide his visualization while working on The Watchmen, for example. If left to the Marvel Method, The Watchmen certainly would not have been the same. In any case, you're going to wind up with a wide range of results no matter which method is applied, simply because it ultimately comes down to each contributor's skill level, motivation, and time. I think one area that interests me is how would it be possible to do major edits to the story in the process of writing and drawing it. The pressure to go with what you first come up with has got to be pretty immense due to time limitations. Maybe with digital creation tools, a more non-linear editing approach is possible, perhaps with several passes, or many back and forth stages between the writer and artist.
Money. Timetables. And deadlines. There is also a lack of commitment to quality craftsmanship by the writer and sometime the production house from my point of view. These days, DONE is considered good enough to go into production. Sad really. Good films might need 5 drafts, but a bare minimum is 3. As for comics editorial oversight is asleep at the wheel.
The marvel way was only done because of time. You just handed off the work load to an artist and he did what he wanted, then you made dialogue that hopefully fit. Go read some of the golden age comics, they are terrible. It also makes absolutely forgettable comics. Every comics that left a mark (watchmen, dark knight, etc) are fully scripted. The comics he is talking about are "monster of the week" style. No long storytelling narrative. You don't want to go back to that, comics have moved on.
Those stories literally created the cliches. If they were "forgettable" none of these characters or their mythos' would've stood the test of time like they demonstrably have. Your comment is a bit of truth and a bit of just outright falsehood. In fact, your comment was utterly worthless because everybody understands that things get more refined with age. You might as well say, "listen guys, you don't want to go back to cobblestone streets with horses and buggies. It's actually very uncomfortable, bumpy, and inefficient. Cement and motor vehicles are much more refined and objectively better." Get real lol.
Sounds like Marvel finally did right by some of its creatives. I wonder if Taika Watiti pushed for their recognition as Marvel had routinely ignored the people who came up with the duties and art in the past billion dollar movies
@@ComicBookGuy420 Yeah I know, people walked off the job due to the unprecedented amount of ridiculous last-minute changes. Even if the movie ended up good, the production was a nightmare for the crew. Notorious in Australia, Island of Dr Moreaux? Maybe not quite, but definitely on the list of hellish experiences apparently.
What do you like about this video?
Hearing it direct from the source.
Hearing about the different processes.
Hearing Don talking about the Marvel process is wonderful - I think that Classic Marvel method allows for some great creativity, and naturally a lot of freedom to explore. Great stuff!
I draw comics for a living (for marvel, DC, Oni, Image, boom, Darkhorse etc) and almost every writer I work with has a slightly different approach but they tend to write out movie style scripts with descriptions and emotional intent included. Most jobs are a six issue collection that has been fully written before it gets approved for publication; the profit margins are VERY thin.
The “marvel method” hasn’t been standard practice for 30 years. I’ve only worked that way once and it was with a writer I had collaborated with many times before.
Artists these days are like the director, actor, DP and designer on any project. It all has to be done in a month and sometimes you don’t even get that. Most of us ink our own stuff. It’s a grind.
Absolutely no help...no storyboards, colour pallet...general style...tone...panel order suggestions...
Just a script? That's mind-blowing to be frank. Your imagination must be stupendous.
Hi, I'm going to be embarking on writing my first comic with a visual artist. Any advice?😊
Thanks for posting!
@@yorkipudd1728pfft most manga is entirely made by the one person. Sometimes they have assistants but their only use is drawing the things the main creator doesn’t have any time to do but that’s only the ones who are big and have more strict deadlines and can afford assistant
@@liammick08 yes. Keep it short, and by the end try and frame it with an environment that requires less effort like a snow storm or fog that lets them relax a bit. By the end of a book the candle is burning low!
Fascinating. I could listen to him all day.
I'm a fellow comic writer and I prefer full script over the Marvel style unless it's an artist I've worked with multiple times already. There is a symbiotic relationship between a good writer artist duo where the artist or writer can finish each other's ideas and think similarly. Full script has the most detail to keep consistency. Great interview.
Thanks for posting!
If only modern day marvel actually did this they would sell books
Huge fan! I read the Empire Strikes Back novelization when I was a kid and I'm a bit fan of Doctor Spektor! I'd love to do a comic with this guy!
I love these videos with Donad.
Write a self contained story with a beginning, middle, and end. Don't write a character with the hope/expectation they will have a long series.
If the first story sucks, there's no future.
This is how it was done in the old days. One-shots. If it was a hit they might do a series ex. Spidey in Amazing Fantasy (which was going to be cancelled) was a hit so they dropped him in his own title.
It’s a method still used in Japan.
The was wonderful! Thanks for having him on.
Great video. I can see certain advantages to each approach. I think the Marvel Method gives the artist the most latitude to make something look good, and because comics are a visual medium, this puts the emphasis in the right place, imho. If I recall, the Marvel Method arose as a sort of pragmatic solution to the need to get stories drawn up, when Stan or whomever was bogged down and overburdened. I recall reading that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, for example, might discuss an idea, and then Jack would just go off and draw up the whole book, annotating the dialogue/narration blurbs in the margins. Stan would do a pass on diction and any other editorial concerns and then pass it off to the letterer, etc. I think leaving room for the artist to visualize and decide how to stage the story takes advantage of the artist's skills and expertise. Of course, a great writer, like Alan Moore, works completely differently. He drafts these well-written and verbose scripts with very specific scene descriptions and staging and camera moves, according to Dave Gibbons. Gibbons would highlight key sentences and use those to guide his visualization while working on The Watchmen, for example. If left to the Marvel Method, The Watchmen certainly would not have been the same. In any case, you're going to wind up with a wide range of results no matter which method is applied, simply because it ultimately comes down to each contributor's skill level, motivation, and time. I think one area that interests me is how would it be possible to do major edits to the story in the process of writing and drawing it. The pressure to go with what you first come up with has got to be pretty immense due to time limitations. Maybe with digital creation tools, a more non-linear editing approach is possible, perhaps with several passes, or many back and forth stages between the writer and artist.
Why is making a rough draft/multiple drafts such a revolutionary idea nowadays
Money. Timetables. And deadlines. There is also a lack of commitment to quality craftsmanship by the writer and sometime the production house from my point of view. These days, DONE is considered good enough to go into production. Sad really. Good films might need 5 drafts, but a bare minimum is 3. As for comics editorial oversight is asleep at the wheel.
The Marvel method was developed by Stan Lee due to all of the books he was writing.
Modern Marvel reads more like Brand Eccch comics, a self-parody published by Marvel themselves (back when they could take a joke and not BE the joke).
Awesome interview.
Fantastic video
Great interview!
Thanks for watching!
This is the man.
Oh yeah 👍🏽
Nice skull.
Somebody went to LA Comicon and decided to do everybody a solid.
Deserves an “attaboy” or an “attagirl” or just a damned ‘great job’
EXCELCIOR!!!!!!
Draw 1st Write 2nd, Draw, Draw, Write, Draw, Write Write Write, DRAWWWWWW
This is how we know that Stan lee was over credited and Jack Kirby under credited
The marvel way was only done because of time. You just handed off the work load to an artist and he did what he wanted, then you made dialogue that hopefully fit. Go read some of the golden age comics, they are terrible. It also makes absolutely forgettable comics. Every comics that left a mark (watchmen, dark knight, etc) are fully scripted. The comics he is talking about are "monster of the week" style. No long storytelling narrative. You don't want to go back to that, comics have moved on.
Some of the monster of the week comics are classics, certainly better than today's current standards
Those stories literally created the cliches. If they were "forgettable" none of these characters or their mythos' would've stood the test of time like they demonstrably have. Your comment is a bit of truth and a bit of just outright falsehood.
In fact, your comment was utterly worthless because everybody understands that things get more refined with age. You might as well say, "listen guys, you don't want to go back to cobblestone streets with horses and buggies. It's actually very uncomfortable, bumpy, and inefficient. Cement and motor vehicles are much more refined and objectively better."
Get real lol.
Ay I’m the first 😅
That Natalie Portman as Jane Foster Mighty Thor ?
This comics predate Nathalie Portmann by more than a few years
Sounds like Marvel finally did right by some of its creatives. I wonder if Taika Watiti pushed for their recognition as Marvel had routinely ignored the people who came up with the duties and art in the past billion dollar movies
How to write a movie using The Marvel method: Throw it in the trash 🚮
Love and Thunder was tragically terrible, surely everyone was drunk on that disaster.
The comic wasn't that bad, I'm not going to go into what the MCU did
@@ComicBookGuy420 I'll buy that, nothing against Don, I'm surprised he was happy about what Taika did with that idea.
@@chuzzbot taika wasn't the only problem with that movie, the studio bears a lot of blame
@@ComicBookGuy420 Yeah I know, people walked off the job due to the unprecedented amount of ridiculous last-minute changes. Even if the movie ended up good, the production was a nightmare for the crew. Notorious in Australia, Island of Dr Moreaux? Maybe not quite, but definitely on the list of hellish experiences apparently.