Category: blog

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DC Comics Writers Workshop: What I Learned

This post is about my time in 2017’s DC Comics Writers Workshop, but if you came here looking for The Secret To Writing Superhero Comics, I’m afraid you’re in the wrong place.

I don’t have anything to share in the way of specifics about the workshop or what I worked on  (but writing “EXTERIOR. THE DAILY PLANET” doesn’t get old, I can say that much). The big takeaway is obvious, but participating in a writing workshop—something I haven’t done at least since college—was invaluable.

First, I learned so much about my own work, style, bad habits, and shortcuts just by having a consistent feedback loop. Knowing that my colleagues would be involved every step of the way and seeing my improvements (or my missteps), throwing out ideas, going big, going small… it was an environment that, much to my shame, I haven’t had a lot of in my career as a professional writer. Making the process collaborative rather than solitary was a huge learning experience for me. Like, why don’t I do this all the time? I can see why a writer’s room is so appealing.

Which leads me to… the people. Of course, Scott Snyder and the Talent Development team at DC are fantastic, the best there is at what they do (I know, I know, I’m crossing the aisle with that one). But the best thing to come out of this, I think, is that I feel like I’ve finally got my own Breakfast Club.

(Top row, L-R) Sanya Anwar, Bobbie Chase, Sara Miller, Some Jabroni (Middle row, L-R) Ryan Cady, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Scott Snyder (Bottom row, L-R) Robert Jeffrey II, Magdalene Vissagio

What I mean is this: A small group of peers who have all gone through something significant together that few people can really relate to unless they were there, man. We’re already continuing to share ideas and work, meeting as a group on our own, and generally keeping each other sane as we get back to the real world.

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To Die Will Be an Awfully Big Adventure

Spoilers for Game of Thrones. And early ’90s Superman comics, I guess.

Death in stories is important. Or at least, it should be.

Coming from comics, we’re used to death being a revolving door. Heroes and villains die frequently and eventually return. It’s part of the tapestry that makes superhero comics what they are. The impact of these deaths, when done well, is a source of great drama and character exploration. Their purpose is to reinvigorate the ongoing stories with a new status quo and open up new paths of storytelling. Likewise when the same characters return.

Death_of_Superman_01

The most well-known example — and the best, I would argue — would be the death of Superman. By 1992 Superman had become sort of passe, an optimistic character in a pessimistic world. In an era of things like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, Superman had become almost anachronistic. The public’s wants seemed to be shifting, and this was reflected in Hollywood as much as in comics. 1987 delivered the ill-conceived and repugnant Superman IV: The Quest for Peace — an abysmal flop — while the grittier Dark Knight found smashing success in Tim Burton’s Batman only two years later. The era of the morally upstanding hero was done, it seemed, and the ’90s ushered in the era of the anti-heroes and grim avengers. More brooding, more bullets, more blood.

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It Follows: A Nightmare Caught on Film

If you haven’t seen It Follows, there are spoilers here. I highly recommend avoiding this post until you have a chance to watch and unpack this movie. Not even because I’m spoiling it for you, but because I want you to spout your theories and your reads. Let’s dig into this shit.

It Follows is the modern horror movie that finally understands that over-explanation is, in fact, the removal of horror.

That writer/director David Robert Mitchell rejects any notion of explanation is why It Follows is as compelling as it is. In this interview with Yahoo! he has a lot of interesting things to say, but his quote “something from a nightmare can’t be explained” sums up his movie perfectly.

It Follows is a horror movie with something to say, but ultimately it’s up to the viewer to unpack what that might be. It could be read as an allegory for AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, a celebration of monogamy, an exploration of true love, a condemnation of casual sex, the terrible effects of a non-present parent, the nature of death, facing the consequences of our choices, or… it could just be a nightmare caught on film. And there are no rules for a nightmare.

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Thank You for Making RISE a Reality

Over two years ago, I posted a piece calling out some severely inappropriate behavior by a comics retailer in my home state of MA. While I can’t say if his behavior has changed at all during this time, I can say that we followed through on the promise I made in that post — that we’d put together an anthology that uses comics to fight the type of bullying that, unfortunately, happens even within our own community of creators, retailers, and readers.

With the help of my co-editors Adam Pruett, Erica Schultz, and Kristopher White, we assembled an elite comic-book-making team ranging from superstar A-listers to exciting up-and-comers that donated their time, effort, and creative juices to create an anthology that we’re proud of with a variety of different styles and a theme that unites. It’s been a long, hard road to make this book a reality, with conversations with nearly every comic publisher you can think of, but we’re blessed to have teamed up with Northwest Press to get this book out the door.

A RISE cover by Sean Von Gorman

NWP launched a Kickstarter last month that ended yesterday — exceeding its goal of $10,000. The money was to cover printing costs to distribute these books to our partner organizations so they can give them away for free at schools and events. Our partners were also instrumental over these past two years of getting this thing together — GLAAD, Stand for the Silent, and PRISM Comics — and we can’t thank them enough.

So to everyone that kicked in or spread the word, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. This project has been a labor of love (and oftentimes a mountain of stress) for everyone involved, but knowing that people supported a project like this — getting it into the hands of kids for free — is amazing.

Head on over to the Kickstarter updates to see some of the stories that we’ve posted for a free sample!