Manifesto

A Comics Manifesto 

I make comics. 

 I write fiction, and I paint and draw. As well as that, I make comics, which is a curious combination of all of the above. 

Still pictures and words can combine in interesting ways, and do things that neither can do on their own. 

 When I'm making comics, I want to achieve the following spectacular and groundbreaking results. 

Tell Stories

Good fiction can tell compelling stories, that speak to their audiences at a deep level, and change the way they experience their lives. The majority of fiction doesn't do this, and the majority of comics don't either. There has always been a small body of world-changing fiction, and there is a small but growing body of good comic book work that's come out over the last few decades. It doesn't have to be "difficult", "high-brow" or "inaccessible", and I'm not looking to pander to a tiny elite in my work. 

Push the Envelope

Comics lie somewhere between prose, poetry, and the storytelling techniques available to childrens' picture books. On top of that, the visual/spatial dimension adds all sorts of possibilities and challenges. I want to explore the use of this vast territory in the service of good storytelling. 

Cut Corners

Producing comics is gruelling! I'm lazy! I don't have more than a handful of hours a week to devote to this stuff! It takes a lot less time to write a description of a conversation or event than it does to draw it, and as for drawing it expressively, beautifully, capturing the nuances of emotion, of light, the rich details of the setting... I can draw reasonably well, but so often fall short of the glorious images in my head. So, cutting corners gets things done. I love embarking on projectsthat i think I'll finish, and fortunately, I live in a visually-rich world with a whole internet full of source material, stock photos on tap, the ability to take photos and scan in artwork, to draw on a touchcreen with my fingers,and to manipulate those images digitally. I'm actively engaged in figuring out ways to take the gruel out of comics.