Photo: The Uncanny X-Men Volume 1, No. 285 “Portal’s End”
I stumbled upon a two page-spread that spanned the second and third pages, while flipping through an X-Men comic book from the nineties that I picked up from a local thrift. The comic doubled as a splash page listing ...

Spreading Out the Two-Page Layout
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Oct. 18, 2021Horror, and the Broken
Banes at 12:00AM, Oct. 14, 2021
I'm wounded but you can't see it!
A lot of stories involve a wounded and/or flawed character. It's a staple of strong storytelling; a character has some kind of pain or wound to overcome, and that's the inner journey they take along with whatever outward ...
Little Rubber Puppet Monsters
Banes at 12:00AM, Sept. 30, 2021
In the early 80's, thanks to the success of Halloween and Friday the 13th, a slew of slasher movies was released. There was even a documentary about the glut of imitators that flooded the theaters/video stores for a few years.
There was a smaller trend (smaller in several ...
The Use of Imagery
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 25, 2021
One of the greatest power of webcomics is that a lot can be said with an image, thus making the need for words minimal. The old ‘picture is a thousand words’ adage, and so on.
Through the power of imagery, and what we choose to add or leave out of ...
Making a splash - Introducing new characters
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Sept. 24, 2021
In comics, as in life, characters will come and go in your story. However, how does one go about introducing them in an organic way? Sticking the landing of character introductions can make or break how memorable they are. So here are three things to consider when introducing a new ...
Consequences & Familiarity
damehelsing at 12:00AM, Sept. 19, 2021
How many of you write serious/drama filled stories? Or even characters that truly suffer consequences?
I think it’s often that we, as creators and almost like parents, don’t want our kids/creations to suffer terrible consequences, but I think that’s one of the reasons that makes ...
Children's Stories
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 18, 2021
When I was growing up in the 80s, stories that were marketed as ‘children’s' were occasionally brutal.
Characters got maimed or killed, tortured or traumatized, met with horrid ends in worlds that were anything but rosy. And this was a pattern that wasn't limited to, say, English literature ...
When characters take on a life of their own
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Sept. 17, 2021
As I was unwinding by absent-mindedly scrolling through Twitter, I happened upon a tweet asking if other writers/creators experience creating characters who take on a life of their own, and it got me to thinking. Recently I had drafted two scripts for one of our comics, only to then ...
When & How to Say Goodbye
damehelsing at 12:00AM, Sept. 12, 2021
Last week I talked about how you know you should take a break and some simple steps that will hopefully aid you when taking this break.
But, how do you know when it’s time to say goodbye?
That’s a little tougher. Some times you may think it’s ...