Black and White and Read All Over

I just finished reading Writing for Comics with Peter David, by Peter David of course. A friend got this book for a project, and thought I might like reading it. I must say that was a good assumption.

I’ve read quite a bit of David’s novel work, seen some of his TV work, but not so much of his comics work. The man is a prolific writer and story teller. I mean he has Hulk, Spiderman, and Wolverine under his comic writing belt, besides others. Safe to say he has enough experience to write a book like this. That experience and David’s engaging writing style come through.

There are tons of books and courses out there for people that want to write novels. There are even resources for writing plays or screenplays, but few cater to the media of comics or graphic novels. David takes a pretty good, broad approach to the subject. He provides easy to understand examples of the current trend of comics to present more like film on paper, and how the media is more visual and less language than it was 30 years ago. He shows differences between comics and novels or screenplays. He breaks down basic plot and conflict styles into their simplest forms. It’s just an excellent resource for anyone who has good stories to tell and feels drawn to the medium. Pardon the pun. Though I wouldn’t dream of starting out in an endeavor like this myself, it gives me a better understanding of the peculiar difficulties of the art style. I think it’s a worthwhile read for anyone that enjoys comics or good literature in general. And it’s a definite tool an aspiring comic writer should consider for their reference library.