Table Of Content

WATSON-GUPTILL PUBLICATIONS / NEW YORK The material in this book was first published in print in 2001. It has been reissued in eBook format, with no editorial changes, in 2013. Copyright © 2001 by DC Comics (print edtion) Copyright © 2013 by DC Comics (eBook edition) All related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics. TM WB SHIELD: & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s13) For WatsonGuptill Publications: Senior Acquisitions Editor: Candace Raney Editor: Jacqueline Ching Production Manager: Hector Campbell Cover and Interior Design: Kapo Ng Cover Illustration: Neal Adams and Dick Giordano For DC Comics: Senior Editor: Steve Korté Managing Editor: Trent Duffy Associate Editor: Jaye Gardner First published in 2001 by WatsonGuptill Publications, Crown Publishing Group a division of Random House, Inc., New York www.crownpublishing.com www.watsonguptill.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available eISBN: 978-0-77043455-7 All rights reserved. v3.1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’ve learned from dozens of people, perhaps hundreds. I wish I could remember and acknowledge every one of them. But I can’t. Below, a few who I can remember and whose help has been particularly valuable in preparing this book. In no particular order: Scott Peterson, Jordan B. Gorfinkel, Devin K. Grayson, Stan Lee, Julius Schwartz, Greg Rucka, Darren Vincenzo, Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, Lawrence O’Neil, Joe Illidge, Kelley Puckett, Will Eisner, Larry Hama, Jack C. Harris, Mark Gruenwald, Dick Giordano, Paul Levitz, Archie Goodwin and, as always, Mari. Although you may not be aware of it, you helped me write these pages and I’m grateful to you all. CONTENTS Cover Title Page Copyright Acknowledgments Introduction by Stan Lee PART ONE • What are Comics? • Full-Script Versus Plot-First • Story Structure • Creating Drama • Subplots • Characterization • Script Preparation PART TWO • Miniseries • Graphic Novels • Maxiseries • Ongoing Series • Story Arcs • The Levitz Paradigm • Megaseries • Adaptations • Continuity • Denouement APPENDIX • Writing Humor Comics by Mark Evanier • The Comic Book Writer’s Library About the Author • Index INTRODUCTION I know of no one more qualified to write a book about writing for comics than Denny O’Neil—and hey, I know a lot of people. One of the most impressive things about Denny (nobody calls him Dennis except those who don’t like him, and they don’t exist) is the fact that he’s done it all. In addition to his comic book writing and editing, he’s penned short stories and articles for such a wide variety of publications as Gentlemen’s Quarterly, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, New York, The Village Voice and Publishers Weekly, among countless others. Now you’d think that would be enough for any writer, right? Wrong! Dynamic Denny has also had five teleplays produced, done comic book versions of the four Batman movies, and is the author of several novels and nonfiction books. His book, Knightfall, published by Bantam, which converted 1,162 pages of comic book continuity in a hardcover novel, became a national bestseller—during which time Denny also assisted BBC Radio with an adaptation of the book’s story line. I could go on and on, and since I’m such a big fan of his, I will. Proving he knows whereof he writes (not that any additional proof can possibly be needed), he has taught writing at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and lectured at dozens of colleges and universities. In fact, by the time you read these imperishable words, he’ll probably have started teaching his course in comics at Sarah Lawrence College. So, when Dynamic Denny tells you how it is, you can take that to the bank, Bunky—that’s how it is! But everything I have to say about Denny isn’t good. Here’s the bad part … In the 1960s he worked at Marvel Comics as my editorial assistant. He wrote and edited a lot of great stuff for us, but then, I guess because he figured DC Comics needed him more than we did, he left our bullpen and ended up at the bastion of Batman, the shrine of Superman, and the gate of the Green Lantern. To clobber you with an old cliché, our loss was most definitely DC’s gain. But the things I’ve enumerated so far are just facts and statistics. I’d like to