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Comics are dead. Long live comics.

I can barely look at a comic book anymore. Blood, guts, gore, anger,vitriol, spatter, evil, malevolence. Piss poor coloring - pink, purple, green and mud. Unhappy people, doing unhappy things. Lack of hope. It's all gone.

Heroes aren't good. The baddies are more evil than evil, but they're just misunderstood. And the ends always justify the means.

Knock-offs, rip-offs, re-cycled, regurgitated, and shovels digging ever deeper towards the pit of hell. 

Dear comics: I'm done.

I now appreciate the off the beaten path, and things that have heart and soul...so...

Some advice for you would be creators that are "Christian":

1. Keep it short and sweet. There is no longer any time for you to create giant universes, ongoing lengthy series, or to baby your projects to perfection. Being succinct, and cutting out all the chaff in your story is key.

Do one-shots. 24 or 48 pages should suffice.
Do single page or short stories 3-8 pages
Use digital as your starting point
Create immediate and achievable goals

2. DO IT NOW:
If you haven't been watching the times - if you want to get something out there - do it now. If you are dying to get a project out there do it. Do it now. Soon, this will be something that you won't care one whit about. Surviving will be more important.

3. Make your project something you'd be proud to show Yeshua. Do as He directs.

4: Also, be relevant, and if possible, timeless. An maybe choose or include topics that are informative and useful:
a. Like how do you dig a well?

b. If you were out in the woods how would you build  shelter?
c. If people needed to learn how to do x, y or z can you incorporate that into your story somehow?
d. Perhaps find fantastic missionary stories
e. Other life skills that could be useful etc.

4. If you are aware of your talent level and know you aren't the best artist or colorist or writer in the world -but you have an idea "that must get out there" see suggestion #1 above and then do one of the following:

a: Hire the right people to make your project work. And pay appropriately.

b: Do it yourself - BUT KEEP IT SIMPLE - and don't try to do things that are beyond your skill set. I would rather read a comic that has very simple and believable shapes and objects, than one that tries to fudge "excess details" trying to be "realistic" with hatching etc. Make the object look like the object, and usually that's enough.

c:If some of your skills aren't there - such as perspective or foreshortening, come up with a style that is clear and consistent - so long as your telling the story with clarity and consistency, it should be passable. 

d: If there is something in the process you can't do - find the person who can help you. COLORING IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST ISSUES.

e: FIND A PROOF READER. Period. No ands. If's. Or buts. Do this. Even if you decide to go with art that's questionable, coloring that's problematic - have a real proof-reader read your book. There is nothing worse than reading badly written dialog or having typo's spread throughout a book.

f: IF you must do it your self, go look up or buy professional fonts and read up on how to do proper word balloons. (There are free ones out there for the indy creator).

f: MAKE YOUR STORIES ABOUT:

1. Hope/Joy/Heaven/Beauty/Jesus/Salvation/Grace/The Bible etc.

2. Life

3. Fun/Funny (of course be relevant to the nature of your tale, so if is serious, then so be it - but I miss the joy.)

4. Use bright joyful colors. (or be color appropriate to the mood and setting - but lean to the brights as opposed to the muds).

5. Possibly lean to true stories as opposed to "fantastic" or "fantasy". Or at least ground them in the true.

6. Bring nature back! Trees, animals, outdoors.

g: Make sure comics are not your god/idol. If you realize that comics have taken over God's position in your life, then consider what that means and what you may need to do to rectify that situation.

I'm sick of the sick. Let's breathe life back into comics. The true life. The abundant life. AND DO IT SOON.

Martin