Some thoughts on dialogue.

I’m beginning to see some trends appear in writing in our comic books. There are a lot of new names on big books and I’m seeing some common failures.

Over written stories have been about for as long as comics have been produced. Just have a look at some of the glorious Bronze Age series. Sometimes they work but they never work where they are not needed. Maybe it’s because we are getting a lot of new Comic scripts from the YA and Adult novel worlds who are used to writing without the back up. Maybe it’s because of a lack of editorial oversight due to negligence and/or workload.

I’m not sure.

The words that we hear about ourselves from others resonate and linger. An accusation or even a throwaway comment return to our minds and we may well consider them for years later. We are often initially struck by the emotion of the comment, maybe anger or friendship or criticism hit us with an obvious effect whether meant or not. Words always have some sort of power under them, even the ones parroted by the ‘Y Generation’. I find myself talking to old friends and using the opener ‘You said something to me that I’ve been thinking about.’ See what I mean?

Ever had any of these at a table at a convention? Overheard them? Thought them? Dreamed them in an anxiety nightmare?

‘Why did you come here?’

‘What makes you think people will buy this?’

‘Did someone tell you this was good?’

Brutal words that we need to see past? Sometimes. Are these words we will remember later. Of course you will. They have a strength.

But then later, maybe a long time later, we return and consider the true meaning of the words and the truth of the intent of the deliverer of that line. Often the revelation is that the line delivered is less about us than it is about them. They needed to say something that eased a frustration or itch or need?

Why did they say that?

What were they feeling that they thought then was the time?

(I digress, but hopefully that shows the complications of language we try and mimic?)

A conversation is a negotiation on many levels and good dialogue in a comic should also reflect that dynamic. We actually speak a lot less than we think. We speak in short bursts. We speak in fractions of sentences and clauses. We speak without clarified meaning outside of what our intonation and body language extrapolates upon. We mirror, we counterpoint, we repeat little personified phrases, we surge and flow with a rhythm that always needs to be part of any imagined or repeated exchange in art.

So how does that translate onto a comic page?

We should be taking the visual mediums of movies, TV and stage plays onto a further step. A comic can also include settings and commentary, inner monologue and thoughts, screams and sobs and other sound effects that are beyond the capability of something performed on a stage. 

Take advantage of the attention of the reader. They cannot look away and continue a ‘listening watch’ as we do with Netflix. With television we can ‘Double Screen’ and still, hopefully, keep up with the narrative and action. You can’t do that with a comic, you have to focus. You get only from a comic what you observe and read - and most importantly what you interpret from the panels and gutters. Use than non-stop attention to your advantage, interplay the story and the words and the art, use the dialogue like a sword or a duvet or a thrust or a bullet to the brain.

Naturalism comes easiest to a comic page if you apply it appropriately.

‘Watch out he’s got a gun.’ - Come on we can do better than that? We can see the gun, we can see the drama.

‘Wanna go see a movie with me?’ - Show don’t tell, it adds reader inclusion and a more sensitive vibe. 

‘He kissed her deeply’ - We know we can see. What else is going on? What else is going on in their heads?

Over all the above you can add an extra level of inner life, of outside and unseen contradictions. The impact of the action can be mirrored in words after they are shown in a panel or series of panels.

Explore the world in and around the art. Use words that shade and scare and love and repulse and flatter.

To paraphrase Dylan ‘Pictures and poetry and life.’

I want to be drawn in and not leave until you kick me out. I was the words you use to echo later in a drive home, or as I go to sleep or as I do my morning business. This can be done in loads of ways but always think about how you combine them with the art.

Stan may have had something with his Marvel Method.

Inspect the panels. 

Many thanks for reading.