Creating a Comic

[Flicker182]

I am sorry for your loss but I think you misunderstand what happened. You have every right to blame the parents but weed is only the avatar for which it happened. It is not the reason your niece died. It could've been alcohol, coke, meth, ecstasy, LSD, or any number of narcotics that killed your niece.

Marijuana helps anorexics who want to get better. It helps cancer patients better deal with their pain. It allows the depressed to be happy again when they don't wish to worry about pharmaceutical drugs that have death as a side effect. You have every right to be angry as that was a family member you could've lived with until you died. Death is always hard and even moreso when it takes the young.

However the conduit is not to blame. There have been no recorded deaths under marijuana use when the person who uses it does utilize it. Outside factors while driving under the influence or poor decisions do result in death from marijuana use like your niece. However your niece's parents are to blame.

Also please take note I said that besides rhetoric there was also past influence that could make you dislike it.

[Darrin Kelley]

if it were not the state it happened in.. if it were anywhere else.... The parents would have been up on a murder charge and spent the rest of their days behind bars.

Instead. I'm stuck with that image, haunting my dreams at night. Of a lifeless husk of a child. Whose brain was so riddled with tumors that it would never achieve consciousness. A life that never got a chance to live at all. A child who had, what the doctors described, as a fatal level of THC its bloodstream when it was born.

Anyway, I read comics to escape. To get some kind of joy, hope, in the face of the grim realities of the world at large.

I don't look for political messages or causes in my comics. Just good stories. Which makes life a little more bearable.

You don't need illicit drugs involved to write a good story. So I would urge you to reconsider. You have a universe of choices and characters to create. You don't need this as a gimmick.

[Thakowsaizmu]

Would you say a protagonist is vile and that the character is useless if the protagonist of the comic is homosexual, bisexual, transgender, progressive, or anything else you disagreed in principle with?

I'm sorry, did you just call him a homophobe for not wanting to read a weed comic?

[Flicker182]

No I am stating that it is wrong to condemn a product before even knowing what it is about and comparing it to people who condemn a product for the subject material rather than knowing the context of the material and also if the material itself is critically strong regardless of your opinion on the content of the work.

[Thakowsaizmu]

Maybe you should look for an editor as well as an artist...

[Flicker182]

Normally that would've been well thought out but I hadn't eaten for 8 hours except for a parfait do excuse the bad grammar.

[Kit]

Let's all tread carefully in this topic, folks. There are lots of strong feelings involved. Keep it calm and keep it polite and respectful.

Cool? Cool. Cool. Cool.

kit
Mod squad

[Der Schatten]

My suggestion, Flicker, would be to look for comic creation advice on a dedicated comics forum. This is a superheroes gaming forum. Not the best place to get advice, despite the slight overlap in interests. The thread might well be locked considering the direction it's going so, best of luck.

[saint_matthew]

No I am stating that it is wrong to condemn a product before even knowing what it is about and comparing it to people who condemn a product for the subject material rather than knowing the context of the material and also if the material itself is critically strong regardless of your opinion on the content of the work.

But we do know the context: Your idea is obviously a pro pot propoganda piece... So consider most of us unsubscribed... An lets be honest, the same is going to hold true for about 90% of the market audience for comics.

[Thakowsaizmu]

Exactly as saint_matthew said. For me, it could be the best written story ever, but if the subject material is not interesting to me, I don't care to read it. It goes with comics, it goes with books, movies (though I watch those) and so on ad infinitum.

I only reiterate that point not to gang up on you, but to showcase that saint_matthew isn't just making things up, but that there is going to be more disinterest (not even resistance, there have been a lot of drugs in comics) than acceptance of the idea.

[thaumonuclear]

Bluntman and Chronic made a somewhat amusing background element of the Jay and Silent Bob movies. But they wouldn't actually work as a real series.

As much as I like alcohol, I wouldn't be interested in reading "The Adventures of Boozeman!"

If you just want to make a comic where the hero happens to smoke weed and isn't defined by weed, well that's not going to produce the controversy you think is going to sell the comic.

[Thakowsaizmu]

As much as I like alcohol, I wouldn't be interested in reading "The Adventures of Boozeman!"

"Listen, Destroy-o, I know we've had our diff'rinces, but I luv you man. Really, I do."
"Who... who is this?"
"It's just, you really p*ss me off and I..."
"Boozeman? It's four in the morning. Some of us have day jobs..."
"No.., listen... listen... listen... I luv *hic* luv you man!"
"I'm hanging up now."

[roguescribner]

Didn't a dude inject heroin to get visions on Heroes? Drugs as a catalyst for superpowers has been done for decades. Doesn't mean it can't be done again, but it's been done. If drug-use is the defining element of your story, prepare for a limited audience. However, as thaumonuclear suggests, if it's used as a character trait or background characteristic for a broader story, then it'll go over better. A drug addicted superhero isn't going to revolutionize anything. A great story just might.

[Mr Mole]

A drug addicted superhero isn't going to revolutionize anything. A great story just might.

Now you're just talking crazy...

Drugs in mainstream comics go back to at least 1971... That was, I believe, when the storyline with Speedy's drug use came out... Yes, I realize the Speedy angle isn't even close to what you're describing for a theme, but I thought it was still pertinent... It was, for its time, pretty big stuff...

[Darrin Kelley]

Before this thread, I had been doing some work on my own. Going back to Bronze Age comics and analyzing what made them the great thing they are. Trying to find that magic element that made them special. And I believe I have found that precious element.

Bronze Age comics and the characters born of them were about establishing characters. Telling good stories along the way. Focusing on those characters and developing them as they went through their series. Providing a character's personal journey for the readers to follow along with the character. Bronze Age books were focused almost entirely on the characters. Telling their stories.

So I think that's your entry point into making a good character focused book. And you don't need any gimmicks or crazy sales tactics to be successful in that. Tell a good story, and people will remember it. Gimmicks only draw fleeting interesting. Pursuit of creating good stories creates classics that will always be remembered.