L

GUAGE
N
A RTS
A
EXPLORER
JUNIOR

How to
Write a
Comic
Book
by Nel Yomtov

Cherry Lake Publishing ann arbor, michigan

Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing

Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.cherrylakepublishing.com
Content Adviser: Gail Dickinson, PhD, Associate Professor, Old Dominion
University, Norfolk, Virginia
Photo Credits: Page 10, Picture Partners/Alamy; page 16, matka_
Wariatka/Shutterstock, Inc.
Copyright 2014 by Cherry Lake Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yomtov, Nelson.
How to write a comic book / by Nel Yomtov.
pages cm. (Language Arts Explorer Junior)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-62431-187-1 (lib. bdg.) ISBN 978-1-62431-253-3
(e-book) ISBN 978-1-62431-319-6 (pbk.)
1. Comic books, strips, etc.AuthorshipJuvenile literature. 2. Graphic
novelsAuthorshipJuvenile literature. I. Title.
PN6710.Y66 2013
741.5'1dc23

2013006657

Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work

of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Please visit www.p21.org
for more information.
Printed in the United States of America
Corporate Graphics, Inc.
July 2013
CLFA13

Table of Contents
c ha p t er o ne

Be a Super Storyteller! . . . . . . . . . . 4
cha pt er t wo

Tips from the Pros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

cha pt er t h r e e

Creating Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
cha pt er f o u r

Telling Your Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

cha pt er f i v e

Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

c ha p t er o n e

Be a Super
Storyteller!
When was the last time you
read a comic book? Comic books
are a great way of telling interesting stories.
They can contain a lot of words or be totally
wordless. They can be funny or sad. Some are
printed in color. Others are in black and white.
Comics can tell fictional stories. They can also
detail real-life events.
All comic books use pictures. The pictures
are arranged in an order that tells a story or
expresses thoughts and feelings.
Writing a comic book allows you to make
up interesting characters and places. It also lets
you tell weird and wonderful stories. The sky is
the limit when you are a comic book writer!
4

Lettering is any text

on a comic book page.
Most comic book
lettering is uppercase.

A WORD BALLOON CONTAINS

THE DIALOGUE THAT A
CHARACTER SPEAKS.

A THOUGHT BALLOON
CONTAINS THOUGHTS A
CHARACTER DOES NOT SPEAK.

A word balloon
contains the dialogue
that a character
speaks. It has a
tail that points to
the speaker. Word
balloons come in all
shapes and sizes.

!
W
O
P

Bold lettering is used

to emphasize important
words. Large lettering is
used to indicate shouting.
Small lettering is used to
indicate whispering.

A thought balloon
contains thoughts
a character does
not speak. The
tail looks like a
trail of bubbles.

Sound effects represent

noises in a scene. Most sound
effects are floating letters.

Panel: a

single image
in a sequence
of images

Border:
a line that
encloses
panels,
balloons, and
captions
Gutter:

the space
between and
around panels

A caption is used for narration, or words

that are used to help tell the story. Captions
usually have rectangular borders.

c ha p t er t wo

Tips from the Pros

What are you
reading?

The Daily
Moos.

You can write a comic book about anything

you can imagine. Here are a few writing tips
before you begin:
Learn from the pros. Pay careful attention
when youre watching a movie or a TV
6

show. Is the dialogue realistic? Did the plot

make sense?
Create interesting, original characters. Your
characters must be colorful and unique in
some way. Your readers must care about
both the good guys and the bad guys.
Write about things that interest you. The
more interest you have in your subject, the
easier it will be to make your comic book
interesting for your readers.
Write about things you know. If you dont
know enough about your subject, learn
more about it online or in the library.
Dont stop writing. Writing becomes easier
the more you do it. Try to develop a regular
writing schedule.
Keep at it! Dont get discouraged if you think
your first few comic book stories arent very
good. You will get better with practice!
7

tivity
c
A

Getting Started
Come up with some ideas for a story. Make a list
of the things you already know. Then make a list of
the things you want to learn about.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Draw a line down the middle of a piece of
notebook paper.
2. Write Subjects I Know at the top of the left
side. Write Subjects I Like at the top of the
right side.
3. Under Subjects I Know, make a list of the
things you know a lot about.
4. Under Subjects I Like, make a list of the things
youre interested in but dont know a lot about.
Youll need to research these
subjects if you want to
write a story about them.
To get
a copy o
f this a
www.ch
ctivity,
errylak
visit
epublish
ing.com
/activit

ies.

c ha p t er T h r e e

Creating Characters
Youve decided what you want to write about.
Now its time to think about who youre
writing about. Your script describes each
panel and page of your comic. It contains all
of your dialogue and captions. But you have
to create interesting characters before you
begin writing your script.
Your characters must be believable. They
should have emotions and goals just like real
people do. They should face problems like
real people do. The relationships they have
with other characters should be interesting.
These relationships reveal information about
the characters backgrounds and personalities.
Every person in real life is different. Each of
your characters should also be different.
9

What are the char

acters
like in your favorite
comics?

Maybe one character has a good sense of

humor. Another never cracks a smile. Perhaps
one character suffers from an illness. Another
might have a special talent.
Give each character a conflict. Conflict is
the main ingredient of an interesting story.
Each character has goals. Conflict is
something that stands in the way of these
goals. Realistic conflict will help make the
characters believable to your readers.
10

LA
A

RTS
ER
R
O
L
EXP NIOR
JU

tivity
c
A

Make a Chart
Youve thought about your characters. Now you
need to organize your thoughts. A chart can help
you do this. Look at the chart on page 12. It shows
one way to describe a character in a comic book
story. Make a similar chart for each of your comic
book characters.
HERES WHAT YOULL NEED:
Notebook paper
Ruler
Pencil
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Use a ruler to help you draw four boxes on a
piece of paper.
2. Label your chart in the same way as the boxes on
page 12.
3. Fill in the boxes of your chart with information
about your character.

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11

TITLE OF STORY: Mission

to Mars!

AUTHOR: Randi Morris

utenant James Briggs

NAME OF CHARACTER: Lie

BACKGROUND
INFORMATION:
Born in Dallas, Texas
37 years old; married;
two children
5 feet 10 inches
tall; 210 pounds
Served in U.S. Air Force
Astronaut for six years
Journey to Mars is his
first space voyage

WHAT HE WANTS:
For the mission to Mars
to be successful
To become famous
To prove to his cocommander on the
mission that hes the
number one leader

12

PERSONALITY:
Always wants to win
and be in charge
Gets angry easily
Expects hard work
from his crew

WHATS IN HIS
WAY (Conflict):
Crew blames him for
problems with the
spacecraft while in flight
to
Co-commander beginning
take control of the mission

c ha p t er f o u r

Telling Your Story

The stories in most comic books are divided
into a beginning, middle, and end. This type of
storytelling is called a three-act structure. The
beginning is called the first act. It introduces
the main characters and the main conflict. It
also describes the setting. The middle is
called the second act. It adds
I wonder how
this is going
further challenges for the
to end.
characters. This increases the
feeling of suspense in the story. The
third act is the end. It presents the
main solution to the conflict. It
shows how characters and
situations have changed
throughout the
story. This is the thrilling
conclusion of the story.
13

tivity
c
A

Make a Chart
Map out the three acts of your story before you
start writing your script.
HERES WHAT YOULL NEED:
Notebook paper
Ruler
Pencil
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Use a ruler to help you draw three large boxes.
2. Label the boxes Act I, Act II, and Act III.
3. Write the name of your story and your name
above the boxes.
4. Fill in the boxes with information about your story.
You can put in as many details as you wish.
Include some dialogue and captions. Explain
what you want drawn in certain panels.
Including more information will make it
easier to write your final
script.
, visit
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ities.
copy o
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To get a
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www.che

14

TITLE: Mission to Mars!

WRITER: Randi Morris
THREE-ACT STRUCTURE:
ACT I

We meet Briggs and his crew

members as
they blast off from the launchpad
.
We learn about Briggss strong
personality.
We get a sense of some of the
crews doubts
about Briggss leadership abilities.
Act I ends with a dramatic sce
ne: some of
the onboard computers malfunct
ion.
ACT II
We cover Briggss response to
the

malfunctioning. Things
still arent totally fixed, and the
crew begins to disobey him.
More trouble arises: The spa
cecraft gets caught in an
asteroid field. It is struck by ma
ny small asteroids.
Briggs safely gets the craft out
of the asteroid field.
ACT III
Briggs directs the repairs of
the onboard
computers. The crew follows his
commands.
The spacecraft drops to the
surface of Mars. Briggss
quick thinking has made the journe
y a success!

15

c ha p t er F i v e

Putting It All
Together

creative as you
Have fun and be
for your script.
think of details

Youve worked out the rough plot of your

story. Youve created your characters. Now
its time to put it all together and start writing.
16

 Start by describing the settings where the

action takes place. Be as specific as you can.
Is it a large city? A laboratory? The inside of a
spacecraft? Is it nighttime? Is it raining?
Adding details to your story will hook your
readers and keep them interested.
Finding clever ways to move from scene to
scene while continuing the mood of your story
is also important. Some writers use dialogue
or captions to do this. A character named John
might say, I will never eat a bologna
sandwich again! The next panel shows Johns
sister making a bologna sandwich for him. She
is thinking, John is going to be so excited
when he sees that I made lunch! Dont
hesitate to move back and forth between
scenes. Many superhero writers break up long
fight scenes by moving to ones where
characters are just talking.
17

Mission to Mars!
by Randi Morris
d Anita Perez
Artists: David Day an
Page 1
Panel 1

splash page, showing a

One big panel, called a
e and
launchpad. Lots of fir
a
om
fr
f
of
g
tin
as
bl
large rocket
sunny day.
huge engines. Bright,
e
th
om
fr
t
ou
ing
ur
smoke po
humanitys
kes its boldest step in
ta
ind
nk
ma
y,
da
To
n:
Captio
quest of the stars.
e most
acecraft are five of th
sp
nt
gia
e
th
rd
oa
Ab
Caption:
e.
ts ever sent into spac
au
on
tr
as
ed
ain
tr
ly
gh
hi
OOOOSH!
d effects (SFX): VR

Art directions:

Soun

Page 2
Panel 1

e spacecraft. Show
Medium shot. Inside th
aring their
eir seats. They are we
all five astronauts in th
rence
s, please use the refe
ist
rt
(A
s.
et
lm
he
d
an
space suits
tronaut is
you the script.) Each as
ve
ga
I
en
wh
ed
id
ov
I pr
working some controls.
ile
wh
en
re
sc
er
ut
mp
looking at a co
ff looking?
Anderson, how is lifto
Briggs dialogue:
t Briggs.
stems A-OK, Lieutenan
sy
l
Al
:
LOGUE
DIA
on
Anders
e
hope its a smooth rid
lloon: Lets just

Art directions:

ba
Briggs thought

to Mars.

18

Panel 2
Art directions:

Close-up on Briggs as he speaks to

his crew.
Briggs dialogue: We traine
d months for this mission. Lets
show the world what we can do!

Briggs DIALOGUE:

any minute.

We should be hearing from missio

n control

Panel 3
Art directions:

Long shot that shows the mission

control
building back on Earth.

Balloon pointer to buildi

ng:

Do you read us?

Mission control to Alpha I.

Panel 4
Art directions:

Medium shot inside mission contro

l. Several
men and women crowd around a TV
monitor. They are well
dressed. The men wear pants and
white shirts with ties. The
women are dressed in business sui
ts. On the TV monitor
we see the astronauts inside the
spacecraft. One of the
technicians speaks to Briggs.

Briggs DIALOGUE; balloon

pointer to TV monitor:

We
read you, mission control. All sys
tems look good.
Technician DIALOGUE: Eve
rything going exactly as planned.
Liftoff was perfect.

Technician DIALOGUE:

flight!

Get some restits going to be a

long

19

Art directions: Close-up on Briggs

as he speaks to his crew.

Lets show
the world what
we can do!

Every comic book

script must contain art
directions for the artist
whos going to draw
the story. Describe
what should be in each panel. This includes
the setting and what the characters are doing.
Art directions also describe how characters
are dressed, their emotions, and any other
details you can think of. Should the panel be
a close-up? Close-ups are a great way to
show emotion or strong drama. Should the
panel be a medium shot? Medium shots are
good for showing where characters are
positioned in the setting. A long shot is good
for introducing a new setting. Mix up your
selection of shots as you write your script to
vary the mood of your story.
Good luckand happy comic book writing!
20

tivity
c
A

Finishing Your
Comic Book Script
Now its time to put your finished script together.
Take a look at the sample on the previous spread
before you begin.

OS

H!

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Write the name of your story, your name, and the
artists name at the top of the first page of your
script.
2. For each panel, provide art directions for the
artist.
3. Write the dialogue, captions, and sound effects
that you wish to appear in each panel.
4. Make sure your scriptno matter how long or
short it ishas a beginning, middle, and end. Your
story should have a lot of drama and conflict to
keep your readers interested.
5. Read your script after youve finished writing.
This will help you find mistakes or places where
you can improve your story.

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21

Glossary
conflict (KAHN-flikt) struggle or disagreement
dialogue (DYE-uh-lawg) conversation, especially in a play, movie, TV
show, or book
fictional (FIK-shuh-nuhl) made up
narration (na-RAY-shuhn) words describing the things that are
happening in a story
plot (PLAHT) the main story of a comic book or any other work of
fiction
script (SKRIPT) a panel-by-panel, page-by-page document that
describes all the details of a comic book story
setting (SET-ing) the time period and location where
a story takes place

22

For More Information

BookS
Roche, Art. Comic Strips: Create Your Own Comic Strips from Start to
Finish; New York: Sterling, 2011.
Rosinsky, Natalie M. Graphic Novel. Minneapolis: Compass Point
Books, 2009.
Web SiteS
Creative Comic ArtWriting a Comic Script
www.creativecomicart.com/writing-comics.html
Learn the basics of good visual storytelling.
HowStuffWorksHow Comic Books Work
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/comic-books/comic-book.htm
Read how comic books have made a huge impact on American culture.

23

Index
art directions, 18, 19, 20,
21
borders, 5
captions, 5, 9, 14, 17, 18,
21
characters, 4, 5, 7, 910,
11, 12, 13, 17, 20
charts, 1112, 14
close-ups, 20
colors, 4
conclusions, 13, 15
conflict, 10, 12, 13, 17,
21
details, 14, 17, 20
dialogue, 5, 6, 9, 14, 17,
18, 19, 21

first act, 13, 15

gutters, 5
ideas, 8
lettering, 5
long shots, 20

scripts, 9, 14, 1819, 20,

21
second act, 13, 15
settings, 4, 13, 17, 20
sound effects, 5, 18, 21
subjects, 7, 8

medium shots, 20
mood, 17, 20
movies, 6

television shows, 6
third act, 13, 15
thought balloons, 5
three-act structure, 13, 14,
15

narration, 5

word balloons, 5

panels, 5, 9, 14, 20, 21

personalities, 9, 10, 12
plots, 6
practice, 7

About the Author

Nel Yomtov is an award-winning author of nonfiction books and graphic novels for
young readers. He has worked at Marvel Comics as a writer, editor, and colorist.
He also served as Marvels director of product development, supervising the
creation of products that used the Marvel Comics characters, including toys,
clothing, books, and calendars.

24