Here’s my guide on what a comics editor might like to see in your comic portfolio when you present it at a convention. You might also like to take a look at this guidance on what you should – and shouldn’t – include in your art portfolio when you’re showing it around at comic conventions. There is some advice from independent comic creator Pete Ashton here about presenting yourself to an editor; and more advice here from Marcia Allas and Matt Brooker.
Both writers and artists agonize over their work and many fine tune it a lot before delivering it to an editor. That’s a welcome sign of a professional approach, but it is possible to go too far.
An editor should appreciate a script that is well laid out and also follows any company stipulated layout if the publisher has one. They also appreciate good spelling.
My next point is a bit harder to explain, but I hope it makes sense. Ever since my days at Marvel, we often encountered a situation where an artist had delivered a draft or layout that instinctively worked well in terms of comics storytelling – and then ruined it in the final pencils by ‘overpolishing’ the art.
In some cases, especially on comics work, this means a page becomes a piece of art rather than a piece of storytelling – the energy and dynamism of the artist that inspired you to employ the artist was lost.
Sometimes, your first, gut instincts when it comes to drawing or writing are often the best. Too much re-working can stifle raw creativity.
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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