So how long does it take to write a comic?

[Gumbo Maximillian]

I was just wondering; I mean they get like what a month to do the whole thing?

So taking in printing and everything thats basically a couple weeks to do the story?

[Kevinroc]

Scripts are done well in advance. I imagine it depends how long it would take depending on the writer. I know Geoff Johns has said a number of times that it takes him about a week to churn out a script for one issue.

[Spackling Compound]

A Joe Casey comic or a Kevin Smith comic?

It's the difference between a minute and a millenia...

[TCJohnson]

I was talking to Gail back in Febuary I believe and she was saying that she was in the middle of writing script for action comics...and her first issue is coming out in May.

So assuming she was working on her first one and not her second, that is 4 months between writing and seeing it on the stands.

[PatrickG]

Oh.

And content doesn't always equal time spent writing.

Some of the most compressed, dialogue intensive stuff gets written off the top of some writer's head...

Whereas some writers whose comics you can breeze through in 20 seconds may have elaborate scripts describing every face in a crowd shot but it doesn't show because they don't like covering up art with dialogue and they like the splash pages.

Some writers use splash pages to get by with writing less. Other writers may spend two typed pages describing the body positioning and clothes for every background character or what subliminal images to hide in the energy effects.

Still other writers coach/direct their artist by writing very poetic panel descriptions while some writers may have such a good relationship with an artist that they can say, "Draw a tree." And they know the artist will select the perfect angle, type of tree, etc. --- maybe even so well that it inspires the writer to write new and better dialogue to go with the art.

And all this is just within the DC method which takes longer than the Marvel method.

Stan Lee, at his peak, could supposedly plot issues in under a minute with the right artist and then spend very little time adding dialogue.

[PatrickG]

Good rule of thumb, though, I'd say is a week give or take for a script. Then a little over a month of pencilling. Then a week or two for inking. A day for lettering. Then around fifteen to twenty-four MARATHON hours of non-stop coloring by a colorist hyped up on caffeine and pushed up against the shipping deadline. (This last bit is why virtually every comic has coloring errors.) In between each of these steps, everything gets sent Fed Ex and the editor/assistant editor approves/rejects things but I'd imagine they pretty much have an hour or so TOPS total time actually proof reading the thing to keep the shipping date. Keep in mind many of DC's top editors are juggling ten books or so if you count their extended families.

BoP, for instance, would fall under Eddie Berganza. Smallville would have a few months ago too even though it's Tom Palmer's actual book. Ditto The Question. Lex Luthor: Man of Steel. The three super-titles. Superman/Batman. Teen Titans. And, I think, JSA and Legion even though they're Wacker(sp?) titles.

Matt Idelsen (I think) covers all the Bat-titles: Batman, Detective, Gotham Knights, LotDK, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, GCPD and JLU.

[TCJohnson]

have you ever seen one of Alan Moore's scripts? He puts so much detail into each panel. I saw a page of his script for League of Extraordinary Gentleman...one panel took up an entire page.

[Gaz]

have you ever seen one of Alan Moore's scripts? He puts so much detail into each panel. I saw a page of his script for League of Extraordinary Gentleman...one panel took up an entire page.
Gaiman and Bendis are close to that. Scripts for Powers or Sandman often have panel by panel descriptions of what's happening with ideas for perspective and layout...

[Dennis]

how long does gail spend on a script?

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Johns has said he spends a week on each book from that Interview I read. I guess thats why he's the 1# Comic Writer goin at the moment. He seems to really know what works for each book and each series has a different feeling.

[TCJohnson]

Gaiman and Bendis are close to that. Scripts for Powers or Sandman often have panel by panel descriptions of what's happening with ideas for perspective and layout...

Here is an example of Moore's script for the Watchmen:

http://home.insightbb.com/~fourcolorheros/free/WatchmenScript.pdf

[Gaz]

Wow, that's intense. Although, as it's from issue 1, he had to set up what each character looked like and the tone for the backgrounds, so I'd assume later scripts are shorter.

[TCJohnson]

I saw a few pages of League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen #2...it was the same.

[Gaz]

I saw a few pages of League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen #2...it was the same.
Really, guess he just gets into a zone, then... or doesn't trust artists?

[YoGo]

how long does gail spend on a script?

Like TC said earlier, I guess Gail starts waaaay ahead researching the story already. I still have my first PM from Gail asking about Singapore for BOP #81 from waaaaaaaay back in August.

Has it really been 9 months already?!

[YoGo]

Hmmm....i just realised, 9 months for the story to be birthed and see the light of day.

Is it the same for men? :confused:

[mgs]

I was talking to Gail back in Febuary I believe and she was saying that she was in the middle of writing script for action comics...and her first issue is coming out in May.

So assuming she was working on her first one and not her second, that is 4 months between writing and seeing it on the stands.
yeah, but just because she is taking that long, does not mean that she has to take that long, all the time. she probably just has some ample time to kill waiting for when dc wants to make the books' official release.