CBR: Shelf Life - Sep 8, 2011

[CBR News]

Ron goes all the way back to his college days to discuss the journalism principles that inform his comics writing -- the 5 Ws -- and how they pertain especially to #1 issues.


Full article here.

[zetomenn]

When I worked in newspapers I was taught there was a sixth "W", known as "so What?" as in, why should a reader give a rats ass about what you're talking about. At the time I was doing a little bit of theatre writing and found it a great way to self edit/dramaturge. A lot of comic makers need to ask themselves this.

Because #1s need to hook readers and set a tone the 5W thing makes sense, but as the books internal myth grows it can also become a tad didactic. People don't return to news articles that often, so there is an ephemeral quality to the article itself even if the info sticks. Packing 5W in one issue every issue doesn't matter.
But people re-read comics all the time and will pick up the pattern if its too forward, and that can break the story bubble. We see this a lot in collected trades of books written with a months gap in mind, where a third of the book is just recapping and restating the 5W, because it was necessary in the original format. I guess I'm just saying its a vital tool, but not always the only or best one, depending on the desired outcome.
I disagree that decompression is just pissing away pages. There are plenty of pages pissed away with 5W expository overkill. All tools of craft are useless in the hands of someone that doesn't know what they are doing.
The problem for decompression is that it is rarely used properly by writers or artists. It shouldn't be used at the beginning because it requires the tension of a build up - like a series of conflicting characters and or situations that readers care about all reaching the same point in time and space - leading to an explosion. That explosion is then played out in slow mo to maximum dramatic effect. Good decompression is a way of feeding the reader more sensory and emotional drama in that moment/page than lineal exposition is capable. Unfortunately it is something only masters of craft should be doing, cuz like great comedy the slightest misbeat makes a mess of it. That's when the comic becomes the $4 mini poster book which has given the technique such a bad name.
Katsuhiro Otomo was the beginning of this technique (not Warren Ellis, bless his cotton socks), and imitators really need to study What he did, Where he used it, Why he did it, When and hoW!
Oh yeah, and so What?... why should anyone care in that particular story?

[Boabie]

Yet again, probably this week's best article comes from Ron...