BEAUOLOGY 101: character DRIVEN

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يسلط الضوء على الصفحة الرئيسية ،
المقابلات والأعمدة

Written by beau Smith. Complaints Are Forbidden.

بقلم بو سميث

I want to be as close to knowing them as I did growing up from grade school through college…No…I’m not talking about a “getting old thing”, I’m talking about having fictional characters written so that I genuinely feel I know who they are and what they’re about. I want someone to do for the marvel and DC Comics characters what the film writers of the related superhero motion pictures have done for the same characters.

In the 1960s Stan Lee and his fellow creators at marvel Comics originated superhero characterization for the modern world. They made it so you knew these characters, their flaws, their quirks, their good points and what they stood for. You even knew what they liked on their pizza and what bands they listened to. (Back then they were all Beatles fans.)

أنا باتمان! and I’m Grouchy….didn’t any individual tell you?

I think it’s time for marvel and DC Comics to get back to doing this. The background and continuity of the characters is being, in my opinion, taken for approved by the editorial staffs, the writers and the marketing departments (Not all, but undoubtedly a large portion). I believe they are assuming that every reader, old and new, knows the history and current personality of the characters. You cannot assume that. huge mistake in both storytelling and marketing as well. They don’t know for two reasons; that history is not being retold, and there’s very little personality in the characters. You just get the same thing over and over, Batman is a grouch and Superman is good.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying EVERY character lacks personality, I’m saying a good percentage do.

There’s too much of what we call in writing “busy work” going on in a story to really let the readers get to know the main and supporting characters. There doesn’t have to be cement blocks of dialogue and text to do this. A good writer with a good artist can relay this with crucial words, dialogue, expression and action. noted author Elmore Leonard was a master of this.

We’re green Lanterns! and we don’t even know all of our names either.

Look at a green lantern or green lantern related book. So lots of characters with so little time allotted to who they are and what they’re about. They end up as a string of cookie cutter characters that just fill up a panel dodging ray beams and swirling in space yapping about not much of anything. The editors of books want to nearly make you feel at fault for not knowing 70 plus years of publishing history and keeping up with them in this rigged potato sack race.

I’m not asking for a bunch of talking heads issues, I’m asking for action stories where some time is set up to really let the readers know who the characters are, and why they do what they do as well as say the things they say. Some value needs to be put into their words. The dialogue needs to describe in character, who they are and where they stand on things, from how to defeat a misguided intergalactic tyrant to what they like best on their tacos. The writers are being spread too thin in so lots of books to do what they are really good at doing, making the characters interesting, likable and relatable to the readers.

I’m DOOM! So stop copying me….

When some writers are focusing on a couple of books, they are at their best at giving superheroes the traits I pointed out above. These cases of focus can be nothing short of writing greatness. They are able to have characters carry an edge, sound real, and make every word resonate with the reader. Gone are the days of a villain saying “I am your doom…The world is MINE!”, or must be unless it’s doctor Doom just being Doom. humor needs to be there. We have humor in every day we walk this Earth, or lay on the couch binge enjoying TV. good writers, pardon me, great writers can make your palms sweat and two panels later make you smile and chuckle.

Pay attention to when a writer is working on four to five books. You’ll then notice that they’re being spread too thin. The dialogue is the first thing to suffer, and when dialogue suffers the character suffers, and in the domino effect, then the readers suffers, pays the price ($4-$5.00 a pop) and then they decide they can spend their money on a lot of other pop culture related items and they are gone from comic books. In this world there are a lot more than three channels on the TV and of course, there’s the internet. This ain’t 1966.

Heavy handed editorial micro-managing doesn’t make for interesting characters either. The marketing department will make the creative kitchen a crowded place to cook. That also makes for a bad batch of cookies to serve.

Events, massive crossovers and never ending story arcs need to be rethought, and I’m being kind there. Reboots need to be booted for the most part. The word reboot in comics means,”هذا لم ينجح ، دعنا نرمي بعضًا أكثر ضد الحائط ونرى ما إذا كان هذا يلتصق.”

أنا B’Wana Beast! وبعض الناس يعتقدون أنني حقا بو سميث.

فليعلم أنه يوجد أيضًا كتاب يعملون على كتاب واحد فقط ولا يزال بإمكانهم وضعك في النوم بشكل أسرع من Ambien في رحلة ساحلية إلى ساحلية. سيكون اقتراحي ليس فقط الوقت لإضافة بعض التوصيف الأعمق في هذه القصص التي تعتمد على الحدث ، ولكن لتكريس حدث أو سلسلة محدودة ، لقطة واحدة ، إلى كل من الشخصيات (الشخصيات) حتى نتمكن من التعرف عليها. بالنسبة للبعض ، ستكون هذه هي المرة الأولى ، بالنسبة للآخرين ، سيكون ذلك بمثابة إعادة إحياء للحريق الذي كان لديهم من قبل. يرجى ملاحظة أنني لا أتحدث عن قصة “أصل” أخرى ، أنا أتحدث عن قوس قصة حيث نتعرف حقًا وربما اكتشف لماذا نحب Wonder Woman أو Captain America أو Spider-Man أو B’Wana حقًا وحش. ككاتب ومدير تسويق ومدير إبداعي سابق ، أعرف أنه يمكن القيام بذلك وأن الجميع متصلين سيجني المكافآت. وضع ستان لي المخطط منذ عقود. نحتاج إلى غبار هذه الخطط وجعلها الأساس لأقوى وأكثر إثارة للاهتمام ، موطن الأبطال الخارقين الذين نتمتع بهم. يخرج نفس الدرس لأولئك الذين يبدأون خطوطهم الجديدة من الشخصيات أو الجدد أو الخطوط القديمة.

اقتراح آخر يقطع شوطًا طويلاً في إنشاء من هو الشخص الذي هو جعل ما يقولونه مثيرًا للاهتمام. في الحياة لدينا جميعًا شخصيات مميزة ويظهر. لماذا لا يمكن أن يكون لدى الأبطال الخارقين نفس السمة؟ أعتقد أنه أمر لا بد منه.

أريد التعرف على أصدقائي القدامى وأن يصنعوا بعضًا جديدًا في هذه العملية ، أليس كذلك؟

amigo الخاص بك ،

بو سميث

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