Chapter 25: Comic Books
It came to Alexander that turning movies into picture books isn't his only option.
His picture book idea could be capitalized on and just be upgraded into a sketch-filled variant with text bubbles- which is comic books.
Not the tiny newspaper comic but real deal comic books.
Alexander headed to the car and traveled home while pondering on his new idea. It was a quiet ride as Sullivan also had matters on his head as well.
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Hence, the rest of the Saturday kicked off with Alexander ruminating on prospects of his comic venture.
Character design, story writing, plotting, layout, paneling, penciling, inking, coloring, binding, publishing, distributing, advertising, and all the comic quirkiness.
Alexander has a passing knowledge of most of them but he did have some parts he excelled on.
Given his art experience of many years embroiled into his young self, the parts about artwork and color designation are something he could be confident about.
Penciling is what he usually does for his picture books. The advanced stuff such as inking and coloring is also something that he could do if he put his effort into it.
It is just that he had been limited by the unavailability of essential tools and workspace while in his first grade curriculum.
A tiny desk surrounded by third graders isn't exactly the best place to work with ink pens and poster color.
Pencil, crayons, and colored pencils are the only ones that Miss Hansen could allow him to have.
As for the story, the sequencing of plots, and the designings of characters, his Mind Mansion might have that already covered.
He now has translated and cohesively put together a jumble of memorable scenes into four working stories.
Alexander still isn't too sure about plagiarizing the already messy comics though but he could still try.
Making storylines and issues of notable and still yet-to-be-made comic titles is worth digging his efforts into.
While movies are standalone and sometimes sequelable, comic books as Alexander remembers them to be are grandstanding and extensive story arcs, one-shots, and reboots.
No matter how powerful his memory is compared to before, it is highly doubtful whether he could interlink comic and character continuities in a span of one sitting while being subjected to the multitasking of class.
Alexander just has to take the education classes out of the equation to make things easier. It was too bad that the option is the last case scenario.
He could still make do though but his level of effort would be many times higher than it could be.
Still, it was a challenge worth taking as it can help gauge what magnitude of productivity he can accomplish.
As for layouts and paneling, it is something he comes across every time he opens a comic issue but never really registered in his mind.
He has the general idea of which panel comes first and which speech bubble to follow by virtue of intuition but it is never really something he delved his grasp into.
In a sense, he could do single artworks but he still has a lot of work to make them fit together to establish a narrative.
How this page should interact with this page? How this panel should fit the characters and the background? How these collections of drawings should convey action scenes, expressions, and the mood? These are the questions that pop up in his head when he thinks about these basic yet also complex factors of comic composition.
Alexander could only label panels, speech bubbles, plotting, and page design as something he could learn as he goes.
There was no point in backing out just because he didn't know it. The fact that he doesn't know it is all the more reason to try and attempt it.
As for bindings, it is a process even more esoteric than the previously mentioned. Alexander knew how comic books are filled and printed but not much on how they are put together.
He at least knows that staplers and bits of magazine magic are used but that is something that he would leave to true blue comic-making professionals.
Publishing is also another important aspect that he had to navigate with. What paper type and dimensions he uses are within this consideration. Matters about the Comics Code Authority, getting around them, and how to conform to them.
This factor also takes into account how and what should be considered in making the content. Publishers wouldn't publish works that would bring backlash and lawsuits.
That is of course if you are the publisher and you could dictate how things go.
However, backlash and lawsuits are still on the table. Easily triggered parents out for blood on comics that brainwash their children into committing violence and sin.
These groups could cancel an episode of He-man just lifting a tree because they felt like it would bring a negative influence on their children.
Alexander didn't know whether they were really doing it for a cause or doing it just for kicks. Their sense of entitlement is something that creators need to take note of with every work they publish.
Lawsuits are also another troublesome thing to dig deep on. The comic book industry has so many similarities and parallels that everyone willing enough could sue someone they think is copying their work.
Alexander can attest that he is a blatant plagiarizer but they at least they didn't know that. However, the foreboding sense that someone would leech into his 'work' and sue him is strangely existent.
Distribution and advertisements are factors that go hand in hand and are also something that Alexander should take note of.
Newsstands and comic shops are the ones that come to his mind but how the comics get there is an industry he needs to know even deeper.
Whether he can distribute to the locality, nationwide, or globality depends on who he works with or if he is willing to step into that aspect himself.
Advertisements are just advertisements but Alexander is sure that they are essential for his works to spread and be noticed.
Those factors are much more on the business side and he could just ask advice from his grandfather on how to approach it.
The added factor of merchandise such as toys and licensing peripherals should be enough to incentivize the business-savvy old man to teach him.
Animation shows and live-action adaptations are also something that the humbly complex comic books can jump themselves into.
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In any case, the comic book industry is a pioneering venture that Alexander just thought of quite recently but he is already quite looking forward to it.
Until recently as well, jumping into the movie business is a new thing he went with to help his grandfather.
Alexander was branching off from his computer profession and embracing his adventurous spirit as he embarked on new paths he hadn't considered before.
If he was logical and systematic with codes before, he was now experimental and explorative in a creative fever he didn't know he had in him.
Re-life is shaping up to be as enriching and enlightening than Alexander could have imagined it to be.
Movies and comic books may just be the start.