Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Sports Comics.

One thing I hate about sports-related comics is when the writer tries to capture the announcer's voice in caption as if the reader was watching a live broadcast. Generally, the writer just over writes the action in the panel, telling you what you're looking at plus maybe what happened in the gutters between panels.

The problem with that is it creates "dead air" in the comic. It sounds like a writer who, even if they WATCH sports, they don't LISTEN to sports. Broadcasts never have dead air. It's a major no-no. So, as a writer, one has to ceate that sense of constant communication.

Announcers do more than just call the play-by-play on a moment. Be it baseball, basketball, football, soccer, boxing or mixed-martial arts. They tell you what's going on, what needs to happen, what COULD happen, and even relate the moments/events to something else.

I tried to avoid this mistake when writing BOSTON STRONGBOY or HELIO by making the stories personal. Personal to the characters and personal to the readers as if they were having the stories told to them.

I hope to one day incorporate the "announer voice" in a comic. I have one in mind that'll require it, but it's a long ways off.