Tuesday 26 February 2013

A wee page from the latest episode of Death Sentence, running in Clint magazine. This is the start of a sequence I wrote specifically to ensure a knighthood, some thirty years hence, in the manner of Grant Morrison ;) (hahaha!) I don't want to post spoilers for a few days yet, so I'll leave it at that.

I like the page because the artist and writer are working in sweet harmony, and the letterer put all the balloons in the right place! That may sound unremarkable, but it's amazing how rarely it happens in professional comics. A lot of writers don't get to see the finished lettering before the strip's published, for a start. Often an artist will draw something slightly different from what was intended, which the writer doesn't see until its too late!  If you self publish, you control everything. Yay!

From the first ten page sample we did it was clear from feedback that we were on to something special, storytelling wise. And good storytelling is the only thing that makes us happy - the only reason we started this project. All praise for Mike Dowling for his excellent work here. It means I can write with a lot more confidence, and we can try more ambitious sequential techniques. Our trust in each other reaches its apotheosis in the next issue, where we really push the storytelling boundaries. Every issue so far, we've tried something new - something we weren't sure would work - and it has! At some point we may come unstuck. Stay tuned to see if we drop from the wire.

This is page sixteen from issue 3 (out in December 2013), also in Clint Magazine 2.6. Clint is on sale now in WHSmiths and your local comic shop.