When you get a story idea, one of the first questions you have to ask yourself is, “What medium is best for this story?”
Throughout the course of this year, we’ll cover what stories are best for each medium, starting with comic books.
As a disclaimer, I definitely believe any story could be told well in the comic book medium. Comic books are not just for superheroes. They’re for drama and romance stories. Stories of the weird and the ordinary.
I don’t believe there is a specific genre that works best for the comic book medium, but there are some specific structural things that lend itself to comic books.
Long episodic storytelling being one of those things. In these stories, characters are sometimes called “iconic characters” and therefore don’t undergo a lot of change, and then are able to have a lot of stories told around them.
Stories that rely on visuals or have interesting visuals naturally translate to the comic book medium well. That being said, I read a comic book where the whole story took place in a small factory town and it was great.
Comic books are great for dialogue heavy stories, too.
All of this to say, these are just some guidelines. If you want to tell your story using the comic book medium, don’t let anything stop you.
Jump. Build, Fly.
F.C. Shultz