"Changing Spots" - Behind the Scenes
Sep. 26th, 2016 03:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierMaking comics is mostly a pretty straightforward process. You come up with an idea, write a script, draw it (or trick someone else into drawing it for you), and toss it up on the internet. Boom. Done.
But the most recent Lady Spectra story, "Changing Spots", went through some weird twists and turns on the way from concept to finished product. I thought people might enjoy a peek behind the curtain. SPOILERS AHEAD.
I couldn't find any of my old correspondence from the beginning of the project, but this would've been sometime in the early 2000s. It started with a note from my old buddy Dave Berns. I've known Dave since he was a rambunctuous teenager, publishing violent and funny mini-comics like "Bane Bros." and "Spoils". He went on to attend the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art and became an accomplished illustrator and designer, working for everyone from Cracked Magazine to Hot Topic.
But even with all that under his belt, he still had an itch to try and break into mainstream superhero comics. So he came to me with an idea: I'd write a Lady Spectra script for him to illustrate, and he could use it as a portfolio piece to send around to comics publishers. Never one to turn down free art, I set to work.
Dave's one request was that the story also feature a male hero, so he could show off his chops at drawing musclebound super-dudes. I came up with the Leopard, a roguish-but-not-irredeemable thief who would be a reluctant ally in Spectra's battle against the mad scientist Doctor Agony. I fully admit that Leopard (at least at the start) was very much a gender-flipped Catwoman, since I always enjoyed that "frenemy-with-benefits" relationship she had with Batman.
I polished off the script (originally titled "Cat-astrophe"), and Dave went to work. He was an early adopter of digital art methods, and cranked out some stunning, gray-toned pages entirely by computer. Here's a couple of samples:
At this point, you are all scratching your heads and wondering, "Why didn't you use these obviously beautiful pages?" And therein lies our tale of tragedy. About halfway through the project, Dave's computer suffered a catastrophic meltdown, and he lost the original files (as well as the remaining pages-in-progress). All that was left were the relatively low-res preview images he'd sent me. Curse you, Bill Gates and/or Steve Jobs (shakes fist at the sky)!
Dave was understandably reluctant to start over from scratch. And, though he didn't say it, I suspect he may have been having second thoughts about hitching his wagon to the notoriously tough and fickle comics industry anyway (visit his site and check out the amazing posters and prints he's been producing since then). We mutually agreed to call the whole thing off, and he gave me his blessing to salvage whatever I could from the script and existing images. I put the story aside, intending to come back to it "later". Other projects beckoned, and I basically forgot about it.
Years passed. Every so often, I would open the files back up and try to figure out a way to make it work. I experimented with up-scaling the images to print size, but (as any digital artist can tell you) the results were blotchy and horrible. Once I started putting my work up on the web, I thought about just running the story there and not worrying about a print version (since the files would've probably looked ok at screen resolution). But that still left the problem of finishing the story -- I didn't feel up to the task of trying to mimic Dave's style, so there would be this really obvious, jarring shift halfway through the comic.
I came to the reluctant conclusion that the only viable solution was to re-draw those pages -- preserving Dave's excellent layouts and character designs, but finishing them off in my style (such as it is). But something was still holding me back (besides my basic laziness, which should never be discounted as a factor). More time passed.
Enter Robin Childs. I got to know Robin through her terrific webcomic LeyLines, as well as the Webcomic Alliance podcast, where she and other cartoonists brainstorm solutions to the many creative, technical, and business problems that creators run into. She impressed me as someone with that rare combination of talent, ambition, and common sense.
At one point, Robin announced that she was starting a Creative Consulting service to help creators develop and refine their projects. I was intrigued by the idea -- as a lone wolf self-publisher, I'd had people critique my work after the fact, but I'd never had someone pick it apart while it was still in-progress. I made a mental note to possibly seek out Robin's input on a future project.
Then I remembered that I had this finished script just sitting there gathering dust. If I was going to have to re-draw it anyway, I might as well see if I could make it better, right? I got in touch with Robin, we discussed terms and goals, and I sent over the script. I was curious to see what she would make of it. Our writing styles are pretty different (her comics are heavy on character, theme, and world-building, while mine are plot- and action-driven)...would there even be any common ground for communication?
Once Robin sent back her first round of notes, I knew I had made the right decision. Not only did she totally "get" what I was going for, but she zeroed in on a couple of really glaring holes in the narrative. Namely, that Leopard didn't have a strong motivation for his heel-face turn:
"Leopard’s behavior and attitude change very abruptly, and entirely off-screen. When we are introduced to him – the first impression serves as a baseline to his character – he is ready to flee the city and has no moral compunctions about leaving many innocents to die...
So when Leopard escapes the handcuffs in the car, there is no reason for him to stick around...Yet he not only stays, he puts himself in serious danger to save Spectra.
Why?"
(Robin's notes, 6/12/2015)
I had to admit it was true. In the original draft, you could kinda-sorta guess that Leopard was sticking around because he was attracted to Spectra (his attitude was much more cocky and flirtatious in this version), but it wasn't developed at all. Based on Robin's analysis and suggestions, I did a little surgery on the script, tweaking Leopard's dialogue throughout to show some signs of self-doubt. And I added a couple of scenes to smooth out his transition from thug to anti-hero: Page 3, where Leopard tries to get under Spectra's skin, and she turns the tables on him, and Page 4, where we see him consider running away. It's still not spelled out, but you hopefully at least get the sense that he's reconsidering his life choices.
The other problem was the ending. I'm actually pretty embarrassed about this one, but I'll share it so others can learn from my mistakes. Here's what the scene originally looked like:
PAGE NINETEEN
PANEL FOUR: Spectra & Leopard talk some more. Leopard grins like he's up to something.
SPECTRA: AND WE OWE YOU THANKS AS WELL. I'M SURE I CAN GET YOUR SENTENCE REDUCED IN RECOGNITION OF YOUR GOOD DEEDS.
LEOPARD: IS THAT THE BEST REWARD YOU CAN COME UP WITH?
SPECTRA: EXCUSE ME?
PAGE TWENTY
PANEL ONE: Leopard gives Spectra a big, dramatic kiss -- he wraps his arms around her and bends her back like something from the cover of a romance novel. This takes her and Sparky totally by surprise.
LEOPARD: I WAS THINKING MORE LIKE...
SPECTRA: MMMMFF!
SPARKY: HEY...!
PANEL TWO: Spectra is sitting on the ground, somewhat dazed. Leopard takes off, jumping over the roofs of police cars and heading for the highway.
LEOPARD: THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! SEEYA!
SPARKY: COME BACK HERE!
PANEL THREE: Spectra is standing up now, and puts a hand on Sparky's shoulder.
SPARKY: COME ON, MOM, WE'VE GOTTA GO AFTER HIM!
SPECTRA: OH, NEVER MIND SPARKY. WE CAN ROUND HIM UP LATER. I'M BEAT.
PANEL FOUR: Spectra and Sparky are climbing into the Prismobile.
SPARKY: AT LEAST WE STOPPED DR. AGONY. BUT MAN, THAT LEOPARD IS A SNEAKY ONE.
SPECTRA: I'LL SAY.
PANEL FIVE: The Prismobile drives off towards the city.
SPECTRA: GOOD KISSER, TOO.
SPARKY: MO-OM...!
THE END
(original "Cat-astrophe" script)
Robin called bullshit on this:
"It is a long-term trope to have a character force a kiss, without consent, on another character, (typically for a man to kiss a woman) and then for the story to “make it okay” by having the recipient intimate that they liked it, despite having no say in whether or not it would happen. While media for decades has told us this is normal, if such an event happened in the real world and was taken to court, it would be legally defined as sexual battery, and a crime."
She also pointed out that for Leopard to revert back to being an arrogant jerk undercut the main thrust of the story:
"Once motive (or apparent motive) is established for Leopard, we need to see the impact that change in mindset creates. Through his actions in Act Two, we see Leopard being heroic in the battle against Dr. Agony. If we have the Act One scene to bridge the motive gap, we’ll understand why. Then the question for Act Three becomes: How has Leopard been changed by this experience? Does he think of himself differently, or of others differently? How do others perceive him in a new light?"
Robin was, of course, 100% right. I was leaning on a tired (and deeply sexist) cliche to get a cheap laugh, at the expense of the characters. In the new version, Leopard shows signs of contrition, and Spectra pro-actively makes the decision to let him go, rather than being "tricked" into it.
She also suggested that I could be more up front about the theme of the story:
"People often hesitate to include clear theme statements in stories because they’re worried it will be 'too obvious.' However, as a writer it is important to remember that at the start of any story the audience lacks the context to know what is, and is not, a key statement. This makes it possible to hide a theme statement in plain sight."
Which prompted me to change the name of the story from "Cat-astrophe" (which I was never crazy about in the first place) to the more on-the-nose "Changing Spots". That phrase also gets repeated in the last panel.
Reading Robin's perceptive analysis got me really excited about the story again. I turned around a new draft within a day, doing my best to address the issues that had been pointed out, and shipped it off for another evaluation. Her response was definitely gratifying:
"Overall this revision addresses all the previous issues and brings the character of Leopard out more consistently, giving him a clearer and more satisfying arc."
(Robin's notes, 7/10/2015)
She suggested a couple more minor tweaks to further sharpen the theme, but otherwise it was ready to go.
Now all I had to do was (re) draw the thing. As you can see by the samples above, I followed Dave's original pages very closely, except where I needed to insert panels or move things around to accomodate the script changes. The designs for Leopard, Doctor Agony, and the robot are all Dave's (the only change I made was removing the cape from Leopard -- I thought he looked sleeker and more cat-like without it).
Once I ran out of Dave Berns pages, I carried on solo, hoping that the consistency of the inking style and character designs would smooth over any differences in the layouts. I even threw in a few "borderless" panels (like the next-to-last panel on this page), something I rarely do, just because Dave had done it several times in his pages. I don't know why I've avoided it in the past, it's a nice way to add variety to the pages and "open up" the composition a bit. I'll probably do more of it in the future. Even an old dog can learn a few new tricks.
(Probably the biggest difference I see between the Dave+JKC pages and the pure-JKC pages is that Dave is way more diligent about drawing backgrounds than I am.)
And finally, a decade+ later, it's finished. It was a long, strange trip to get here, but I'm pleased with the results. Honestly, it may be my favorite Lady Spectra story to date, or at least tied with my previous favorite, "City Held Hostage". But you tell me: Hit or miss?
As a reward for making it all the way through my rambling, here's a couple more of Dave Berns' unused pages. Dave felt that starting the story off with Leopard's arrest was too abrupt, and suggested adding a prologue to set the stage. I ultimately stuck with my "in media res" opening, but here's what he came up with (all the writing and art on these is by Dave):
Neat, eh? I can't think Dave and Robin enough. "Changing Spots" literally would not exist without them.
And thank YOU for reading!
But the most recent Lady Spectra story, "Changing Spots", went through some weird twists and turns on the way from concept to finished product. I thought people might enjoy a peek behind the curtain. SPOILERS AHEAD.
I couldn't find any of my old correspondence from the beginning of the project, but this would've been sometime in the early 2000s. It started with a note from my old buddy Dave Berns. I've known Dave since he was a rambunctuous teenager, publishing violent and funny mini-comics like "Bane Bros." and "Spoils". He went on to attend the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art and became an accomplished illustrator and designer, working for everyone from Cracked Magazine to Hot Topic.
But even with all that under his belt, he still had an itch to try and break into mainstream superhero comics. So he came to me with an idea: I'd write a Lady Spectra script for him to illustrate, and he could use it as a portfolio piece to send around to comics publishers. Never one to turn down free art, I set to work.
Dave's one request was that the story also feature a male hero, so he could show off his chops at drawing musclebound super-dudes. I came up with the Leopard, a roguish-but-not-irredeemable thief who would be a reluctant ally in Spectra's battle against the mad scientist Doctor Agony. I fully admit that Leopard (at least at the start) was very much a gender-flipped Catwoman, since I always enjoyed that "frenemy-with-benefits" relationship she had with Batman.
I polished off the script (originally titled "Cat-astrophe"), and Dave went to work. He was an early adopter of digital art methods, and cranked out some stunning, gray-toned pages entirely by computer. Here's a couple of samples:
At this point, you are all scratching your heads and wondering, "Why didn't you use these obviously beautiful pages?" And therein lies our tale of tragedy. About halfway through the project, Dave's computer suffered a catastrophic meltdown, and he lost the original files (as well as the remaining pages-in-progress). All that was left were the relatively low-res preview images he'd sent me. Curse you, Bill Gates and/or Steve Jobs (shakes fist at the sky)!
Dave was understandably reluctant to start over from scratch. And, though he didn't say it, I suspect he may have been having second thoughts about hitching his wagon to the notoriously tough and fickle comics industry anyway (visit his site and check out the amazing posters and prints he's been producing since then). We mutually agreed to call the whole thing off, and he gave me his blessing to salvage whatever I could from the script and existing images. I put the story aside, intending to come back to it "later". Other projects beckoned, and I basically forgot about it.
Years passed. Every so often, I would open the files back up and try to figure out a way to make it work. I experimented with up-scaling the images to print size, but (as any digital artist can tell you) the results were blotchy and horrible. Once I started putting my work up on the web, I thought about just running the story there and not worrying about a print version (since the files would've probably looked ok at screen resolution). But that still left the problem of finishing the story -- I didn't feel up to the task of trying to mimic Dave's style, so there would be this really obvious, jarring shift halfway through the comic.
I came to the reluctant conclusion that the only viable solution was to re-draw those pages -- preserving Dave's excellent layouts and character designs, but finishing them off in my style (such as it is). But something was still holding me back (besides my basic laziness, which should never be discounted as a factor). More time passed.
Enter Robin Childs. I got to know Robin through her terrific webcomic LeyLines, as well as the Webcomic Alliance podcast, where she and other cartoonists brainstorm solutions to the many creative, technical, and business problems that creators run into. She impressed me as someone with that rare combination of talent, ambition, and common sense.
At one point, Robin announced that she was starting a Creative Consulting service to help creators develop and refine their projects. I was intrigued by the idea -- as a lone wolf self-publisher, I'd had people critique my work after the fact, but I'd never had someone pick it apart while it was still in-progress. I made a mental note to possibly seek out Robin's input on a future project.
Then I remembered that I had this finished script just sitting there gathering dust. If I was going to have to re-draw it anyway, I might as well see if I could make it better, right? I got in touch with Robin, we discussed terms and goals, and I sent over the script. I was curious to see what she would make of it. Our writing styles are pretty different (her comics are heavy on character, theme, and world-building, while mine are plot- and action-driven)...would there even be any common ground for communication?
Once Robin sent back her first round of notes, I knew I had made the right decision. Not only did she totally "get" what I was going for, but she zeroed in on a couple of really glaring holes in the narrative. Namely, that Leopard didn't have a strong motivation for his heel-face turn:
"Leopard’s behavior and attitude change very abruptly, and entirely off-screen. When we are introduced to him – the first impression serves as a baseline to his character – he is ready to flee the city and has no moral compunctions about leaving many innocents to die...
So when Leopard escapes the handcuffs in the car, there is no reason for him to stick around...Yet he not only stays, he puts himself in serious danger to save Spectra.
Why?"
(Robin's notes, 6/12/2015)
I had to admit it was true. In the original draft, you could kinda-sorta guess that Leopard was sticking around because he was attracted to Spectra (his attitude was much more cocky and flirtatious in this version), but it wasn't developed at all. Based on Robin's analysis and suggestions, I did a little surgery on the script, tweaking Leopard's dialogue throughout to show some signs of self-doubt. And I added a couple of scenes to smooth out his transition from thug to anti-hero: Page 3, where Leopard tries to get under Spectra's skin, and she turns the tables on him, and Page 4, where we see him consider running away. It's still not spelled out, but you hopefully at least get the sense that he's reconsidering his life choices.
The other problem was the ending. I'm actually pretty embarrassed about this one, but I'll share it so others can learn from my mistakes. Here's what the scene originally looked like:
PAGE NINETEEN
PANEL FOUR: Spectra & Leopard talk some more. Leopard grins like he's up to something.
SPECTRA: AND WE OWE YOU THANKS AS WELL. I'M SURE I CAN GET YOUR SENTENCE REDUCED IN RECOGNITION OF YOUR GOOD DEEDS.
LEOPARD: IS THAT THE BEST REWARD YOU CAN COME UP WITH?
SPECTRA: EXCUSE ME?
PAGE TWENTY
PANEL ONE: Leopard gives Spectra a big, dramatic kiss -- he wraps his arms around her and bends her back like something from the cover of a romance novel. This takes her and Sparky totally by surprise.
LEOPARD: I WAS THINKING MORE LIKE...
SPECTRA: MMMMFF!
SPARKY: HEY...!
PANEL TWO: Spectra is sitting on the ground, somewhat dazed. Leopard takes off, jumping over the roofs of police cars and heading for the highway.
LEOPARD: THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! SEEYA!
SPARKY: COME BACK HERE!
PANEL THREE: Spectra is standing up now, and puts a hand on Sparky's shoulder.
SPARKY: COME ON, MOM, WE'VE GOTTA GO AFTER HIM!
SPECTRA: OH, NEVER MIND SPARKY. WE CAN ROUND HIM UP LATER. I'M BEAT.
PANEL FOUR: Spectra and Sparky are climbing into the Prismobile.
SPARKY: AT LEAST WE STOPPED DR. AGONY. BUT MAN, THAT LEOPARD IS A SNEAKY ONE.
SPECTRA: I'LL SAY.
PANEL FIVE: The Prismobile drives off towards the city.
SPECTRA: GOOD KISSER, TOO.
SPARKY: MO-OM...!
THE END
(original "Cat-astrophe" script)
Robin called bullshit on this:
"It is a long-term trope to have a character force a kiss, without consent, on another character, (typically for a man to kiss a woman) and then for the story to “make it okay” by having the recipient intimate that they liked it, despite having no say in whether or not it would happen. While media for decades has told us this is normal, if such an event happened in the real world and was taken to court, it would be legally defined as sexual battery, and a crime."
She also pointed out that for Leopard to revert back to being an arrogant jerk undercut the main thrust of the story:
"Once motive (or apparent motive) is established for Leopard, we need to see the impact that change in mindset creates. Through his actions in Act Two, we see Leopard being heroic in the battle against Dr. Agony. If we have the Act One scene to bridge the motive gap, we’ll understand why. Then the question for Act Three becomes: How has Leopard been changed by this experience? Does he think of himself differently, or of others differently? How do others perceive him in a new light?"
Robin was, of course, 100% right. I was leaning on a tired (and deeply sexist) cliche to get a cheap laugh, at the expense of the characters. In the new version, Leopard shows signs of contrition, and Spectra pro-actively makes the decision to let him go, rather than being "tricked" into it.
She also suggested that I could be more up front about the theme of the story:
"People often hesitate to include clear theme statements in stories because they’re worried it will be 'too obvious.' However, as a writer it is important to remember that at the start of any story the audience lacks the context to know what is, and is not, a key statement. This makes it possible to hide a theme statement in plain sight."
Which prompted me to change the name of the story from "Cat-astrophe" (which I was never crazy about in the first place) to the more on-the-nose "Changing Spots". That phrase also gets repeated in the last panel.
Reading Robin's perceptive analysis got me really excited about the story again. I turned around a new draft within a day, doing my best to address the issues that had been pointed out, and shipped it off for another evaluation. Her response was definitely gratifying:
"Overall this revision addresses all the previous issues and brings the character of Leopard out more consistently, giving him a clearer and more satisfying arc."
(Robin's notes, 7/10/2015)
She suggested a couple more minor tweaks to further sharpen the theme, but otherwise it was ready to go.
Now all I had to do was (re) draw the thing. As you can see by the samples above, I followed Dave's original pages very closely, except where I needed to insert panels or move things around to accomodate the script changes. The designs for Leopard, Doctor Agony, and the robot are all Dave's (the only change I made was removing the cape from Leopard -- I thought he looked sleeker and more cat-like without it).
Once I ran out of Dave Berns pages, I carried on solo, hoping that the consistency of the inking style and character designs would smooth over any differences in the layouts. I even threw in a few "borderless" panels (like the next-to-last panel on this page), something I rarely do, just because Dave had done it several times in his pages. I don't know why I've avoided it in the past, it's a nice way to add variety to the pages and "open up" the composition a bit. I'll probably do more of it in the future. Even an old dog can learn a few new tricks.
(Probably the biggest difference I see between the Dave+JKC pages and the pure-JKC pages is that Dave is way more diligent about drawing backgrounds than I am.)
And finally, a decade+ later, it's finished. It was a long, strange trip to get here, but I'm pleased with the results. Honestly, it may be my favorite Lady Spectra story to date, or at least tied with my previous favorite, "City Held Hostage". But you tell me: Hit or miss?
As a reward for making it all the way through my rambling, here's a couple more of Dave Berns' unused pages. Dave felt that starting the story off with Leopard's arrest was too abrupt, and suggested adding a prologue to set the stage. I ultimately stuck with my "in media res" opening, but here's what he came up with (all the writing and art on these is by Dave):
Neat, eh? I can't think Dave and Robin enough. "Changing Spots" literally would not exist without them.
And thank YOU for reading!
