The Collective
Hey, I hope you’re doing great!
If you did celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving however you wanted to spend it. We sure did - lots of nice food, good company, and activities to keep the kiddos entertained. Plus the usual scrambling to hit deadlines. Such is life. This newsletter is coming in a little hot because of said deadlines, but I didn’t want to miss a week, so here we are.
The fun part about deadlines is that your brain starts to open up to new projects, which isn’t ideal, but it’s also fun. I had the pleasure of a new project cropping up over the long weekend, too, which is always a delight - nothing concrete that I can say much about, but it’ll hopefully have me working with a writer friend I really admire and an artist I’ve been a fan of since forever, so all good things. But it was that initial pink cloud of brainstorming that nudged me toward this week’s topic: collaboration!
I get asked a lot, especially when talking about comics, how I like co-writing. Well, if you follow my career at all, that question answers itself: I do like it! But I think people ask that because they really want to ask something else - why do you co-write? For me, the answer is simple: sometimes the ideas you create together, with someone who writes stories you dig, are better than anything you could do yourself. That doesn’t mean I don’t like writing alone - there are many special projects, not just my novels, that are so personal and woven into my being that I couldn’t imagine writing them with anyone else. But there are also many ideas where I think, hey, it’d be neat to get another voice in the room. But that’s the easy part, no?
So, I figured it might be useful to folks if I talked a bit about how these dynamics can work - if you’re thinking of exploring co-writing, either comics, novels, short stories, or what-have-you.
Also, I should note that this newsletter will never become a “how-to” situation - there are too many paths to writing, or to getting to your desk/table, getting published, or whatever. At most, it’ll be a reflection on how I do it, which will hopefully spur you to create your own way of creating work you love. Hope that makes sense! Anyway, collaborating:
Be a fan. Everyone I collaborate with is someone I admire, as a person, as a creator, etc. My earliest co-writing experience was with someone who I already cared about, my dear friend Matthew Rosenberg/ , my co-writer on Archie Meets Ramones. Matt was a massive Ramones fan (I love ‘em, of course, but Matt’s love for them is much deeper), and we worked every angle to make the book happen. It was the beginning of a fruitful partnership that I hope we can continue down the line sometime. But it’s important to like the person you’re working with - because you’re going to have to be in that person’s head a lot. But here’s the truth - just being friends with someone isn’t enough. We all (hopefully) have a lot of varied friends. Some are great at parties. Some are there when you need a shoulder to cry on. Not all of them are suited for jamming on a comic book, so be mindful of that. How would you envision receiving criticism from this person? Or taking it? That’s important. But first and foremost? You should probably like each other.
Best Idea Wins. My frequent collaborator, Rob Hart, who I co-wrote a comic, novella, and upcoming sci-fi/espionage book, says this a lot and it’s very true. When you’re co-writing, be sure to check your ego at the door. It is never going to be a completely 50/50 split in terms of ideas, work, and time. Some days, one writer will spend more hours on a script, or get more of their jokes in. Other days, it’s you. But your guiding principle should be that the best idea wins: meaning, you’re both striving for the best work, a culmination of your merged skills, not checking boxes to make sure you’re all sated when you finish the draft.
Find a method that works for you. Not all co-writing situations are identical, and that means how you work together is going to vary. I’ve co-written a lot, with many different people, and none of the stages are the same. With Monica Gallagher / , the talented co-creator and co-writer of The Black Ghost (which I discuss at length here), we usually have a long, brainstorm-y phonecall to kick things off, then we riff in a Google doc until we’re literally blinded by the rainbow track changes. It works for us. Eventually, one of us will tidy up the doc and we can move to the actual work. With Liz Little, co-creator and co-writer of The Dusk, it’s purely done in the Google doc, texting, and the rare email. Oftentimes, we’re watching the other person make changes in the document, which can be terrifying but also fun? With Micheal Moreci, co-creator and co-writer on The Awakened and our upcoming Dick Tracy series, it’s a bit more formal - we’ll hop on the phone, hash out big ideas, then one of us will put pen to paper and we’ll just…alternate. Mike will write up the plot for one issue, we’ll split the scripting by scene, then trade and mark up each other’s work. This is all to say your methodology, or your path to getting to the completed work, is always going to change when working with a new person. So be open to the process morphing, otherwise you might not really want a collaborator on this project.
Show your cards. I like co-writing because I get to see how other writers work - and I learn from that. Whether it’s a small formatting thing or a bigger procedural/editing note, I’m a sponge when I’m collaborating. It makes me a better writer to see how others do it. On the flipside, I can’t be precious about my own methods, because it’s a two-way street. Some writers are almost proprietary with how they do things - scripting, plotting, pacing, whatever. But if you’re going to co-write a project, whether it’s a short story, novel, comic, or podcast, you have to be transparent with how you get your work done - otherwise, you’re putting the entire thing at a disadvantage. It also provides a great opportunity for mentorship, which is one of my favorite things to do - help a writer learn how to write in a different medium. When Rob Hart and I started Blood Oath, he hadn’t written a comic before - so for the first issue (and the build-up to the writing of that script), I just showed him how I did it. That wasn’t etched in stone, and like I said before, we all have our own methods - but I wanted to show him my path to getting a script done. We were also working “Marvel Method” with our artist, Joe Eisma, so Rob got to see under the hood as we went from idea to plot to script to art. I take no credit for Rob’s success, but it was cool to see him absorb the information and now channel it his own way, writing his own stuff solo. Those are the things that feel really valuable.
Another example of this was on The Rejects, a short-lived series I did for Interpop with my friend, Chantelle Aimée Osman (who is also a creative consultant on Dick Tracy). Chantelle is a great writer, acclaimed editor, and all-around publishing pro. But she’d never written a comic. When I got the gig, I was clear with my editor that I was slammed with other projects, and I wanted to use this opportunity to help Chantelle get her feet wet in the medium - and it turned out to be a really fun experience (so much so that we’re working on something else - more on that soon!). But to my bigger point - it was all about showing my notes, and then being open to the process changing after that. I think one of the issues that often crop up in situations like these is the power imbalance - that the more experienced person automatically has the most say, and I kind of hate that. Rob and Chantelle are great talents and great storytellers - it’s really a formatting and process issue, so the key for me was to make sure we were contributing as equals from the drop, while they learned the craft as we worked.
Find a good referee. Again, you’re ideally working with a friend, your method is sound, and you’re bursting with creativity. But once in a while, you need a gut check. You need someone to say they prefer A over B idea, or to offer solutions when you and your collaborator are stumped. That’s where the editor comes in, and when you’re working on a creator-owned comic, you often have a say in who that person is. Creator-owned comic editing is different from work-for-hire. The editor works for you, as opposed to being a company person who is looking out for the publisher’s IP. The best creator-owned editors focus on making sure the work as a whole is great, in the same vein as Best Idea Wins. They want to make your work shine - cumulatively. They’re not interested in making sure Writer X has the same amount of dialogue tweaks as Writer Y. They just want a good book. I’ve been blessed to have some wonderful editors on my creator-owned work (and work for hire, but you know what I mean), folks who amplify and improve on what the creators are doing - folks like Greg Lockard (The Black Ghost), Heather Antos (Blood Oath), Brian Cunningham (The Awakened), and Joseph Illidge (creative consultant on The Dusk). The best editors treat each book as an all-boats-rise scenario, and they provide a third perspective to the process that is often essential.
Know when to play. I do a lot of different things and not all of them are collaborative. I write most of my novels alone. Most of my Marvel and DC work is solo, and some of my creator-owned work is, too. I think the key is to be able to connect with yourself and ask “is this the kind of idea where I want another voice in the room?” Sometimes, we don’t. I couldn’t imagine, for example, co-writing Secret Identity, or The Legendary Lynx. Those projects were really personal to me and I didn’t need any more instruments in the band - I could hear the song clearly. The same goes for work-for-hire stuff that would actually be slowed down or derailed with too many cooks. Sometimes having one voice expedites the process, and that’s ideal when the path is clear. But it’s something you have to be honest with yourself about.
Hope this was helpful! If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them next week. ASK ME ANYTHING I GUESS.
UPDATES: WHITE TIGER, MARA LLAVE, DICK TRACY!
I got to contribute a two-part White Tiger story to Marvel Unlimited/Infinity Comics’s Loki: The Bifrost and the Furious mini-event, spearheaded by the great Karla Pacheco and editor supreme Sarah Brunstad. It was a blast to re-team with artist Alba Glez, who does a magnificent job of bringing my story to life - and it was extra-fun to jam with Karla, Sarah, and fellow contributors/pals/rock stars Preeti Chhibber, Jason Loo, and J Holtham. But the best part? Writing that self-centered creep, Kraven the Hunter! I’m pretty proud of the story, which plays a key role in the bigger event but also sheds some light on Ava Ayala and her own personal trauma - and how she’s trying to overcome it. I got to write White Tiger in a recent Marvel Voices: Comunidades story with Roge Antonio, and it was a rare treat to get to pick up some of the threads we dropped there. Hope you enjoy it! You can read both stories via Marvel Unlimited!
Also, in case you missed it last week, our action-adventure newspaper strip, Mara Llave: Keeper of Time, is back at King Features/Comics Kingdom, from me and artist/co-creator Nickolej Villiger! We talk a bit about our inspiration and tease what’s to come in this interview for the Comics Kingdom site.
On the Dick Tracy front, Publishers Weekly shed some light on the backstory behind us acquiring the license and bringing the IP to Mad Cave in this licensing/publishing roundup piece (scroll to the bottom). I’ve been watching as artist Geraldo Borges’s pages come in and they’re just beautiful.Please make sure you let your retailer know you want a copy!
LINKS
I love John Cale, so it’s always a treat to hear new music from him.
My buddy Keith Champagne’s Kickstarter is in its final days - give it a peek and please consider backing it!
The Comics Advocacy Group just launched.
Chris Claremont interviews are always entertaining.
I only recently discovered Sam Wasson, author of the superb The Big Goodbye, had a Francis Ford Coppola bio coming out - which excited me greatly. Check out this excerpt at CrimeReads.
Next week: I’ll share my thoughts on the whole “comics are dying” debate (maybe), shed some light on the things I’m reading and enjoying (spoiler: Mike Carey’s X-Men run is very good!), and the usual odds and ends.
Hope you have a great week!
Best,
Alex