Guts N' Gutters #2 (November 2024)
Campaign wrap-ups, my favorite graphic novels, and my thoughts on writers choosing sound effects text in scripts all in this week's newsletter!
TL;DR (Too Long Don’t (Wanna) Read)
Campaign Wrap-Ups!
Crit One 3 Updates
Krazy Kat Anthology
The Best Graphic Novels I Read This Year
Into the Gutters: Sound Effects & Character
Go support Smut #2, Bar Veuve Noire & Someone’s Died at Adventure Mountain #1 on Kickstarter!
Welcome back! Sorry for the duplicate newsletters last month. I’m still learning how to navigate a mailing list, and I thought I was editing one draft, but somehow, I scheduled two that I was simultaneously editing… I’ll be writing these off-site from now on to avoid this happening again.
WHAT’S THE WORD?
Languid - lacking bodily energy or motivation
CAMPAIGNS WRAP-UPS!
Thank you to everyone who supported these campaigns. I definitely overdid it this year with projects, but I’m finally at the point where nearly everything is done. December might be a boring month, newsletter-wise, but that’s ok. We all need breaks.
Crit One 3
Crit One 3 is moving right along and officially in pre-launch. Our logo has a mock-up, we have three, maybe four comics in process (by returning contributors Daniel Wilson, Ryan Devine, Tom Lynott & CGhirardo), some microfiction, and a few pinups. Besides organizing the zine, my contributions will feature a comic by me, Dave Hingley & Tom Lynott, and an original RPG I’m designing called Coven’s Keep.
Charity Anthology - Krazy Kat Comic
KVGIR and I have finished the Krazy Kat comic and the anthology it will be a part of should launch sometime next year. Stay tuned!
“Best Graphic Novels I Read” Short List
Each year I do a “10 Best Graphic Novels I Read” article on Medium. My list of candidates is always much longer than 10, so I have to make some tough choices. As a treat for my subscribers, I wanted to include the FULL LIST of graphic novels that will be drawn from to make this year's article!
Anais Nin: A Sea of Lies by Leone Bischoff
Angela: Asgard’s Assassin by Kieran Gillen, Marguerite Bennet, Stephanie Hans, Phil Jimenez, Tom Palmer, Le Beau Underwood, Scott Hanna, Robin Fajardo Jr. & VC’s Clayton Cowles
These Savage Shores by Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone & Aditya Bidikar
20th Century Men by Deniz Camp, Stipan Morian & Aditya Bidikar
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End by Kanehito Yamada & Tsukasa Abe
I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly & JM Ken Nimura
Breaking Pointe by S.T. Gillard, Renan Balmonte, Nicolas Faluotico & Michael Eastop
Meanwhile… A Comics Shop Anthology edited by Kevin Sharp & Ryan Higgins
Earthdivers by Stephen Graham Jones, Davide Gianfelice, Joana Lafuente & Steve Wands
Let Her Be Evil edited by Cassandra Jones
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison et al.
Portrait of a Body by Julia Delporte
When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll
Prokaryote Season by Leo Fox
All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant, Phil Balsman & Travis Lanham
Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby, Mike Royer & Vince Colletta
3 Story by Matt Kindt
Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa
Ambitious Failures by Richard Fairgray
Lavender Clouds by Bex Ollerton
Unnatural by Mirka Andolfo
Here are the previous articles if you’re interested in my past selections: 2023, 2022, 2021
INTO THE GUTTERS
When Sounds are More than Sounds
A recent tweet by letterer-extraordinaire, Nate Piekos, inspired this month’s article:
I’ll take any excuse to talk about comic book lettering.
This is an interesting question: Should writers always include sound effects in their scripts? Comics writing is already a balancing act of including enough detail so the artistic team knows what scenes and stories need to be told but not so much detail that it chokes everyone else’s creative voice. The letterer tends to have less say (though it shouldn’t be this way) over the overall vision, so I could see letting them decide the types of sound effects being a way to include them more.
However, I argue that this isn’t necessarily what’s best for a cohesive comic.
First, I think it’s best to ask “What’s the purpose of a sound effect?” Is it to simply display that a non-dialogue sound is happening? I think any comic reader or creator would quickly say “no”. Sound effects often interact with the art, taking the shape of the sound’s source or being styled in a way that mimics the feeling of the sound. It’s a tall order, as the letterer has to take an intangible sensation and display it visually. Great letters often tug at many senses at once when crafting a sound effect.
All lettering is important to the character of the book. Letter and founder of Comicraft, Richard Starkings, argued that the lettering is essential to a comic’s identity. However, unlike dialogue (where, in most instances, the lettering should blend seamlessly with the art) sound effects have to mesh and be noticed. It is the most obvious way that lettering establishes this identity.
As an example from my recent Krazy Kat comic. I opted for the sound effect “doink” in this panel.
While I could have used “thud” or “crack” (and they might have been more accurate) I thought “doink” was a better fit. The comic is meant to be funny and I thought that sound would be more humorous, more like a cartoon. Even the creator of Krazy Kat, Geo Herriman, took some liberties with his sound effects. The sound accompanying Ignatz’s famous brick throwing is always “zip” despite a “whoosh” or “foop” being closer to a real sound. “Zip” is funnier, but it also communicates how swiftly and harshly the brick is being thrown. It shows not only sound, but the intensity and speed of the action. Like I said, great sound effects hit multiple senses.
This is the amount of thought that should go into sound effects for a comic script. Writers shouldn’t arbitrarily choose them or leave them out of the script. The onomatopeia chosen shows just as much voice as poetic dialogue or the camera angle of the panel. Writers should absolutely include sound effects in the script, or, at the very least, collaborate with the letterer to make something awesome together.
GUTTER BUDS
TWO OF THESE CAMPAIGNS ARE NSFW. PROCEED WITH THAT IN MIND.
Shout out to these campaigns by friends and colleagues!
A perfectionist domme lets her girlfriend take the reins for a night, how hard can that be? A 20-page comic about trust and sex! Wells is a fantastic writer and knocked it out with the first issue. I’m expecting this series to get better with each installment.
A tender monster comic for an adult audience. This is my dear friend Jerna’s first graphic novel that she’s crowdfunding, so go support her!
Someone’s Died at Adventure Mountain #1
A 22-page comedic neo-noir comic about a murder investigation at a sketchy amusement park where everyone’s a drunk teenager or a negligent adult, and most everything’s held together with duct tape or hope. This book is being drawn by one of my favorite artists, Lane Lloyd, and it sounds delightfully chaotic.