Authorship in girls and boys comics

[philcom55]

One oddity about writers is that text pieces tended to be credited in comics where the picture strips never were. It was almost as though the former were seen as proper writing while the comic strips weren't.

[Phoenix]

It was almost as though the former were seen as proper writing while the comic strips weren't.

Well, Phil, that's because the former were. If on the other hand you were to look at both in terms of their overall presentation of stories, you would see a more level playing field.

[philcom55]

Of course writing for comic strips is a specialized skill in its own right, like screenwriting for TV or films. Given that journalism was a profession in which it was common to be paid by the word it isn't surprising that some editors were reluctant to pay anything for those parts of a script that called for wordless sequences - even though these can be particularly hard to write and are, where successful, one of the purest expressions of the art form.

[comixminx]

Of course writing for comic strips is a specialized skill in its own right, like screenwriting for TV or films. Given that journalism was a profession in which it was common to be paid by the word it isn't surprising that some editors were reluctant to pay anything for those parts of a script that called for wordless sequences - even though these can be particularly hard to write and are, where successful, one of the purest expressions of the art form.

Very much agree Phil that comics writing is a specialised skill in its own right.

As far as I can tell from our interviews, I think comics writers were paid by the page of finished art rather than by the word but I will see if any line from that time can confirm.

[philcom55]

I think it was mostly in American comics where writers were occasionally threatened with having their pay docked when they included purely visual sequences in their scripts (especially when an artist was writing and drawing his or her own story).

[comixminx]

I think it was mostly in American comics where writers were occasionally threatened with having their pay docked when they included purely visual sequences in their scripts (especially when an artist was writing and drawing his or her own story).

There was one long sequence in Alpha Flight when it was being written by Chris Claremont I think, and drawn by John Byrne. It featured a fight in a blinding blizzard. All that could be seen was a few words and sound effects. Very effective nonetheless, I remember it well!

[Robbie Moubert]

It was written and drawn by Byrne and he was paid his full page rate as an artist for that sequence.

[paw broon]

Yes, I remember that Alpha Flight sequence. There are some lovely examples of silent pages in comics and one of my favourites is Ragman #4, the back up story set in a graveyard - and drawn by Joe Kubert. More than worth your while looking for it.
Another to look for as a prime example is a Corto Maltese page in L'Ange a' la Fenêtre D'Orient, which appeared in the French collection of Les Celtiques. Apart from a couple of sound effects, this is a wee gem. Needless to say, both these examples are produced by artists of the highest quality at the top of their game

[Lew Stringer]

As far as I can tell from our interviews, I think comics writers were paid by the page of finished art rather than by the word but I will see if any line from that time can confirm.

Yes, that's right. Comics writers always get a page rate for each comics page, not a rate by word like journalists. The page rate for scripts is lower than a page of art, as one would expect.

Same applies to freelance pencillers, inkers, colourists, letterers.

A wordless page would still involve work for the writer because they'd still be describing the action, settings, emotions, etc. (Unless it's that blizzard page that was mentioned.)

[comixminx]

I went to an interesting talk recently about Mexican comics. It seems they had a Golden Age from around the 1930s to the 50s or 60s, with absolutely HUGE print runs - they were literally publishing an issue a day, with daily print runs in the millions! And they ran author credits, for writer & artist & letters. Indeed, one particular writer became household names, and subsequently moved into the soap opera market, which made her very rich by the sounds of it. So in Mexico for sure, author credits were a very normal part of publishing at at that time. Later on they became more obviously 'trashy' - with tits & ass sleaze - and people preferred to use pseudonyms if at all.

[davidandrewsimpson]

Anyone who wants to read a bit about Mexican comics can download issue 4 of The Imp from http://danielraeburn.com/The_Imp,_by_Da ... eburn.html

Fair warning: it mostly deals with the more lurid side of Mexican comics (and boy, could they get lurid).

[paw broon]

Yet another comics corner that interests me. Having a small but rather nice collection of Mexican Masked Superhero Wrestler comics, my researches into Mexican comics has turned up some interesting stuff. It was an amazing phenomenon with, as you say, huge print runs. One of the earliest titles was Chamaco later Chamaco Chico, which ran from 1936-1956 and was the forerunner of the horror tile, El Monje Loco - The Mad Monk. It's very worthwhile having a look for the sites which cover this industry, but I hesitate to post links as many entries lead to downloads for the titles.
Probably the best known genre of Mexican comics is Wrestling - Luchas - and from 1952 and the first appearances in comics of El Santo, El Enmascarado de Plata - The Saint, The man in the silver mask - masked wrestler comics exploded on the world. Blue Demon, Huracan Ramirez, El Rayo, Mil Mascaras, Medico and lots more followed in their own comics and in the series, Sensacional de Luchas. Tinieblas got his own title also. But Santo and others weren't only in comic form, they also appeared in photonovels, a form which enjoyed considerable popularity not only in Mexico, but in South America, Turkey and Italy - e.g. Killing/Kilink. We had a few examples of the genre in the UK. I'll leave others to offer some of the titles.
Most of the titles in Mexico were smaller than our pocket libraries.
This huge industry also offered humour titles, romance, heroes - Kaliman is very popular - and spun off movies by the hundreds.
If anyone fancies a look at some of the titles, pleae let me know and I'll pm links. But an internet search will turn up lots of material.