TPG Week 75: Leave ‘Em Wanting MORE!

| June 1, 2012

Hello, and welcome to another fun trip to The Proving Grounds! This week, our Brave One is Sam Roads, who brings us a tale called

Bridge of Light

A five-page graphic novel script,

set in the world of Phosphorus.

 (Getting this out of the way quick before we start for real: always do your best to submit in a format that gives the least trouble to your editor. This file is a mess of extraneous spaces and cut up lines and it makes it very hard to input any comments. I’m going to survive, but it’s a strike against you for format and I haven’t read anything yet.)

Page 1 (7 Panels) Note: All captions are written as if it

were an instant messenger window at the bottom of the panel.

They should have a computer window border, and be in a

computer font, ideally something simple like Arial, not the

usual comic lettering. (I like what Sam did here. He has some notes for the letterer that apply to the whole comic so he put it right here at the top.)

Panel 1 Medium front on Jack. He is sat cross-legged, with

his laptop on his legs. The light from the computer

uplights his face. He is impassive. He is sat under a big

wooden dining table.  (Can we see anything around him?)

Caption MY NAME IS JACK. I CAN BEAT ALL FIFTY LEVELS

OF DINO DERBY AND I HAVE BLUE HAIR, BUT I SCORE ZERO

STARS OUT OF FIVE IN A NATIONAL CATASTROPHE. HOWEVER,

I SCORE FORTY-FIVE OUT OF SIXTY ON THE CHILDHOOD

AUTISM RATING SCALE.

Panel 2 Computer screen fills the top two thirds, the

bottom is Jack’s hands on the keyboard and tracker pad. He

has his fingers stretched in a complex shape, like a piano

virtuoso. He has delicate hands and fingers. The screen

has a background of a simple map of London, with the

Thames marked out in blue and a red dot where the

Millennium bridge is. Plastered on this background are

several windows containing CCTV images. The images are

shots from below in the story, though at this size we’re

unlikely to make out any details other than they are the

same shots. (You might want to be more precise here and specify the exact shots, if only to make life easier for your artist. Remember: always try to make things easier for your artist. It’s just five minutes for you to type up a panel description for a panel that might take him a couple of hours. Appreciate the difference in effort and give him as much info as possible.) They have time and date stamps on them.

Caption THIS IS THE MILLENNIUM BRIDGE IN LONDON. I

PERFORMED A ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN DEEP

DAISY-CHAINED KLUGE ON THE CORE NETWORK HUB, SO NOW I

CAN ACCESS ALL THE LOCAL CCTV CAMERAS.

Panel 3 London, evening, just after sunset. Wide angle,

looking at Saint Paul’s (North) from the Tate Modern

(South), all along the Millenium Bridge. (Your artist might very well not be from where you’re describing. Here is a perfect time for reference pics.) The Bridge is lit

up beautifully, and people on the bridge are well lit from

the lights. Many people are walking across it, evening

strollers, workers going home after a late day at the

office, those off to a show on the South Bank. At the

centre stands Lou. She waits poised, like royalty, hands

clasped in front of her.

Caption THIS IS LOU. SHE GETS STUCK ON LEVEL 3 OF DINO

DERBY AND SOMETIMES WEARS HER HAIR WRONG, BUT SHE’S MY

FRIEND. SHE SCORES FOUR STARS OUT OF FIVE IN A

NATIONAL CATASTROPHE.

Panel 4 High angle, medium facing Director Michaels as he

walks through the crowds, along the bridge from the south,

towards the middle of the bridge.  (What’s his expression?)

Caption THIS IS JOHN MICHAELS. I DON’T KNOW IF HE

PLAYS DINO DERBY. HE MUST LIKE ME BECAUSE HE REALLY

WANTS TO MEET ME. IT’S HIS JOB TO PREPARE EVERYONE FOR

A NATIONAL CATASTROPHE SO HE SCORES FIVE STARS OUT OF

FIVE.

Panel 5 Side view, medium, of the two. Michaels looks

businesslike, eyes narrowed a little, Lou smiles slightly,

face and posture open and friendly, she has her hand

extended for a handshake, but Michaels is not

reciprocating. Michaels is on the left and Lou on the

right. Behind them looks west along the Thames.

MICHAELS

THIS HAD BETTER BE WORTH IT, MADAM.

IT’S NOT EVERY DAY I AGREE TO PUT

THE AFFAIRS OF THE SECURITY SERVICE

TO ONE SIDE SIMPLY TO MEET SOMEONE

WHO CLAIMS TO HAVE INFORMATION FOR

ME.

MICHAELS

SO. I’M DIRECTOR MICHAELS. AND YOU

ARE?

Panel 6 Medium front on Lou. She has folded her arms, and

stands with the weight on one leg. She looks direct and

determined. (I like this a lot. Notice how Sam always specifies his camera angle and tells the artist what the characters are doing. They aren’t static cardboard cutouts. And he’s not neglecting to describe their expression most of the time either. Very good!)

LOU

SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHERE TO FIND

JACK WEISCZ.

LOU

BUT THE BAD NEWS, HONEY, IS THAT

I’M NOT HERE TO INFORM.

Panel 7 Close on Lou. She dips her head slightly, and

therefore looks up at our POV. She points sideways with

her right hand, held up at chest height, as would look at

the end of wagging it in a ‘no way’ gesture.

LOU

I’M HERE TO TELL YOU TO DROP THE

INVESTIGATION.

LOU

STOP LOOKING FOR HIM.

Okay, so we have P1 on the books. I’ve got to say, besides the formatting quirks, this is looking pretty good.

We have narration that is generally crisp and definitely has a voice. We have character introductions, we have character dialogue that has personality, and we immediately delve right into the story. It’s even mostly interesting.

Know what we don’t have? We don’t have any butler/maiding going on. We don’t have extraneous dialogue, and we don’t have a writer who’s leaving anyone in the dark, be it the creative team or the audience.

Showing my age, to quote Rakim Allah, This is how it should be done. There isn’t much to do here. A place or two that could be a tad clearer, and maybe a question to ask about the last few panels (such as: are these last few panels supposed to be from the CCTV? If so, are they supposed to be grainy looking and in b/w? If that’s the case, you’re going to want to let the colorist know, so they can work their magic. If they’re not, then say that as well, so there’s no mistaking it.).

This is a good first page. Well done.

Page 2 (6 Panels)(Page Break) (Huh? Why not do a page break instead of just mentioning it?)

Panel 1 This panel is wide and short. The title is just

the Phosphorus art deco logo, plus the name in text, wide

and short. (This caption is not one of Jack’s texts.) (See this? There’s an exception to the letterer’s note from earlier so Sam doesn’t forget to mention it here. He just eliminated any doubt and answered the other team member’s question before it even got asked. This is ideally what you should all strive for when writing scripts.)

Caption Phosphorus: The Bridge of Light

Panel 2 Wide, over Lou’s shoulder looking at Michaels. He

has taken a step towards Lou and has his weight forwards,

aggressively. He is jabbing a finger at her, with the

thumb supporting the finger to give it extra weight. He

looks icy angry. Behind him, passers by are avoiding the

angry scene.

MICHAELS

LET ME MAKE MYSELF CRYSTAL CLEAR, (Period, not comma.) I

DIDN’T COME HERE TO NEGOTIATE. I

CAME ON THE SLIGHT CHANCE THAT YOU

HAVE INFORMATION THAT WILL LEAD ME

TO JACK WEISCZ.

MICHAELS

AND AS FOR DROPPING THE

INVESTIGATION…

Panel 3 Worm’s eye view looking up at the two of them,

from whatever angle works best for you. The sky above is

beautiful with clouds just catching the last rays of the

sun, already set.

MICHAELS

(If you finished the character’s speech with an ellipsis in the last panel, start again with one here.) JACK WEISCZ IS FOURTH ON OUR TOP

TEN LIST OF INDIVIDUALS WHO POSE A

THREAT TO HER MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT.

MICHAELS

LAST MONTH HE BROACHED THE

FIREWALLS AT GCHQ AND LAST WEEK HE

HACKED THE PM’S PC, FOR GOD’S SAKE!

Panel 4 Medium on Lou, standing with arms folded, at a

slight angle, eyes looking a little sideways at us, one

eyebrow is raised a little, a tiny smile on one side of

her mouth (somewhat like the Mona Lisa). The overall

effect is that her words appear sincere, whilst she is

clearly actually making fun of Michaels.

LOU

GOLLY.

LOU

THAT CERTAINLY SOUNDS VERY SERIOUS.

Panel 5 Close on Michaels, angry, filling the panel. He is

squinting for emphasis, lips drawn tight, nose wrinkled in

disgust.

MICHAELS

DO I LOOK LIKE THE FASHION EDITOR

OF THE SHOPPING CHANNEL?

MICHAELS

YOU ARE DEALING WITH BLOODY MI5

HERE. YOU DO <b>NOT<\b> WANT TO

SCREW WITH US. (I don’t know what happened with the formatting here – I have HTML tags instead of bolding – but you should use underlining for emphasis. It stands out a lot more and won’t accidentally be missed by you letterer.)

Panel 6 Profile, medium. Lou on the left, Michaels on the

right. Lou looks slightly alarmed, eyes widening a little,

leaning back a few inches. Michaels has reddened with rage

and his spit flies from his mouth. He isn’t bellowing. His

left hand is pointing wildly to his left and behind him

(South West of where they are standing). Behind the scene,

a passing pedestrian, a middle-aged, overweight black lady

in a posh matching purple skirt, suit, handbag and hat,

looks at Michaels in alarm.

MICHAELS

THIS IS HOW IT IS GOING TO GO. YOU

WILL <B>IMMEDIATELY</B> ACCOMPANY

ME BACK TO THAMES HOUSE. (Same here)

MICHAELS

YOU WILL TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU

KNOW.

MICHAELS

AND YOU WILL GIVE ME JACK WEISCZ!

Know what? This is cracking along at a pretty good clip. Lots of personality being shown here, and it’s coming across beautifully.

Let’s talk about camera angle for a moment. There’s one thing I’m tired of seeing, though. I’m tired of seeing these over the shoulder shots. Some of you rely on them way too heavily. I suggest going over the Wally Wood 22 panels. There are different ways to depict talking heads, but a lot of you seem to focus on these over the shoulder shots. Pretty boring.

Also, what was that worm’s eye view for? That seemed to be rather arbitrary, and as such, it was out of place. If you can’t think of a camera placement that works, just leave it, and let the artist worry about it. The artist should be free to change up camera angles and page composition as necesssary to tell the story, anyway.

As described, this page could use a tad bit of work. Just the camera angles alone are bringing it down. The angle that things are shown is almost as important as the subject matter. Treat it as such, and not the arbitrary stuff you have here.

Page 3 (5 Panels)(Page Break)

Panel 1 Medium, angle slightly looking up at Lou at the

required angle for Saint Paul’s to sit behind her

shoulder. Saint Paul’s is lit by spotlights. Lou looks

strong, calm and resolute. Iconic.

LOU

NO.

Panel 2 High view, wide. This shot is through a sniper’s

scope, with a big cross-hair. The sniper is using

nightvision, so everything is in green. The sniper is atop

one of the nearby buildings, at a 3/4 angle, different to

the above panel. Lou is still standing calmly, whilst

Michaels has raised his hands over his head in

frustration. Lou is in the sights, aimed exactly at her

heart.

MICHAELS

WHAT?

MICHAELS

YOU’RE CONNECTED TO A CLASS A

TERRORIST. YOU’VE REFUSED TO

COOPERATE WITH AN AUTHORISED AGENT

OF THE CROWN. DO YOU KNOW HOW THIS

TURNS OUT?

Panel 3 High view, medium/medium-wide. This is the exact

same angle, but the sniper has zoomed in. Still all in

green. Michaels is now pointing at Lou’s chest, she is in

the same pose. (Cross-hair)

MICHAELS

I HAVE A SNIPER CURRENTLY AIMING AN

L96 RIGHT AT YOUR HEART. STANDARD

PROCEDURE CLEARS ME TO ISSUE A KILL

ORDER.

MICHAELS

STILL WANT TO MESS WITH ME?

Panel 4 High view, closer medium, same angle as above,

zoomed in further. Still in green. Lou has turned her head

to stare exactly at the sniper’s POV and has a grin.

(Cross-hair)

LOU

OH, DIRECTOR MICHAELS, I’M SURE

THAT YOU ARE VERY SCARY INDEED. BUT

YOU ARE SIMPLY NOT GOING TO GIVE

THAT KILL ORDER.

Panel 5 Very extreme close-up on Lou’s smile, maybe just

half of it fitting the panel. (No cross-hair, back to real

colours.)

LOU

AND HERE’S WHY.

Sam, this is pretty damned good.

In three pages, you’ve introduced characters, set the scenario, and left a little mystery. You have enough here to capture a reader’s imagination.

You started late without losing anyone, and every page ends with leading the reader to the next page. Not necessarily a mini-cliffhanger that Brian Vaughn was famous for during Y: The Last Man, but enough to have the reader interested to see what the next page was about.

You’re leaving them wanting more, and that’s always a great thing.

Very good work here.

One thing that I would have done, though, to add just a bit of lightheartedness to this, is have Lou wave to the sniper. Just having her turn to face them with a grin isn’t enough. I see enough of a playful nature with her to actually wave. Maybe a Queen’s wave, with fingers together and hand cupped, hand held no higher than her head; or a straight elbow, hand up high, fingers splayed like she was trying to hail a taxi. Either would work for my money.

Page 4 (6 Panels)(Page Break)

Panel 1 High angle, wide, profile, Lou on the left. There

are (as always) pedestrians walking by, leaving these two

in their little bubble of conversation. In the Thames a

wide pleasure boat is passing, 50 revellers enjoying a

party, with ballgowns, dinner jackets and glasses of

champagne. Lou has one hand on her hips, balled into a

fist, she is looking at Michaels. He has his arms crossed.

LOU

JACK WEISCZ IS A DARLING SEVENTEEN

YEAR-OLD BOY WHO IS PRETTY FAR UP

THE AUTISM SPECTRUM.

LOU

IN EACH OF THESE RUNS HE ONLY

SEARCHED, UNSUCCESSFULLY, FOR FILES

WHICH CONTAINED BOTH THE WORDS

‘ZOMBIE’ AND ‘APOCALYPSE’…

Panel 2 3/4 medium on Lou. She is examining the back of

her hand, looking at her lilac nails. She is partially out

of shot. (If she’s partially out of shot, what can we see in the rest o the panel?)

LOU

HOW EMBARRASSING THAT HIS HIT ON

NUMBER 10 OCCURRED DURING A

HIGH-ALERT TRAINING DAY FOR YOUR

WHITE HAT HACKERS, WHEN SECURITY

WOULD HAVE BEEN EXTRA TIGHT.

LOU

BUT THAT HARDLY MAKES HIM A CLASS A

TERRORIST.

Panel 3 Close on Lou. She has one eyebrow raised,

sardonically.

LOU

AND PERHAPS YOU’RE NOT YET AWARE OF

HIS THIRD HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST THE

NATION?

LOU

HE HACKED EVERY WATERSTONE’S TO

PRE-ORDER HIMSELF A NEW LINUX

MANUAL. WHY? BECAUSE HE DIDN’T KNOW

EXACTLY WHICH BRANCH HE’D BE IN

NEXT.

Panel 4 For this panel, look at Michaels so that we can

see the Tate Modern behind him (uplit by spotlights), in a

not dissimilar shot to page 3, panel 1. Michaels is

looking confused and harassed. Lou is walking round him,

speaking to him from the side.

MICHAELS

BUT –

LOU

SO, MY DEAR, ON THE ONE HAND

THERE’S A BADLY DRESSED BOY WHO’S

MADE YOUR SERVICE LOOK STUPID, ON

YOUR WATCH, BUT WHO IS ACTUALLY NO

THREAT WHATSOEVER.

LOU

HMM? AND ON THE OTHER IT APPEARS

THERE’S A (ahem) RATHER WELL

DRESSED WOMAN OFFERING TO MAKE THIS

ALL GO AWAY.

Panel 5 Profile on them, medium. Lou is now leaning in

towards Michaels, conspiratorially more than aggressively.

 He is somewhat cowed, but not cringing. Michaels is on

the left, Lou is on the right.

LOU

NOW. HERE’S WHERE I TELL YOU WHAT

YOUR OPTIONS ARE. IF YOU TAKE JACK

DOWN, I’LL WRITE A LETTER TO THE

TIMES, WITH ALL THE EMBARRASSING

LITTLE DETAILS.

LOU

YOUR REPUTATION WILL TAKE A NOSE

DIVE AND YOUR CAREER WILL MOST

CERTAINLY BE OVER.

Panel 6 Straight on Michaels, holding his head with one

hand, like he has a headache.

LOU (OP)

AND YOU DON’T WANT YOUR CAREER TO

BE OVER.

MICHAELS

YOU SIMPLY CAN’T THREATEN ME LIKE

THIS! I HAVE A SNIPER, REMEMBER?

Okay, we’re near the end, and only at the end of the page do we have our first real mistake.

In the very last panel of the page, the dialogue doesn’t match the action.

If you’re holding your head like you have a headache, then I would imagine having my eyes closed as I massaged or rubbed or whatever. I wouldn’t have my eyes closed while talking about a sniper. I’d be pointing toward the sniper, if I had to remind someone that I had one.

Here’s the trick to dialogue: for each character, the last thing said has to match the action in the panel description. If someone is talking about baking a cake in one balloon, and then suddenly yells Look out! in another, then their action should match the second balloon, not the first.

His action and his dialogue don’t match, and they should.

A decent-to-good artist would change that up. They’d have him pointing or something. Some action that would match what was being said. They would do this, as long as they were given the freedom to think. Give them that freedom, and more often than not, you’ll get something that is superior to what the script called for.

Page 5 (8 Panels)(Page Break)

Panel 1 3/4 medium on young black sniper, who is lying on

a skyscraper roof. ( 3/4 medium ? You could have found a simpler and clearer way to say this, Sam, especially since you need to show both his cut up cloak (on his back) and the barrel of his gun (in front of him.) He is lit by moonlight. Pigeon crap and

stones lie about. He is in grey camouflage and has a grey

gun. Part of his camouflage cloak is cut up. A piece of

grey cloth looking like a crudely shaped man (like you

would make with paper cutting), with a circle/hole for a

head, has been looped over the barrel. The sniper has just

pulled his eye back from the sight and is focusing on the

cloth, slightly alarmed.

Caption KURT BARKER WAS HERE THREE AND A HALF MINUTES

AGO. HE’S NEVER PLAYED DINER DASH AND HE’S LOU’S

FRIEND. HE SCORES FIVE STARS OUT OF FIVE IN A NATIONAL

CATASTROPHE.

LOU (OP)

I’M AFRAID MY MAN PAID YOUR DARLING

SNIPER A LITTLE VISIT. BUT DON’T

WORRY, HE’S A GENTLE SOUL AND

DIDN’T HURT HIM.

LOU (OP)

HOPEFULLY.

Panel 2 Extreme close up on Lou’s eyes.

LOU

NONE OF US, INCLUDING JACK, HAVE

ANY INTEREST IN IMPEDING THE WORK

OF HER MAJESTY’S SERVANTS.

LOU

WE JUST WANT YOU TO LEAVE US ALONE.

TO LEAVE JACK ALONE. SO MAKE THINGS

EASY FOR BOTH OF US. DROP THE

INVESTIGATION.

Panel 3 3/4 wide. (small panel) Michaels grabs the bridge

with both hands and stares out along the Thames, looking

resigned. Lou leans on her elbow, looking towards and past

him.

MICHAELS

IF I AGREE, HOW CAN I TRUST YOU?

LOU

OH SWEETIE, YOU CAN’T. BUT, WELL,

HOW CAN I PUT THIS, ONE OF YOUR

CHOICES WILL DEFINITELY LEAD TO THE

END OF YOUR CAREER. THE OTHER ONLY

MIGHT.

Panel 4 Medium, over Michael’s shoulder as he looks at

Lou. She is in the pose of one who has just thrown the

dice at a craps table, he has his hands spread.

LOU

DEFINITE FAILURE, OR ROLL THE DICE.

 IT’S A CHOICE THAT IS NO CHOICE,

HONEY.

MICHAELS

HELL. ALL RIGHT.

MICHAELS

BUT I CAN’T SPEAK FOR WHAT OTHER

GOVERNMENTS MIGHT DO. THE FBI

ALREADY HAVE AN EXTRADITION WARRANT

OUTSTANDING.

Panel 5 3/4 wide, (Small panel) loosely mimicking Panel 3,

with Lou holding the railings and looking out along the

Thames and Michaels looking at her (though he isn’t

leaning), looking demoralised. The 3/4 angle should be the

other diagonal.

LOU

AH, IT’S SWEET OF YOU TO CARE. BUT

WE’LL TAKE OUR CHANCES IN THE BIG

BAD WORLD.

Panel 6 Medium. Looking over Michaels’ shoulder at Lou as

she walks away, with a catwalk model’s grace.

MICHAELS

WAIT. I DIDN’T CATCH YOUR NAME.

LOU

NO, YOU DIDN’T.

Panel 7 Front of Lou, medium, walking towards us, her face

is a little rueful. In the far background Michaels is

stood, holding the railing with each hand and exhaling to

calm himself.

LOU (QUIETLY, TO HERSELF)

and you don’t want to know who you

just did a deal with.

Panel 8 Wide shot of the bridge, high angle. We can barely

make out Michaels, Lou is lost in the crowds. The panel

has a computer’s window border and a timestamp: 19:45

10/09/20?? (the last two digits are obscured or don’t fit

on the screen, so this panel doesn’t date.), because it is

a CCTV feed on Jack’s laptop. In the bottom right corner

is the Phosphorus ‘single line’ logo, as a window popup

overlaid over the above.

Caption THIS BRIDGE IS BAD. THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE

WALKING RANDOMLY SO YOU CAN’T GET OUT OF THEIR WAY IN

TIME. IF EVERYONE WALKED ON THE LEFT, NO-ONE WOULD

BUMP INTO ANYONE. I’M GLAD LOU IS OFF THE BRIDGE.

Let’s run this down.

Format: This was the worst part of this script. Once you got used to it, it kinda fell into the background, but it was jarring at first. I don’t know how to fix it without seeing what he did, so we’ll just call it bad for now, and keep it moving.

Panel Descriptions: Pretty good! Just about everything that was needed was in every PD. You did exactly what you needed to do, in some cases.

I’ve said it before, folks, and I’ll say it again: it’s perfectly okay to talk to the creative team in the script. It doesn’t strictly have to be Allen shoots Mark in the gut. You can talk to the various people, letting them know what you want them to do, just like Sam did here with the letterer. He gave the letterer a blanket set of instructions, and when there was an exception, he told the letterer about it. Absolutely wonderful.

What I want Sam to do, though, is to get away from the over the shoulder shots. I see them too much lately. More thought also has to be given to some of the camera angles. This is also where an editor would be very helpful.

Pacing: Almost perfect. Almost.

You wanted five pages to get this done in, and that’s fine. There’s no real fat here. However, that last page is a little cramped, and could use a small trim.

I’m not going to say that eight panels is verboten, but it’s damned close. Eight panels is a no-man’s land. A comics page can comfortably hold seven panels, and then you kinda skip over eight to go to a nine-panel grid. Remember, the more panels on the page, the smaller the panels have to be. On P5, if you cut panel 2, and cut the first balloon, moving the second balloon to the third panel, then this is now a seven-panel page, and is no longer cramped.

Like I said, the pacing here is almost perfect. You kept the reader wanting more, wanting to know what happened next. Very good job.

Dialogue: Outstanding. Everyone has a distinctive voice, and I could picture everyone saying what they did. Superb. There are a few comma-fails in there (P3, panel 4, first balloon), but nothing too egregious.

Also, you have to remain consistent. You start out talking about Dino Derby, but end talking about Diner Dash (with another comma-fail.). Which is it? A minor gaffe that a second read-through would pick up, or an editor. But really, this dialogue is very good.

Also, the dialogue is in all caps. This is something that allows him to see at a glance about how much space would be taken up by text.

Content: As a reader, I’m interested. I want to know where this goes. Sounds very Mercury Rising, though. (I watch a lot of movies.) But I would give this an issue to see if it could keep my interest for a second issue.

From an editorial standpoint, there isn’t much to do here. A nudge here and there, but really, good stuff all around. There’s a reason for that.

This is the third iteration of this script that Sam sent in. He’s been following the advice given to other writers here, and has incorporated those notes into this script. He’s been studying, he’s been putting in the work, and it shows.

This is something you all can take advantage of. As long as I haven’t done any work on your script, I’m definitely open to allowing you to change out the script for something better. The goal here is to always put your best foot forward. Again, as long as no work has been done on the script, I’m all for it. Some of you have taken that to heart, others haven’t.

Editorially, there are only a few questions to ask, and possibly a small guiding hand. Sam is putting in the work. There’s a lot of good stuff here.

And that’s all there is for this week. Check out the calendar to see who’s next.

Speaking of the calendar, I’m starting to run low on scripts. There’s only enough to carry through to the end of the month. The Proving Grounds are here for you, and as I’ve said before, it lives and dies by your participation. Lurkers, send in those scripts! If you’re brave enough to post it on a message board, you’re brave enough to send it to me for a thorough going-through.

One last thing:

As you can see, the comments are closed. We now have a new forum, that will do everything we want it to. Please post your comments there, as well as poke around and see what we have to offer. It’s another place for you to go to build the Tribe.

You’ll have to register, which is something of a pain, because registering is never fun, and just like here, real names or professional names only. Since the automated system does a crappy job of catching spambots, every registration will have to be gone over personally. That may take a little time. Please be patient. We’re looking at an efficient way to automate it, but until then, we ask your indulgence. I’d rather have to go through everyone by hand then have to deal with spambots cluttering up the place, because it’s more work to delete them and their posts.

A more formal announcement about the forums will be made soon.

Thank you, and again, please send in scripts!

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Category: Columns, The Proving Grounds

About the Author ()

Steven is an editor/writer with such credits as Fallen Justice, the award nominated The Standard, and Bullet Time under his belt, as well as work published by DC Comics. Between he and his wife, there are 10 kids (!), so there is a lot of creativity all around him. Steven is also the editor in chief and co-creator of ComixTribe, whose mission statement is Creators Helping Creators Make Better Comics. If you're looking for editing, contact him at stevedforbes@gmail.com for rate inquiries.

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