I recently read Brian Michael Bendis’
Words for Pictures (affiliate link). It was a
well-written and informative book. It is a must for any aspiring comic book creator,
particularly writers.
This book has been on my list to read for some time, but I kept putting it off until multiple people recommended my reading it. I was worried it wouldn’t be relevant to my interests, as I thought it would be primarily focused on the craft of writing, working with artists, and making comics. To my pleasant surprise, Bendis included an entire chapter on the business of comics, which touched on some major legal issues.
In Chapter 6, Bendis included an interview with his wife Alisa, who runs their company. This section includes many nuggets of great advice, including some great information on important contractual terms. One piece of advice that really spoke to me, besides hire a lawyer, was to treat each of your projects as if they will be big successes and plan and negotiate accordingly. Even though I write and talk about many of the topics they discuss in this chapter, it was refreshing to see it from a different perspective.
Creators, new and old, will definitely benefit from reading the book, but I urge readers to pay attention to chapter 6. If you won’t take my advice, I hope you’ll at least listen to Alisa and Brian Bendis.
This book has been on my list to read for some time, but I kept putting it off until multiple people recommended my reading it. I was worried it wouldn’t be relevant to my interests, as I thought it would be primarily focused on the craft of writing, working with artists, and making comics. To my pleasant surprise, Bendis included an entire chapter on the business of comics, which touched on some major legal issues.
In Chapter 6, Bendis included an interview with his wife Alisa, who runs their company. This section includes many nuggets of great advice, including some great information on important contractual terms. One piece of advice that really spoke to me, besides hire a lawyer, was to treat each of your projects as if they will be big successes and plan and negotiate accordingly. Even though I write and talk about many of the topics they discuss in this chapter, it was refreshing to see it from a different perspective.
Creators, new and old, will definitely benefit from reading the book, but I urge readers to pay attention to chapter 6. If you won’t take my advice, I hope you’ll at least listen to Alisa and Brian Bendis.
