BTB 5: How a Comic Changes from Idea to Final Form

 

Greetings from the land of my desk! It's your faithful comic creator, Andrenn, back to tell you more unwanted information about how I make this comic! Today we're gonna cover a little closer to the actual creation process as we cover how a comic goes from it's earliest sketched idea to the final version I post on here. I'm using two recent comics as a good example for this.

First up, Billy Comics #26, Bad Dog. This comic had a very different second half. It's a good showcase that an idea may seem fun/funny at first but upon making it real, it doesn't hit the same way. 

My initial idea was more of a fun little gag where Georgie rides off victorious. I liked it all right but after drawing it out I just wasn't finding it as humorous. So I rethought the gag a few different ways. Eventually stumbling upon the idea of demonically powering up the pets to free themselves. It felt a lot more in line with the character and the weird creepy/cute horror world we play in.

Now I honestly like both comics. Georgie riding a dog is a fun image. But I personally like the second, finished comic a lot more. I think there's some more funny gags like the turtle being Gamera-fied. I also plan to bring these animal familiars back. They're going to be kinda reoccurring helpers of Georgie from now on.

Their names, for reference are Peanut the HellHound, Sandy the Fire Turtle, Terry the Fire Bird, Kale the Ghost Kitty and Al the Bunny.

I also feel this fits Georgie as an agent of chaos. He's here to stir the pot, be it for good or ill doesn't really matter to him. Now there's supernatural pets running around town. 

This really highlights how a comic can grow when I really think on it and want to make it fit the characters as best as possible. Georgie in particular challenges me to think of things less in generic black and white good and evil and more the weird greys his kind of character inhabits. He's definitely not good, but good can come from his actions. If that makes sense. I feel this comic spotlights that characteristic well.

Next we're going to talk about a recent comic, BBB #28: The Afterlife Aquatic. This one highlights the way the comic's pace/timing/punchline can all evolve into something wildly different from the original idea. 

While the first and second panels are mostly the same, with a small tweak to the dialogue and adding proper coloring to the Orca, it's the last two panels that changed the most. Initially Georgie just seems chill with this and has nothing of interest to say. I wasn't super happy with it but I drew out the entire comic and lettered it with this being the original intended release. 

Thankfully I make these comics weeks in advance and the biggest benefit of that is getting time to sit with the comics and rethink them. I often go over finished comics several times, re-reading them, trying to make sure the dialogue reads well and the joke is always clear. How well I achieve that goal is up to you to decide, dear reader.

What I like about this lead time though is even if I make a comic I'm not entirely happy with, I usually find a solution to that before I release it. In the case of this comic I'm much happier with the actual final two panels I went with.

I think the whale being colored in fills the panel a lot better and takes up some of the empty space it created otherwise. I think the dialogue reads a bit better. I always love any chance at making the characters give goofy expressions like that. 

I will admit I wasn't entirely happy with how everyone was drawn in the final panel, but I kinda grew to like the chibi look for everyone as they hurry away. 

One big change you don't see here is that originally Georgie was gonna get the last line about the rivers of blood. I thought in the end it would be kinda funnier/out of left field if Billy inquired about them instead. Besides, Billy does have a bit of a morbid side. Kind of hard not to when you're a walking talking skeleton.

So there you have it, how a comic can go from one idea to something very different over the course of it's creation. There are other examples I could give of this, but for now I think these two recent comics really cover everything I wanted to say on the subject. We might look into other comics that got drastically changed during their creation in the future. Until then, have a wonderful day!