Author Archive: Tyler James

Tyler James is a comics creator residing in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

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#18 Brain Drain, Jr.

| November 23, 2010 | 0 Comments

#17 Mach Ten

| November 23, 2010 | 1 Comment

You’ve heard of a runner’s high right?  You know, the feeling of euphoria athletes can get after long periods of intense cardiovascular exertion.  Well, imagine what it’d be like if you can run at supersonic speeds.

You can’t.  But Gideon Thoom can.

He’s the world’s fastest man…and an addict.  He has a literal need for speed.

MACH TEN is one of THE RED TEN.  That’s the Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” meets The Justice League graphic novel I’m noodling around.  Essentially, it’s a superhero murder mystery, darker and more mature than some of the other stuff I’ve done.  I’ll be looking for artist to co-create this project sometime next year.

Obviously, this guy’s my speedster.

#16 The Bludgeoner

| November 22, 2010 | 0 Comments

To him, every problem looks like a nail.

#15 Orren

| November 21, 2010 | 0 Comments

Orren is a man of ambition and adventure.  Currently just a lowly soldier under the command of the Baron of Tarone, he has his eyes set on higher station.  To that end, he hitches his wagon to Lucitus, the Baron’s son.  After saving him in battle, he becomes his closest friend.  But can he be trusted to give counsel toward any ends that are not his own?

#14 Tul’lok

| November 14, 2010 | 1 Comment

TUL’LOK is the oldest living Hornak, and a wizard.  And this vile wizard is in need of a new apprentice…

Tul’lok is another character who will be showing up in TOTD very shortly.

#13 On’Rokk

| November 13, 2010 | 0 Comments

Long before man, the lands of Vapolany were brutally contested by Orc and Elf.  After many wars, the orc were victorious.  All elven men were slain.  What remained of their women were taken, some as slaves, many as wives.

Hornak were the rotten fruit of forced orc-elf union. The Hornak are vile creatures possessing the worst traits of both races.  Under the leadership of the warchief On’Rokk, the Hornak turned on their orc fathers and elven mothers, until only they remained.

What’s this?  A Tears of the Dragon spoiler!  Yup, the Hornak will be a major enemy and threat coming up for the characters in my webcomic, and 30Characters sees their leader first. Koko Amboro does a great job with character designs and these are his pencils here, with me taking a stab at the color scheme.


Check out Tears of the Dragon online here, or snag a copy for your iPhone or iPad.

#12 Fooshnickins

| November 12, 2010 | 3 Comments

Half monkey, half turtle, all pugilist.

(Had a little help from Julia V., age 10 on this one.)

#11 The Gelatinous Mr. Goo

| November 11, 2010 | 1 Comment

Cletus Stubtree’s mamma always told him “Boy, ya are whatcha eat.”

It took him eatin’ a box fulla radioactive Twinkies before he truly believed her.

#10 Mistress Sickle

| November 10, 2010 | 1 Comment

Leondra Bones fought Death.

Death lost.

She got his sickle.

#9 Orion

| November 9, 2010 | 3 Comments

Jonathan Demitry’s mother used to tell him he was one in a million.  Turns out he was much rarer than that…

Of the five-hundred quadrillion sentient beings in Sector 2715, the relatively small portion of the known universe containing Earth and 40 other planets hosting intelligent life, Jonathan was chosen to be the next member of “The Protectorate.”

“The Protectorate” is an inter-dimensional peacekeeping force responsible for maintaining law and order throughout the universe.   5000 in number, each member of the protectorate is given belt that grants him extraodinary powers and long life.  Quagdron the Brave, a Kruelian, was the most recent member of the Protectorate guarding Sector 2715.  His last act was to pass on the belt, called “Orion’s Belt” by earthlings, to Jonathan, who was chosen for his pure heart and unquenchable spirit, to continue his legacy as a member of The Protectorate.

However, it’s not Jonathon Demitry who is wearing Orion’s Belt.  It is his identical twin, Joseph, who stole the belt from his brother and all the power that goes with it.  Though genetically identical, the estranged brothers couldn’t be more dissimilar.  While up until this point, Joseph Demitry has equipped himself well as this sector’s Protectorate, it remains to be seen whether the power will corrupt him.

ORION is one of the characters at the center of a graphic novel I’m itching to start working on.  High concept, it’s Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” meets The Justice League.  Essentially, it’s a superhero murder mystery, darker and more mature than some of the other stuff I’ve done.  I’ll be looking for artist to co-create this project sometime next year.

Going for the Green Lantern archetype, but with a bit of a twist.

#8 N.I.N.J.A.

| November 8, 2010 | 1 Comment

The Nigel Infiltration Neo-Justice  Automaton or N.I.N.J.A.  is a robot created by the Nigel Corporation, to conduct corporate espionage.

#7 She-Guana

| November 7, 2010 | 2 Comments

SHE-GUANA is a teenager from an alternate reality Earth just like ours, accept it was reptiles and not mammals that evolved into intelligent life.  While initially homesick from being trapped in a world not her own, She-Guana is just now starting to realize how much fun she can have using her reptilian strength and agility to fight crime as a superhero.

She is not a natural blond.

#6 ScareWolf

| November 6, 2010 | 4 Comments

It was a full moon the night Louis Pine was born, but maybe that was just a coincidence.

Then again, maybe not.

Either way, 38 years later, Lou was a down on his luck divorcee, barely able to hang onto his lousy job as a high school janitor.  But then one night, Lou was attacked…by a werewolf!  He would have been killed too, had it not been for the intervention of the mysterious mystic Occultus: Slayer of the Supernatural!

Lou’s bite was deep, insuring he too would succumb to the curse of the werewolf, and Occultus moved to kill him.  Lou pleaded with the slayer, begging him to spare his life.  He had a little girl who needs her father, despite what his ex-wife might say.  Occultus, having had his own fair share of domestic squabbles throughout the millenia, sympathized with Lou and relented.  Insted of killing him, he gave Lou an ancient charm,  one that could not prevent his transformation into a werewolf, but would allow him to keep his wits and intellect about him during the transformation so long as he was wearing it.

Lou has turned this curse into a gift, and is now the happiest high school janitor in the world.  Because once a month when the moon’s on full, Lou dons a costume and transforms into SCAREWOLF: Superhuman, Supernatural Savior of the Night!

#5 Jennifer “Lady JayJay” Ardor

| November 5, 2010 | 1 Comment

Jennifer Ardor is an 8 year old diva.  She considers herself a triple threat-  sing, act, dance- all she needs is a stage or a camera and she’s good to go. Her latest persona is “Lady JayJay.”  Her mom, Mrs. Ardor, a best-selling author on child-rearing, tolerates her eccentricities and fashion sense…to a point.  She had to draw the line when she found Lady Jay sewing together pieces of bologna to make her own “meat dress” after watching a clip from the VMAs on YouTube.

Little does Jenny Ardor know, she’s not the only member of the household who has an alter ego and wears a costume.  Her big brother Eric…yeah, he’s a superhero.


Fleshing out the supporting characters in EPIC, the superteen comic I’m working on with fellow 30 Characters Challenger Matt Zolman.  Our main character has a large and colorful nuclear family, something I’m trying to have some fun with.  “Lady Jay Jay” is an example of that.  Check out the EPIC website for more on the comic.


Talking #30Characters on the Webcomics Beacon!

| November 4, 2010 | 0 Comments

I sat down with Fes from the Webcomics Beacon to talk #30Characters.  Give it a listen!


Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

#4 Spivy

| November 4, 2010 | 0 Comments

Spivy…

Not much I can say about that scalliwag that wouldn’t leave an awful taste in my mouth.  But here’s what you need to know:

He’s the bark to Skunk, his partner in crime’s bite.  He’d be the brains (if you can call them that) of their two man outfit.  If you see him, walk the other way.

Spivy is a character who will soon be making an appearance in Tears of the Dragon, my fantasy webcomic.  Koko Amboro does a great job with character designs and will probably give Spivy a nice makeover, but I wanted to give him something to work with.

Check out Tears of the Dragon online here, or snag a copy for your iPhone or iPad.

#3 Skunk

| November 3, 2010 | 0 Comments

Villainous bandit, moldy rascal, wretched thief, rump-fed miscreant, roguish, dizzy-eyed malcontent…this brutish oaf has been called all these things, but answers only to Skunk.

Why Skunk, you ask?  Stand down wind of him for more than a spell and you’ll find out.  If flatulence were sport, his name would be legend.

As it stands, he’s a man you don’t want to cross.  In the employ of Gulliver, a man who carries himself as a charming old ring master of a traveling circus, he is really the head of the largest criminal syndicate of thieves, kidnappers, and assassins in the Four Kingdoms.

Skunk is a character who will soon be making an appearance in Tears of the Dragon, my fantasy webcomic.  Koko Amboro does a great job with character designs and will probably give Skunk a nice makeover, but I wanted to give him something to work with.

Check out Tears of the Dragon online here, or snag a copy for your iPhone or iPad.


#2 Justice

| November 2, 2010 | 11 Comments

In 1971, a lunar geological expedition conducted by the crew of Apollo 15 uncovered a small vessel of unknown origin.  They brought it back to earth and after extensive testing, it was discovered to not be of lunar origin, but had landed on the Moon several centuries earlier.  Strange markings on the vessel proved to be a sort of alien padlock, which was eventually cracked by government cryptologists.

Inside the vessel was more than 100 vials of organic matter, more specifically male reproductive cells.  (Yup, we’re talkin’ alien sperm.)  Exhaustive testing was done on the bio-matter, and it was discovered to have the ability to fertilize any mammalian eggs, the resultant offspring of which would contain the look and appearance of mother cells, but fantastic and superior abilities.

After creating (sometimes with disasterous consequences) hybrid alien rats, dogs, and chimpanzees, they fertilized a human egg, which was brought to term by a female corporal.  Raised by the United States government, first as a convert military project, he eventually was allowed to go public as the super hero, Justice.

In a world of superpowered beings, Justice is by far the most powerful.  He has no known weakness, except vulnerability to beings that share his alien DNA.  The scar over his right eye, the lone blemish on his flawless physique, is a souvenir from stopping an escaped Tiger hybrid.

JUSTICE is one of the characters at the center of a graphic novel I’m itching to start working on.  High concept, it’s Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” meets The Justice League.  Essentially, it’s a superhero murder mystery, darker and more mature than some of the other stuff I’ve done.  I’ll be looking for artist to co-create this project sometime next year.

Clearly going for the Superman archetype, I wanted a very clean, iconic design, but modern.

#1 Red

| November 1, 2010 | 7 Comments

RED is the world’s greatest detective, and the only human capable of walking shoulder to shoulder as equals among the Gods, extraterrestrials, and androids that make up The Alliance, the world’s first and foremost super team.   Her civilian identity is one Alessandra Revere, daughter to a district attorney father and brain surgeon mother, one of the elite power couples on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  That is, until they were murdered in their home while 7-year-old Alessandra hid under her bed.

Alessandra solved her first case at the age of nine, single handedly bringing to justice her parent’s killers, triggermen for an international organized crime cartel, when the cops and the Feds looked the other way.  By 13, she brought down the entire cartel, gaining her the attention of The Alliance, and joining them as their youngest member.

Possessing a brilliant analytical mind and natural athletic prowess, Red has mastered a number of martial arts, including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kung Fu, and Judo.  She also has advanced weapons training.

After the death of her ward Mae Thomas (also her sidekick, Crimson Kid) she renounced her civilian alter-ego entirely.  Alessandra Revere is no more…there is only Red.


RED is the character at the center of a graphic novel I’m itching to start working on.  High concept, it’s Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” meets The Justice League.  Essentially, it’s a superhero murder mystery, darker and more mature than some of the other stuff I’ve done.  I’ll be looking for artist to co-create this project sometime next year.

30 Characters Challenge Kick-Off!

| October 31, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hey everybody!

As we get ready to kick off the challenge’s second year, I want to take a minute to thank all 150+ of you who have chosen to participate.  This thing has grown much larger than anticipated, but as far as I’m concerned the more the merrier.

One of the best things about last year’s 30 Characters Challenge was the supportive and collegial atmosphere that developed among the participants.  Although the number of challengers has quintupled this year, I know we’ll maintain that positive sense of community throughout the month.  This Challenge brings together creators of a variety of ages and skill levels, from hobbyists to working professionals.  Let’s treat everyone’s work with the respect it deserves, and do make an effort to leave positive comments on the stuff you like.

I want to extend a special thanks to Dan Govar, who’s done an outstanding job with the 30 Characters site design.  But if you think the site looks good, just wait til you see his character designs.

Again, thanks for participating in the challenge and I’m really looking forward to seeing what you’ve got­.  I’d say more, but I’ve got some characters to create!

#30Characters on TGT Webcomics PODCAST!

| October 26, 2010 | 0 Comments

Hey, there #30Characters Challengers!  I was recently on the TGT Webcomics podcast.  I kick off the interview with a nice plug and discussion of the origins of the #30Characters Challenge.  Give it a listen.  Kurt Sasso of TGT does a great show, and his guest co-host Jules Rivera, is participating in the Challenge.

PLAY Podcast

LIVE PODCAST October 24, 2010 : 9PM EST
With Special Guest Co-Host Jules Rivera of Marsh Rocket  

Podcast Summary:
Host(s): Kurt (”VertigoX”)
Special Guest Co-Hosts(s): Jules Rivera (“Marsh Rocket”)
Special Guest(s): Tyler James Comic
Discussion Topic: The 30 Characters Challenge, Tears of the Dragons, EPIC, Over Comic
Length of Podcast:

Guests in Channel:
VertigoX, Jules Rivera, Tyler James

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

30 Characters Challenger: Tyler James

| October 24, 2010 | 2 Comments

Hey there everybody!

My name is Tyler James and I’m the guy who got this #30Characters snowball rolling.  I’m a comic creator and game designer residing in Newburyport, Massachusetts. I recently completed my first graphic novel, a romantic comedy called Over, which ran online for the last 15 months, and has now been collected in print.  I’m also writing Tears of the Dragon, a swords and sorcery fantasy webcomic, and EPIC, a new superteen comic, drawn by fellow #30Characters participant Matt Zolman.  I also write the Creating Comics! The Art + Craft column for Comic Related, which gives me a forum to share my tips and trips for navigating the stormy seas of independent comics.

I conceived of the 30 Characters Challenge last year as a way to compel myself to rediscover the joy of character creation.  I shared my plans, and it just so happened there were others out there interested in joining me.  And so The Challenge was born…

Now, in its second year, I’m hoping to use November to create some zany new characters for the EPIC universe, work on character designs for Tears of the Dragon, and flesh out some concepts for new projects I plan to develop (for myself, and  with other artists) in 2011 and beyond.  I’m hoping to spend a little more time this year on the art side of the challenge (’cause so many of you are bringing your A games.)  Can’t wait to get started!

Creating Great Characters Part II

| October 7, 2010 | 0 Comments

…(Or Why Wolverine is Everywhere)
(Note: This column first appeared last year in Tyler James’ Creating Comics! The Art + Craft column at Comic Related.)

Last time, we discussed the qualities of great comic book characters. I’ve been using a certain short, hairy mutant with an adamantium laced skeleton as an illustrative example of these concepts. Once again, I’ll plug Scott McCloud’s excellent book “Making Comics” as a must have for your comics library and as providing some structure for this piece. In the first part of this article, I discussed two qualities of great characters: An inner life and visual distinction. Now let’s turn to the third characteristic- expressive traits.

3. Expressive Traits- This is often the hardest one to nail down. If you’re a strong and creative artist, you can probably come up with a killer costume design without too much trouble. And if you’re a good writer, you can dream up a fabulous inner life for a character by simply asking and answering good questions about them. But all that will be for naught if all your characters walk, talk, fight, make love, etc. JUST LIKE YOU. Sorry, but you’re just not that interesting.

As writers, we need to recognize that the default voice we’ll lend our characters is almost always going to be our own. Do that though, and all your characters might look different, but will come across as oddly similar. And it’s the differences in characters that create conflict, and thus make for interesting situations and stories.

When thinking about expressive traits, think about body language, speech patterns, key expressions, and common poses. All the great characters have them. Homer Simpson has his “D’oh!” Charlie Brown has “Good grief.” Ebeneezer Scrooge has “Bah Humbug!” House has his cane and awful bedside manner. Kramer has more expressive traits than I could post here. “Giddy up!” What are your characters’ expressive traits? What’s going to make them stand out from the pack?

The expressive traits you choose for your characters should derive from the inner life you’ve generated for your character. His or her background or where they’re from should impact the way they talk and the expressions they use. Spend some time and do your homework on this. If your character is from Australia, don’t think you can just replace the word “friend” with “mate” and call it a day. Find some people with similar backgrounds and really listen to how they put their words together and what expressions they use, beyond the most stereotypical stuff you see on TV.

How does Wolverine stack up in the expressive traits category? Pretty well, I think. Be it calling friends and foes “Bub,” chomping on a cigar, or his trademark “SNKKKT,” when the claws come out, there are plenty of ways Logan can make an impact on a scene. And that’s really what it’s all about. Characters with expressive traits STAND OUT. And they’ll make your stories stand out, too.

So, now you know Scott McCloud’s secret for making good characters. It’s served me well, and hopefully it’ll serve you well, too. One tool that I’ve been using lately to help me flesh out my characters is a Character Grid. What I do is make a table in MS Word or Google Docs, or even just a sheet of loose-leaf. In each row, down the first column of the table, I list important questions I should answer about my characters. Each column of the table contains the names of major characters in my story. For each character, I answer the questions to help reveal their character.

Here’s an example of the types of questions I’ll put in my grid, filled out with two characters from Over my romantic comedy online graphic novel. On the one hand, both of these characters serve a similar purpose in the story- they’re friends with the main character, Felix, and there to help him pull his life back together after a tough break-up. However, using the character grid, I was able to make sure that the two characters were very different in just about all other ways.

CHARACTER Tony Skate
Full Name Tony Tuttle Malcolm “SK8” Skaton
Role/Purpose Tough love for Felix, Kick in the Ass Comforts the protagonist, encourages him to “get back in the game”
Age/Sex/Race 48, M, White 23, M, Black
Main Goal Get Felix to finish issue 12 of “Fire of the Pendragon,” Keep Blam! Comics in business Wants to be a top comic artist, work for DC/Marvel
Occupation President and EIC of Blam! Comics Comic artist, Pizza Delivery Boy
Motivation Build Blam! Comics into a respected comics powerhouse Prove to his brother and parents he can make it as an artist
Inner Need Respect in the Comics Industry Validation as an artist
Flaw Rough exterior but gentle soul, worried not cutthroat enough a business man to make it in comics, poor people skills Outwardly cocky, but inwardly lacks confidence; young and fears being taken advantage of
Backstory Ultimate comics fanboy, but never the talent to create them himself. Worked for family accounting firm, when parents died, he sold the business to start Blam! Comics. Three years and the business has yet to turn a profit. “Fire of the Pendragon” is his only profitable title. Has been sketching and drawing comics since a trip to Comic Con at 8 years old. Met up with Felix at a con who got him to draw his fantasy comic. Has been waiting patiently for the last 2.5 months for the script for issue 12, but Felix has been MIA. He thinks Felix is trying to replace him with another artist.
Core Trait Rational, Mr. Dollars and Cents A fighter
Good/Bad Habits Overweight and eats too much. High strung and drinks too many Redbulls. Nice guy, but mischievous. Can fly off the handle, overly sensitive
Secret Has been chipping away at his inheritance and life savings to support Blam! Wishes his parents respected him as much as they respect his older brother.
Skills, Knowledge, Props Knows business matters very well, LOVES comics and reads more than just about anyone. Outstanding artist with unlimited potential.
Quirks Drinks a lot of Redbull. Uses a lot of comics book references. Always has a sketchpad on him. Usually has ipod earbuds in.
Attitude Gruff Defensive
Dialogue Style Blunt and to the point. No sugar coating his words. A fast talker. Some urban slang thrown in, but educated, middle-class, New England background.
Celebrity Look alike Dennis Franz Bow Wow

The great thing about doing the grid is that it allows you to see all of your main characters together in one spot. This makes it easy to see where certain characters may be redundant, and you can make changes. Feel free to borrow my grid, and definitely add your own categories.

The character grid also reminds you that it’s important to flesh out ALL of your characters, even the supporting ones. There’s some stuff in the grid above, such as the fact that Tony’s bleeding his own bank account dry to support Blam! Comics that will never make it into the graphic novel. However, that fact colors Tony’s actions and reactions to the other characters, and makes him easier to write. It can’t just be your main character who has goals and wants and desires. All of your characters should have these things.

From the information in this grid, it was fairly easy to come up with decent character design sketches. As an artist, character design is not one of my strong suits, but I’m fairly happy with how this first stab at a design for Skate and Tony came out.

Remember, when you’re creating your stories, you’re creating stories FOR HUMAN BEINGS. As a result, the most important part of your stories is the characters that inhabit them. While I said that it’s damn hard to create make-believe characters that your readers will identify and care about, the funny thing is, your readers WANT TO CARE. They wouldn’t be picking up a comic or popping on a movie if they didn’t want a break from their own problems or the real people in their lives’ petty concerns, in order to see what someone make believe is dealing with. Use that to your advantage. Flesh out your characters by giving them an inner life, visual distinction, and expressive traits, and watch your readers respond.

Creating Great Characters Part I

| October 5, 2010 | 1 Comment

…(Or Why Wolverine is Everywhere)

(Note: This column first appeared last year in Tyler James’ Creating Comics! The Art + Craft column at Comic Related.)

Wolverine has been busy. He’s starred in a summer blockbuster that’s grossed $180 million, ensuring a sequel. He’s got a new ongoing series written by Marvel rising star Jason Aaron, in addition to his other solo books. He’s been mixing it up with Ultimate Hulk in the comics and on DVD. A new Wolvie video game is letting gamers get their berserker rage on. And all this is in addition to his regular duties as a part of the X-Men, X-Force, New Avengers and Lord knows how many other teams. In short, Wolverine is everywhere. But why?

Today, we focus on the important topic of characters. Creating characters that readers will care about is the hardest task you have as a writer. This goes for comics especially. And for good reason. Think about what you’re asking of the reader for a moment. Whether you are writing comedy, drama, action or suspense, as a writer you are trying to evoke an emotional reaction from your reader. You want to make them care.

Guess what? Making your readers care is not easy. Think about it, how many times have you listened to a real friend tell you about real problems and thought to yourself, “Meh. You think that’s bad? I once had a hangnail…” Of course, you’d never voice your feelings and probably feigned interest and empathy. That’s what friends are for, right? But truthfully, you weren’t that interested. And these were REAL PEOPLE. With REAL PROBLEMS. As a writer, your challenge is to make readers empathize with your characters, who are MAKE-BELIEVE PEOPLE, with MAKE-BELIEVE PROBLEMS. You have your work cut out for you.

So, how do we do this? How do we go about creating characters that will elicit the emotional responses we want from our readers? First, just acknowledge that there are no guarantees. Not all of your characters are going to resonate with everyone. But there are some things you can do to increase the chances that readers will give a damn about your story people. My thesis here is that the main reason Wolverine is everywhere is that he’s just one hell of a character. And when it comes to comics, character is king.

To help structure this article, I’m going to borrow copiously from Scott McCloud. Scott’s done more thinking about the art form of comics than practically anyone living, and I think he covered characters exceptionally well in his book Making Comics. According to Scott (and ME!) a good comic book character contains the following traits:

1. An Inner Life

2. Visual Distinction

3. Expressive Traits

Let’s take a look at each one of these traits, and apply them to arguably Marvel’s most popular and ubiquitous character over the past 20 years, Wolverine. In Part 1, I’m going to talk about “Inner Life” and “Visual Distinction.” In part II, I’ll cover “Expressive Traits” and share “The Character Grid,” a valuable tool for thinking about the many characters in your stories.

1. An Inner Life- By an inner life, McCloud mean’s that your character should have a unique life history that shapes the character’s world view, determines his desires, and colors her actions. An inner life is more than just “personality.” It’s not enough to say your protagonist is a “tough guy” or “the girl next door.” There needs to be a unifying purpose behind your character, a reason for being. You need to create factors or events in your characters’ lives that give reason for everything they do. This will help you predict how your character will respond to conflicts and action, and is how they’ll start “writing themselves.” The best way to flesh out an inner life is to ask and answer a whole lot of questions about your characters. Who were their parents? Where were they born? What’s the best and worst thing that’s ever happened to them? What secrets do they hold? The more questions you can answer about your character, the more real they’ll become.

Does Wolverine aka Logan have an inner life? Bet your ass he does, Bub. Behind his rough exterior hides a man with so rich a secret past, even he doesn’t know it all. Wolverine is a mutant who possesses animal-keen senses, enhanced physical abilities, retracting bone claws and a healing factor that allows him to recover from any wound (I believe he was tossed into the sun at one point and barely ended up with a sunburn.) He was used by a government program Weapon X, where an indestructable metal was bonded to his skeleton and claws and he was made into a supersoldier. As a parting gift, they also wiped his memory.

That’s just scratching the surface of Wolverine’s 30+ year history in comics, tv, and film, but here is a character with an inner life. And it pays off in the story telling. Tyra Banks’ closet couldn’t fit all the skeletons Logan has in his, and his history often comes into play in his adventures. For example, abuse at the hands of a shady government organization makes Wolverine especially protective of mutant children who are being used and abused. A strong inner life makes Wolverine a character that we can empathize with, and root for when the claws come out.


2. Visual Distinction –
In movies, visual distinction for your characters is important, but not as much as in comics. Sure, Jack Sparrow wouldn’t be half as fun if Johnny Depp and the costume design team didn’t go full on Keith Richards pirate with him. But there are plenty of movies where all you need is an unshaven Bruce Willis’ scowling mug or Jessica Alba in tights to draw a crowd. But in comics, you’re not casting A-list actors who have a history with their audience. You’re creating something new. Comics is a visual medium, and your characters NEED to stand out visually. On the practical, you need to give your characters a unique look so that they stand out from each other.

Think of the most popular comic book characters out there. How many of them could you still identify with nothing but a silhouette? A whole bunch, and Wolverine certainly. (Hint: There’s a test for your character designs- black them out. Can you still pick your character out of a lineup? If so, you’re probably heading in the right direction.)

There are plenty of popular artists working in comics today whose male protagonists all look the same. If it wasn’t for costume or color, we’d be clueless who was who. Don’t make that mistake. When designing a character, pay attention to their weight and build and their fashion sense. It also helps if their attire or costume is a visual reminder of their personality. Throw a “Got MILF?” t-shirt on a character in your comic, and it’ll be pretty easy for your audience to recognize, “Hey, that must be the comic relief, Stiffler-guy.”

While Wolverine’s backstory and compelling inner life make him a fun character to write, he wouldn’t be showing up in 20 different Marvel books every month if it wasn’t for this simple fact…He’s damn fun to draw, too! Whether it’s the claws, or the costume, or the muscles, or the sneers, Wolverine just looks cool. And looking cool can take you a long way with a character. Not the whole way, but a long way. Just ask Hugh Jackman, whose career was launched because he bore a strong resemblance to the character and played him well.

Alright, next time we’ll continue to discuss the shared qualities of great characters, and Wolverine in particular. In the meantime, think about some of your favorite characters. Do they in fact have an active and detailed inner life? And are they visually distinct? Then think about the characters you are creating. How can you can you make them even better?

Join the Challenge!

| September 13, 2010 | 27 Comments

The 30 Characters Challenge is Back!

The Challenge: Create 30 new characters in 30 days- one for every day of the month of November.

Why: Because the world needs new characters.

When: Starting November 1st, 2010.

Where: Right here on at 30Characters.com.

How to Register: Registration for 2010 is now closed.

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The World Needs New Characters…

| August 17, 2010 | 0 Comments