Friday, December 12, 2014

BWAH-HA-HA

I thought it would be fun to take a peek behind the curtain and give you a sense of how an issue of Justice League 3000 takes shape.  (And let's not forget that JL3K is ©copyright 2014 DC Comics.)  

It all begins with the plot—and the formidable imagination of Keith Giffen.  As you'll see below, Keith doesn't type up his plots, he, essentially, draws mini comics (of such quality that they can stand on their own as entertaining reads), complete with story and dialogue notes.   

As far as I'm concerned, the hardest part of the job is the plotting and Keith is a master of the craft.  He's also one of the best visual storytellers this medium has ever seen.  





Keith's plot goes off to the amazing Howard Porter, who then translates Giffen's art breakdowns into the jaw-dropping pages JL3K fans marvel at month after month. The level of detail and emotion Howard gets into his pages never fails to astonish me—and the guy tops himself every single issue.





Once Howard is done, I sit down with Keith's plot on one side, Howard's art on the other and get the characters talking to each other.

There are times I hew so closely to Keith's plots that I feel guilty cashing the check (well, not that guilty), other times I veer wildly off into unexpected territory.  This sequence lands somewhere in the middle.

The important thing is that Keith has always encouraged me to play, have fun, not be bound by the plot.  Our collaboration is based on that sense of play.  Keith's plots always surprise and entertain me and I want my scripts to do the same for him.






I can't underestimate the contributions of our letterer, Rob Leigh (who can fit all that damn dialogue on the page and do it with genuine style and grace) and the coloring team at Hi-Fi, who bring new levels of depth, excitement and reality to Howard's pages.  And, of course, our editor, the wise and easy-going Harvey Richards, manages to work with all of us and stay sane, which is a masterful feat in itself! Just pick up the current issue of Justice League 3000 and you'll see how much these talented people add to our stories.  

This concludes our peek behind the curtain.  Any questions?

19 comments:

  1. JL 3000 is one of my favorite DC on-going at the moment... And of course, because I'm the biggest french fan of Booster Gold (I truly think that, but I'm ok, I think...), this issue #12 make me wait a long time ! But what a pleasure ! You did all a great job and I'm really to see how you work on this ! I think the writers don't have always the chance to work with the picture like this ! This is crazy ! That's maybe why this is working so well :)

    Oh, and of course, I love your JLI... so now that you have your own universe (isn't it crazy ?), it's pretty cool to see old stuff come back like this ! And the references are just more tasty ! "Heart condition", seriously ? Who still believe in that ? Ahah, so much fun !

    I really enjoyed this book, thank you so much for that ! To you, to Keith Giffen and to the amazing Howard Porter too ! :)

    Long live the Blue and Gold !

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    1. Thanks, Frey! Very glad you're enjoying the book. If Beetle and Booster have you excited, wait till next month when ICE shows up and comes face to face with Wonder Woman, Flash and Superman.

      We're having a great time with this book and the months ahead are going to get wild.

      Thanks for checking in and thanks for supporting JL3K.

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  2. Love to see the process behind the book. Thanks for sharing these.

    Question: Do you have an example of when your dialogue added to the dialogue surprised Keith? Does it sometimes change the story as a whole? And does Keith wait to plot the next story until you are done writing the dialogue, just in case your dialogue takes the story in an interesting, new direction?

    Thank you, J.M. Your blog is delightful and gives us wonderful insights.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it, Lorenz.

      I don't know if my dialogue ever changes the story as a whole, but it opens doors to new subplots, new twists and turns, new character interactions. One example that comes to mind from years ago was the running gag I started in the dialogue about Beetle getting fat and being out of shape. Keith picked up on that and it evolved into the story where Beetle, who could barely fit into his costume, had a boxing match with Guy Gardner.

      Sometimes it's relationships that evolve in the dialogue, like Manga Khan and L-Ron. In the plot, L-Ron was just another robot, but I started them talking and something magical happened. Keith picked up on that and further developed the relationship in the plots and L-Ron eventually became an important part of the book.

      There are many, many examples of that. The fun of this series is the tennis-like back and forth between us that always manages to keep things fresh and keeps us both challenged.

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  3. I think I'm going to plots.

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    1. You, mu friend, need someone following you with a drum all the time because of your constant need for rimshots. : )

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    2. :) I mean, I think I'm going to go the Giffen route of comic storytelling. The visual plotting seems to be how my brain works.

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    3. Well, I'm the guy who called you "mu friend," so I can't judge.

      I've drawn out plots/scripts at various points over the years, just to clarify them in my head, and if I could draw like Giffen I'd do it all the time.

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  4. So, then a script for Trinity of Sin with all the dialogue that has been in the first two issues must be a beast to write?

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    1. A bear? No. A challenge: always. You can see what a full script look like here:

      http://www.jmdematteis.com/2013/11/how-do-you-do-that.html

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  5. Even though I had read and heard before your process for working with Keith - this is still illuminating and very very cool to see. There has always been a magic to the writing when you two work together that is hard to describe. The characters are truly alive in a way comic book characters are very rarely alive to me. I think that you two developed a rather brilliant process of crafting these stories and infusing the characters with life. Do you think that part of what makes these characters so alive is that you are reacting to events you don't know are coming with the dialogue? This seems to keep the dialogue from being obvious in the way it often can be when a single writer knows exactly where he is heading with his story. Your dialogue reacts to the plot breakdowns much in the same way characters would react to each other and the events around them when they don't know exactly where everything is heading. This writing dynamic you two have with each other really does result in something a bit magic. I feel like I have a clearer understanding now than ever as to why that is.
    Also - I've been very much enjoying the entire JL3000 run, but I really loved issue 12. It is certainly a thrill to see BB and BG back at it again. I think their presence will serve the series well as they give the readers a very valuable "everyman" perspective through which it is easier to take in this world. I'm really looking forward to seeing where things head from here!

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    1. I think you're absolutely right about not knowing what's coming, Drew. The essence of what Keith and I do together (at least on my end) has always been about spontaneity and immediacy. Seeing what Keith throws at me and then reacting immediately in the dialogue. A great insight on your part.

      The reaction to Blue and Gold coming back has been great so far. We've got our old friend Ice waiting in the wings and then... Well, wait and see!

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    2. I saw that you were somehow bringing Ice into the 31st century to play. JL3000 #12 marks the first time in many years that I made a point to be at a comic shop on the release day of a comic. I'm really looking forward to whatever is coming on this series and what is being done with Ice. I'm also very curious as to how much this Batman remembers of his time in JLI...

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    3. Thanks for making the effort to be at the shop when the book went on sale, Drew. VERY much appreciated!

      As for Batman and his memories of the JLI: I'm looking forward to that meeting, too!

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    4. Ice is a Nordic goddess isn't she? So, she could pop up anywhere?

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    5. I might have to give this book another try. I picked up the first two and was kind of meh, but the recent Booster/Blue has piqued my interest.

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    6. And that's exactly why they're in the book! : )

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