Heavy on the pseudo-science

Well, I just scripted 8 days of Schlock Mercenary in one sitting. It’s pretty grueling work, you know.

It may not SOUND like much, but the strictures I place on this comic, especially surrounding plot points like I’ve got going right now, make it dang difficult.

The goal: explain a complex spatial/hyperspatial puzzle in one week’s worth of scripts, thus moving the plot forward.
The hurdles: only four panels on weekdays, punchlines required every day, and no out-of-character cabbaging.
The result: I had to add a Sunday strip to the end of the mini-arc to get everything said, but it all came out pretty nicely. I still need to sit down with Chalain (who cannot be bribed to reveal what he knows, so don’t try) and make sure it scans well, but it passed the Sandra test.

I’ve got two weeks of coloring queued up in front of me, and now there are eight days of scripts awaiting my inky-sloppy ministrations. It’s time to get busy, even though it feels like I’ve been busy ALL DAY.

–Howard

8 thoughts on “Heavy on the pseudo-science”

  1. The goal: explain a complex spatial/hyperspatial puzzle in one week’s worth of scripts, thus moving the plot forward.

    I’ve been itching to find out what’s going on there…..

    1. The term “cabbaging” comes from Hollywood. “Cabbage-heads” are characters in SF movies that have to have everything explained to them, and whose sole purpose in the film is to ensure that the Audience can follow along.

      Out-of-character cabbaging is when two people who know better start re-hashing the basics for the benefit of the audience. For instance, when a pair of scientists talk to each other, and begin with “as you know, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.”

  2. The thing that surprised me the most when I started scripting for a collection of my artist friends is how much work it takes to write a script you can be proud of.

    I bought a copy of the scriptbook for Brian Michael BendisPowers titles, and found it dwarfs the comics, even in collected form.

    And of course, I thought it would be easy to be routinely funny while at the same time telling a complex story — until I tried it for myself…

  3. If you ever need help with such nerdy goodness, feel free to drop me an IM.

    Needless to say, this teaser announcement will have me looking forward to seeing what you came up with. ^_^

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