At the moment, I’m putting together a presentation for the Editorial Freelancer Association on comic books, manga, and graphic novels, aimed at the non-comic group for the most part. It’s for those whose knowledge about comics are mostly through the movies and TV shows, whether it’s Marvel, DC, or Dark Horse (oh yes, you’ve seen Dark Horse movies and TV shows–you just don’t realize it). And it’s been a good way to do research to freshen up the ol’ noggin because the last time I did a workshop on the topic was back in 2006, so a lot has changed (yes, surprisingly). And there’s digital comics to do a deep dive into, and that’s going to be fun, too.

It’s a look at this visual medium and its numerous forms, all types of sequential storytelling. You can call all three comic books, you can call all three graphic novels, and if you were Japanese you could call all three manga, but if you’re not Japanese and you don’t speak Japanese, you wouldn’t. Right? I’m going to examine history, format differences, and some classic examples (and current popular ones). And until recently, it’s a medium that’s been strictly hands-on, but the internet and AI are changing that, and we’ll explore how the web is offering new possibilities by bypassing the expense of paper and the problems of distribution, keeping the medium alive. I am having fun.

And then once in a while, we get a spark of fun for a new workshop. I was doing some musing about storylines when it occurred to me that villains don’t get the focus they deserve. Every story has a hero, and every story has a villain. But are they really villains? They are heroes in their own story, after all!

After I finish comics, etc., I’ll have to dive into thinking about villains!