Best Comic Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 5

“Manner and morals have improved, improved wages and world travel during the war have had effect, and the farm labourer now is an intelligent, self respecting workman, on a level at least with the town artisan. The village rustic of the past no longer exists outside of the comic papers.”

Source: The Peverel papers: nature notes written in Liphoo, Hampshire, 1921-1927

“If you loved everything you were writing, you would be deluding yourself or a complete and absolute narcissist. It's not about liking what you write, it's about improving with every word, little by little, exploring your craft, becoming the artist you hope to be one day. And you can only do that by working at it every day. It doesn't happen overnight, it doesn't happen over a weekend, it is a lifelong pursuit.”

Ifs Writing Littles Book Happens Would Be Artist Becoming One Day Absolutes Pursuit Crafts Comic Weekend Comic Book Exploring Improving Lifelong Narcissist

Author:Brian Michael Bendis

“But you have to look at your work with an honest critical eye. Work on the things that you need work on. Scare yourself. Surprise yourself. If you don't like the way it's going, you have complete control over changing the course. That's one of the best things about doing this.”

Ifs Way Needs Looks Book Eye Courses Honest Surprise Critical Comic Best Things Scare Comic Book

Author:Brian Michael Bendis

“Ultimately, any character you write - no matter how fantastic or alien - is an extension of yourself. When our characters reflect the truth of our souls and psyches, they become real and compelling. The wonderful paradox is that the characters then take on lives of their own, separate from their creators. That's where the magic comes in.”

Writing Book Real Soul Matter Character Wonderful Magic Creator Aliens Comic Fantastic Paradox Compelling Comic Book Extensions Psych

Author:J. M. DeMatteis

“In a 22-page comic, figuring an average of four to five panels a page and a couple of full-page shots, a writer has maybe a hundred panels at most to tell a story, so every panel he wastes conveying a.) something I already know, b.) something that's a cute gag but does nothing to reveal plot or character, or c.) something I don't need to know is a demonstration of lousy craft.”

Knows Needs Doe Book Character Stories Five Four Couple Waste Pages Hundred Shots Average Crafts Comic Cute Plot Comic Book Demonstration Gags Conveying

Author:Mark Waid

“I need to go where I'm not comfortable. I think that's the artist's job.”

Thinking Needs Book Jobs Artist Comfortable Comic Comic Book

Author:Kelly Sue DeConnick

“There is not one piece of artwork I have ever done that lived up to the vision I had for it in my head. That's why I keep on trying. Maybe someday I'll do it. I don't want to be in the past. I want to get to the next thing.”

Want Trying Book Done Past Next Vision Pieces Comic Someday Comic Book Artwork One Piece Maybe Someday

Author:Jim Steranko

“Form and content must never apologize for each other.”

Book Form Comic Apologizing Comic Book

Author:Scott McCloud

“Twenty-two pages is not a lot of space. Believe me. Having written a bazillion comics, I still find myself more often than nine pages into a script and realizing to my horror that I'm only about a quarter of the way through the story I wanted to tell, and the next thing you know, I'm making fresh coffee and tearing up the floorboards to rewrite.”

Knows Way Believe Stills Two Book Stories Wanted Next Realizing Space Written Horror Pages Twenties Scripts Coffee Nine Comic Quarters Believe In Me Comic Book Twenty Two

Author:Mark Waid

“Stan Lee always wanted to do another syndicated strip while we were doing Spider-Man. I was working two jobs, and he wanted to make time to do another strip. He wanted to do a humor strip. I said, 'Stan, I barely make it through the week now. How the hell am I going to do another strip?' He said, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I always forget it takes you longer to do a page than it takes me to do twenty pages.'”

Men Said Two Book Wanted Jobs Forget Hell Week Pages Twenties Sorry Comic Take Me Comic Book I'm Sorry Spiders Forget It Making Time Spider Man Two Jobs

Author:John Romita, Sr.

“The secret to writing sound effects is having a room you can be alone in, trying to make the sounds yourself, and seeing what comes out. It's similar to if you're writing a character talking with their mouth full: the only way I know to transcribe that is to stuff my fist in my mouth and write down what sounds I make when I try to talk.”

Ifs Knows Way Writing Trying Book Character Stuff Sound Rooms Secret Talking Seeing Effects Mouths Comic Comic Book Fists Sound Effects

Author:Ryan North

“All the other editors at DC never gave me a moment's time. They would take the thing and give me a check and say, 'I'll see you in two weeks.' They never gave any kind of encouragement or information. They were very competitive with each other. They didn't want to teach an artist and then lose him to some other editor.”

Want Giving Kind Two Book Moments Artist Loses Teach Week Information Give Me Encouragement Checks Comic Editors Comic Book Two Weeks

Author:John Romita, Sr.

“When I went to Stan Lee - every time I was with Stan, I learned something every day. When I would do a pencil job, if I didn't have much faith in it I would hand it in and invariably Stan would make it look like it was a well-written and well-planned-out story. It made me tell people, 'If you want to become an artist, go to work at Marvel. Stan will turn you into a storyteller.'”

People Ifs Want Wells Looks Made Book Stories Hands Jobs Artist Turns Written Comic Comic Book Storyteller Pencils Well Written

Author:John Romita, Sr.

“Superheroes are also about immigrants. Superman, the prototype of all superheroes, is a prototypical immigrant. His homeland was in crisis, so his parents sent him to America in search of a better life. He has two names, one American, Clark Kent, and the other foreign, Kal-El. He wears two sets of clothes and lives in between two cultures. He loves his new country, but a part of him still longs for his old one.”

Stills Two Book Country America Culture Names Parent Clothes Crisis Comic Immigrants Comic Book Superhero Better Life Homeland Prototype Kent Two Cultures

Author:Gene Luen Yang

“When I was there at Marvel, everybody thought if you could draw well and you could do sensational panels, that you were going to be a success. The truth is that no matter how good or bad you are as a draftsman, if you can't tell a story, you don't last in comics. ...About halfway through my stay at Marvel, I realized I was being paid to tell a story, not do a drawing. That's why my stuff is always rather simple and uncomplicated compared to a lot of guys.”

Ifs Wells Book Matter Stories Lasts Guy Stuff Simple Truth Is Draws Paid Drawing I Realized Comic Comic Book Halfway Sensational Uncomplicated Draftsman

Author:John Romita, Sr.

“Almost everyone working in mainstream comics started off as a starry-eyed kid reading and loving comics. We're all fans, and that's great. But when we start working on company-owned comics professionally, we have to think like storytellers instead of fans. Editors aren't looking to hire the biggest fans of the characters. They're looking to hire the best creators with the best ideas.”

Thinking Book Ideas Character Kids Reading Company Fans Creator Comic Editors Mainstream Comic Book Storyteller Reading For Kids Biggest Fan

Author:Greg Pak

“The good news is that the comics field is small enough and informal enough that once you have made a comic, you have achieved your dreams: you have broken into the comics industry. The problem with breaking in, though, is that staying in is harder.”

Made Book Enough Problem Dream Fields Broken Industry News Harder Comic Your Dreams Staying Comic Book Good News Dreams You Have

Author:Greg Pak

“The dirty little secret about comics is that the wall to getting published is actually not that high. You can publish your own comic. You can have your comic printed by the same people that print Marvel and DC and Image's comics for, I think, it's about $2,000 for a print run. So you can Kickstart it and get your own comic made. It depends on what is considered success to you. So if you need to be published by the Big Two to feel that you've made it, well, you should start working very hard.”

People Ifs Thinking Needs Feels Should Wells Littles Made Two Book Hard Bigs Running Secret Wall Depends Made It Comic Dirty Print Comic Book Publish Printed Working Very Hard

Author:Kelly Sue DeConnick

“What keeps this industry alive is creators doing their own work. Once you change a costume or origin enough times, it's a dead body - you're just electrocuting it and keeping it sort of shambling on. There is a lot more creator-owned stuff now, and some of it I look at and go, 'Oh, that's his pitch for a TV show. That's his pitch for a movie. That's him saying oh, this kind of thing sells.' I didn't do that.”

Looks Kind Book Enough Shows Body Stuff Alive Tvs Industry Sells Creator Comic Comic Book Tv Shows Costumes Enough Time

Author:Mike Mignola

“One of the greatest sins in any story is false suspense. The kind of 'suspense' that disintegrates the moment you give your reader one second to think about it. And it's an easy trap to fall into, so watch carefully for it. If your story hinges on the question, 'Will Superman be pushed so far in his battle against Lex Luthor that he'll have to kill him?', or if your big cliffhanger moment is, 'Wow, is Spider-Man really dead this time?', then I understand Food Lion is hiring.”

Ifs Thinking Men Giving Kind Book Moments Stories Bigs Fall Easy Sin Watches Reader Battle Comic Suspense Lions Wow Traps Comic Book Spiders Hiring Hinges Spider Man Cliffhanger

Author:Mark Waid

“I see this with experienced writers, too: They worry so much about the plot that they lose sight of the characters. They lose sight of why they are telling the story. They don't let the characters actually speak. Characters will start to dictate the story in sometimes surprising, emotional, and funny ways. If the writers are not open to those surprises, they're going to strangle the life, spark, or spirit out of their work.”

Ifs Way Book Sometimes Character Stories Spirit Speak Loses Worry Emotional Sight Surprise Comic Plot Sparks Surprising Comic Book

Author:Brian Michael Bendis

“... And we talk it out. Lately, I've had Roy Thomas come in, and he sits and makes notes while we discuss it. Then he types them up, which gives us a written synopsis. Originally - I have a little tape recorder - I had tried taping it, but then I found no one on staff has time to listen to the tape again later. But this way he makes notes, types it quickly, I get a carbon, the artist gets a carbon ... so we don't have to worry that we'll forget what we've said.”

Way Giving Littles Said Book Artist Found Forget Worry Written Type Notes Comic Tape Staff Comic Book Carbon Recorders Synopsis

Author:Stan Lee

“We were pregnant at the time, and while I was out there I started to realize that if I had a daughter, there would come a day when I would have to apologize to her for my profession. I would have to apologize for the way it treats and speaks to women readers, and the way it treats its female characters.”

Ifs Way Book Character Speak Realizing Reader Daughter Female Treats Profession Comic Pregnant Apologizing Comic Book Female Characters Were Pregnant

Author:Matt Fraction

“Some people are worried about the future of comics and some people are busy building it. That latter group are my heroes.”

People Book Groups Building Hero Busy Comic Worried Latter Comic Book My Hero

Author:Gail Simone

“In the long run, the quality of your work is all that matters. That is your only resumé. Be professional. Make sure your editor or publisher can always reach you. Do what's asked of you if your conscience can bear it.”

Ifs Long Book Matter Running Quality Bears Conscience Comic Editors Long Runs Comic Book Publishers

Author:Mark Waid

“I've become really aware of all the subtle things you can communicate through the art and how you're presenting a character, particularly someone like Wonder Woman, who means so much to so many people.”

People Mean Art Book Character Wonder Communicate Comic Subtle Comic Book Presenting Wonder Woman

Author:Cliff Chiang

“When coming up with Wonder Woman cover designs, sometimes people will pitch ideas to me, either the writer or the editor. And it's interesting, because I know they're not trying to, but they end up pitching things that end up feeling like damsel-in-distress covers, where the tension comes from her needing to be rescued somehow. And it's something I immediately push back against.”

People Knows Trying Book Ideas Ends Sometimes Feelings Interesting Wonder Design Comic Tension Editors Distress Comic Book Pitching Wonder Woman Damsel In Distress

Author:Cliff Chiang

“I realize that this is not what you want to put on a cover with Wonder Woman emblazoned on it. She could be in trouble, but she doesn't need to be completely out of control. So whenever I'm doing these covers, I try to make sure that there's an element where, even if there is danger, it's not something where agency is taken away from her.”

Ifs Want Needs Trying Book Realizing Wonder Taken Trouble Danger Elements What You Want Comic Agency Comic Book Wonder Woman

Author:Cliff Chiang

“I want her to be powerful on these covers, and sometimes that's a quiet power and other times it's a more bombastic power. But when you're going to have a book out there that's called Wonder Woman and she's on it, you have a responsibility to put out a certain kind of image.”

Want Kind Book Sometimes Certain Powerful Responsibility Wonder Quiet Comic Comic Book Wonder Woman Bombastic

Author:Cliff Chiang

“I regret that he didn't do anything about it, even though he was at least a head taller than me. I wouldn't have minded bleeding at all for one more opportunity to give the kind of Bat Lesson that Finger, Robinson, Sprang and others only dreamed of.”

Giving Kind Book Opportunity Regret Lessons Fingers Comic Comic Book Bats Bleeding I Regret

Author:Jim Steranko

“No other serial publications carry a number on them that is of any weight to their readership. The number is there to serve a function, but it has no intrinsic value in and of itself. It's comfort food and nostalgia at best. On this, we follow what you and your fellow readers do more than what you say. We hear complaints about renumbering every time we do it, but every time we do it it results in higher sales, which is the whole ballgame - so if it were your time and your effort, what would you do?”

“It starts with the writing. We have to think of all these characters - we have to treat them all equally. We have to think of them as having an interior life and having motivations. When I'm drawing female characters, I'm looking for that. I'm looking for subtext. I'm looking for ways to make the reader relate to them in a way that goes beyond the pure aesthetic value. You know, just drawing an attractive woman really gets kind of boring after a while.”

“When you start out on a career in the arts you have no idea what you are doing. This is great. People who know what they are doing know the rules, and know what is possible and impossible. You do not. And you should not. The rules on what is possible and impossible in the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them. And you can. If you don't know it's impossible it's easier to do. And because nobody's done it before, they haven't made up rules to stop anyone doing that again, yet.”

People Ifs Knows Should Art Made Book Ideas Done Careers Impossible Havens Easier Bounds Comic No Idea Comic Book Tested Great People Possible And Impossible

Author:Neil Gaiman

“It's an interesting job, it's a fascinating job, I can't imagine anything that would have given me more satisfaction, and not everything I did was awful, but it was just writing another story in a world that's full of stories.”

World Writing I Can Book Stories Jobs Given Interesting Imagine Satisfaction Awful Comic Fascinating Comic Book

Author:Dennis O'Neil

“I remember attending Toronto Comicon shortly after the release of Captain Marvel and seeing a five-year-old girl who'd come in a handmade Captain Marvel outfit with her hair moussed up - and I totally got the need for this book, for this hero. Someone who looks like her, and acts like her. So, in a way, Captain Marvel helped pave the road to the expanded role of female leads.”

Way Needs Years Looks Book Remember Girl Roles Five Seeing Hair Hero Female Release Comic Five Years Captains Comic Book Attending Like Her Toronto Five Year Olds Handmade

Author:Axel Alonso

“The reader is not the customer. The retailer is the customer. So I try to have as much interaction with the retailers as possible because those are my customers.”

Trying Book Reader Customers Comic Interaction Comic Book Retailers

Author:Kelly Sue DeConnick

“Comic book readers are just as abandoned by the corporate system as the creators, despite the importance supposedly given their hard-earned dollars. The average comics shop can offer only a tiny fraction of an industrywide selection that is itself extremely limited in scope. And even when readers know exactly what they want, the search can be maddeningly futile.”

Knows Want Book Hard Given Reader Offers Importance Dollars Average Creator Tiny Despite Comic Corporate Shops Abandoned Comic Book Selection Scope Fractions Book Readers

Author:Scott McCloud

“The idea that comics stores, distributors and publishers simply 'give the customers what they want' is nonsense. What the customers wanted they didn't get - and they left.”

Want Giving Book Ideas Wanted Left Customers Stores Comic Nonsense Comic Book Publishers Distributors

Author:Scott McCloud

“As I see it, mainstream comics now speak only to the hardcore few who stayed; conversing in a weird, garbled, visual pig latin only they can understand - rendering the term 'mainstream' a hollow joke - while the true mainstream, the other 99.9% of the populace, find enjoyment elsewhere.”

Book Speak Term Jokes Comic Enjoyment Visuals Latin Mainstream Elsewhere Pigs Comic Book Hollow Hardcore Rendering

Author:Scott McCloud

“Well it's been about 100 years and every attempt at a comics writers' union has failed miserably. There is, sadly, a long history of short-term thinking and self-destructive behavior among my fellow comic book creators. No matter how many horror stories they have heard they won't even go so far as to hire themselves a lawyer when they need it. It breaks my heart. I am a very proud union member of the Writers Guild. And I can't imagine my fellow comic creators being able to pull something like this together.”

“I have read many, many of these first-time published efforts and often, even though some are absolutely at pro levels of production, and have very costly printing and presentation, they lack a purpose, they merely emulate successful comics that already exist... I can't stress this enough. Have something to say.”

Firsts I Can Book Enough Purpose Levels Effort Successful First Time Stress Productions Comic Comic Book Presentation Printing Emulate

Author:Gail Simone

“Women are exciting for this one reason - it is the secret of women's allure - women enjoy submission, being bound. This I bring out in the Paradise Island sequences where the girls beg for chains and enjoy wearing them. Because all of this is a universal truth, a fundamental subconscious feeling of normal humans, the children love it. That is why they like Wonder Woman on Paradise Island better than anywhere else.”

“I've never had much attraction to writing fanfiction. I don't spend much time thinking about properties I don't own, as it's 'wasted' brain-cycles.”

Thinking Writing Book Brain Property Attraction Comic Cycles Comic Book

Author:Kieron Gillen

“I don't understand the feeling of, the way people speak of writing as though it were, like, some kind of djinn to be summoned or like it's the Loch Ness monster or seeing a shooting star. It's a physical act. It is a thing you do with your muscles and your body and your willpower. Watch, I'll show you: get a piece of paper. Get a pencil. Put the pencil on the paper and write the word 'something.'”

People Way Writing Kind Book Shows Feelings Body Speak Stars Watches Pieces Seeing Paper Your Body Monsters Comic Shooting Muscles Comic Book Pencils Willpower Shooting Star Loch Ness Monster

Author:Matt Fraction

“Comics play a trite but lusty tune on the C natural keys of human nature. They rouse the most primitive, but also the most powerful, reverberations in the noisy cranial sound-box of consciousness, drowning out more subtle symphonies. Comics scorn finesse, thereby incurring the wrath of linguistic adepts. They defy the limits of accepted fact and convention, thus amortizing to apoplexy the ossified arteries of routine thought.”

“It works in the comic book, but as the audiences have gotten older and more sophisticated, I think the stories need to grow up with them. This is a story about a couple of rival gangs and what goes wrong in a couple of days.”

Thinking Needs Book Stories Artist Grows Audience Growing Up Couple Comic Sophisticated Comic Book Gang Rivals

Author:Todd McFarlane

“That became a big time in comic books because it's when people were starting to break out into independent stuff, the market was getting choked with speculators and everybody was trying to do their own trick covers.”

People Trying Book Bigs Artist Stuff Break Independent Starting Tricks Comic Comic Book Break Out Speculators

Author:Todd McFarlane

“Chris [Nolan] comes at this with such a different take on Batman, so I didn't feel that I had to be true to any other actor playing this role. Of course, I read the comic books. His relationships with Lt. Gordon and with Batman, with Gotham City, those really helped me the most.”

Feels Book Different Courses Actors Cities Roles Being True Comic Comic Book Nolan Gotham Gotham City

Author:Aaron Eckhart

“I have done scenes as Harvey Two-Face. It's interesting. I won't tell you exactly what we're going for, but I think that I can say that it will use all of today's technology to create this character. He's going to be interesting, and I think that's what makes this character important in the movie-you get to see him as he was before, as in the comic books. Harvey is a very good guy in the comic books. He's judicious. He cares. He's passionate about what he loves and then he turns into this character. So you will see that in this film.”

Thinking I Can Two Important Book Done Character Use Care Today Film Faces Guy Turns Interesting Technology Scene Very Good Passionate Comic Comic Book Good Guy Harvey

Author:Aaron Eckhart

“A comic can be aesthetically beautiful. I think they captured it beautifully and accurately.”

Thinking Beautiful Comic Captured

Author:Yancy Butler

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