Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Comic Book Hereos
Comic Book Hereos
Task:
Your task is to create the first edition of a new comic book. This should introduce your
character and how they got their powers. You should end your edition on a cliff-hanger
to encourage people to buy the next edition!
Plan how you will launch your comic. Where will you advertise? Who is your market?
How will you generate income? What members of staff will you need and what will their
job involve?
Research:
Use the spidergram on the next page to help you research the comic book genre.
Explain the differences between the following and give an example of each:
Graphic novel
Manga or Japanese comics
Bande Dessinée
British comics
American comics
Remember that your research notes do not have to be presented as an essay. Spider
diagrams, flow charts, time-lines, annotated images and extended bullet points are all
valid ways of presenting the information. Choose the style of presentation that best
suits you and the information you are trying to give.
Date first
comic
published Institutions /
Narrative
organisations
structures
producing comics
Iconography Regulatory
bodies
Social, ethical
and moral issues
Typical content
and presentation
Comic books
Representation
Style
and tone
Character
functions Price
Key developments
in the genre Target
Forms and audience
conventions
Fill in the chart below with details of two comic book heroes. You should also include
an image of each character, either drawn or printed out. If you prefer, you can label
your image with information rather than completing the chart.
Name
Age
Gender
Place of birth
Family history
Appearance
(costume,
distinguishing
features)
Weapons and
mode of
transport
Powers or
strengths
(include how
they were
obtained)
Vices or
weaknesses
Friends and
enemies
Everyday
persona
Mugshot: Name/alias:
Age:
Place of birth:
Gender:
Address:
Costume:
Powers/strengths:
Vices/weaknesses:
Family history:
Everyday persona:
Keeping in mind all the ideas you have gathered from your research, you should begin to
produce your first edition. You only have to create the first few pages but you should
have planned the outline for the whole of the edition.
Make sure that your ideas are easy to follow. Boxes should be read from left to right of
each A4 side and from top to bottom - you may want to number them or use arrows.
Be sure to use the conventions associated with comic books (e.g. speech bubbles).
10 minutes later...
Thank you!
POW!
When you have finished your pre-production and production work, pitch your comic book
to members of your class who will act as representatives from a publishing house.
Your pitch must include all the key information about your comic, present your hero and
explain your idea for the first edition. You should explain who your target audience is
and the USP of your comic. Try to make your pitch interesting as well as informative!
Evaluation:
How did your research inform the decisions you made when producing your comic?
Who is your target audience and how do you plan to appeal to this market?
Which publishing house would be most likely to produce your comic?
How successful do you think your work is as a media product? How does it
conform to or subvert the expected conventions of a comic?