Why I Love the ‘Standard Comic Script’

In early May, editor, educator, and Heart of the City cartoonist Steenz, and writer, artist, and Z2 Comics Senior Editor Camilla Zhang dropped the Standard Comics Script, an attempt to provide writers with a foundational entry point into writing scripts: to not only help them to get their ideas out in a succinct way, but it also streamlines the process for everyone else in the comics-making process. Making comics is all about collaboration. Nothing falls on one person’s shoulders. Since everyone’s work is predicated on the writer’s script, the Standard Comics Script exists in part to just make everyone’s job a whole lot easier.  As someone who is still very much getting started in this industry, figuring out how to write a comic script is something I still struggle with. It hasn’t stopped me from completing a script, but I’d be lying if I told you my lack of knowledge or direction in this process at the beginning didn’t slow me down at times. While talking to Comicsbeat, Steenz and Zhang mention how in other mediums like screenwriting or television writing, there’s one streamlined way to write a script, and if you don’t adhere to those guidelines, your work won’t even get looked at.

But there’s no streamlined way to write a script for comics, and whenever you ask someone who writes, they’ll just give you insight into how they do it or tell you to figure out what best practices work for you. While the liberation of that may be nice for some, for those that are just try…