The End of the Beginning
Look at that, we made it to page 26, which is the last page of Chapter 1 (also known as issue #1, if you’re into the whole print comics thing.) We’ve now got a complete chunk of story online.
I read a lot of comic books, and one of my great frustrations is when I buy a new #1 issue, get to the end of it, and still don’t know what the premise of the series is. It seems to me that your job, when you’re creating the first issue of an ongoing story, is to give the reader a clear sense of what that story’s going to be. You don’t have to introduce all the main characters, or bring up every plot point, but I want to at least know what your series is about. More often than I would like, I get to the end of the first issue and I feel like I’ve only been given hints and clues, or part of the set-up for a story, rather than a meaningful chunk of story.
So when I plotted out the first issue of The Electric Team, I was determined to introduce the protagonists, the setting, the tone, and the premise. You may argue with how well I pulled it off, but you have to admit that I got everything in there. What’s it about? In a shattered world, six heroes have banded together to restore civilization and, to do so, they must beat 1000 bad guys. BAM.
When I wrote issue #1, I didn’t know who the artist would be. Now, as we’re working on the next part of the story, it’s more of a collaboration, with Sam also contributing ideas. Things are only going to get better; tune in next week, for the beginning of Chapter 2!