![\"Calliope_Script\"](\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Calliope_Script.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nFor the trade paperback collection, Gaiman also provided an introduction to the script to set the stage.\u00a0 Some of the particulars are useful in understanding his method and the creative iterations that took place within the team.<\/p>\n
He starts by stating his original desire to write comics<\/p>\n
I have always wanted to write comic.<\/p>\n
But I could never figure it out; how did a writer get the story in his head onto a comics page? What did a comics script look like? What did a comics writer do?<\/p>\n
Gaiman then goes on to tell that his break came from a discussion with Alan Moore<\/p>\n
I eventually found out, by asking someone who wrote comics \u2026and getting him to show me what a script looked like, and how it was laid out.\u00a0 This he did, on one side of notebook paper.<\/p>\n
Once I knew what a comics script looked like, the rest was easy. (No, that\u2019s not true.\u00a0 The rest was pretty difficult; and every story presents its own set of problems.\u00a0 But you know what I mean.)<\/p>\n
His method is described as follows<\/p>\n
I always make a small doodled version of the comic while I\u2019m writing, to let me know how many panels I\u2019m putting on a page, and to suggest ideas of layout and storytelling.<\/p>\n
Each SANDMAN script is a letter to the artist (I drive Karen Berger\u2026crazy, by refusing to write a script unless I know who\u2019s going to draw it; if you write for an artist you can play to their strengths.\u00a0 It makes you look good); and this is a letter to Kelley Jones.<\/p>\n
The script runs 39 pages and, in many ways, reads like a play.\u00a0 There are discussions about each page and panel as well as considerations on what to do when the issue becomes reprinted in a collection, where ads will be in the issue, and so forth.\u00a0 Script comments are found in the margin (and in some cases, annoyingly over the text) and differ by color based on team member; red for Neil and blue for Kelley.<\/p>\n
By my count, each of them provided 20 comments, mostly about the story but occasionally about other related topics, like how far Gaiman could progress on the story or something about one of their acquaintances.\u00a0 Despite their equal tally, as expected, Gaiman\u2019s comments are a lot wordier.<\/p>\n
It seems instructive to take a few pages apart and to compare the final product to the working script.\u00a0 Page 1 on the published story looks like It has 5 panels, three of which overlap and with two distinct gutters.\u00a0 It what follows, I\u2019ve combined the script and the panel into one figure for easy, side-by-side comparison.<\/p>\n Note how closely the artist’s rendition matches the writer’s description. Part of this is due to the detail that Gaiman provides Jones, but I think part of this is also due to the fact that Neil knows where he is going with the story and Kelley is at a disadvantage, since the characters aren’t familiar to her. As the story progresses, Kelley seems to assert herself more.<\/p>\n After five pages of what is basically prologue, the splash page appears on page 6, bearing the creative teams credits.<\/p>\n The accompanying description from Gaiman is<\/p>\n Note that discussion about imagery and how it relates to Calliope’s nudity and the script comment about the extremes that Kelley Jones employed to portray the capture Muse as emaciated and how the inker ‘fixed’ it after the editor complained. <\/p>\n Page 9 is particularly interesting as the script called for a traditional 3 tier panel layout (similar to the EC layout discuss in last week\u2019s column) <\/p>\n but the final product is quite different<\/p>\n Based on the script comments, Kelley Jones decided that the final layout was more evocative. It seems that Gaiman agreed.<\/p>\n At other points in the script, Gaiman is more definitive with his art direction. For example, later in the story, the main character suffers madness at the hands of the Sandman and his perception of reality begins to degrade, splinter, and eventually shatter.\u00a0 Gaiman calls on Kelley to render the panels to reflect the madness. To this end he specifically asks for ‘really jaggedy panels’ but leaves the specifics to her discretion and he follows suite with<\/p>\n As the last example, for the final page, Neil carefully crafts a 3×3 grid of panels that alternate views between the main characters external perception (his conversations with his friend) and his internal world, where the fonts of all ideas (the Sandman) wink out of existence.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nPage 1 Panel 1<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPage 1 Panel 2<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPage 1 Panel 3<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPage 1 Panel 4<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPage 1 Panel 5<\/h2>\n
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