META: Plot vs. Character

[jvdsteen]

I really like Tom's example of Nancy Drew. The plot makes it the type
of story the reader gets into, the reason why he STARTS to read it. The
characters are the reason why the reader keeps coming back. That's why
comic book readers frown at soap operas on TV but love the adventures
of Peter Parker just as much as Spider Man's.

For example, I first picked up the original New Warriors comic because
of the concept: kind of a Teen Titans for the Marvel Universe. A book
featuring a new superhero team seemed exciting to me. But the reason
that for the first 20 issues or so it was my favorite book was the
characters. I loved the macho Nova, the love story between Firestar and
Marvel Boy, the tragedy of the Night Thrasher character. I started to
care about the characters and wanted to find out what happened to them.
It's the reason I didn't get into the Avengers, as cool as their
stories were. However, a comic book needs a good plot to. It prevents
you from getting bored by the characters (like for instance what
happened after the first season of Melrose Place of what happened with
the New Mutants). I kept enjoying it every month because anytime when I
was getting a little bit bored by the characters there would be a trip
to the Inhumans or the return of Terrax.

Plot and character (should) go hand in hand. In Godling I try to make
you excited about the wonderful world the hero inhabits. I wanted to
grab you and take you for a wild ride with dangerous villains,
cliffhangers, gods and monsters, grab your attention. Then, with issue
3 I started to focus on the characters more and more. More and more I
will try to keep you coming back not just because you want to find out
what supervillain will give Godling a hard time this issue but also to
find out how Quentin Alexander deals with his loneliness, or how Marcus
Walker learns to be a hero.

===Jochem