Behind The Scenes, Pt. 1 - Plotting

Good afternoon, everyone! As some of you may know, I'm taking this month off from producing JL8 while I attend conventions (FanExpo down, Salt Lake Comic Con and MegaCon Tampa to go) and get caught up on some commission work. However, I thought that that would give me a neat opportunity to do something of a deep-dive on how JL8 comes together. This will be the first part of a multi-part series posted throughout this week in which I try to explain exactly how JL8 makes its way from my head to your screen. I hope you enjoy!

The first thing I'll discuss is plotting, which is to say figuring out the general story that I'm trying to tell, which will then be broken down into individual strips. Since the conclusion to the Green Lantern trip is what's most easily viewable here on Patreon, I've decided I'll use the plot for those strips, so it's easier to cross-reference. Below is what I jotted down in my notes before beginning to script the strips. It's essentially an outline for how I want this particular part of the story to play out.

The GLs are awoken by a rooster crowing. They all stumble out of their tent, dreary-eyed, to see that it was in fact Barry. John: “Are you SERIOUS?” As the kids pack up, they talk about how great the trip was, thanking Hal for inviting them. They discuss their excitement as having beaten Bruce, when it’s revealed that no one remembered to take a photo (punchline). 

I think that was as far as I'd managed to get before I had Alan come over to talk to the kids in JL8 #248, and then AFTER that strip, I went back to my notebook (actually just a txt file on my computer) and finished out the outline.

Sinestro loses it. We re-hash the “who can/can’t be a Lantern” argument. Sinister throws out cruel examples, Alan counters, Sinestro finally suggests that maybe the GLS isn’t the place for HIM. Alan’s very depressed by these turns of events and sternly explains to Hal that it’s not funny. Alan leaves to go speak with Sinestro privately, and Hal’s dad shows up. They realize that Alan may tell Marty about what happened with J’onn, so they urge him to leave quickly, noting homework and that Alan’s busy with Sinestro. Barry apologizes to J’onn for saying the trip was super fun. J’onn brushes it off with a quick forgiveness and explains that the trip WAS very fun. Maybe Hal shoots down J’onn’s statement, implying that winning the bet trumps all else. The car drives off into the distance, towards home.

So all in all, when you stitch them together, the overall outline of this most recent Green Lantern arc (JL8 #246-255) would look something like this:

The GLs are awoken by a rooster crowing. They all stumble out of their tent, dreary-eyed, to see that it was in fact Barry. John: “Are you SERIOUS?” As the kids pack up, they talk about how great the trip was, thanking Hal for inviting them. They discuss their excitement as having beaten Bruce, when it’s revealed that no one remembered to take a photo (punchline). [Alan Scott comes by to check on the boys to see if they're packed up. Hal explains the situation, and Alan explains that he's planning to seek Kilowog out to discuss his offer of training the Lanterns, and maybe he could get a picture of Kilowog then.] Sinestro loses it. We re-hash the “who can/can’t be a Lantern” argument. Sinister throws out cruel examples, Alan counters, Sinestro finally suggests that maybe the GLS isn’t the place for HIM. Alan’s very depressed by these turns of events and sternly explains to Hal that it’s not funny. Alan leaves to go speak with Sinestro privately, and Hal’s dad shows up. They realize that Alan may tell Marty about what happened with J’onn, so they urge him to leave quickly, noting homework and that Alan’s busy with Sinestro. Barry apologizes to J’onn for saying the trip was super fun. J’onn brushes it off with a quick forgiveness and explains that the trip WAS very fun. Maybe Hal shoots down J’onn’s statement, implying that winning the bet trumps all else. The car drives off into the distance, towards home.

And there you have it. That's "Step 1" in the process of making JL8: I try to conceive of a general story idea, write it out in a broad sense, and then reverse engineer from that outline and try to see how I can break it apart into individual updates that are enjoyable to read independently. In tomorrow's update, we'll look at "Step 2," which for me is scripting and thumbnails.

Thanks for reading!