CBH as a tool for comic book creators?

[fullMETAL]

A little bit inspired by this thread too: http://greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=514154


Given the depth of the mechanics, I think it might be totally feasible for aspiring comic book creators/writers to use CBH to plot out almost an entire volume of a character.

While the comic book's "script and panels" format might still need to be adhered to, CBH itself could serve as an excellent tool for outlining a character and their various arcs.

Pros and Cons of using CBH to plot out a custom comic book character for actual publication? Why...discuss them here in this thread! ;):cool:

[Payne]

I think you're missing one of the most important thing in the medium of Sequential Art: Dialogue.

CBH is very basic in Person A is doing something, but to use it as a tool, I think too much is missing.

[MJStark]

I think you're missing one of the most important thing in the medium of Sequential Art: Dialogue.

CBH is very basic in Person A is doing something, but to use it as a tool, I think too much is missing.

I dunno about that, just depends on the imagination of the player/writer. CBH is giving me enough of a base to work off to write a CBH diary (finding it way easier that the TEW diary I gave a go) and honestly, if I'd any skill at drawing (or more skill at rendering scenes) I'd be considering making it more real because I'm really enjoying writing for it :D

[SGRaaize]

No, it doesn't work, and anyone that tells you it works is wrong.

You can use your imagination all you want, each issue has to have at least one battle, and all battles are random and hard to plan out.

Forget about it, I'm sure there are better programs for that out there.

[fullMETAL]

I didn't say it was the *best* tool...just that it might feasibly work for outlining...

[Rebby]

No, it doesn't work, and anyone that tells you it works is wrong.

You can use your imagination all you want, each issue has to have at least one battle, and all battles are random and hard to plan out.

Forget about it, I'm sure there are better programs for that out there.

What? Anyone that tells you it works is wrong? But what if it works for them? Are they wrong that it works for them?

Everybody has their own creative process. It may not work for you but it could very well be amazing for another person. Who says you have to follow every CBH issue religiously? Who says YOUR comic has to have one fight per issue, even if CBH does? The topic is can CBH work at all...I think it'd be pretty good to lay down a base and give you some good ideas. Are you going to be able to write a comic solely off of a CBH game? Probably not. But you don't need to. You just need a starting point.

I'm just saying, dude. You're making a pretty bold statement. It NEVER works, for ANYBODY? Really? I'm sure there are a lot of people that could take CBH and use it to boost their creative flow.

[praguepride]

I could see it being useful as a random idea generator, in that watching out how battles between two different people go could spark some ideas, or just seeing who pops up might be interesting as well.

As a "planning" tool I'd say it's too random to be a good planner, but might make a could inspiration source.

[lazorbeak]

Yeah I really don't see how this would work, since at the moment CBH is extremely random and not really natural for developing character arcs. The combat, while entertaining, is repetitive and over-long for a comic book style fight, and ignores too many of the small details that make comic battles unique. Daredevil fighting in a dark warehouse has a huge advantage over fighting the same person in a city street; often, villains have no desire to sit there and trade punches but would rather get the rare chemical/stolen loot/last hope for mutantkind and run the second the hero is knocked into a bus- none of this is reflected in CBH. Beyond that it doesn't capture any of the soap opera inter-team relationships, Spidey/MJ/Gwen love triangles, or any of the other non-punching aspects that super hero comics are known for.

[MJStark]

Beyond that it doesn't capture any of the soap opera inter-team relationships, Spidey/MJ/Gwen love triangles, or any of the other non-punching aspects that super hero comics are known for.

Which is where the writer's imagination comes in :)

And as for random stuff, it's all workable if you try. One of the issues of Cactus Man was him stopping Golden Sun on a turn appearing a a civilian. Cactus Man won. So now I've got to work out why he was doing something in the first place. His protege Starlet is in jail, Cactus Man is a cop by day. So it all revolved around Golden Sun wanting to spring Starlet and targeting a couple of cops to get it done. Shame he picked on the wrong cop.

Had no intention of Golden Sun appearing at all, but made it make sense despite the randomness of his appearance