1 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:10,800 When you get an idea and you start 2 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,120 turning the idea over in your head and 3 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:15,599 inspecting it and trying to figure out 4 00:00:15,599 --> 00:00:17,920 what the strengths of the idea are and 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,720 what the weaknesses of the idea are. 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,160 A lot of the time that's when you start 7 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:26,160 to figure out 8 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:28,080 what medium 9 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,199 the idea would work in best. When you 10 00:00:31,199 --> 00:00:33,440 get to comics, 11 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:35,440 you have a whole different area of 12 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,480 territory. We get to use 13 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:40,719 the pictures and the words to try and do 14 00:00:40,719 --> 00:00:44,399 things inside the head of the reader 15 00:00:44,399 --> 00:00:47,920 that you might never be able to do in 16 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,039 pros or in film. 17 00:00:51,039 --> 00:00:54,200 For example, 18 00:00:54,879 --> 00:00:58,399 why don't I take you through the process 19 00:00:58,399 --> 00:01:02,320 of plotting a comic and not just 20 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:07,200 plotting a comic, but of taking an idea 21 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:13,280 through to a script. Um, now bear in 22 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,840 mind that one of the strange things 23 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:17,840 about writing comics is, as far as I can 24 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:19,920 tell, there are probably as many ways to 25 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,640 write a comic as there are people in 26 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,400 history who have written comics. Um, I 27 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,520 do it my way. I'm sure everybody else 28 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,640 does it their way. But I can give you 29 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:37,560 how I do it and how I did it. 30 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Saman 19. In Samman 19, this is uh the 31 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,119 first of the absolute Sam Man volumes. 32 00:01:51,119 --> 00:01:54,479 It is huge. It is very heavy. You could 33 00:01:54,479 --> 00:01:56,479 use it to stun a burglar if necessary, 34 00:01:56,479 --> 00:01:58,479 which has always been my definition of 35 00:01:58,479 --> 00:02:02,880 art. I had been to a performance of A 36 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:05,200 Midsummer Night's Dream. 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:09,759 I'd loved it. I'd forgotten how funny it 38 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:13,440 was. And it was an open air theater. And 39 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,120 there was something very strange and 40 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,720 magical about being outside as the play 41 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,000 began in daylight and moved into night. 42 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,160 What would be interesting 43 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:28,000 about Midsummer Night's Dream? How could 44 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:29,520 I do this? I thought, well, the the 45 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:31,280 first performance 46 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,959 of Midsummer Night's Dream outside with 47 00:02:34,959 --> 00:02:36,480 Shakespeare 48 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:40,080 and Shakespeare's men, putting it on 49 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,480 before an audience 50 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:44,560 consisting of Oberon 51 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,120 and Titania and Puck and the fairy 52 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,599 creatures who would all be a little bit 53 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:52,879 more dark and dangerous than they are in 54 00:02:52,879 --> 00:02:56,319 the play as a gift. 55 00:02:56,319 --> 00:02:58,319 And I thought, I like that. that feels 56 00:02:58,319 --> 00:03:02,000 like it's about something. 57 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,879 And it also felt 58 00:03:04,879 --> 00:03:07,440 dangerous, felt odd. Nobody had ever 59 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,239 done anything like that in a monthly 60 00:03:10,239 --> 00:03:16,400 comic. So then I reread the play, A 61 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:18,000 Midsummer Night's Dream, just made 62 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,200 notes, just put little pencil marks 63 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,000 where I thought lines would be important 64 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,519 because 65 00:03:25,519 --> 00:03:27,200 I realized, of course, I was going to 66 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,560 have to have various layers of action 67 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:32,799 going on through the story. There would 68 00:03:32,799 --> 00:03:36,159 be the play always ticking on. There 69 00:03:36,159 --> 00:03:38,799 would be the front row of the audience, 70 00:03:38,799 --> 00:03:40,480 which would be Morpheus, the Sandman, 71 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,120 the Lord of Dreams, and Oberon, and 72 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:45,360 Titania and Puck. There would be the 73 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,920 back row of the audience. I love the 74 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,599 idea of just a bunch of idiot fairies 75 00:03:51,599 --> 00:03:54,319 commenting on the action and explaining 76 00:03:54,319 --> 00:03:56,480 it to each other. I thought that'll be 77 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:57,760 fun. 78 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:02,439 And then I began. 79 00:04:06,959 --> 00:04:11,439 The way that you begin, if you're me, 80 00:04:11,439 --> 00:04:14,799 is you take some paper. You take a bunch 81 00:04:14,799 --> 00:04:17,359 of sheets of paper. You staple them 82 00:04:17,359 --> 00:04:22,079 together. I fold them over. 83 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:25,199 And I knew I had 24 pages. So, I 84 00:04:25,199 --> 00:04:29,440 numbered 1 to 24. 85 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:31,919 And actually, all 86 00:04:31,919 --> 00:04:34,720 I needed to know, I didn't fill in very 87 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:36,880 much detail in the middle. Normally, 88 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,000 I'll fill in roughly what's happening on 89 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:44,240 each page, but all I needed was starting 90 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:45,919 and ending on this. I knew that 91 00:04:45,919 --> 00:04:48,320 everything else was going to be dictated 92 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,919 by the pace of the play. So, page one is 93 00:04:51,919 --> 00:04:54,720 traveling. Page two, meet the Sandman. 94 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,440 Page three, set up. Wendle, open the 95 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:01,280 gate. Page four, the fairies are there. 96 00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:05,720 And that's my first notes to myself. 97 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,639 So, as I begin, 98 00:05:10,639 --> 00:05:15,039 I draw out roughly what is going to be 99 00:05:15,039 --> 00:05:18,479 in each panel. And I'm not doing this 100 00:05:18,479 --> 00:05:22,479 for any other reason than 101 00:05:22,479 --> 00:05:25,680 because what I want to do 102 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:27,680 is know 103 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,160 how big a panel, 104 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,520 how much information I can ask an artist 105 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:35,919 to put in a panel. You're not going to 106 00:05:35,919 --> 00:05:39,120 say, "Okay, this is a 12 panel page." 107 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,960 And on page seven, I want the entire 108 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,560 uh Plutonian space force coming in while 109 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,199 down on the earth, we can see uh little 110 00:05:49,199 --> 00:05:52,400 Rodney and his dog running away and his 111 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:54,960 dog has got a flower. And you're going, 112 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,280 "No, you can't put all that information 113 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:00,000 on a 12 panel page. You have a very 114 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,600 small amount of information in each 115 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,000 panel. The panel here is the unit of 116 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:05,600 information 117 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,000 and they're small. 118 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,039 So, I begin 119 00:06:11,039 --> 00:06:14,000 by just roughing things out for myself. 120 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,919 What you can see here is an ox pulling a 121 00:06:17,919 --> 00:06:21,840 wagon and up on the hillside is the long 122 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:24,160 man of Wilmington and he's standing 123 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:25,840 there and he's holding a stick. And I 124 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:26,960 thought, what if it isn't a stick? What 125 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,360 if he's a gatekeeper? What if he could 126 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,479 open a door? And that's how the fairy 127 00:06:32,479 --> 00:06:35,199 folk come out of the hill. So that's 128 00:06:35,199 --> 00:06:37,520 already a visual for me, which means 129 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,160 we're planting it there right from the 130 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,639 get- go. So my little stick figures are 131 00:06:44,639 --> 00:06:48,479 instructions to me. They are only seen 132 00:06:48,479 --> 00:06:50,720 by me. If you do it like this, your 133 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:53,520 thumbnails will only be seen by you. You 134 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:55,759 don't ever have to show them to anybody 135 00:06:55,759 --> 00:06:57,039 else. You definitely don't have to show 136 00:06:57,039 --> 00:07:00,720 them to an artist who can actually draw. 137 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,440 And the dialogue that I write down here 138 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,240 is dialogue for me. 139 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,479 But mostly what it does is tell me what 140 00:07:08,479 --> 00:07:10,639 the dialogue needs to do. It doesn't 141 00:07:10,639 --> 00:07:12,639 need to tell me what the words are. 142 00:07:12,639 --> 00:07:14,319 That's not what this is for. What this 143 00:07:14,319 --> 00:07:18,000 is for is breaking down 144 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,240 the beats of the story for me. 145 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,280 It's telling me that my method of 146 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,280 storytelling, getting from one panel to 147 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,240 the next with a story, making something 148 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,280 that somebody who can read comics can 149 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,960 read as a story is going to work. That's 150 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:38,880 important. 151 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,599 If I have an idea for what people need 152 00:07:41,599 --> 00:07:44,720 to be saying in a panel exactly, I'll 153 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:47,840 I'll note it down, but I will spend no 154 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,880 time at all trying to get it exactly 155 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,000 right because that's when you write the 156 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,000 script. 157 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,800 People ask how you write a comic script. 158 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:06,720 And a comic script is much more 159 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:10,000 complicated than a film script. In a 160 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,280 film script, you just say what happens. 161 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:16,319 And the director and the editor and the 162 00:08:16,319 --> 00:08:19,840 storyboard artists, the camera people, 163 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:22,160 they're all going to decide how that is 164 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,840 told. That's not up to me as a script 165 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:28,000 writer. And in fact, if I give them too 166 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,160 much detail, they will probably get 167 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,080 grumpy. Um, in comics, nobody gets 168 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,120 grumpy because the function that you're 169 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,279 performing 170 00:08:39,279 --> 00:08:42,240 as a writer of comics, of graphic 171 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,880 novels, in film terms, you're the 172 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:46,480 director 173 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:48,640 and you're the writer and you're the 174 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:55,120 editor and the artist gets to be all of 175 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:58,320 the actors, the director of photography 176 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:00,399 and the cameraman and the production 177 00:09:00,399 --> 00:09:01,760 designer. 178 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,360 And so together you were a full team and 179 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:09,440 and finished off by the uh the letterer 180 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:11,120 who in this context I suppose would be 181 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,880 the sound person um and the colorist who 182 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:16,399 would of course be the grader. And now 183 00:09:16,399 --> 00:09:19,920 we're getting silly. So 184 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:25,040 um for me a script is a letter. When I'm 185 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,920 writing a script I'm writing a letter to 186 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:30,880 the artist. I want that letter to 187 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:33,120 inspire them. I want that letter to 188 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,080 infuse them. I want that letter to 189 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:38,959 describe what we're doing and why we're 190 00:09:38,959 --> 00:09:42,160 doing it and what this is about. And I 191 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,120 want to make them complicit in 192 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,519 everything that we do. 193 00:09:47,519 --> 00:09:51,360 So, uh, fortunately in this Absolute 194 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:53,600 Samman volume 1, the script is actually 195 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:55,920 printed. 196 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:59,519 So, we begin with me just trying to set 197 00:09:59,519 --> 00:10:01,200 the scene 198 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:03,600 for Charles Vess. 199 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:06,800 I set the scene. I say hello. I describe 200 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:08,640 some of the characters we're going to be 201 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,200 meeting. The Sandman, very tall, very 202 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,839 pale. If you like the goatee he had the 203 00:10:13,839 --> 00:10:15,120 last time we saw him in this time 204 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,200 period, then keep it. I don't mind one 205 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,519 way or the other. And a little note to 206 00:10:19,519 --> 00:10:21,200 the letterer. I said, Todd, this story 207 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:23,120 is going to be lettering heavy. I know 208 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,680 before starting. So, if you can letter 209 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:27,680 it slightly smaller than it's your 210 00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:30,480 normal practice. Thank you. Ready? Me 211 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,360 neither. Here goes. And we begin just 212 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:37,040 with page one, panel one. 213 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,920 So, here I've got my little doodle to 214 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:43,680 myself. And one of the things I know is 215 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:46,079 I need more information in this panel 216 00:10:46,079 --> 00:10:48,880 that I could fit into a smaller panel. 217 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:50,320 So, it's across the whole of the top 218 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,120 tier. And I describe it here. Long shot, 219 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,920 large panel, the South Downs on a late 220 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:58,160 summer's afternoon, fine weather. In the 221 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:00,079 background, small on a hillside, we can 222 00:11:00,079 --> 00:11:02,320 see the long man of Wilmington. He looks 223 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:04,000 like he does now, except he's wearing a 224 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,399 hat of some kind or the outline of a 225 00:11:06,399 --> 00:11:08,399 helmet. Originally, apparently, he had 226 00:11:08,399 --> 00:11:10,880 one. A white chalk figure outlined in a 227 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:13,360 doorway cut into the turf on the side of 228 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:15,519 Windover Hill. Coming toward us, 229 00:11:15,519 --> 00:11:17,760 following a rough path in the turf, 230 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,399 trotten to mud, is a procession of four 231 00:11:20,399 --> 00:11:23,279 rough wooden carts. Three drawn by huge 232 00:11:23,279 --> 00:11:25,760 Shia horses. None of your thoroughbred 233 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:28,240 Arab steeds here. One possibly drawn by 234 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,959 an ox or oxen. I've described this in a 235 00:11:30,959 --> 00:11:32,560 certain amount of detail here, but you 236 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:34,240 don't need to cram it all in. Just bear 237 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:38,480 it in mind. So, at this point, 238 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:42,800 we get to page two, panel one. Long 239 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:44,320 shot. Shakespeare has turned to the 240 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,079 procession of people and carts hand on 241 00:11:46,079 --> 00:11:48,640 his hips shouting hold fast we stop here 242 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:50,880 my friends Hamn go and wait with Condle 243 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,760 and the other boys but father 244 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,079 page two panel two Shakespeare walking 245 00:11:56,079 --> 00:11:58,000 up the steep and grassy hill probably 246 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:00,079 from behind he's sweating if we can see 247 00:12:00,079 --> 00:12:04,240 his face no dialogue Hamnet his face 248 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:05,839 slightly unreadable but definitely not 249 00:12:05,839 --> 00:12:09,120 looking very happy fills the panel one 250 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,079 of the things I love about comics is the 251 00:12:12,079 --> 00:12:14,160 silent panel 252 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:17,680 Um, in pros you cannot have a silent 253 00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:22,320 panel. You are talking. But in comics, 254 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:24,480 you get moments when nobody is saying 255 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:26,880 anything, where everything is still. And 256 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,920 they act as punctuation. 257 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:31,920 They can act as a beat. They can act to 258 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:35,680 underscore something. They make your 259 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:38,240 audience, they make your reader 260 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,880 contribute. They bring themselves to a 261 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:42,639 silent panel. 262 00:12:42,639 --> 00:12:44,320 What are the people saying? What does 263 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:46,800 this mean? How do they feel? When I was 264 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:50,160 reading out the script for Charles Vest, 265 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:51,920 there were things that fascinated me 266 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,639 that I put in there for him. 267 00:12:54,639 --> 00:12:57,519 Lines of of things that are actually 268 00:12:57,519 --> 00:13:00,800 impossible to draw. Even, you know, his 269 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:02,639 his 270 00:13:02,639 --> 00:13:06,240 cloak is blowing in a non-existent wind. 271 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:11,200 Tell your artist things that 272 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,279 they can't draw, but they need to know. 273 00:13:15,279 --> 00:13:17,440 And you can describe 274 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,320 all sorts of emotions, describe how 275 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,160 people look, describe how they react, 276 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:24,639 describe what they're thinking 277 00:13:24,639 --> 00:13:29,040 because the artist knows. And that will, 278 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:31,760 with luck, make it through into the 279 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,240 pictures and into the story and into the 280 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:36,880 world. 281 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:47,279 The page for me in comics 282 00:13:47,279 --> 00:13:49,040 is 283 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:51,040 your unit. 284 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:53,600 It's a unit in a way that it isn't 285 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,240 normally in pros. In pros, it doesn't 286 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:59,279 really matter how something is 287 00:13:59,279 --> 00:14:01,120 pageionated. 288 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,519 And the reason that I sit here and I 289 00:14:03,519 --> 00:14:06,639 break everything down, the reason that 290 00:14:06,639 --> 00:14:09,440 all of what I'm doing here is to tell me 291 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:11,600 what fits on a page, how it works on a 292 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:13,600 page, when you're turning the page, when 293 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:19,040 you're not turning the page, is so that 294 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:21,279 beat forbe 295 00:14:21,279 --> 00:14:24,639 I'm in control and I go, good. The page 296 00:14:24,639 --> 00:14:28,560 is the unit. The panel in comics is a 297 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,920 single illustration. you need another 298 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:33,760 illustration next to it, another panel 299 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:36,800 in order to make it comics. 300 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:38,720 It only starts to become comics at the 301 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:43,279 moment where the reader begins to fill 302 00:14:43,279 --> 00:14:44,880 in 303 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:47,760 between what happens in that panel and 304 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:49,600 what happens in the next panel. 305 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:51,440 Sometimes 306 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:53,680 you can use the page in an incredibly 307 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:57,360 powerful way. You can surprise people. 308 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:00,560 Um, you can make somebody see something 309 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,040 that they haven't seen before. 310 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,600 For example, 311 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:08,880 in Sandman number 7, probably the 312 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,600 nearest thing to a classical 313 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,000 superhero versus super villain battle 314 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,000 that there ever is in the entirety of 315 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:20,560 Sandman, where Dr. D this this skeleton 316 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:24,320 headed monstrous creature 317 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,360 has the Sandman's ruby 318 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:31,680 in which the Sandman's power is and he 319 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:34,560 says this is your life and I'm crushing 320 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:38,480 it with my hands and he crushes it and 321 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,639 destroys it and there's a huge explosion 322 00:15:42,639 --> 00:15:45,680 and we go over the page and now there's 323 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,720 just a tiny figure against a completely 324 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:51,199 white background. And we move in and 325 00:15:51,199 --> 00:15:53,120 we're still in this completely white 326 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,279 background. 327 00:15:55,279 --> 00:15:58,320 And Dr. D says, "I did it. I killed him. 328 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:00,320 Whoever he was, whatever it was, it's 329 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:02,320 dead. The ruby. The ruby's gone, too. I 330 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:05,120 feel so strange." He does a little 331 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,920 speech about how I rule it. I'm I'm the 332 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:09,759 king of dreams of everything. It's 333 00:16:09,759 --> 00:16:11,920 funny. I always thought when I became 334 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:13,519 king, I thought there would be applause. 335 00:16:13,519 --> 00:16:16,399 I thought somebody would say something. 336 00:16:16,399 --> 00:16:18,160 and he's standing there floating against 337 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,560 this pure white background. And we go 338 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:23,120 over the page 339 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:25,839 and we go over the page and we realize 340 00:16:25,839 --> 00:16:29,199 that he is standing and the palm, the 341 00:16:29,199 --> 00:16:31,839 white white palm of Morpheus, the 342 00:16:31,839 --> 00:16:34,240 Sandman's hand. And that's what we've 343 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:37,360 been seeing. And Morpheus says, "Thank 344 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:40,240 you, John D." 345 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,360 And I had forgotten how much of my power 346 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:45,040 I'd placed in that ruby. And when you 347 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,000 you smashed it, it all came back. And 348 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,560 it's a moment that I could not do. I 349 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,360 could not pull that off without being in 350 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,680 control of when the pages are turned. 351 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,000 And actually, when we did the the 352 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,639 graphic novel version of this, we then 353 00:17:02,639 --> 00:17:07,600 had to create this one page where you 354 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:11,919 get the tiny tiny figure of Dr. D 355 00:17:11,919 --> 00:17:14,480 hanging in the air. 356 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,600 because we needed that page turn always 357 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:21,199 to exist. The problem 358 00:17:21,199 --> 00:17:23,679 with comics is you cannot put something 359 00:17:23,679 --> 00:17:25,760 important 360 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:28,880 on a right- hand page or you can't put a 361 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:30,640 plot surprise on a right- hand page 362 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:31,919 because people are going to see it as 363 00:17:31,919 --> 00:17:34,640 they turn the page. 364 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:36,000 They may not be looking at it. They may 365 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:37,360 not be trying to see it, but they will 366 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:40,160 kind of see it. So, if it's going to be 367 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:41,520 a surprise, if it's going to have 368 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,480 impact, put it on a lefthand page. Let 369 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:49,720 people turn the page and find the thing. 370 00:17:55,919 --> 00:17:58,000 So, there are there are geniuses in 371 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,559 comics who write and draw and letter and 372 00:18:02,559 --> 00:18:05,760 color and do everything themselves. uh 373 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,640 people like Chris Wear who you look at 374 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:12,080 or or Art Spiegelman um 375 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:14,240 they are brilliant. 376 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,200 I am not that brilliant. So in order to 377 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:19,840 create comics I need people who can do 378 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:24,080 things and I have collaborators and we 379 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,760 all work together. We all work together 380 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,559 to create something. Let's let's look at 381 00:18:30,559 --> 00:18:32,640 Sandman 19 again. It's a a lovely 382 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,880 example. Now the way that comics 383 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:39,760 traditionally are done was it would be 384 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,679 drawn out first of all in pencil and 385 00:18:43,679 --> 00:18:46,320 once penciled it would go to the 386 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:50,160 letterer and the letterer in ink would 387 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:51,760 letter 388 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,320 draw the word balloons put the lettering 389 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:56,960 inside them and then that would go back 390 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:58,720 to the artist or go to a different 391 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,520 artist to ink and inking is not 392 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:04,080 coloring. Inking is the process of going 393 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:08,480 over the pencil lines in black India ink 394 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,039 in order to create something that is now 395 00:19:11,039 --> 00:19:13,360 reproducible. Shooting from pencils 396 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:15,840 never really works because you lose a 397 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,280 whole lot of detail. So the first and 398 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:22,400 most important collaborator on this uh 399 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,039 which is Charles Vess and Charles 400 00:19:25,039 --> 00:19:28,080 pencled and Charles inked and 401 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,240 fortunately we have some of Charles 402 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:34,799 beautiful pencils here and he uh part of 403 00:19:34,799 --> 00:19:38,160 the fun of Charles's pencils 404 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,840 is looking at how he laid something out. 405 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,919 We have the the oxen. We have the four 406 00:19:45,919 --> 00:19:49,039 carriages here. We have uh one covered 407 00:19:49,039 --> 00:19:51,280 up some with people in them. You can't 408 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:53,120 really see what the props are. They're 409 00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:56,080 walking alongside a wall. It definitely 410 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:59,440 looks incredibly Sussexy. He then took a 411 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,640 much smaller version of what I did after 412 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:05,440 that was tell the next four panels in 413 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:10,000 evensized panels. And Charles 414 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:11,679 being an artist and having much more 415 00:20:11,679 --> 00:20:14,799 design sense than I do just told this 416 00:20:14,799 --> 00:20:16,720 little sequence. 417 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:21,120 He puts one panel smaller in set. We see 418 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:23,520 Shakespeare and Hamnet walking ahead of 419 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,559 the oxen and Hamlet says, "But father, 420 00:20:26,559 --> 00:20:28,000 you said that we will be performing the 421 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:29,919 new play tonight. Where shall we play it 422 00:20:29,919 --> 00:20:33,120 if not in an inn? I have no idea, but we 423 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:34,640 will know soon. Keep your eyes on the 424 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,480 road ahead, lad. but father and sooner 425 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:40,240 or later 426 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,520 it would be colored in and would look 427 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,799 look like this. And then you do have 428 00:20:46,799 --> 00:20:48,799 another artist working on this page. In 429 00:20:48,799 --> 00:20:50,640 this case, it's an artist named Steve 430 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:52,159 Olif. 431 00:20:52,159 --> 00:20:56,320 And Steve colored this comic. And one of 432 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:58,400 the things that he was doing was make 433 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:02,240 everything darker as things went on. It 434 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,600 starts on a glorious summer's day. It's 435 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:07,840 going to head into dusk and then into 436 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:09,360 darkness. 437 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:12,640 And Steve Olaf's coloring 438 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,360 was really elegant. It just he didn't 439 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:17,679 work on Sandman for very long, but when 440 00:21:17,679 --> 00:21:20,559 he did, what he gave us was absolutely 441 00:21:20,559 --> 00:21:24,320 magic. It was lettered by Todd Klene. 442 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,400 Todd is a glorious letterer. I think he 443 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,679 now has won more awards for lettering 444 00:21:31,679 --> 00:21:34,559 than any other living human being. Uh he 445 00:21:34,559 --> 00:21:36,799 won them, a lot of them through Sandman. 446 00:21:36,799 --> 00:21:39,600 And what was what was almost cruel of me 447 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:41,440 was when I discovered everything that 448 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,159 Todd could do, I'd make him do those 449 00:21:44,159 --> 00:21:46,799 things. So we got to the point where 450 00:21:46,799 --> 00:21:49,679 every member of Dream's family of the 451 00:21:49,679 --> 00:21:51,600 Seven Endless had a completely different 452 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:53,760 lettering style. So many of the 453 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:55,760 characters who turn up would have their 454 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:59,919 own lettering style. Um, I like the idea 455 00:21:59,919 --> 00:22:03,600 that you can kind of hear the lettering 456 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,240 in comics. You're having to do a sort of 457 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,960 moment of sinthesia there. Any sound 458 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,919 effect you see, whether it's a flack or 459 00:22:11,919 --> 00:22:16,480 a plop, um, it's going to be written and 460 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:21,039 yet you're taking it as a sound. 461 00:22:21,039 --> 00:22:25,600 and that you need somebody like Todd to 462 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,880 actually pull off for you. 463 00:22:33,919 --> 00:22:35,039 And then there are invisible 464 00:22:35,039 --> 00:22:38,240 collaborators. There's my editor Karen 465 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:42,240 Burgerer. And Karen was a fabulous, 466 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:45,200 fabulous editor. She looked at the 467 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,919 script. She normally didn't have much to 468 00:22:47,919 --> 00:22:50,400 say about the scripts. 469 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:54,880 um because she liked them. Saman 19 her 470 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:58,240 reply to me was look I don't understand 471 00:22:58,240 --> 00:22:59,840 Shakespeare particular I'm not a big fan 472 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,400 of Shakespeare 473 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:04,240 I'm not sure what the heart of this 474 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,280 story is 475 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,120 and I thought right okay 476 00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:13,679 and I had to stop and think between my 477 00:23:13,679 --> 00:23:16,080 first draft on the script and my second 478 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:17,919 what was the heart what was it really 479 00:23:17,919 --> 00:23:21,520 about and you can call that theme 480 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,240 but Really, it's just what's it about? 481 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,520 What does it mean? Why is this story 482 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:29,679 important? 483 00:23:29,679 --> 00:23:31,679 Theme at the end of the day is just why 484 00:23:31,679 --> 00:23:35,520 should we care? Why should you care? And 485 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:39,039 I had an editor whose opinion I trusted, 486 00:23:39,039 --> 00:23:40,960 loved, and respected who was saying to 487 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:42,880 me, 488 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,320 why should I care about all of this? 489 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:48,640 And I thought, well, actually, 490 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:52,240 the heart of this story is Hamnut. is 491 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:54,320 this eight-year-old boy who I brought 492 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,600 onto the stage who's watching his father 493 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,799 having this wonderful successful 494 00:24:00,799 --> 00:24:03,840 career but isn't really connected to him 495 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:07,120 who's going to be seduced 496 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:11,840 by Tatana and who dies a few years after 497 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,080 and who maybe I can if I write it right 498 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:18,080 I can leave his death almost ambiguous 499 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:20,960 as if maybe he was taken away by the 500 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:22,320 ferry 501 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:26,720 And I wrote a conversation. 502 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,520 I took one page. I only had really one 503 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,480 page left to do things in. So I took 504 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,360 that page and I wrote a conversation 505 00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:38,400 where one of the actors who's playing 506 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:40,880 Hermier says, "You must be very proud of 507 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,799 your father." H proud. I suppose he's 508 00:24:44,799 --> 00:24:47,039 very distant, Tommy. He doesn't seem 509 00:24:47,039 --> 00:24:48,559 like he's really there anymore. Not 510 00:24:48,559 --> 00:24:50,640 really. It's like he's somewhere else. 511 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:52,159 anything that happens. He just makes 512 00:24:52,159 --> 00:24:54,559 stories out of it. I'm less real to him 513 00:24:54,559 --> 00:24:57,600 than any of the characters in his plays. 514 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,679 Mother says he's changed in the last 5 515 00:24:59,679 --> 00:25:01,200 years, but I don't remember him any 516 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,919 other way. Judith, she's my twin sister. 517 00:25:03,919 --> 00:25:06,159 She once joked that if I died, he'd just 518 00:25:06,159 --> 00:25:09,840 write a play about it. Hamnut. 519 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,159 Come on, lady. I'm back on in a minute. 520 00:25:12,159 --> 00:25:14,159 Mother ordered him to have me for this 521 00:25:14,159 --> 00:25:15,600 summer. It's the first time I've seen 522 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:17,200 him for more than a week at a time than 523 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,840 I remember. But we live 5 days ride from 524 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,080 London up in Warikshire and see him 525 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:23,679 seldom. 526 00:25:23,679 --> 00:25:26,000 All that matters to him. All that 527 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,039 matters is the stories. And the actor 528 00:25:29,039 --> 00:25:30,960 says, "I would be proud of him if he 529 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,200 were my father." 530 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:37,200 And just that moment of heartbreak at 531 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,960 the center of the story is what gives it 532 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,400 its drive. It's why should you care? 533 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,880 Because at the end of the day, you're 534 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,320 seeing this beautiful, wonderful thing. 535 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,640 The first ever performance of Midsummer 536 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,600 Night's Dream, a play that has given joy 537 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,760 to hundreds upon thousands of people, 538 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,240 probably to millions of people. One of 539 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,000 the greatest beauties of the English 540 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,279 language. And you're also watching the 541 00:26:05,279 --> 00:26:09,279 sorrow of a small boy whose father is 542 00:26:09,279 --> 00:26:12,080 out of reach, who isn't there. He's down 543 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,600 in London making plays. 544 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,400 And if he died, his father would just 545 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:23,360 make a play about it and call it Hamnet. 546 00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:25,360 And that 547 00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:28,640 that was Karen. That was Karen as a 548 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:30,880 collaborator who is invisible just 549 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,679 saying, "Why should I care about this 550 00:26:33,679 --> 00:26:37,440 story?" And I thought about it and that 551 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:39,679 was what I gave her. And if there's a 552 00:26:39,679 --> 00:26:42,159 reason why it won the awards, it's not 553 00:26:42,159 --> 00:26:44,240 from the technical cleverness. It's not 554 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,559 Charles Vest's beautiful drawings. It's 555 00:26:46,559 --> 00:26:50,080 not the wonderful Steve Olaf colors. 556 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,240 It's that moment where everything comes 557 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,480 together, where Charles Vest draws, 558 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:59,360 Steve Olaf colors, Todd Klene letters, 559 00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:02,640 that little six panel conversation 560 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,400 and we break everybody's heart.