Tag Archives: Si Spurrier

A wise friend of mine just said that he still believes in the power of comics – our new mythology, to teach us the difference between right and wrong; to uphold the standards and ideals that we were taught to keep us on the enlightened path to peace and success. …

I was teaching about what resonates in communicating a message to an audience to my students this week and one of the points they glommed onto was emotion. At this time of year, emotions run high. Eliciting an emotional response from a viewer, reader – whatever the medium, is the …

Ever felt overwhelmed by life’s many challenges? I think that’s a common experience we comic readers can relate to. Sometimes it feels like there’s too much daily stuff on our plates and too hard to make sense of it all. In our weekly devotional comic fixes, we read about compelling …

Dealing with adversity is a good topic for this week’s review. DC’s Greg Capullo is a real motivational guy on the subject and I think he and I share a similar philosophy. It doesn’t matter what life throws at you; it matters what you throw back. Adversity and my family …

Kinda exploring the notion of belief this week. It doesn’t have to be religious or some sort of codified system of precepts, but just a sense of what is right, wrong and what is important to us in this world. Super-heroes and comic characters are so clear in what they …

Sorry this is so late. Lots of loose ends to tie up that got in the way this week. Taking care of loose ends is a driving force in people’s lives, so, as in life, we see this element of effective storytelling in occur in comics. … Well-written comics, that …

There are some days when you feel like you’re being attacked on all fronts. It’s a legitimate feeling. We all wear many hats and have many different responsibilities. We can’t get everything right and sure enough, there are those days when it seems like everyone is out to get you. …

The theme is internal conflict and we’re all conflicted in some way, aren’t we? Those conflicts are probably the strongest and most effective method for a reader to relate to a character. After all, we feel those conflicts within characters viscerally and comics reinforce that with visual storytelling. If the …

Happy New Year and welcome back! This week, it’s the call of responsibility that governs this week’s theme in the comic lists. After all, it’s been a restful and relaxing holiday break but like the rest of the western world is realizing, the holidays are over and it’s time to …

Opposition in all things is not only an axiomatic fact of life but it’s a necessity. It’s necessary for our learning, it’s necessary for personal growth but it’s also necessary for a good story. We are living in a time of great opposition these days. By the time this article …

The first day of school is a day of anxiety and discomfort; new routines, names, faces, a cessation of an extra couple hours of sleep in the morning and the feeling that the person in that desk sitting across from you doesn’t like you. … now imagine how the students …

Those who are closest to us can also be the ones who present us with the most difficult obstacles. I have to be honest, it’s hard to write tonight. It’s the last week of school and this time always brings out a great deal of emotions and I’m usually drained …

You ever worry about taking the next step? I do. Some times the next stage of your career, your hobby, your whatever is rationally the obvious thing to do. Yet there are issues like: moving out of your comfort zone, the amount of effort involved, or even just downright anxiety …

You know, those closest to you can let you down. It’s sad, it’s sometimes painful but it’s also inevitable. Friends, to many folks’ surprise can be jerks. Remember Kitty Pryde’s famous line? That’s a universal experience that writers draw upon. It makes for the most poignant of dramas and the …

It’s important to know who’s there for you, and likewise, to let those people in your lives that you are there for them. Relationships are not only clearly important in life, but they are key in writing a successful comic. The chemistry between characters is of paramount importance in order …