The Troubles in Creating a Super Hero: Why Superman Continues to Sell and Bad Guys Don't

Comic writing is something new to me, something I've explored for over a decade. Just about everyone who picks up a comic book wants to join in on the storytelling abilities inherent in writing a piece with static pictures and words.

Writing super heroes is the best way to break into a field that hasn't known a new major hero break through in a while. There will be the epics occasionally, or Todd McFarlane's Spawn, maybe titles from Boom! Studios like Jeremiah Harm, or a character created to play a minor role in on comic who gets his own series. John Constantine was a character created by Alan Moore in the pages of Swamp Thing who got his own series called Hellblazer; this was one example of a minor, imperfect character getting his own successful series and, later, a movie.

For the most part, older titles like X-Men and Batman control most of the market. How does one create a super hero to compete with these?

It can be done, but there are plenty of tricks every comic writer should know. Most comic books are intended for people of all ages; you won't find sex in an issue of Iron Man, or nudity in Batman - those titles are intended for a broad audience.

Some of the best heroes - like Rorschach in Watchmen - come from titles too deep to be read by most younger readers.

The point I'm trying to make is, if you really want to break into comics, write as broadly as you can. Wait until you've gotten some success to try a Watchmen type of story with an anti-hero like Rorscach. You better your odds if you write for everyone; you better your chance of getting real money.

And what is an anti-hero? A hero who doesn't fall into the realm of a traditional hero, who doesn't have the ethics most heroes do. Beyond Rorscach there is Punisher, which is a good to note as both these characters are willing to kill.

What is a traditional hero? This is obvious, but for sake of conversation is a hero is someone like Spider Man or Batman who isn't willing to kill, only breaks the law when its right, never cheats on their wife or lover, just lives a life of justice.