On Tuesday, Feb. 12, Hamilton alumnus Steve Orlando ’08 and his colleague Jim Zub gave a lecture about the multidimensional nature of writing graphic narratives and the turbulent experience of making it in the creative industry. Both spunky and honest, the duo opened up about their personal and professional journeys to a room of professors, students, and other community members.
Engaging with the audience on a personal level, the pair first introduced some works of other artists that they were particularly fond of, such as
Pyongyang
, a graphic novel written by Guy Delisle based on North Korean propaganda. The two writers covered different methods in which the graphic narrative can be written, highlighting various artistic techniques and story arcs.
Orlando praised the distinctive panel usage method. Highlighting different comics and graphic novels, he demonstrated how the shapes and sizes of panels can be used to exhibit diverse character conflicts and relationships.
Orlando also talked about his own distinctive panel usage, known, for example, for its physical manifestation of the complexities of Wonder Woman as she visits her adversary, Mayfly, in prison in Orlando’s first issue
“Wonder Woman 51.” He showed how the protagonist’s compassion changed Mayfly through his use of dialogue panels. He initially used traditional rectangular panels to signify the electric abhorrence of Mayfly; as the two converse, though, the panels become more rounded as Wonder Woman’s kindness begins to positively influence Mayfly’s character.
Zub took a different approach when discussing graphic narrative writing methods. Referencing Ray Fawkes’s “One Soul,” he said that the purpose of each panel is to represent another moment in a different character’s distinctive storyline. “It allows for a flow between panels,” he said.
Zub also commented on the author’s ability to interweave various parts of history and diverse socioeconomic backgrounds into a multi-dimensional story. Both Zub and Orlando applauded Fawkes on revealing common themes between the characters’ lives throughout the story, despite otherwise distinctive plot lines unfolding within each particular panel.
Moreover, the duo shed light on the public’s slowly evolving perception of graphic novels as they have come into the spotlight in recent years.
Orlando recalled a time when he was a young boy sitting in a Borders bookstore and witnessed an elder man reject a graphic novel that he had been presented because it thought it was the “children’s book version” of a movie called
Road to Perdition
. Orlando defined this moment as demonstrative of the historically dismissive public opinion of graphic narratives, which he contrasted to the recent positive shifts in public opinion with the production of DC and Marvel movies like
Justice League
and
The Avengers.
Furthermore, the two spoke on their work to amplify sociocultural diversity into the graphic narrative industry. They expressed their gratefulness and excitement for being able to spotlight LGBTQIA+ and POC characters in their own works. Orlando admitted that at times it was difficult to incorporate these characters given the large influence of traditional comics on his creative process. However, both writers are excited to continue transforming the industry, saying, “We just have to keep pushing the envelope and pushing the progress forward.”
Walking the audience through the process of creating a graphic novel, Orlando and Zub elaborated on the unexpected nature of having to break down their extensive stories into two paragraph summaries for their collaboration with artists. Referencing Marvel’s late Stan Lee, they expressed their admiration for his ability to compact his works into smaller, concrete sections for the story art to be completed. Furthermore, they added to this concept by recalling how artists changed their own visualizations of the storylines by introducing opposing ideas of how characters and scenes would look in the novel. Focusing the artist’s evolution of their own works, they encouraged young writers to embrace changes made in their own stories.
Finally, the duo addressed audience questions, which involved recounting their own experiences in achieving their dreams and writing for some of the most influential creative companies today. “I cannot [this] stress enough,” said Orlando. “If you want to get a job writing, you have to treat it like a job.” Zub nodded eagerly in agreement and added, “You have to sit down and write every night.”
The most interesting word of advice that they gave was the concept of having to “sell yourself” as a young professional. The two described writing and attending conventions to familiarize themselves with big industry names at a young age, ultimately concluding that the most successful people in the creative field are the ones who pitch themselves, not just their writing. Orlando concluded the event with a message of perseverance, saying even though he worked numerous, part-time jobs unrelated to the graphic novel industry early in his career, his persistence helped lead him to impressive opportunities.
